Category: Weblogs/Websites

"Web and Mobile App Accessibility Regulations"


On April 24, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published its final regulation on web and mobile application accessibility in the Federal Register. . . . The final regulation, promulgated under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), marks the first time that DOJ has issued formal regulations for accessibility in the digital realm. Title II of the ADA protects individuals with disabilities from being excluded from participating in or receiving the benefits of services or programs provided by state or local government entities. As such, the April 24 regulation applies only to public higher education institutions.

https://tinyurl.com/5ef3whn9

| Artificial Intelligence |
| Research Data Curation and Management Works |
| Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

"30 Years Ago, One Decision Altered the Course of Our Connected World"


CERN owned Berners-Lee’s invention, and the lab had the option to license out the World Wide Web for profit. But Berners-Lee believed that keeping the web as open as possible would help it grow. . . .

Berners-Lee eventually convinced CERN to release the World Wide Web into the public domain without any patents or fees. He has since attributed the runaway success of the web to that single decision.

https://bit.ly/41VrXN6

| Research Data Curation and Management Works |
| Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

"Guest Post – Advancing Accessibility in Scholarly Publishing: Fostering Empathy"


This three-part series aims to discuss the topic of advancing accessibility within scholarly communication with the focus on digital accessibility. The contributors, members of the SSP Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee, draw attention to the challenges related to addressing accessibility in publishing and communication workflows. They provide examples of exclusion resulting from lack of accessibility of digital content, list key points for getting buy-in from key stakeholders to implement and grow accessibility programs, and offer recommendations for inclusive practices.

bit.ly/3SGHflc

| Research Data Curation and Management Works |
| Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works |
| Open Access Works |
| Digital Scholarship |

"W3C Sun-Setting Online Unified Validator; Community May Fork Unicorn"


W3C plans to stop providing the on-line unified validator service Unicorn as of 31 March 2023, due to lack of resources to maintain the project. We encourage interested people in the community to fork Unicorn. We have many other developer tools such as the markup and CSS validators, and checkers like the Internationalization checker, link and feed checkers.

https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/9826

| Research Data Publication and Citation Bibliography | Research Data Sharing and Reuse Bibliography | Research Data Curation and Management Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Digital Preservation Coalition: "Understanding User Needs: A Case Study from the National Library of Scotland"


This case study looks at the approaches to user engagement with National Library of Scotland (NLS) maps website users, and how this informs digital preservation decisions. After a brief description of the NLS maps website structure, it examines user expectations of the NLS maps website, how these have developed over time, and the main purposes users have for visiting the website. The main research methods which have been employed to consult with users are then outlined, including user surveys, web-analytics, mystery visitor reports, and enquiries.

http://doi.org/10.7207/twgn22-01

| Research Data Publication and Citation Bibliography | Research Data Sharing and Reuse Bibliography | Research Data Curation and Management Bibliography | Digital Scholarship |

Paywall: "Integrating Research Tools with Library Websites"

https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-09-2021-0059

Academic Library as Scholarly Publisher Bibliography, Version 2 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

SPEC Kit 358: Accessibility and Universal Design

ARL has released SPEC Kit 358: Accessibility and Universal Design .

Here's an excerpt:

This SPEC Kit explores how ARL member libraries are meeting the accessibility needs of individuals with disabilities. This study gathered information on support for assistive technologies in libraries, services provided to individuals with disabilities, staffing and training for these services, evaluation of resources, and institutional policies and procedures in this area. It also includes questions on universal design, an approach to design that makes spaces and services more inclusive of all, regardless of their needs.

Research Data Curation Bibliography, Version 9 | Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

"A Practical Starter Guide on Developing Accessible Websites"

Cynthia Ng and Michael Schofield have published "A Practical Starter Guide on Developing Accessible Websites" in the Code4Lib Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

There is growing concern about the accessibility of the online content and services provided by libraries and public institutions. While many articles cover legislation, general benefits, and common opportunities to improve web accessibility on the surface (e.g., alt tags), few articles discuss web accessibility in more depth, and when they do, they are typically not specific to library web services. This article is meant to fill in this vacuum and will provide practical best practices and code.

Digital Curation and Digital Preservation Works | Open Access Works | Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Sitemap

Web Accessibility Toolkit

ARL has released the Web Accessibility Toolkit.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

On the third annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is proud to announce the availability of a new resource for the ARL membership and the library community—a Web Accessibility Toolkit for research libraries. ARL's toolkit shares the fundamental goal of GAAD, which is to "raise the profile" of digital accessibility and provide resources for improving access to information to "the broadest audience possible." The toolkit aims to:

  • Promote the principles of accessibility, universal design, and digital inclusion.
  • Help research libraries achieve digital accessibility.
  • Connect research libraries with the tools, people, and examples they need to provide accessible digital content.

Digital Scholarship | Digital Scholarship Publications Overview | Sitemap

LibWorld—Library Blogs Worldwide

Christian Hauschke, Nadine Ullmann, and Sarah Lohre have edited a book about the global blogging efforts of librarians, LibWorld—Library Blogs Worldwide. It is available in print form and as a free PDF download.

Here's the abstract:

On April, 23rd 2007 a series of postings started on Infobib.de, where guest authors from all over the world introduced the library and library related blogs of their own country. This book is a collection of 30 revised LibWorld articles, accompanied by a foreword by Walt Crawford. Included are articles about the blogosphere of: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malawi, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, USA.

Repositories Support Project Launches RSP Blog Directory

The Repositories Support Project has launched the RSP Blog Directory.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

It provides a list of recommended and informative blogs regarding the repository scene from around the globe. Listed blogs include personal creations from those with first hand experience of repository management and/or technical development of repository software; blogs for specific repositories, projects and software developers; as well as blogs for groups and societies with an interest in the open access movement and digital curation.

Information Technology and Libraries Launches ITALica Weblog

Information Technology and Libraries has launched the ITALica Weblog.

Here's the announcement:

Hello friends, Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL), LITA's peer-reviewed quarterly journal, is about to launch a new weblog called ITALica at http://ital-ica.blogspot.com/. ITALica addresses a need we on the ITAL Editorial Board have long sensed, that is, an area for "letters to the editor", updates to articles, supplementary materials we can't work into the journal,. . . you-name-it. One of the most important features of ITALica will be a forum for readers' conversations with our authors: we'll ask authors to host and monitor discussion for a period of time after publication of their articles, so that you'll then have a chance to interact with them.

ITALica is currently a pilot project. For our first author-hosted discussion, we are very pleased to have as host Jennifer Bowen of the University of Rochester.

Many of you will know—either because you attended, or because you've heard the buzz about it since—about the 'Creating the Future of the Catalog and Cataloging', program at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. This program, which was sponsored by ALCTS CCS, and co-sponsored by the LITA Next Generation Catalog Interest Group and the ALCTS Networked Resources and Metadata Interest Group, drew an overflow crowd of several hundred and featured as presenters—in addition to Jennifer—Diane Hillmann, Tim Spalding, Roy Tennant, and Martha Yee.

Jennifer's presentation was in large part based on her paper 'Metadata to Support Next-Generation Library Resource Discovery: Lessons from The eXtensible Catalog, Phase 1', just published in the June 2008 issue of ITAL. We on the ITAL Editorial Board believe that the eXtensible Catalog (XC) project at Rochester represents a significant contribution to the future development and directions of both library metadata and the library catalog as a discovery tool. Jennifer will host the first ITALica, contributing her thoughts about the ALA program, updating her ITAL paper with more recent developments in the XC initiative, and engaging in discussion with those of you who care to contribute. LITA members can access the full version of Jennifer's paper online, at the ITAL website . . . from where you can also then find a link to the ITALica discussion. You can also access ITALica directly (no membership in LITA required) at (http://ital-ica.blogspot.com/). Jennifer will be monitoring the discussion from 18 August to 15 September 2008.

Beginning with the September issue of ITAL, we plan to expand ITALica discussions to include all articles and other features in that and subsequent issues. We hope to see many of you online at ITALica for what promises to be the first in an ongoing series of very stimulating discussions!

cheers,
Marc Truitt, Editor, ITAL, for the Editorial Board

Web/Web 2.0 Resources and Tools

Here’s a list of a few Web/Web 2.0 resources and tools that developers may find useful.