Conclusions of the IX Sidar Conference

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The Technical Secretariat of the II Information Society World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities has considered that the conclusions of the IX Sidar Conference would be a valuable contribution to be integrated into the "Declaration of Bilbao" and to be transmitted to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) (Tunisia, November 16th to 18th, 2005).

Local Authorities (cities, regions and local governments) are some of the main driving forces of the Information Society. To this end, and since 2001, they have established a process of mobilisation, consensus and formulation of their vision and of proposals for action plans through which they are developing their role in the Information Society.

Conscious of the value of the function that the Local Authorities fulfil in the development of the Information Society in a accessible and inclusive way, the members of the Latin American Seminary on Disability and Accessibility in Internet (SIDAR) and the participants in the IX Sidar Conference, with the support of the UMIC- Agência stop to Sociedade do Conhecimento, IP, Portugal; the Inter-American Institute on Disability (IID), Rede SACI of Brazil, the Sidar Foundation - Universal Access and, from the 28 of October, of the CEAPAT-IMSERSO; have prepared as conclusions of the Conference, a set of strategies to be submitted to the World Summit.

Objectives of these Conclusions

The main goal of these conclusions of the IX Sidar Conference, based on the experience obtained from practices used in some cities and public policies, is to contribute to removing barriers that prevent the development of an Information Society in conditions of equality for all, and to promote opportunities for participation in that Society, avoiding social fracturing and the so-called digital divide.

Considering

• That the goals of the Bilbao Summit, as reflected in the draft of its conclusions are:

  To contribute, by promoting the Information Society, to the sustainable development of all communities (with consideration given to its three dimensions: economic development, respect for the environment and social cohesion), without exception (bridging the North-South divide), and of all citizens thereby preventing marginalisation (fighting against social division).
  The creation of an Information Society fully accessible to all people must represent one of the pillars of human development.

• That, acording to the Uniform Standards for equality of opportunities for people with disabilities, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nation (resolution 48/96, 20 December 2003),

  States should recognize the overall importance of accessibility in the process of the equalization of opportunities in all spheres of society. For persons with disabilities of any kind, States should (a) introduce programmes of action to make the physical environment accessible; and (b) undertake measures to provide access to information and communication.

  That experience shows us that content accessibility favours the active participation in the Information Society of groups of individuals that would otherwise be marginalised in ways similar to what they experience in the physical environment. This is the case for people with economic or technological limitations (that limit access to broadband connections or recent equipment), limitations on participation in cultural activity (lack of familiarity with languages and illiteracy), work-related limitations (difficulty to find an appropriate job, retirement), or to physical, cognitive or sensorial limitations (disability or functional diversity).

  That experience shows us that accessible contents favour education, formation and learning throughout the life, which results in a substantial improvement of the cultural level and quality of life for citizens.

  That experience shows us that accessible contents facilitate the design, development and maintenance of quality Web sites, resulting in a cost reduction.

  That experience shows us that the sustainable development is not possible without an Information Society that is truly accessible and inclusive for all.

  That experience shows us that given the continuous change in the state of the art, it is indispensible that users themmselves can describe their experiences and the problems they face in order to permit improvements and the removal of unforeseen barriers to access.

  That experience shows us that the digitalization of information extended the possibilities for communication and information retrieval, so that information could be adapted to the capabilities of users, but this is really possible only if 3 essential factors are brought together:

  • The conception of the information (Design/Development) follows the accessibility guidelines, that is, the principles of Design for All or Universal Design.
  • Users have access to technology that allows them to access the information, especially to assistive devices and other supporting technologies.
  • Users are able to receive training in the use of relevant technologies, so that they will be able to participate in the Information Society not only as mere spectators, but also as authors.

We propose to the Local and City Authorities the following strategies that will enable their citizens to actively participate in an accessible and inclusive Information Society:

Strategies for the production or preparation of information

The experience of the public administrations that have made real progress toward the goal of communication that is accessible for all communication shows that some elements that can be enabled gradually or simultaneously are an invaluable aid:

• To include an accessibility clause in the public procurement of the design, development or maintenance of pages, sites, web services and web-like services (for example interactive CDs, digital TV) for the public administration.
• To prepare and publish an annex for public administration requirements documents, which clearly states the web content accessibility requirements to be applied.
• To include a clause in the regulations of public funding programmes and management, that mandates the conformance to accessibility guidelines of all projects that include Internet content and which are totally or partially financed with public funds.
• To establish auditing centres for the Accessibility of the Public administrations. These centres should, in addition to performing accessibility evaluations, act as a reference and support entity for webmasters of the public administration, providing support and training in the techniques and knowledge necessary to implement and maintain the accessibility of web sites, and ensure that such centres permit the user public to provide their input to evaluations.
• To ensure that such centres make their services available to organisations and private businesses in order to support the development of accessibility in the entire Information Society.
• To promote good practices, by means of "Galleries of Accessibility", of public mentions (prizes) or any other kind of encouraging measure.
• To periodically publish studies about the current accessibility level of relevanr elements of our society, like banking, supermarkets that offer web-shopping, e-commerce companies, leisure services (sale of tickets for cinemas and theatres), etc.

Strategies on assistive technologies

• To promote Internet public access spaces within the NGOs of and for people with disabilities. These access points should include the assistive devices required by their members.
• To guarantee that Internet access spaces under public management are physically accessible (from the architectural point of view) and that they possess computers with basic assistive devices for input and output (hardware) and the possibility of personalised configuration and installation of freely available assistive software.
• To promote the same conditions of accessibility for Internet access facilities under private management.
• To enable an easier acquisition of assistive technologies by means of financial incentives and support.
• To prioritise support to research and development (R&D) projects for the creation of low cost and open-source assistive technologies.
• To promote the localisation (translation to the local languages) of existing low cost assistive technologies.
• To promote the development of regional catalogs of assistive technologies, readily available through the web.

Strategies for support services

• To promote training activities, either traditional or based on e-learning, on the design of web pages, web sites and web services conforming to the Accessibility Guidelines. These training activities should be directed at:
  • Webmasters of the public administration
  • Web professionals (Designers/Developers)
  • Creators of educational content and tools
  • Public in general (to increase the citizenship participation)
• To promote training activities on the use of Internet for users of assistive technologies
• To enable the publication of user manuals of assistive technologies in the local languages of each country

Bilbao, November 9th, 2005.

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