The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media proposes to unite emergency alert providers, local information resources, telecommunications industry, public broadcasting representatives, and consumers in a collaborative effort to research and disseminate replicable approaches to make emergency warnings and community-based information accessible. Alert systems, services, and products are developing a range of text and audio alert capabilities that have the potential to serve people with disabilities, but most are inconsistent in terms of fully supporting appropriate modalities and accessible interfaces.
This project will develop and encourage adoption of standardized methods, systems and services to identify, filter and present content in ways that are meaningful to people with disabilities. Project activities will include: a needs and resource assessment, with diverse consumers and within the public warning community; development of an information model that provides recommended accessibility extensions to emergency system protocols and technologies and services for wired, wireless, DTV- and IP-based delivery; and end-user testing that will identify key usability factors that must be addressed to serve people with disabilities, including cross platform and cross-environment issues.
Through the participation of the Partnership for Public Warning, the project will establish a national forum within the emergency alert community for discussion of accessibility needs and solutions. By working with the National Organization on Disability, and numerous other national and grassroots consumer organizations, the project will ensure that consumers are active participants in defining the need and determining how solutions are evaluated. Moreover, the project is designed to catalyze implementation of solutions and result in development of accessible systems, services, and products. The most direct impact of project activities will be provided by the integration of project solutions into partners' commercial products.
