Evaluating web accessibility of educational institutions websites using a variable magnitude approach.

The World Wide Web serves as an excellent platform for information dissemination. Educational institutions such as universities are utilizing the web medium to reach their target audience. In the post-Covid-19 scenario, the web medium has obtained increased significance as it has become the primary access channel to reach these institutions. In this backdrop, it becomes essential to analyze the accessibility of these sites for students with special needs. This paper presents an approach to compute the accessibility of web pages for persons with disabilities. A variable magnitude approach is proposed in this paper for the computation of accessibility barrier count as a combination of two different components. The proposed approach is experimented with top ranked higher educational institution websites of India. Based on the inferences from the results and inputs received from students with disabilities, a set of suggestions have been compiled by this paper to minimize the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in consuming these web resources.

Private post-secondary library websites and the ADA: compliancy and COVID-19.

This study explores whether US post-secondary institutions (PPI) follow philosophies to foster inclusive communities, providing resources for those individuals with disabilities thrive socially, personally, and academically, while there have been no thorough studies conducted to determine web accessibility of the nation's top-ranked PPI library webpages. Additionally, this study pioneers in comparison with the accessibility of PPI's library homepages fighting COVID-19. The study evaluated the library homepages of the premium PPIs based on Money.com's 2019 list of "The Best Colleges in America" via the WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool. The outcomes determined that most of the library homepages analyzed were littered with numerous errors, and the shift to online-based research in learning had no significant impact on the number of errors WAVE detected. The disconcerting findings of this study demonstrate the overall failure to recognize the importance of web accessibility or perhaps even the indifference toward accessibility on the part of the PPI community.

Remote Education Trajectories for Learners with Special Needs During the Covid-19 Outbreak An Accessibility Analysis of the Learning Platforms

The sudden transfer of in-class education to remote teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic was stressful for all, particularly for the differently abled students. It seems that most of them were literally abandoned and missed out on their education. The learning results of those who were enabled to remotely learn significantly decreased, undermining their already low self-esteem. Even hybrid education challenged the inclusiveness in primary and secondary schools, disabling children with special needs to learn and actively participate in education. On the other hand, remote education enabled modern-ization of traditional education that will soon become part of the new normal. The main prerequisite to incorporating remote learning and teaching as a complemen-tary part of education is to adapt it to all students, regardless of their abilities. Our major motivation presented in this paper was to resolve the dilemma of whether the essential groundwork for the inclusiveness of remote education exists. The research behind it examined the accessibility of learning management systems, audio and video teleconferencing applications, and massive open online courses, which are crucial to the move from onsite to online education. Four impairments: motor, vision, hearing and cognitive were carefully explored in line with WCAG 2.1 recommendations. The current state of the synergy between the components was assessed carefully and thoroughly. For each of the four impairments, the compliance with WCAG 2.1 is presented in detail and discussed. Based on the research findings, recommendations for making remote learning more accessible to students with special needs are proposed, with the goal of enabling everyone to receive a broad education without discrimination based on disability.

Does the law matter? An empirical study on the accessibility of Finnish higher education institutions' web pages.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has made higher education available to many students in a new way. The role of online learning in higher education institutions (HEIs) has grown to an unprecedented scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The diversity of higher education students has increased, and accessible solutions are needed. New European and national regulations support these trends. The research reported in this paper was conducted in Finland, which is one of the leading European countries in terms of high technology and digitalisation. The aim of this research is to explore the accessibility of all Finnish HEIs' (N = 38) landing pages based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). The situations before and after recent legislation are compared. Previous studies have shown that HEIs' landing pages typically have many accessibility errors. Unlike previous studies, this study considered the types of accessibility errors at a detailed level to support HEIs' development and implementation of accessibility standards. A combination of two automated accessibility testing tools was used, and the performance of individual tools was analysed. The results show that HEIs' landing pages are not accessible and there are enormous differences between institutions. Two clusters of HEIs were found: one with good accessibility in terms of WCAG 2.1's four principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust), and one with poor accessibility. On half of the HEIs' landing pages with poor accessibility, the number of errors increased even given the binding nature of the law. Obviously, there is still work to be done. Implications for practice are also discussed.

More to Do than Can Ever Be Done: Reconciling Landry Online Learning Objects with WCAG 2.1 Standards for Accessibility

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a long-term trend in libraries toward the generation of online teaming objects. These materials in the library space are unique compared to those generated in other fields, as libraries frequently make them available for access on their website, or through library-owned social media channels, in formats meant to be available to all. This article looks at major types of library online learning objects and surfaces the most impactful areas of work for librarians and other education professionals interested in improving accessibility and accessibility compliance. The article and discussion are meant to provide an overview of critical WCAG 2.1 standards in relation to learning object types to make the practical implementation of accessibility less overwhelming. To supplement these recommendations, the authors have provided exhaustive lists of WCAG 2.1 criteria applicable to each learning object in the Appendixes.

Accessibility challenges of e-commerce websites.

Today, there are many e-commerce websites, but not all of them are accessible. Accessibility is a crucial element that can make a difference and determine the success or failure of a digital business. The study was applied to 50 e-commerce sites in the top rankings according to the classification proposed by ecommerceDB. In evaluating the web accessibility of e-commerce sites, we applied an automatic review method based on a modification of Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) 1.0. To evaluate accessibility, we used Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) with the extension for Google Chrome, which helps verify password-protected, locally stored, or highly dynamic pages. The study found that the correlation between the ranking of e-commerce websites and accessibility barriers is 0.329, indicating that the correlation is low positive according to Spearman's Rho. According to the WAVE analysis, the research results reveal that the top 10 most accessible websites are Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Walmart, Target Corporation, Macy's, IKEA, H&M Hennes, Chewy, Kroger, QVC, and Nike. The most significant number of accessibility barriers relate to contrast errors that must be corrected for e-commerce websites to reach an acceptable level of accessibility. The most neglected accessibility principle is perceivable, representing 83.1%, followed by operable with 13.7%, in third place is robust with 1.7% and finally understandable with 1.5%. Future work suggests constructing a software tool that includes artificial intelligence algorithms that help the software identify accessibility barriers.

Accessibility evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine registration websites across the United States.

This exploratory study investigated the web accessibility of 54 official COVID-19 vaccine registration websites in the US and their concordance with the WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 guidelines. We employed AChecker, WAVE, and SortSite web accessibility evaluation tools to conduct automated analyses of these websites. The results showed suboptimal compliance with WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 guidelines, as determined using the AChecker, WAVE, and SortSite tools. These shortcomings in compliance may pose difficulties to users with disabilities as they access information on the websites. Based on our findings, we offered recommendations for states and other authorities to improve the accessibility of their websites to ensure that users with disabilities can independently schedule vaccination appointments.

Evaluating the accessibility of public health websites: An exploratory cross-country study.

Public health websites are regarded as official references that citizens of any country rely on for domestic and individual health affairs. For people with disabilities, public health resources are often of greater importance; they additionally provide disability context-specific information. However, to leverage the benefits of such resources for the widest demographic groups, Web accessibility requirements should be met at an acceptable level (e.g., WCAG 2.0, Level AA). This study evaluates the accessibility of a number of public health websites from 25 countries. The choice of the selected websites is determined by the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in the corresponding countries and their rank as of late April, 2020. Ultimately, this study aims at shedding light on the current situation of accessibility to health information and pinpointing the aspects where accessibility to information falls short in public health websites. Using different evaluation tools, the overall results show that the vast majority of public health websites, of a number of different countries, still have many critical accessibility barriers, especially with regards to the perception of information and operability of the interface items. The findings of this study suggest a need for major efforts toward ensuring accessible public health resources in most of the evaluated websites. As this pattern has repeatedly occurred in many relevant studies in different parts of the world, legislation along with educating Web developers regarding Web accessibility requirements and universal design principles become an urgent necessity.

A review of the accessibility of ACT COVID-19 information portals.

Accessibility of public health websites allows important information to reach as many audiences as possible. This is vital during a public health crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reviews public health information portals provided by the Australian Capital Territory local government against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Exploring WHO Communication during the COVID 19 Pandemic through the WHO Website Based on W3C Guidelines: Accessible for All?

Health crisis situations generate greater attention and dependence on reliable and truthful information from citizens, especially from those organisations that represent authority on the subject, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). In times of global pandemics such as COVID-19, the WHO message "health for all" takes on great communicative importance, especially from the point of view of the prevention of the disease and recommendations for action. Therefore, any communication must be understandable and accessible by all types of people, regardless of their technology, language, culture or disability (physical or mental), according to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), taking on special relevance for public health content. This study analysed whether the WHO is accessible in its digital version for all groups of citizens according to the widely accepted standards in the field of the Internet. The conclusion reached was that not all the information is accessible in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, which implies that there are groups that are, to some extent, left out, especially affecting the elderly. This study can contribute to the development of proposals and suggest ways in which to improve the accessibility of health content to groups especially vulnerable in this pandemic.