News

A new, and significantly improved, beta release of the Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) is available for download from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Trace Center. PEAT is a free, first-of-its-kind resource that developers can use to identify seizure risks in their web content or computer software. The software was developed specifically for web and computer […]

Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden and other team members from the RERC on Telecommunications Access provided an update on current status, standards, and work in industry on real-time text. Presentations were made to the U.S. Access Board at their meeting in Boston on Wednesday, May 27, and at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. […]

In early April, doctoral student Adam Wilson posted a “tweet” on the social networking Web site Twitter, using an experimental system that allows use of EEG as input to a standard computer. A system similar to this might be used in the future by people with severe disabilities, enabling them to use a computer for […]

Channel 3 News in Madison, Wisconsin, featured the Trace Center in an in-depth report on March 31, 2009. View the story or read the transcript on the Channel 3 website. The story shows UW student Andrew Hasley demonstrating his use of the Automated Postal Center, which is accessible for people who are blind or have […]

Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden described the Raising the Floor initiative in his presentation Friday, March 20, 2009, at the annual CSUN conference. Raising the Floor (RtF) is an international collaborative effort to build access features directly into the Internet. Vanderheiden provided details of the initiative, including information on benefits and how to participate. A […]

The Trace Center presented the 2009 Harry J. Murphy Catalyst Award to Frank Hecker, Director of Grants and Programs for the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit organization promoting choice and innovation on the Internet. The award was presented in Los Angeles on March 17, 2009, at the opening session of the annual CSUN Conference on Technology […]

On Dec. 11, 2008 the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced a new standard that will help Web designers and developers create sites that better meet the needs of users with disabilities and older users. This is the culmination of a ten-year collaborative effort with the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), for which the Trace […]

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 was published as a W3C Proposed Recommendation on Nov. 3, 2008. This means that the technical material of WCAG 2.0 is complete and it has been implemented in real sites. WCAG 2.0 has now been submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) membership for final review and endorsement, […]

A five-year, $4.75 million Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center grant was awarded to the UW-Madison’s Trace Center by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education. This funding will continue the Center’s broad program of research and development focused on improving accessibility of information technologies and electronic products. The work funded by […]

On April 30, 2008, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. This is an important milestone, indicating that there is now a broad consensus in the WCAG Working Group and among public reviewers on the technical content. “The community is eager for WCAG […]

Real-time text capability has been added to the latest release of the popular AOL Instant Messaging, allowing users to see each other’s text live as it is typed. This option, included in AIM 6.8, resulted from collaboration between AOL and the RERC on Telecommunications Access – a partnership of the Trace Center and Gallaudet University’s […]

On April 3, 2008, the Telecommunications and Electronic & Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) issued its final report to the U.S. Access Board. Trace Center Director Gregg Vanderheiden served as a member of the TEITAC, co-chairing the Subcommittee on General Interface Accessibility. The Trace Center contributed technical expertise and participated on six of the nine […]

The national bodies of ISO/IEC JTC1 voted in January 2008 to adopt international standards for universal remote console technology. The standards have been published as ISO/IEC 24752, and are now available for purchase (link is external). This is a key step towards enabling the use of URC technology with mainstream consumer electronics, which is a […]

A second Last Call Working Draft of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) and updated working drafts of Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0 were released by the W3C for broad community review and comment. WCAG 2.0 addresses accessibility of web content for people with disabilities. It will apply to a wider […]

The Trace Center’s work on pluggable remote control user interfaces through the Universal Remote Console (URC) framework has resulted in a new series of demo applications. Short videos are now available to demonstrate how each application could be used to remotely control a home entertainment center with digital media such as music, video and photos. […]