NASA Launches Section 508 Help Desk new

Date: January 20, 2004

We are pleased to announce the availability of the NASA Section 508 Virtual Help Desk, beginning on Tuesday, January 20, 2004. The purpose of the Help Desk is to provide NASA personnel and contractors (e.g., Engineers, Software/Web Developers, Procurement Officers) with a facility to request information and assistance in complying with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Help Desk is available via email to provide information and research regarding Section 508 compliance requirements and to coordinate requests for 508 compliance reviews.

The Help Desk is not intended to replace the market research and similar activities required by NASA policies nor is it intended to replace Center resources, but to assist Centers in areas in which they are having difficulty complying with Section 508 requirements.

For details, contact:

*Section 508 Help Desk

* NASA employees and NASA contract personnel only

NASA & DOD Computer Accommodation Ceremony

Date: January 15, 2003
Location: HQ auditorium and broadcast on NASA HQ Internal Channel 24

NASA HQ employees are invited to attend
the Computer Accommodation Ceremony sponsored by NASA and
Department of Defense (DOD). The program will be held at 10 a.m. in
the auditorium and broadcast on NASA HQ Internal Channel 24.

This event announces a partnership between NASA and
the DOD Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program and represents a
significant step in aiding NASA's efforts to ensure that
assistive technology is readily available for NASA employees with
disabilities.

NASA's Deputy Administrator, Fred Gregory, The Assistant
Administrator for Equal Opportunity Programs, Dr. Dorothy
Hayden-Watkins and other distinguished speakers will share their
perspectives on assistive technology.

For details, contact:

Lynda Sampson, lsampson@mail.hq.nasa.gov

Liz Walker, ewalker@mail.hq.nasa.gov

FedStats 508/Accessibility Workshop

Some presentation materials now available, see Agenda and Presentations

workshop review

Date: June 24, 2002
Location: Bureau of Labor Statistics Conference Center
Sponsor: FedStats Task Force of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy
Membership includes the 14 major Federal statistical agencies (See list of members)
FedStats (http://www.fedstats.gov/) is the interagency portal to statistical information from the Federal Government
Purpose: To help the Federal statistical community address the unique challenges they face in making their websites accessible to users with disabilities
Goal: To focus on ways that statistical agencies can meet the new accessibility requirements and make their Web content accessible to people with disabilities.
Tables, statistical graphics, and formulas are used extensively by statistical agencies in the dissemination of statistical information on the Web. Accessibility
requirements affect each of these elements, however, little attention has been paid to the accessibility of these elements in a statistical context.
Topics:

Tables (most pressing problem)
Statistical graphics
Formulas

Agenda and presentations

Examples of tables and statistical graphics

Target audience:

Webmasters and content managers of statistical agencies
Webmasters and content managers of other Federal agencies that produce many statistical tables
Researchers
Vendors (Assistive technology, Web editors and validators, authoring tools)
Disability community

Technology

VISUALLY IMPAIRED STUDENTS TOUCH THE STARS WITH NEW HUBBLE BOOK:
Students who in the past have not been able to experience some of NASA's spectacular discoveries now have a unique opportunity to touch the stars. Some of the most majestic space images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are now part of a special Braille book that combines tactile illustrations with striking images of planets, star clusters and nebulae, as viewed by Hubble. The book, "Touch the Universe: A NASA Braille Book of Astronomy," is the brainchild of Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, an astronomer and faculty member at DePaul University, Chicago. He undertook the project to allow visually impaired students the same opportunities as those who are sighted to engage themselves in space science. Teaming up with astronomer and author Noreen Grice, Beck-Winchatz developed this much-needed space science resource book for the blind with a $10,000 Hubble Space Telescope grant for education programs.
full story http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftp/
pub/pao/releases/2001/h01-108.htm

A NASA/JSC Learning Technologies Project:

Using agent technology, ILIAD provides intelligent, selective access to Internet information through two avenues; a simple low-cost email interface, and a Web-based form.

ILIAD by email is optimal for users who have no Web access, are vision impaired, or prefer quick searching the Web via the command line.

ILIAD by Web also searches the Internet and provides the same time saving benefit. Searches are submitted and then performed offline. The search results are emailed to review at your convenience

Full Story http://prime.jsc.nasa.gov/iliad/index.html

 Design

Interactive Graphical Web Pages:
The Cancer Mortality Maps & Graph Web Site provides interactive maps, graphs (which are accessible to the blind and visually-impaired), text, tables and figures showing geographic patterns and time trends of cancer death rates for the time period 1950-1994 for more than 40 cancers. Click here for browser requirements and recommended display setting.
http://cancer.gov/atlasplus/index.html