WCAG2ICT Task Force Work Statement

The WCAG2ICT Task Force is a task force of the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG). It assists this Working Group with the work identified below.

Status

This work statement was approved by the AG WG on 26 October 2022. The task force is active.

NOTE: This work is mentioned in the Other Deliverables section of the current AG WG Charter. The continuation of the work is also included in the current AG WG Charter.

Objective

The objective of the WCAG2ICT Task Force is to develop documentation describing how WCAG 2.x and its principles, guidelines, and success criteria could apply to non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (ICT).

This Task Force was formed to update the 2013 “Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT)” Working Group Note published on 5 September 2013. Updates are needed to include new guidelines and success criteria added in the WCAG 2.1 Recommendation as well as new requirements added in WCAG 2.2. WCAG2ICT was developed to describe how to apply WCAG 2.0 and its principles, guidelines, and success criteria to non-web ICT (Information and Communications Technologies). WCAG2ICT also plans to add new content that identifies problematic WCAG provisions when applied to non-Web ICT.

Scope of Work

The work of the task force includes:

• Determining how to apply each of the new WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 (hereafter called “WCAG 2.x”) guidelines and Levels A, AA, and AAA success criteria to non-Web ICT; this includes provision of additional details for application to closed product software and where applying individual criteria might be difficult and why; and
• Producing an updated Working Group Note (a form of W3C Technical Report)—following the W3C process under the coordination, review, and approval of the AG WG—that describes:
  • how each of the new WCAG 2.x A and AA success criteria could apply to non-Web ICT (done);
  • how each of the new WCAG 2.x guidelines could apply to non-Web ICT (done);
  • clarification of challenges of applying particular WCAG 2.x success criteria to non-web ICT, including closed product software (done);
  • address challenges in Open issues labeled WCAG2ICT (done); and
  • provide an explainer that clarifies the usage of WCAG2ICT
  • where known, give examples of some Success Criteria which may not be applicable to a particular non-web technology; and
  • as needed, suggested changes to success criteria normative language to more clearly align with non-web software and document technologies; and NOTE: This would not be suggested changes to change WCAG itself, but instead provide language more meaningful in non-web contexts. For example, provide alternative language in criteria that the WCAG normative language uses CSS pixels, to use language more appropriate for non-web technologies.
  • how each of the WCAG 2.x Level AAA success criteria could apply to non-web technologies.

Explicitly out of scope for the WCAG2ICT Task Force work are:

• proposing changes to WCAG 2.x;
• developing techniques or interpretations of WCAG 2.x for implementing WCAG 2.x in Web technologies;
• developing any specific, sufficient techniques, including platform-specific techniques, for implementing WCAG 2.x in non-Web ICT, though examples may be in scope;
• determining whether WCAG, as a whole, should be applied to non-web content;
• developing a normative standard or any normative requirements.

Approach

WCAG2ICT is a Task Force of the AG WG, which has oversight over the Task Force to ensure accurate interpretation and representation of WCAG 2.x. The AG WG decision process applies within the group. We have an AG WG co-chair liaison to ensure draft content is taken to the AG WG for review as it progresses.

The primary effort of this Task Force is to describe how to interpret WCAG 2.x and its principles, guidelines, success criteria and conformance requirements when applying them to non-web ICT; and evaluating what WCAG Conformance means in the context of non-Web ICT. The resulting Working Group Note will include a discussion of the application of each of the criteria in WCAG 2.x to non-Web ICT, including their interface components and platforms, and the extent to which WCAG Conformance is meaningful to non-Web ICT.

To efficiently develop the Working Group Note, work may be broken down into sub-groups, under the coordination of the Task Force facilitator(s) following established AG WG procedures for sub-groups.

The work will be focused in stages to ensure WCAG2ICT content is available in time for use in upcoming updates to regulations and standards (like the EN 301 549) that apply WCAG to non-web technology. This means prioritizing Level A and AA criteria and known issues in the existing Note. WCAG2ICT was published on 4 November 2024 before addressing Level AAA, due to regulatory schedule needs. The next update to WCAG2ICT will address Level AAA success criteria, with republication of the WCAG2ICT Note once they have been incorporated and gone through the W3C review and publication process.

The work will be carried out through a series of document drafts, all publicly visible, with opportunities for public comment through publicly available comment lists. In particular, key stakeholders such as developers, evaluators, accessibility experts, researchers, procurement experts, and end users will be regularly involved in the development process. Key participants will be drawn from people with expertise not only in Web technologies, but also those with specific accessibility expertise, including the development of accessible frameworks, platforms, user interface components, and software covering a broad variety of computing environments.

Timeline

The following sections contain rough timelines for the WCAG2ICT work. Actual timelines and project management will be handled outside of this work statement, and will not be maintained herein.

As previously mentioned, a phased delivery of the WCAG2ICT Working Group Note will likely be necessary to provide timely guidance for upcoming regulatory and standards updates.

Phase 1 (completed)

Phase 1 - Published update to Guidance on Applying WCAG 2 to Non-web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT) Group Note (8 October 2024).

Goals were to incorporate new WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level A and AA success criteria and making other necessary updates to the other content in the WCAG2ICT document to align with WCAG 2.2 have been completed. This phase also addressed known documented issues.

• Plan: April - August 2022, Actual: April - August 2022
  • obtain approval from AG WG and launch the WCAG2ICT Task Force;
  • recruit TF participants with necessary expertise.
• Plan: September 2022, Actual: October 2022
  • develop a brief requirements document (as inclurporated into the work statement) and obtain agreement from AG WG ;
• Plan: October 2022 - April 2023, Actual: October 2022 - August 2023
  • develop an initial draft with updates to the Working Group Note;
  • develop initial discussion drafts of remaining sections of the Note;
  • develop initial discussion drafts of Note sections;
  • start reporting to the AG WG (schedule and frequency aligned to when groups of SCs are added)
• Plan: July - June 2023, Actual: August 2023 - July 2024:
  • incorporate first feedback from TF and AG WG into a (publicly visible) Editors’ Draft;
  • publish Draft of the updated Working Group Note through the AG WG;
  • start processing feedback on draft.
• Plan: July - October 2023, Actual: July - October 2024
  • process feedback on document, further develop and edit WG Note;
  • publish updated formal draft, process comments.
• Plan: November 2023, Actual: November 2024:
  • Publish updated WCAG2ICT Note.

Phase 2

The next phase of updates will include any other in-scope work, including:

• Development of a WCAG2ICT Explainer. An initial outline is available in the Google doc WCAG2ICT Explainer.
• Addition of guidance for Level AAA success criteria. Details of the Phase 2 timeline are found outside of this document. See the schedule and milestones page in the GitHub WCAG2ICT Wiki.

Liaisons

While there are no direct dependencies at the Task Force level (please see deliverables section of the AG WG Charter for more information), the following are participating liaisons, which may change and/or be expanded over time:

• Liaisons from worldwide accessibility consulting and advocacy groups
• Liaisons from worldwide standards organizations (ISO, ETSI, CEN and CENELEC, etc.)
• Liaisons from worldwide government and/or regulatory agencies considering referencing the updated WCAG2ICT (U.S. Access Board, EU, Canada, potentially others)

The list of liaisons will be updated to show official organization representation of the participants in the task force, as found in the WCAG2ICT participants list.

Communication

WCAG2ICT Task Force communications are publicly visible. Communication mechanisms for the WCAG2ICT Task Force include:

1. WCAG2ICT Task Force public mailing list, mailing list archive, and GitHub issue tracker;
2. WCAG2ICT subpage off of the AG Working Group home page;
3. Weekly (and at times twice-weekly) teleconferences, with teleconference minutes sent to AG WG mailing list and linked from the WCAG2ICT TF minutes page;
4. Regular updates and feedback to AG WG, and to the WAI Coordination Group (WAI CG) as needed;
5. Regular submission of deliverables to the AG WG for approval;
6. Management of project information and schedule in the WCAG2ICT wiki;
7. Summary of current status and progress on the WCAG2ICT Task Force home page.

Participation

WCAG2ICT Task Force participants must join the Task Force through the AG WG, which includes representatives of W3C Member Organizations as well as Invited Experts (agreement for Invited Experts). Task Force participants must agree to actively contribute to the work of WCAG2ICT Task Force, including:

• Minimum 4 hours per week of WCAG2ICT Task Force work through the end of the project, estimated to complete by June 2023;
• Time contributed on WCAG2ICT Task Force counts towards AG WG participation requirement;
• Remain current on the WCAG2ICT TF mailing list and respond in a timely manner to postings;
• Participate in WCAG2ICT Task Force teleconference meetings.

Current WCAG2ICT Task Force participants

Contact Daniel Montalvo to become a participant of the WCAG2ICT Task Force or with questions.

Facilitation

Staff contacts from the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group oversee attention to W3C Process with respect to the chartered requirements of the Working Group. The facilitators set agenda, lead meetings, determine consensus, and are the primary liaison to the Working Group.

• Co-facilitators: Mary Jo Mueller and Chris Loiselle
• Staff Contact: Daniel Montalvo
• Liaison to AG WG: one of the AG WG co-chairs
• Editorial Team:
  • Mary Jo Mueller
  • Phil Day
  • Chris Loiselle

Patent Policy

This Task Force is part of the AG Working Group Charter, which operates under the W3C Patent Policy (15 September 2020 Version). W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the AG Working Group.