Appendix F: Glossary of Terms
Assistive Technologies (AT): Assistive Technologies enable persons with visual, hearing, cognitive and physical impairments to access web content. They include screen readers (JAWS and WindowEyes), screen magnifiers, text-to-speech and speech recognition software, devices such as switches or wands for navigation, and Braille displays.
Closed Captions: Hidden captions that can be decoded through hardware/software and turned off or on by the user. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that televisions built after 1993 have built-in closed caption circuitry. The captions can be displayed on-screen and are synchronized with the video.
Curb cut: A sloping indentation or ramp in the sidewalk at intersections, constructed to allow wheelchair access to city streets. In America, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) began to require curb cuts at intersections on all public streets in 1990.
Macromedia Flash (now Adobe): Flash is the current industry standard development tool for producing multimedia applications to be delivered online. The technology requires a browser plug-in, which is freely distributed online and comes standard with modern browsers.
National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM): The National Center for Accessible Media in Boston is a federally funded and nationally recognized research organization connected to the public TV station WBGH.
Podcast: Syndicated audio content delivered via the Internet for playback on mobile devices or computers, typically through RSS feeds. Podcasts can contain video or multimedia content, but are typically called vodcasts or enhanced podcasts when more than audio is available for streaming.
Rich Internet Applications (RIA): Rich Internet Applications are browser-based web applications that function similar to standard desktop programs, but they do not require installation. The user experience is typically “richer” and more engaging, as various media and real-time feedback can be employed in addition to feature-rich functionality. Macromedia (now Adobe) invented the term in 2002, and their product Flash is now emerging as the industry standard development tool.
Section 508: In 1998, an amendment to the (US) Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed. It included Section 508, which legally required federal agencies to make their public information accessible to persons with disabilities. Currently, this legislation applies to all federally funded institutions and more recently to state and local government organizations as well.
SMIL: (pronounced “smile”) Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards specification for captioning media. In addition to video captions, SMIL can be used to describe the layout of the screen, interactive behaviors of a multimedia program, and associate hyperlinks with specific media.
WAI , W3C and WCAG: The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a task force organized by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to recommend guidelines for accessible web authoring. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 were first published in 1999 and the priority checklist has become the international standard for developing accessible web content.
Universal Design (UD): The Center for Universal Design, NC State University has defined universal design as: “The design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design” (Mace, n.d.).
Usability: “The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve tasks in a particular environment of a product. High usability means a system is: easy to learn and remember; efficient, visually pleasing and fun to use; and quick to recover from errors” (Howe, n.d.).
Video Description: Primarily for the benefit of the visually impaired, an audio narration is produced to provide a description of the important visual elements of a video.
