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E-learning: A lesson in accessibility

Accessibility in e-learning is an emerging awareness.




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A letter from Helen Keller. IBM commended by American Foundation for the Blind.

IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research John E. Kelly accepted the AFB’s 2008 Helen Keller Achievement Award in Accessibility on behalf of IBM.




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Small displays get big-time attention.

AFB TECH Director Mark Uslan talks about how how an existing mathematical model for large digital displays might apply to measuring small-display quality, making them accessible to the nearly 21 million Americans who suffer from vision loss.




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Cathy Laws: The laws of accessibility

The first law of accessibility: consider the needs of disabled people as early as possible when you are designing a product. Cathy Laws is one person who sees that this rule is followed at IBM.




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For CSUN 2009 attendees

More information about IBM accessibility solutions and IBM presentations.




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WCAG 2.0 and the future of Web accessibility

IBM interviews Judy Brewer from W3C about the new WCAG 2.0 guidelines and the challenges her group faced in developing the new principles.




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2009 IEEE Accessing the Future Conference

A global collaborative exploration for accessibility in the next decade.




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IBM Accessibility is now on Twitter




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IBM Accessibility is now on Facebook




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Accessibility innovation via standards, governance and training services.

IBM can help your company make it happen.




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IBM Symphony No. 1. Be free. Work smart. Create accessible documents.

Learn how to create accessible documents with IBM Symphony.




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Fortune Favors the Bravin.

IBMer Seth Bravin wins Employee of the Year Award from Careers & the disABLED magazine.




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FutureSpeak: A Preview of the 2009 IEEE Accessing the Future Conference

First-of-a-kind conference developed to identify the next generation of accessibility challenges—challenges arising from the increasingly pervasive use of technologies such as 3-D Web, online collaboration, shared medical records, and advanced systems for transportation and communication.




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Out of Africa. IBM helps develop an e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communications Technologies (G3ict) unwrapped a first-of-a-kind toolkit that addresses the needs of policymakers and regulators across a broad range of government agencies and ministries in countries that are implementing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.




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A More Perfect Union - Obama marks 19th Anniversary of ADA

On the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) President Obama proclaimed July 26 the official anniversary of the ADA, and announced that the United States would become an official signatory to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).




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2009 Deaflympics. IBM supplies on demand sign language interpretation

IBM researchers at IBM made improvements to IBM Easy Web Browsing to try and help people with dyslexia and learning disabilities use the Internet more effectively.




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Accessing the Future. IBM and IEEE 'boldly go' where no one has gone before...

150 cross-disciplinary leaders from university, government, industry and advocacy organizations came together with IBM and IEEE in July 2009 and generated a list of ten accessibility recommendations to help ensure digital inclusion for current and future generations.




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Speaking of Awards: IBM India Research Lab honored with National Award for Technological Innovation.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in India recently presented its National Award for Technological Innovation to the IBM India Research Lab for Project Spoken Web.




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Making inclusive travel and tourism a reality in Georgia. IBM co-leading public-private partnership.

Recently, a public-private partnership - the Georgia Alliance for Accessible Technologies - has been formed to help make inclusive travel and tourism a reality in Georgia. Over 60 Georgia-based companies, research and academic institutions, NGOs and public sector organizations have been involved in the initiative, which IBM is co-chairing.




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CSUN sets its sights on San Diego in 2010

This year, after more than two decades in Los Angeles, the world's largest conference on technology and people with disabilities is pulling up stakes and taking the show south to the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, California.




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India advances towards accessibility

In February, IBM was a gold sponsor of Techshare India 2010. Read about the conference and IBM's participation.




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Live Virtual Classrooms: Making the grade in accessibility

Learn about virtual classroom solutions and best practices that instructors can follow to deliver the most accessible online course despite the limitations of virtual classroom tools.




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Better city, better life. China charts a course to a smarter (more inclusive) future

In the six years since Shanghai won its bid to host the 2010 World Expo, China has appeared to be on a mission to revitalize the Fairs' faltering image. Critics of the nearly 160-year tradition claim that technology has rendered the experience obsolete. Why travel to explore humankind's latest achievements when you can get all the insight you need from a quick Google search? Allow the leaders of China's second-largest city to enlighten you: this Expo isn't focused on nature, or the world's oceans or any number of previously selected topics that may or may not be of interest to the average global citizen. It's about you. Where you live. How you live. And the many ways in which governments, businesses and individuals can work together to transform cities into smarter environments that contribute to an overall better quality of life for everyone.




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Easy Web Browsing - customized

A team from IBM Research in Tokyo presented a study they conducted to determine if it was possible to customize an existing product, Easy Web Browsing, to each individual user, and presented their findings at the California State University at Northridge (CSUN) 25th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference.




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The Linux Foundation Delivers New Licensing Terms, Testing Tools for Accessibility Interfaces

In early July, the Linux Foundation announced new licensing terms for IAccessible2 (IA2) and the availability of AccProbe, a new desktop application testing tool for the development community.




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Opening doors for Web 2.0 accessibility with WAI-ARIA

With Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA), developers can make advanced Web applications accessible and usable to a broad range of people with disabilities.




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October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. IBM honored with award from USBLN

The USBLN 2010 Annual Leadership Awards highlighted employer achievements in seven categories, including supplier diversity and market share. IBM was among those honored, receiving the "Employee Resource Group (ERG) of the Year" award for exemplary strategies to advance disability inclusiveness in the workplace, marketplace and supply chain.




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IBM mobile web application helps City of Nettuno, Italy become smarter. Visitors and residents with disabilities can navigate historic city more easily.

The City of Nettuno worked with IBM Human-Centric Solutions (HCS) to develop an interactive service providing real-time accessibility information via a smartphone application. Called "Accessibility City Tag" (ACT!), the service allows residents or visitors with disabilities to view accessibility information about Nettuno points of interest, filtered by their particular disability type, on their smart phone.




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Toward a Smarter Planet: Minding the Digital Gap for Our Aging Population

Given enough attention, a browser that closes the digital divide between us and our older generation could soon become a reality.




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Lotus Connections 3.0 – Accessible Social Software for Business

Designed with business people in mind, IBM Lotus Connections 3.0 software gives you fast access to everyone in your network - your colleagues, customers and partners.




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Creating business advantage with workforce diversity and inclusion

For many people, accessibility and disability are philanthropic efforts that represent requisite components of every company's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) portfolio. Well, that is one point of view. At IBM, we've traditionally viewed these issues from a more out-of-the-box perspective that asked: What if accessibility was a REAL business? How could including people with disabilities in the workforce create an additional business advantage for companies?




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A new vision for 'social security'. Home healthcare smart sensors help keep Italian seniors living in place.

Faced with a stagnant, 10-year budget forecast, restricted resources and the need to address healthcare and safety needs of a rapidly growing percentage of healthy citizens over the age of 70, city leaders got creative. Partnering with IBM, TIS Innovation Park, the technological park of Bolzano, and Dr. Hein GmbH, the city sponsored the Secure Living project to help seniors safely 'age in place' at home.




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The WAI forward for accessibility. How IBM is making its Web applications more accessible

Learn how IBM is how incorporating WAI-ARIA techniques and examples into: IBM accessibility guidelines, product accessibility reviews by the IBM Accessibility Architecture Review Board, and automated accessibility testing via IBM Rational Policy Tester.




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Let's get mobile. Advancing mobile usability for everyone.

For many people, accessibility and disability are philanthropic efforts that represent requisite components of every company's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) portfolio.

More and more users are adopting the mobile platform. It is predicted that the tipping point will be reached in 2013 with mobile devices surpassing the desktop computer as the most common Web access device




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Social media sites get down to business

Social networking has literally transformed the way the world communicates. What began as entertaining online forums for reconnecting with old friends and former colleagues has also morphed into real-time virtual hotlines for job posters and seekers, political compatriots and natural disaster survivors.




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Accessible Analytics - Complex Charts, Large Datasets, and Node Diagrams

Our world is becoming increasingly intelligent, interconnected, and instrumented, resulting in massive amounts of data being collected. This data is a treasure trove of information that can be mined to improve service, increase sales, determine risk, or make operations more efficient.

Analysis of such large amounts of data, often called analytics, is increasingly desired by governments and businesses alike.




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The art of accessibility. Knowing art when you 'hear' it.

The Lille Metropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (LaM) has a new Smartphone application called "Tag My LaM" — that describes nearby sculptures when visitors are strolling the extensive outside sculpture garden.




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Eclipsing expectations. New Eclipse support for IAccessible2 makes code more accessible than ever

Eclipse now contains additional support for IAccessible2 application programming interfaces that makes accessible coding easier than ever.Eclipse contains additional support for IAccessible2 application programming interfaces that makes accessible coding easier than ever.




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Accessibility in the City — New York City

IBM is piloting a first-of-a-kind prototype application, called AccessMyNYC, for a limited time in New York City to study accessible travel solution requirements for Smarter Cities.




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A Testament to Accessibility

Seth Bravin testifies before US Senate about higher education and employment for people who are deaf and hard of hearing




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Making small visual displays accessible to people wih vision loss. AFB to develop consumer report on small screen access.

The ability to read small visual displays (SVDs) affects successful functioning at home and in the workplace. SVDs can be found in products as diverse as cell phones, personal digital assistants, photocopiers, fax machines, kitchen and laundry appliances, home entertainment devices, exercise equipment, and diabetes self-management technology. Individuals with vision loss face severe limitations in using such products safely and effectively because the visual displays lack accessibility features.




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Facebook Expert Hour on November 10, 2011 at 12 pm EDT

Have questions about "Low Vision and Aging?" Join experts from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) on the IBM Accessibility Facebook page, and learn more.




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10 steps for making your meeting accessible. How to design your meeting and include everyone.

Many talented, creative clients and colleagues have physical limitations, such as blindness or visual impairment, deafness or limited mobility. When you schedule a meeting, do you take potential disabilities into consideration? These 10 steps should help you design your meeting and include everyone.




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100 years of doing business; 100 years of doing good. Human Ability and Accessibility Center employees "doing good" for the IBM Celebration of Service.

As IBM turned 100 in June of 2011, the corporation embraced its history of service to the communities in which it does business. IBM encouraged employees to participate in the global IBM Celebration of Service. The IBMers who make up the Human Ability and Accessibility Center found many memorable ways of including accessibility as a focus of their participation in the Celebration of Service.




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Cloud desktop accessibility: A look at how assistive technologies work in the cloud and virtual desktops

As cloud technology evolves to seamlessly configure, integrate and deploy applications, IT of the future will be able to focus higher up in the software stack to deliver business value. This article explores what we know thus far with how assistive technologies work in this environment, As cloud technology evolves to seamlessly configure, integrate and deploy applications, IT of the future will be able to focus higher up in the software stack to deliver business value. This article explores what we know thus far with how assistive technologies work in this environment.




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Five issues to avoid for accessible presentations. Learn how to duck them with these techniques

Five common accessibility presentation problems — the frustrating five — can thwart your attempts to enlighten your listeners. Rest easy. This article identifies these troublesome issues, then details the techniques you can use to avoid the issues, whether you are using IBM® Symphony® or Microsoft® PowerPoint®.




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Véronique Doux-Marot — Our French Connection

New profile: Insights on accessibility from working professionals




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Feeling Fine in Sao Paulo, Brazil. IBM wins $3.2 million contract to develop accessible platform for vocational training

IBMers from all over the world collaborated to win a grant from FineP - Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos – the Brazilian government agency tasked with funding educational and scientific projects that will have lasting impact on the country's social development.




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Check out our checklists. Questions and answers about the IBM accessibility developer guidelines

IBM has been a leader in making IT accessible to many people, including those with disabilities. IBM is committed to creating accessible and easy-to-use technologies that enhance the overall workplace environment and contribute to the productivity of all employees.




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Putting inclusive learning to work in Philadelphia

A Smarter Cities approach to closing the workforce skills gap