ITL Hosts 16^th INCITS/V2 Plenary on IT Access Interfaces

The Information Access Division hosted the 16^th Plenary of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) V2 Technical Committee on Information Technology Access Interfaces on June 14-June 15, 2004 at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. In attendance were representatives from the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), the National Industries for the Blind (NIB), the Trace Research and Development Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison), the Free Desktop Accessibility Working Group (FDAWG), IBM, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Wireless Technologies for Persons with Disabilities, and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). At this plenary, the main focus was on preparation for handling public responses and promoting the proposed standard for a Universal Remote Console (URC) that will ensure interfacing with mainstream electronic and information products through an Alternative Interface Access Protocol (AIAP). The proposed standard is available for review and comment at:

http://www.incits.org/tc_home/v2htm/reviewInstrs.html

A promotional effort will emphasize that the proposed standard is for the mainstream electronics community and that the disability community will benefit along with everyone else. V2 has also developed a web site that outlines the benefits that the proposed standard will bring to consumers. The web site is at: http://www.myurc.org.

The next V2 Plenary is scheduled for October 4-5, 2004 at the Trace Research and Development Center in Madison,Wisconsin.

CONTACT: Charles Sheppard, ext. 3269