Accessibility commons

Metadata plays a crucial role for creating a more accessible Web environment, spanning from simple alternative texts for images to various types of UI widgets used in dynamic content. Beyond the current accessibility improvement methods that rely on inlined metadata embedded by the developers, various active research projects are focusing on external metadata which is the key to improve even existing content without touching the original code, so Web accessibility can be more flexible and adaptive to various user needs. Accessibility Commons is a new proposal to build a standardized shared repository for externalized metadata. It was initially proposed by IBM and three universities last year, and then proved its applicability through the Social Accessibility project. Now is the time to move beyond single-system-implementation to a federated data infrastructure for a wide range of Web accessibility research activities and a more adaptive Web environment for people throughout the world. After introducing the basic ideas, research projects, and technical challenges, we will discuss future directions, the potential, and broader applications.