OW2 Open Source Accessibility Initiative Operates in Seven Domains


         

 

Jun 13 2017

Designed to improve workplace usability for everyone, the OW2 OSAi community initiative is now active. Heralded by Orange, OW2 OSAi is organized into seven domains, now combining a dozen of accessibility projects.

PARIS, France, June 13, 2017- OW2, the global community for open source infrastructure software and application platforms reveals the OW2 Open Source Accessibility initiative (OSAi), a community-driven initiative designed to develop open source technologies and share best practices in the field of accessibility.  

Heralded by Orange, the OW2 OSAi initiative is building synergies between OW2 members and the larger community around open and compliant digital solutions for people with physical or cognitive difficulties. This neutral forum is now operating on seven domains:

  • Guidelines and best practices: design methodologies (development, implementation), accessibility criteria and evaluation methodologies for testing accessible digital products and services
  • Measuring and auditing tools: solutions to increase the accessibility of digital products, to ensure that web sites or software meet accessibility requirements and to measure it over time.
  • Training: solutions and materials to help education and awareness, especially in digital accessibility.
  • Tools for communication: solutions to improve accessibility in communication and telecommunication.
  • Development tools: solutions to give accessible frameworks to developers
  • Accessible user interfaces: solutions to facilitate the use of digital software or hardware
  • Positioning, navigating and mobility: solutions to ease the navigation in any environment, indoor or outdoor

Initial participants in the initiative include DINSIC, the IT and Digital Agency of the French Government, La Poste, the French postal service company, Worldline, the European leader in payment and transaction services, Smile, a leading European integrator of open source solutions, digital accessibility agency Océane Consulting and eAccessibility consulting firm Atalan. Individual participants are also involved in international companies, such as Cefriel in Italy or Research & Development Institutes.

Accessibility is a fundamental right and a common need, shared by all enterprises,” says Christian Paterson, Head of Open Source Governance at Orange. “We look forward to leveraging OW2's open source community model to collectively explore accessibility research and application domains,” he adds.

At OW2, initiatives are joint efforts by its members that aim to foster use of OW2 technologies by mainstream systems integrators, end-users and software vendors. Within an Initiative, OW2 members work together to develop technical integration between projects as well as synergies to address specific market needs.

To join and contribute in the OW2 accessibility initiative, please register and accept the OSAi charter: http://l.ow2.org/OSAi

About OW2

OW2 is an independent industry community dedicated to developing open source code infrastructure (middleware and generic applications) and to fostering a vibrant community and business ecosystem. The OW2 Consortium hosts some one hundred technology projects, including ASM, Bonita, Chameleon, CLIF, DocDoku, Easybeans, Emerginov, Fractal, FusionDirectory, JOnAS, JORAM, JOTM, LemonLDAP:NG, Lutece, PetalsESB, Prelude, ProActive, SAT4J, Spagic, Spago4Q, SpagoBI, Talend Studio, Telosys, WebLab, XWiki. Visit https://www.ow2.org

Download the Press Release (PDF)