From The Linux Foundation
Contents |
Open A11y Working Group Conference Call (30 October 2007)
Participants
- Janina Sajka (JS/chair) (chair Open A11y Working Group)
- Stew Benedict (SB) (Linux Foundation/Linux Standards Base testing)
- Pete Brunet (PB) (IBM/chair, IAccessible2 SIG)
- Steve Lee (SL) (Open Source Assistive Technology)
- Gregory J. Rosmaita (GJR/scribe)
- Gunnar Schmidt (GS) (KDE a11y project)
- Will Walker (WW) (Sun/Orca Screen Reading Project lead)
- regrets: Earl Johnson (Sun)
For Reference
- Agenda for 30 October 2007 A11y Call
- Minutes from 16 October 2007 A11y Call
- Minutes from 18 September 2007 A11y Call
Preliminary Items
Approval of Past Minutes
RESOLVED: Minutes for 16 October 2007 Open A11y approved.
Summary of Resolutions from 2007-10-16 Open A11y Conference Call
- RESOLVED: follow-up meetings need to include, amongst others: Harald Fernangle, Peter Korn, Willie Walker, Pete Brunet, Earl Johnson, Bill Hanemen, Olaf Schmidt and Gunnar Schmidt
- RESOLVED: Open A11y's front page will be made immutable; any changes to page will need to be communicated by a direct request to the webmaster.
- change effected 16 October 2007
Action Items Status Review
Summary of Action Items from 2007-10-16 Open A11y Conference Call
- ACTION GJR: send list info to JS for Rob Taylor's subscription to a11y lists
- status: completed 2007/10/16
- ACTION JS: ask OlafS and GunnarS to replicate EarlJ's tests on GNOME
- status: completed during 2007/10/30 conference call
- ACTION JS: identify someone with organized approach to take the time to straighten out GNOME A11y Project Documentation, possibly in conjunction with GJR
- status: pending
Meeting Minutes
Topic 1: Catching Up
SL: open source a11y -- recipient of grant from Mozilla Foundation; open source software for schools; focus now is Jambu (alternative access on GNOME using pyatspi and IA2 on windows port
JS: want to work in open for D-Bus support for a11y -- emailed Harald Harald Fernangle and asked him to come to the 13 November or 20 November 2007 Open A11y call
JS: there is a dependency document pointed-to in x.org web space that is no longer at the URI being pointed to; since will be moving keyboard work to formal specification partially based on XBE -- important because it undergirds standard promulgated by LF -- need to ask owners of document if they can provide a stable URI or for permission to host it locally
WW: sounds ok; feel free to host, but good idea to send courtesy message to x folks;
JS: it's their document, so they should maintain it, but the fact is it is a dependency for LF specifications
JS: i've identified person who may be able to document AT-SPI
WW: looking forward to Rob Taylor's participation -- maintains binding to D-Bus; the results he comes up with will be very accurate and thurough;
JS: want to work with KDE to do this in harmony
WW: will definitely include KDE from beginning -- want everything conducted in open via Open A11y and with all stakeholders as participants -- Rob doing analysis before reporting to Open A11y
JS: good -- resolve roadblocks that may be identified when take from realm of specification to hard realities of engineering data
WW: can extend beyond GNOME and KDE -- potential to be a truly cross-platform answer
SL: more interested in AT-SPI; D-Bus work important; mobile devices should be a target
Topic 2: SIG Updates: Closer Congruence between AT-SPI and IAccessible2
PB: first issue raised ODF a11y subcommittee -- how to provide access to revisions?; ODF specifies formats for revisions; discussion with Peter Korn and few others (documented in IAcccessible2 minutes)
PB: second issue, raised by Mick Curran - NVDA developer; struggling with some aspects of document that are different from dealing with dialogs; would like discussion to take place in this arena (Open A11y working group) so harmonious with linux implementations
JS: need to get Peter Korn in on discussion
PB: also an issue concerning attributes for text-strings; AaronL wanted to talk with AT vendors, but bogged down with FireFox3 release issues; documentation clarification in IAaccessible2 specification -- requests for clarification; dojo close to code freeze tomorrow; hope to make real progress over next 2 months
JS: Expert Handlers - wrapping up use cases; next step, implementation questions: conversations with implementors to ensure that operating system agnostic -- goal is XML based technologies, but not tethered to the web; majority of participants in Expert Handlers SIG will be at the W3C Technical Plenary next week; will raise issue of Expert Handlers with Protocols & Formats working group, as recorded in the minutes of the 29 October 2007 Expert Handlers call
JS: i've been in touch with 2 university groups: 1 in bologna who wants linux a11y tools on all lab computers as well as have students perform work for Open A11y; showed him Orca in Italian -- was very enthusiastic, thinks that he and his students can help both with making CS more accessible, and use graduate students to perform test work and even implementation
JS: the second is a technical university in Vienna; would provide Expert Handlers test implementation of modular level to enable handler to plug-into AT
Topic 3: Web Site Updates
JS: a word of caution:
- a11y.org
- a11y.net
- opena11y.org
- opena11y.net
- opena11y.com
New Business
NOTE: There will be no Open A11y conference call on Tuesday, 6 November 2007, due to scheduling conflicts. The next Open A11y conference call will be held on 13 November 2007
New 1: Steve Lee's Article
JS: most of you probably read the email discussion started by Steve Lee about an article he is writing for the new Python magazine
SL: aim of article is promote accessibility to python programmers -- easiest way now is on GNOME; goal is to be cross-platform, so that wherever users are, tools are accessible
JS: what GK4 was saying in regards python is that it is the toolkit of choice in a number of environments for a11y;
SL: wanted to make sure Open A11y achieve a higher profile and hopefully attract new participants
JS: architecture being tested by 2 implementations
SL: make that 3 -- a third pyatspi test framework was recently announced that claims to be influenced by DogTail: Strongwind (from Nabble) -- began as a KDE initiative, originally
Identify Topics for 13 November 2007 Teleconference
Wrap Up
Summary of New Action Items
- none logged
Summary of Continued Action Items
- ACTION JS: identify someone with organized approach to take the time to straighten out GNOME A11y Project Documentation, possibly in conjunction with GJR
- status: pending
- ACTION JS: ask OlafS and GunnarS to replicate EarlJ's tests on GNOME
- status: begun during 2007/10/30 conference call; JS will follow-up with email to Gunnar and Olaf
Summary of Resolutions
- RESOLVED: Minutes of the 16 October 2007 Open Accessibility conference call approved.
- meeting adjourned
- next Open Accessibility conference call: 2007-11-13