I’m writing to pitch the show idea “Searching for more than search’s sake: Make your content web standards compliant for accessibility and get better search results in the process” with guest interview David Cummings.
Premise: The legal push for web accessibility (directly related to W3C HTML/XHTML web standards) is increasing, even into the corporate sector. In September 2006, a legal precedent was set for web accessibility when a federal judge sustained discrimination claims against retailing giant Target. This precedent means that retailers must make their e-commerce sites accessible to the blind under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The problem isn’t that companies don’t want to allow disabled people equal access to their websites, but rather many of them don’t have a clear understanding of the inhibiting elements or how to resolve their sites’ accessibility problems. What many companies don’t know is that getting a website up to par with accessibility standards also improves its search rankings.
David’s bio follows, as well as additional resources on the hot topic of web accessibility. Please let me know if this or a similar topic is of interest to your show, and I can arrange for David to give you an interview. I can be reached at kcabera@carabinerpr.com or 310-571-3766.
Thanks in advance,
Kathy Cabrera
David Cummings is Founder, CEO and President of Hannon Hill. A business and technology enthusiast, David Cummings founded Hannon Hill Corporation in 2001 with the goal to provide powerful XML web content management (WCM) solutions, with an emphasis on personalized customer service.
A WCM subject matter expert, David’s articles have been published on O'Reilly's XML.com and OnJava.com, in addition to popular web development sites such as SitePoint.com. He has presented at the Silicon Valley Web Guild, for Silicon Networks, and the Independent Computer Consultants Association (ICCA).
With more than 10 years of software development experience, David is an experienced programmer and has written code for commercial applications in Java, PHP, ASP, and Visual C++. Prior to founding Hannon Hill Corporation, David worked as an engineer for IBM.
David serves as chairman of the board of the Technology Association of Georgia Content Management Society. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, David holds a bachelor of science degree in economics from Duke University.
Additional Resources
Hannon Hill white paper, “Maintaining an Accessible Site," available for free download at www.hannonhill.com/resources/white-papers/accessibility.html
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Website: www.w3.org/WAI/
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Website: www.aapd-dc.org
“Dive Into Accessibility - 30 days to a more accessible web site”
Website: www.diveintoaccessibility.org/
Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA)
Website: http://www.resna.org/