Artists and Techies Unite for a Noble Cause; Knowbility Panel to Teach How to Build Accessible Web Sites, Austin Teams Praised for Their Designs.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2003 To emphasize issues of Internet accessibility for people with disabilities, national non-profit organization A non-profit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. Knowbility will produce a SXSW SXSW South By Southwest, Inc. (Texas music festival) Interactive panel discussion entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: "Building Electronic Curbcuts" on Tuesday, March 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Austin Convention Center Austin Convention Center is a multi-purpose convention center located in Austin, Texas, USA. The building is also home to the Austin Toros basketball team with a seating capacity of 3,200. . The panel will provide hands-on instruction for how to create a more accessible Internet. Held in conjunction with SXSW Interactive, the panel will bring together respected leaders in multimedia Web content to explore the intersection of technology, disability, and community -- and how corporations and organizations can synthesize To create a whole or complete unit from parts or components. See synthesis. all three. Sharron Rush, executive director of Knowbility, will moderate the panel discussion, which includes Randolph Bias of The University of Texas, Andrew Kirkpatrick Andrew Kirkpatrick (1756–1831) was an American lawyer and jurist from New Jersey. He was the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1804 to 1825. For many years Kirkpatrick was a trustee of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) and was a of the National Center for Accessible Media, and Bob Regan of Macromedia. "Just as architects create access to physical space with ramps and curb-cuts, we have the tools to create access to cyberspace Coined by William Gibson in his 1984 novel "Neuromancer," it is a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their minds into it! The term now refers to the Internet or to the online or digital world in general. See Internet and virtual reality. Contrast with meatspace. for everyone -- including 55 million Americans with disabilities Americans with disabilities comprise one of the largest minority groups in the United States. According to the Disability Status: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief [1], approximately 20% of Americans have one or more diagnosed psycho-physical disability. . Knowbility wants to educate the public and Web designers about just how simple and beneficial it can be to make their pages accessible," said Sharron Rush. "SXSW is probably the best outlet for our message, because we have so many intelligent, creative, tech-savvy people gathered in one place." Knowbility will also host the Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR)-Interactive for the Arts Awards on Monday, March 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Antone's, located in downtown Austin, Texas. During the event, which is being held in conjunction with this year's SXSW Interactive Expo, Knowbility will recognize Austin design teams' outstanding achievement in creating multimedia Web sites for arts organizations, artists, and musicians. Four weeks ago, AIR-Interactive matched 13 local bands to 13 Web development teams, which were drawn from corporate and freelance sources. Before setting them loose to design, Knowbility trained the teams in the tools and techniques necessary for creating an accessible Web page. "The AIR-Interactive Awards gives us an opportunity to thank the developers for their fine work and to showcase some really exciting arts and entertainment sites that are accessible both to people with disabilities and to those who use mobile browsing devices," said Teresa Ferguson, chair of AIR-Interactive. "But in addition to that, it gives us the chance to demonstrate to the high-tech industry that making Web pages accessible isn't simply the right thing to do, it's the smart thing." For the duration of this year's SXSW Interactive Expo, Knowbility will be maintaining an interactive display at the convention center aimed at teaching programmers This is a list of programmers notable for their contributions to software, either as original author or architect, or for later additions. See also: Game programmer, List of computer scientists , designers, and corporate executives why and how to make their sites accessible to people with disabilities. About Knowbility Knowbility is a national non-profit organization that uses barrier-free information technology to support the independence of people with disabilities. Its work is nationally recognized for innovation and excellence by the Peter F. Drucker Foundation, the U.S. Department of Labor and the White House, among many others. For more information, visit www.knowbility.org. About the Issue There are 55 million Americans with disabilities -- 6 million of them children in school -- who need access to online learning, employment and consumer opportunities. More than 80 percent of Web sites contain access barriers that prevent their use by a significant population. The number of people with disabilities is growing as the population ages and Fortune Magazine estimates their annual aggregate income at $1 trillion One thousand times one billion, which is 1, followed by 12 zeros, or 10 to the 12th power. See space/time. (mathematics) trillion - In Britain, France, and Germany, 10^18 or a million cubed. In the USA and Canada, 10^12. . In 5 years, Knowbility's annual AIR program has educated nearly 1000 web professionals, representing more than 100 companies, about how and why to make accessible Web sites. Their volunteer work has created Web sites for more than 200 nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. groups that serve the arts, education, environmental and health needs of millions. |
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