As announced by Julie Howell:

RNIB Techshare 2004 highlights the role of technology in the everyday life of people with sight problems.

The conference will be held on 18-19 November 2004 at Jury’s Inn, Birmingham, UK.

Techshare will interest anyone wishing to learn more about accessible technology.

The main theme of Techshare 2004 is web accessibility.

Our keynote speakers are well-known names from the world of web accessibility:

18 November morning:

Judy Brewer, Directory, IBM Web Accessibility Initiative

Judy will share the latest news from WAI and will provide an update on the development of version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

18 November afternoon:

Greg Pisocky, Adobe Systems

Adobe is working to make Adobe PDF files more accessible to blind and partially sighted people. In his keynote, Greg will describe how Adobe has worked with the American Foundation for the Blind to improve the accessibility of the company’s e-publishing products.

Greg will present an additional paper on 19 November: Achieving accessibility in PDF files with the new Adobe Acrobat

Techshare delegates will enjoy an extremely rare opportunity to listen to two of the world’s experts on web accessibility at the same conference.

Other papers on the theme of web accessibility:

Building an accessible transport website

Allison Tynan, Consultant, System Concepts Limited and Shane Snow, Customer Relations Manager, Transport Direct

IBM Web Adaptation Technology — an integrated client solution

David Banes, Director of Operations, AbilityNet

Journey to an accessible website

Alice Dryden, Website Developer and Marianne Lindfield, Website Manager, College of Occupational Therapists

Practical solutions to difficult web design problems

Crista Earl, Director of Web Operations and Elizabeth Neal, Web Content Manager, American Foundation for the Blind

The successful development of an accessible web authoring tool in cooperation with its partially sighted and blind users

John Norgaard, Technical Developer, Sonokids Foundation, Denmark and Phia Damsma, Creative Developer, Sonokids Foundation, the Netherlands

Web accessibility and disability — a practical introduction

Robin Christopherson, Web Consultancy Manager and Jon Gooday, Senior Consultant Assessor, AbilityNet

Web content accessibility guidelines: accessibility panacea or only part of the picture?

Ruth Loebl, Senior ICT Development Officer, RNIB

RNIB is also delighted to announce a one-day pre-conference workshop on PDF accessibility:

17 November: DIY accessible PDF: How to publish and not be damned

Presented by David Stevenson, Senior Consultant, Adobe and Jeremy Ali, Technology Officer, RNIB

Conference price: Full conference (two days) - £235; one day - £150; pre-conference workshop - £150

To find out more and book your place visit http://www.techshare.org.uk