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eACCESS+: the eAccessibility Network (eAccess+)
eACCESS+: the eAccessibility Network
(eAccess+)
Start date: Sep 1, 2010,
End date: Aug 31, 2013
PROJECT
FINISHED
Description
Much expertise, many guidelines and tools exist on e-accessibility but they are of a highly fragmented nature. As announced in the Communication of December 2008 on eAccessibility, the Thematic Network eAccess+ will create a platform for collecting and providing guidance on how to use in practice this body of knowledge. eAccess+ is a best-practice network too that will facilitate co-operation between the community of practitioners (found in research institutions and consultancies) and all the other stakeholders (policy makers, administrators in the public sector, technical staff in the private sector…). The purpose is to accelerate the take-up of e-accessibility specifications and technical solutions, and to contribute to a common approach at European level. The network will support the development of common guidelines and standards, and, where needed, will provide rationale for harmonised political and legal measures.eAccess+ will address the following areas: - web accessibility, as a main focus, in order to ensure accessibility of public web sites in the Member States, in particular through the migration from national web accessibility guidelines and methodologies to the new W3C/WCAG2.0 guidelines,- accessible convergent communications and in particular accessibility of interactive digital television, - self-service terminals, in particular in the banking/financial sector, in public transports, in tourism / cultural heritage, and in e-government.Work will be organised in four methodological steps: consultation (introduction, information, advice, feedback), analysis (problems, ideas, incentives, proposals), support (examples, best practice, guidelines), and dissemination. Those four steps will be implemented in three waves, work will start with a first group of already more advanced Member States and then will extend to include more Member States, while expanding activities in the first group.