This has been an interesting discussion and I am weighing in because I have
managed a museum web project [www.capitolmuseum.ca.gov ] from its inception
four years ago and one of its major mandates was to make it accessible. It's
other major mandate was to make it multimedia rich  At that time, these were
pretty much conflicting goals. With the latest version of Flash, that is
less true, but still not a slam dunk.

So in a nutshell here is what we did:

- we researched requirements
- we became familiar with Bobby and Jaws, the major screen reader
- we hired a specialist consultant who could help us with the very technical
issues because things like Bobby are not powerful enough
- we drew a deep breath
- we plunged into design
- we had fun learning how to achieve these seemingly conflicting goals
- we were honored with an award for achieving these goals and the site has
been used as a case study
- we have flown solo after the first release - we haven't needed a
consultant, but it was worth hiring one for the first round

At the beginning of the project we had to often create alternate access to
multimedia content such as in Flash or QTVR since screen readers cannot
access that sort of content, but this approach also helped people with low
bandwidth who couldn't readily download large files. We had fun developing
ways to provide access without creating a parallel site, for example putting
in skip navigation that is invisible to the sighted user but accessible to a
screen reader.

Over the years the site has been expanded, the latest expansion uses the
accessibility options in Flash to create a Flash-based timeline and
Multimedia Library
[http://www.capitolmuseum.ca.gov/english/mm_library/index.html]. These
options are not automatic, but they are usable.

Of course there are compromises, but I think this site gives some good
examples - I am by no means claiming perfection.

We put some detailed materials about standards and accessibility tips, etc.
on our website  Go to www.designmedia.com then choose What's New, then
choose. What's New - Archive and scroll down to E-Learning Guild: November
2003 to access the materials. (A bit of a navigation effort, but not too,
too deep).

At the beginning the challenge was definitely a bit nerve wracking as there
was a lot riding on getting it right - but it actually became fun to see how
to attain design goals within the parameters.

Marlita Kahn
Projects Director
Design Media
www.designmedia.com
415-641-4848, ext 151

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