Description
The project An accessible web for all is working towards solving a basic human right: that of equal access to information for all citizens, but with focus on the information and access needs of people with visual impairment in Romania. The project proposes to tackle this problem from the perspective of making accessible the websites of the public authorities in Romania. The project partner will achieve this through a powerful public awareness raising component, doubled by the development of new web accessibility services and expertise (non-existent at the time of the project start) which will be developed through collaboration with the NGO sector. Through the development of a unique national web accessibility portal which will host all relevant technical, informational and legislative accessibility resources and tools the project will solve an omnipresent problem – that of the lack of well-structured accessibility resources available in Romanian language.
Summary of project results
The “Accessible Web for All” project is unique because no similar project has ever been implemented in Romania. The idea of an accessible web stems from the universal right of every citizen to have access to information. Blind people don’t have access to much of the information on the web because most websites were not built taking into consideration the possibility of making them accessible for visually impaired persons. Public websites were chosen as the focus of the project because there is national legislation in Romania which makes it compulsory for public authorities to make their digital information accessible. During the implementation of the project, one of the main objectives was to start developing a web accessibility service – which involved training 10 people in order for them to understand and gain technical knowledge regarding the design and development of accessible websites. In parallel, a portal containing many web accessibility resources, guides and legislative documents was developed. Once the necessary expertise was acquired, the project team proceeded to audit 30 selected public websites, to determine their level of accessibility. Following these audits, each of the institutions received an audit report, recommendations as to how to improve the accessibility of their particular website, and technical support. Perhaps the strongest component of the project was awareness rising, which was extremely successful. The following actions ensured the success of the project: • organising four technical workshops for employees from public institutions who were responsible for maintaining their institution’s website; • organising a dedicated chapter for web accessibility within Get Online Week 2016. Get Online Week is a pan-European digital inclusion campaign aiming at bringing online those people who are still “left behind” in the digital age. The project was awarded six prizes for the best photo, video, life story, activity, social media presence and most creative activity. Over 4,000 teachers, librarians, students, community members and NGOs participated; • The Web Accessibility Awards Gala was one of the flagship events of the project since it represented the successful achievement of the core mission of the project: accessible public websites. The project team gave awards to the institutions with the most accessible websites in Arad and Timiș counties, based on the progress they made during the project.
Summary of bilateral results