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How Accessible are the 50 Most Visited Web Sites
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Author(s): Jack S. Cook (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA), Wasner Martinez (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA), David Messina (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA)and Melissa Piggott (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA)
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 4
Source title:
Information Technology & Organizations: Trends, Issues, Challenges & Solutions
Source Editor(s): Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Information Resources Management Association, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59140-066-0.ch021
ISBN13: 9781616921248
EISBN13: 9781466665330
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Abstract
There are many identifiable tools that assist persons inflicted with some form of disabling circumstance. Many of these are easily recognizable such as ramps, elevators, Braille, and closed-captioning. These features have also been used and desired by everyone, especially families with strollers who can take advantage of elevators and curb cuts. The absence of these simple yet effective features results in a direct violation of governmental regulations as well as human rights. Would you deem it morally acceptable to restrict the hearing impaired from watching television because television networks and manufacturers refused to implement closed-captioning? Most people would say no. How about the World Wide Web? Should disabled persons not be able to utilize the resources of the Internet simply because they are disabled? The purpose of this paper is to explore the accessibility of the web today. In order to accomplish this goal, the researchers replicated a study conducted by Terry Sullivan and Rebecca Matson which was reported in “Barriers to Use: Usability and Content Accessibility on the Web’s Most Popular Sites,” published in 2000. Sullivan and Matson determined the fifty most popular sites through the use of www.Alexa.com. Accessibility of these sites may have either worsened or improved between the years 2000 and 2002, when our research was conducted. The goal of this project was to evaluate whether or not and to what degree this had occurred. This is significant because web accessibility is a growing issue in human rights and should be addressed as technology progresses.
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