W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Working Group Meeting
13-14 November 2001
Melbourne, Australia

With a joint meeting with the WAI IG the afternoon of 14 November

Registration | Participants | Agenda | Suggested Readings | Logistics | Minutes

The main goals are to:

  1. Discuss WCAG 2.0 latest draft and open issues,
  2. Make progress on techniques for WCAG 2.0 (client-side scripting, XHTML/HTML, SVG),
  3. Determine a common format to use across all WCAG technique documents,
  4. Increase participation of Asian and Australian members.

Registration

You must register for the meeting if you plan to attend - even if you plan to attend by phone. Registration closes 7 November 2001.

Participants

Registration is open to participants of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group. Members of the WAI Interest Group are invited to observe the discussions all day Monday and Tuesday morning, and to participate in the Tuesday afternoon discussions.

Phone participation

Some sections of the meeting will be open by phone, details to be provided.

Agenda

Since many people will be unable to travel to the meeting in Australia and due to the difference in time zones, we will meet as the WCAG WG in the mornings to discuss in depth issues related to WCAG 2.0 with several members participating by phone. Tuesday afternoon those attending in person will break into smaller groups to work on WCAG 2.0 Techniques and Wednesday afternoon we will invite anyone interested in WAI to attend a 2 hour session of the WAI Interest Group. This 2 hour session will provide a brief overview of the WAI and then discuss broader issues related to WCAG.

Tuesday, 13 November 2001

Wednesday, 14 November 2001

Joint WCAG/IG meeting begins

Required readings

Links to be provided once documents are available.

Logistics

Meeting place, Hotel, and Transportation details

The meeting is hosted by Telstra. Both days will be in the centre of the city, but will be held in different buildings.

In both cases the nearest train stop is parliament (5 minute walk, flat or downhill).

Hotels

A large number of Hotels are located in the City Centre, or the nearby regions of North Melbourne, Carlton, East Melbourne. A selection of nearby hotels (from expensive to very cheap in order): Hyatt (there are two, both very close), Rydges (15 minutes walking distance, or a tram ride away), Stork Hotel (traditional Australian Hotel accommodation - think B&B, a 10 minute walk uphill or 1 stop on the train). Public Transport is reasonably good in Melbourne, but the city is very large - if you are staying in the suburbs check a map and look for a train line. Taxi service is also pretty good.

There is information about Melbourne available from many services, including CitySearch (a commercial service linked to the Age newspaper - not an accessibility disaster but not a dream either). If you are looking for a travel guide, Lonely Planet are a Melbourne company.

Transportation

Taxis from the airport to the city centre cost approximately $30-$40 (approx USD 15-20). A weekly travel card (valid for all trains, trams, buses in a large area called the inner city, which includes many of the suburbs) is about $20 (USD 10). Public Transport runs apporximately 6am - midnight or just after, and there is a lot of it in the inner city. Taxis are safe, reliable, and readily available by telephone.

General information

Please remember, Melbourne is in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore it will be the start of summer. Although the weather can be wet and windy (around 10 degrees C or 50 F) it is more likely to be warm to hot (between 20 and 35 C or 65 to 90 F).

Australia uses the GSM standard for mobile telephones (but the original bands 900/1800 as used in Europe. US-based telephones are likely to be incompatible). Cellphones with prepaid time are available from petrol stations, convenience stores, supermarkets, etc., and time can be added at ATMs as well as these outlets.

Banking is simple, and money can be withdrawn against most international accounts or credit cards on almost any street that has a shop. Most shops have EFTPOS (credit/debit/ATM card) facilities.


$Date: 2001/11/13 05:38:20 $ Wendy Chisholm local information added by Charles McCN


Copyright
© 2001 W3C® (MIT, INRIA, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark, document use and software licensing rules apply. Your interactions with this site are in accordance with our public and Member privacy statements.