Part of the School of Computer Science’s Information Management Group.
The Web Ergonomics Lab are involved in a number of professional associations, organisations, and consortiums, that bring together researchers and practitioners in the fields of hypertext, Web technologies, human factors, and accessibility.
Members of the WEL are active members of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). This group is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and develops strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.
Simon Harper is a member of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG). The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines explain to user agent developers how to make their products more accessible to people with disabilities and for increasing usability for all users. This includes defining how browsers, media players, and other “user agents” should support accessibility for people with disabilities and work with assistive technologies.
Yeliz Yesilada contributes to both the Education & Outreach Working Group (EOWG) and the Web Content Accessibility & Mobile Web Group. The Education & Outreach Working Group develops strategies and materials to increase awareness among the Web community of the need for Web accessibility and to educate the Web community regarding solutions to Web accessibility. This includes developing strategies, and awareness and training resources, to educate a variety of audiences regarding the need for Web accessibility and approaches to implementing Web accessibility.
The Web Content Accessibility & Mobile Web Group looks into making a Web site accessible both for people with disabilities and for mobile devices. Users of mobile devices and people with disabilities experience similar barriers when interacting with Web content. By understanding the overlap between the two the business case for adopting Web Accessibility and Mobile Web Guidelines strengthens.
Darren Lunn participates in the Web Accessibility Initiative: Ageing Education and Harmonisation Group. This is a European Commission 6th Framework Project with the goal of increasing accessibility of the Web for the elderly as well as for people with disabilities. The group seeks to inform the development of extensions on WAI guidelines and supplemental educational materials which can better promote and meet the needs of people who have accessibility needs related to ageing. This includes providing educational resources focused towards industry implementers, including developers of mainstream technologies, assistive technologies, and Web designers and developers.
Members of the WEL are active members of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) special interest groups. ACM’s Special Interest Groups offer a wealth of conferences, publications, and activities on the local-to-global scale, providing unlimited opportunities for sharing technical expertise and first-hand knowledge of the latest development trends.
The ACM Special Interest Group on Hypertext, Hypermedia and Web supports the multi-disciplinary field of hypermedia and other network-based approaches to modeling knowledge, including the World Wide Web. SIGWEB conferences provide opportunities for the promotion, dissemination, and exchange of ideas concerning research and application among scientists, practitioners, and users, with an emphasis on the development of methodologies and standards and the promotion of consensus within the fields. The Web Ergonomics Lab plays active roles in the SIG Simon Harper designed the SIGWEB Website, which was maintained by Yeliz Yesilada and Darren Lunn until 2008. Simon Harper is also the current treasurer; Yeliz Yesilada is also the Information Director and Darren Lunn is the current SIGWEB Newsletter Editor.
The ACM Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing promotes the professional interests of computing personnel with physical disabilities and the application of computing and information technology in solving relevant disability problems. SIGACCESS also strives to educate the public to support careers for people with disabilities. Simon Harper introduced the monthly Left Field Column which is now maintained by Yeliz Yesilada. Darren Lunn also originally designed, and currently maintains, the SIGACCESS Website.
The mission of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques is to promote the generation and dissemination of information on computer graphics and interactive techniques. Members include researchers, developers, and users from the technical, academic, business, and artistic communities. Caroline Jay is a founder member of the UK’s only SIGGRAPH Professional Chapter at the University of Manchester. The Chapter’s regular seminars, featuring the latest advances in computer graphics and interactive techniques, are broadcast globally via the Access Grid.