Miquel Termens

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0: A further step towards accessible digital information

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the changes in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 compared with WCAG 1.0 within the context of its historical development.Design/methodology/approach – In order to compare WCAG 2.0 with WCAG 1.0 a diachronic analysis of the evolution of these standards is done. Known authors and publications in the field, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) web pages, WebAIM and the blogosphere were also monitored for comments and third‐party analyses. The analysis of the main changes from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0 was based on personal experience with WAI guidelines, experimentation with some of the new guidelines, and a selection of best practice online services in the application of the WCAG, including WAI documentation.Findings – WCAG 2.0 is more educational and is applied to more technologies than WCAG 1.0. The limitations of WCAG 1.0 are mostly due to its origin. In changing from one to the other, new priorities and new elements must be taken into acco...

Web content accessibility guidelines: from 1.0 to 2.0

This poster explains the changes introduced in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 from WCAG 1.0 and proposes a checklist for adapting existing websites. Finally, it describes the most common criticisms of the WCAG and places them in the context of its origin and initial aims.

Do Physicians Make Their Articles Readable for Their Blind or Low-Vision Patients? An Analysis of Current Image Processing Practices in Biomedical Journals from the Point of View of Accessibility

Visual content in biomedical academic papers is a growing source of critical information, but it is not always fully readable for people with visual impairments. We aimed to assess current image processing practices, accessibility policies, and submission policies in a sample of 12 highly cited biomedical journals. We manually checked the application of text-based alternative image descriptions for every image in 12 articles (one for each journal). We determined whether the journals claimed to follow an accessibility policy and we reviewed their submission policy and their guidelines related to the visual content. We identified important features concerning the processing of images and the characteristics of the visual and the retrieval options of visual content offered by the publishers. The evaluation shows that the actual practices of textual image description in highly cited biomedical journals do not follow general guidelines on accessibility. The images within the articles analyzed lack alternative descriptions or have uninformative descriptions, even in the case of journals claiming to follow an accessibility policy. Consequently, the visual information of scientific articles is not accessible to people with severe visual disabilities. Instructions on image submission are heterogeneous and a declaration of accessibility guidelines was only found in two thirds of the sample of journals, with one third not explicitly following any accessibility policy, although they are required to by law.

Evaluation of Healthcare Institutions for Long-Term Preservation of Electronic Health Records

An evaluation of health institutions using the Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification (TRAC) is presented. TRAC is an audit methodology for information systems to evaluate its ability to preserve digital information securely over the medium and long term. With this methodology, different healthcare organizations in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain) have been analyzed to determine their capacity for long-term preservation of the Electronic Health Records (EHR). From these results it is expected to propose a model of long-term preservation of the EHR. This paper concludes with lessons learned regarding the implementation of TRAC in healthcare organizations.

Auditoría de preservación digital con NDSA Levels

NDSA Levels es una metodologia creada por la National Digital Stewardship Alliance ( NDSA ), en los Estados Unidos para evaluar el nivel de preservacion digital de una determinada institucion. Se presentan los resultados de su aplicacion en 8 organizaciones publicas y privadas en Espana, Mexico, Brasil y Suiza. De esta experiencia se concluye que la metodologia NDSA Levels es de facil aplicacion y que, ademas de alertar sobre los aspectos aun no implementados, ofrece una guia sobre las acciones tecnicas que en el futuro se deberian incluir en un plan de preservacion.

An analysis of file format control in institutional repositories

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the file formats of the digital objects stored in two of the largest open-access repositories in Spain, DDUB and TDX, and determines the implications of these formats for long-term preservation, focussing in particular on the different versions of PDF. Design/methodology/approach – To be able to study the two repositories, the authors harvested all the files corresponding to every digital object and some of their associated metadata using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) and Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE) protocols. The file formats were analyzed with DROID software and some additional tools. Findings – The results show that there is no alignment between the preservation policies declared by institutions, the technical tools available, and the actual stored files. Originality/value – The results show that file controls currently applied to institutional repositories do not suffice to gran...

Looking below the surface

Abstract The licensing of packages of electronic journals by consortia of libraries has been traditionally presented as a “win–win” system. This article ascertains whether this assumption is fulfilled among the members of the Spanish consortium CBUC. The study of the electronic journals consulted with regard to subjects and scientific areas shows that some universities make more use of them than others, taking into account their relative potential in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE) faculty members. The methodological model used has proved to be viable for studying patterns of use at more detailed levels than the general institutional level normally covered by COUNTER-compliant reports.