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Electronic Curb Cut Project

award number:	42-60-02013
start-end date:	October 1, 2002 - September 30, 2005
total project cost:	$1,006,228
federal share:	$490,000
contact:	Dr. Bambang Parmanto

The disparity in utilization of the Internet by people with disabilities and non-disabled people is striking: people without disabilities are four times more likely than people with disabilities to use the Internet. This usage gap can be attributed in large part to problems with accessibility. Commercial websites comprise the majority of those that are most visited, and yet most commercial websites remain inaccessible because of predicted high costs and assumed loss of site attractiveness. This project will overcome the barriers often encountered in leaving the responsibility for access to conformance with common accessibility guidelines and tools.

People with visual impairments face particularly serious obstacles with inaccessible websites. This project will offer a gateway server, constructed from Java and XML components, to people with visual impairments that will be able to deliver them any website, whatever its level of accessibility. This gateway will transform the content of any website into the most accessible format for any user. Through the gateway, first, every website will become accessible, whether or not it was created by the developer to be so. Second, as accessibility increases, user productivity and satisfaction are expected to increase. Third, gateway training can be tailored for users with differing levels of computer skills. These proposed outcomes will be evaluated extensively through usability studies and qualitative research.

Dissemination of the gateway will be targeted toward portal sites such as Yahoo and to ISP services like AOL that are able to absorb the added costs. Thus, the gateway will not incur cost to the user population or to web site destinations. Also important are the future possibilities for extending the gateway concept to people with other disabilities and to people without disabilities in a variety of contexts.

The University of Pittsburgh will partner with the national American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the Pittsburgh Vision Center (PVS), a local service organization. PVS will support and train its clientele on using the gateway. AFB will assist with enhancement of the technology for application to visually-impaired users, conduct the user evaluation, and disseminate the gateway to its many local affiliates.

additional project resources:

Project Narrative--PDF Version