About the STS

The focus of this Special Thematic Session (STS) is PDF document accessibility according to the new ISO Standard PDF/UA. The STS will be part of ICCHP (International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs) 2016 in Linz (Austria).
The STS is chaired by Olaf Drümmer, CEO of callas software and member of the PDF Universal Accessibility committee within ISO TC 171.

Introduction

The new PDF/UA  standard for accessible PDF documents has been published by ISO as ISO 14289-1 in July 2012. Those who developed and support it envision a much improved landscape for accessibility of PDF documents. This applies to the creation and consumption of accessible PDF documents.

PDF/UA regulates how content – graphics, text, multimedia, annotations, form fields – is to be included in a PDF file in order to be considered accessible. While leaving implementation details – how the components are technically incorporated in the PDF file, or how assistive technology (AT) takes advantage of accessible content in PDF/UA documents – to solution developers, it provides a clearly defined benchmark: a first in the field of accessible PDF documents.

According to early adopters – most notably software developers who already ship or at least announced PDF/UA enabled tools and solutions – the wait shouldn‘t be long until those interested in accessible PDF find a much more workable eco-system. Tools are being democratized, such that not only specialists but in principle every document creator can save their documents to accessible PDF at any time. At least one screen reader developer – NV Access to be precise – has already enhanced support for accessible PDF in their NVDA screen reader on the background of PDF/UA, for example access to complex tables.

At the same time it was clear from the beginning that extensive education will be necessary to nudge document producers and consumers towards adoption of PDF/UA. And last but not least it of course had to be proven that PDF/UA really does work as advertised, and does work well.

This STS aims to present an overview of the progress made for accessible PDF in the context of the PDF/UA standard. The four years between publication of PDF/UA and the ICCHP 2016 conference encompasses a time period long enough that there should be some feasible developments in the various fields discussed above.

Challenges

There are numerous challenges on the way towards increased accessibility in PDF documents. The overall eco-system will only begin to bloom – and hopefully to boom – , once all the necessary components and involved stakeholders begin to play together to achieve the much needed synergies.

1. positioning: understanding PDF/UA in the continuum between document authoring and online, web based content, including its relation to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, ISO 9241-171 (Ergonomics of human-system interaction – Part 171: Guidance on software accessibility) and recently introduced regulations like the EN 301 549 (Accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe) or the upcoming “refresh of section 508” in the USA.
2. education: getting document software developers and assistive technology vendors, decision-makers, organizations in the public and private sector, accessibility experts, publishers, authors and last but not least the end-users to understand and adopt PDF/UA
3. implementation: implementing PDF/UA in authoring tools – mainstream (Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, Adobe Indesign and others) and specialized solutions determining conformance with the PDF/UA standard
4. deployment: getting document creators und document consumers to actually take advantage of the value added in the context of PDF/UA
5. quality assurance: a reasonable level of quality and conformance with PDF/UA is required to ensure well functioning of the emerging PDF/UA eco-system; validation tools should be used as much as possible to relieve users from tiresome, unproductive tasks, while guaranteeing a high level of accessibility.

Call for Papers - Suggested Topics

Papers are welcomed around the following topics but please feel free to make other proposals – in case of any questions please contact the STS Chair:

1. concepts, tools and solutions to prepare for and ensure PDF/UA conformance in authoring tools
2. concepts, tools and solutions for checking PDF/UA
3. the impact of PDF/UA on economic aspects of accessible PDF creation
4. PDF/UA – the end of remediation service providers?
5. impact and adoption: PDF/UA and assistive technologies
6. level of PDF/UA support in (desktop and mobile) PDF viewers (e.g. tag support, document reflow, highlighting, navigation, magnifying, screen reading, etc.)
7. PDF/UA in publishing workflows for books, magazines, newspapers PDF/UA in business related communications (business to business and business to consumer): statements, quotes, tenders, contracts, invoices, direct mailing, memos
8. PDF/UA and national regulation
9. PDF/UA in accessible education (teaching materials and more)
10. how to address specific challenges, e.g. glossary, footnotes, sidebars or complex tables according to PDF/UA
11. comparing accessible document formats: PDF, EPUB, Daisy and others
12. research: PDF accessibility and end users
13. research: comparing effectiveness of accessible PDF with other accessible document representations

Contact and Contribution

Any questions about the STS can be directed to Olaf Drümmer (o.druemmer@callassoftware.com).

Chair

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  Olaf Drümmer, CEO of callas software and Member of the PDF Universal Accessibility Committee within ISO TC 171