Note: This
document is a draft
[see
change log in progress] and should not be
referenced or quoted under any circumstances. This document is under
development by the Education and
Outreach Working
Group (EOWG).
Fragmentation Driver:
A restriction on the types of standards that governments can adopt;
with a belief that W3C is not an official standards
body
Reason for Harmonization:
W3C is the leading standards body for the Web industry. Many
governments have adopted HTML or XML, and therefore already have
mechanisms whereby they can adopt W3C
standards.
Fragmentation Driver:
A requirement that only standards officially available in local
language(s) can be adopted
Reason for Harmonization:
W3C now allows the development of authorized translations in local
languages through its Policy for Authorized W3C
Translations.
Fragmentation Driver:
A belief that only local guidelines can meet the needs of the local
disability community
Reason for Harmonization
Disability needs with regard to Web accessibility do not vary
significantly from country to country.
Fragmentation Driver:
A belief that the needs of people with disabilities outside a country
are different or not relevant
Reason for Harmonization:
The Web is worldwide. People with disabilities from other countries,
with the same needs for accessibility and using the same kinds of
assistive technologies, may need access to the Web-based resources of a
particular country.
Fragmentation Driver:
The belief that W3C/WAI guidelines were developed by a single
country
Reason for Harmonization:
W3C/WAI guidelines were developed with broad international input, and
reflect needs from around the world.
Fragmentation Driver:
The belief that development of local guidelines is the best activity in
which to invest local funding for Web
accessibility
Reason for Harmonization:
Development of local guidelines takes scarce resources away from
activities where building local capacity is crucial -- such as
development of education, awarenesss, training and technical assistance
on Web accessibility.
Fragmentation Driver:
The belief that it is more practical in the long term to have locally
developed guidelines
Reason for Harmonization:
Because Web technologies are constantly evolving, ongoing development
and maintenance of local guidelines and techniques into the future may
be prohibitively resource-intensive.
Fragmentation Driver:
The belief that Web accessibility can be more easily achieved through
locally developed guidelines
Reason for Harmonization:
Web accessibility can be more easily achieved through increased
availability of supporting tools and resources, including authoring
tools, evaluation tools, browsers, media players, and training and
technical resources. These tools and resources develop more rapidly
when there is a unified market around a consistent international set of
Web accessibility standards.
Last updated 11 March 2006 by Judy Brewer.
Editor: Judy Brewer. Contributors: Participants
of EOWG. Created with support from WAI-TIES, a project of the European Commission IST Programme. [changelog]
[Contacting WAI] Feedback welcome to wai-eo-editors@w3.org (a publicly
archived list).
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