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"Olympic Failure: A Case for Making the Web Accessible", Seminar: 4pm,
Friday, 20 October 2000 at the ComLab Lecture Theatre, Oxford University
Computing Laboratory, UK: http://www.tomw.net.au/2000/bat.html

by Tom Worthington FACS, Visiting Fellow, Department of Computer
Science, Australian National University, Canberra

Abstract:

In August 2000 the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was
found to have engaged in unlawful conduct by providing a web site which
was to a significant extent inaccessible to the blind. The Australian
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission ordered the web site be
made accessible by the start of the Sydney Olympics. The details of the
case and its global implications for government policy and commercial
practice on the Internet is examined by one of the expert witnesses who
gave evidence to the commission. The wider issue of the public interest
in Internet, web and IT development is examined. An analogy with town
planning, inspired by the Lake at Blenheim Palace (near Oxford), is
explored. Details: http://www.tomw.net.au/2000/bat.html

About the speaker:

Tom Worthington is a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Computer
Science at the Australian National University. He is an independent
electronic business consultant and author of the book Net Traveller. The
first Web Master for the Australian Department of Defence, in 1999 he
was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his
contribution to the development of public Internet policy. Tom is a
director and past President of the Australian Computer Society and a
voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery. He is a
consultant to the Australian Government's Business Entry Point and
teaching in the ANU's new e-commerce unit.

Tom is visiting the UK 6 to 20 October and would welcome invitations to
discuss IT issues. He will be in Cornwall 6 to 15 October and in London
16 to 19 October.


Tom Worthington FACS     tom.worthington@tomw.net.au
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd             ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au                  PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
Visiting Fellow, Computer Science,  Australian National University
Publications Director & Past President,  Australian Computer Society
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Net Disabilities Policy Book Online: http://www.tomw.net.au/uso