Access to Emergency Alerts for People with Disabilities Working Group and Advisory Board

NJN is the only public television station that has partnered with the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) in Boston to focus on access technologies for people with disabilities.

NCAM's Access to Emergency Alerts project collaborates with an Accessibility Working Group within the public warning community to conduct resource assessments of emergency system protocols, technologies and services for wired, wireless and DTV-based delivery of information. The public warning community consists of local and national government agencies, Web-based weather and traffic services, local television and radio stations and cable TV services. If you are a member of the public-warning community and are interested in participating as a member of this working group, please contact the project team at access@wgbh.org.

A second group, the Access Alerts Advisory Board, is comprised of representatives from organizations serving deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired communities. Through ongoing, informal communication with NCAM staff, and an annual meeting to share updates on alerting technologies and barriers, this board ensures that consumers are active participants in defining the need and determining how solutions are evaluated.

The Access to Emergency Alerts project unites emergency alert providers, local information resources, telecommunications industry and public broadcasting representatives, and consumers in a collaborative effort to research and disseminate replicable approaches to make emergency warnings accessible. Alert systems, services and products are developing a range of text and audio alert capabilities that have the potential to serve people with disabilities but most are inconsistent in terms of fully supporting appropriate modalities and accessible interfaces.

This national project addresses an urgent need-- to develop and encourage adoption of standardized methods, systems and services to identify, filter and present content in ways that are meaningful to people with disabilities. Project activities include: a needs and resource assessment, with diverse consumers and within the public warning community; development of an information model that provides recommended accessibility extensions to emergency system protocols, technologies and services for wired, wireless , DTV- and IP-based delivery; and end-user testing that will identify key usability factors that must be addressed to serve people with disabilities, including cross platform and cross-environment issues. A public reference repository will be established for summary documents of user needs, design requirements for accessible products and services, and usability research. Deliverables will include:

• Specifications for the comprehensive metadata that are required to include people with disabilities in wireless and wired information alert systems.

• Guidelines for information alert system developers and distributors that detail effective practices based on usability research, and specify resource requirements and end-user requirements.

• Guidelines for local emergency managers and responders that share lessons learned from the needs assessments and end-user tests, and provide an accessibility checklist for ensuring that local information alert systems can serve consumers who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind or have low vision.

Through the Partnership for Public Warning (PPW), the project has established a national forum within the emergency alert community for discussion of accessibility needs and solutions. Through the participation of the Access Alerts National Advisory Board (link to this list), the project ensures that consumers are active participants in defining the need and determining how solutions are evaluated. End-user research will produce findings on device usability and behavioral factors related to information needs and message preferences. Moreover, the project is designed to catalyze implementation of solutions and result in development of accessible systems, services and products. The most direct impact of project activities will be provided by the integration of project solutions into partners' commercial products.

Project activities and deliverables will provide useful data to the FCC and the Department of Homeland Security to help inform an inclusive and universal design for the nation's information and emergency alert systems.

For more information, contact:
Marcia Brooks
Project Director
WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
WGBH Educational Foundation
125 Western Ave.
Boston, MA 02134
617 300-3431 voice and fax
marcia_brooks@wgbh.org