Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Interest Group

Mission

The mission of the WAI Interest Group is to promote awareness of W3C accessibility work and publications, encourage engagement in W3C accessibility work, and provide an open public forum for sharing information related to web accessibility.

To learn about the group’s scope, see the WAI Interest Group’s Charter.

Participate in digital accessibility discussions

W3C and the WAI Interest Group welcome input on W3C’s digital accessibility work from individuals and organizations around the world.

The WAI Interest Group is open to the public with no requirements for participation in the group.

The group provides frequent opportunities for you to give input on digital accessibility work at W3C:

• Comment on WAI publications: Review standards and resources in development — these are announced in the WAI Interest Group mailing lists.
• Contribute to discussions: Share your perspective in the group’s discussions on digital accessibility.
• Ask questions: From the group, you can get multiple perspectives on questions or ideas you have about digital accessibility.

WAI Interest Group mailing lists

The WAI Interest Group has two mailing lists with public archives:

1. Announcements List (public-wai-announce) — for WAI announcements only (Announcements archives)
   • To subscribe: Send an email with the subject ‘Subscribe’ to public-wai-announce-request@w3.org.
   • To unsubscribe: Send an email with the subject ‘Unsubscribe’ to public-wai-announce-request@w3.org.
2. Discussion List (w3c-wai-ig) — for public discussion and WAI announcements (Discussion archives)
   • If you are subscribed to the Discussion list, you will also receive emails sent to the Announcements list, so you don’t need to subscribe to both lists.
   • If you want to send messages to the Discussion list, you must subscribe to it.
   • To subscribe: Send an email with the subject ‘Subscribe’ to w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org.
   • To unsubscribe: Send an email with the subject ‘Unsubscribe’ to w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org.

Using the Discussion List

Contributing to positive discussions

Email messages should contribute to a comfortable, constructive exchange of ideas to advance digital accessibility. Before you send an email, please think about how it will come across to the people around the world who are on the list and everyone who can read your publicly archived message.

• Be respectful. Be positive. Be open to different perspectives.
• Provide constructive information. Focus on developing potential solutions, rather than just complaining.
• Focus on ideas, not participants. Avoid personal attacks, naming calling, and such.
• Explain the issue clearly. Provide sufficient background information.

See additional guidance in W3C’s Code of Conduct: Positive Work Environment at W3C: Code of Conduct.

Emailing the Discussion List

Make sure your message is related to digital accessibility and is appropriate for the WAI Interest Group.

• No soliciting. You may send messages about public conferences. You may not advertise products or services.
• If you are not sure whether or not a message is appropriate for the WAI IG list, please send a draft message to WAI staff at wai@w3.org.
• If your message is asking about vendors or products, include the following wording in your message:
  “Please reply to me directly and not to the whole list, so that specific vendor or product information is not discussed on the list.”

Sending a message

• First subscribe to the list (instructions above).
• Then send your message from your subscribed email address to w3c-wai-ig@w3.org.
• Use a Subject that describes the topic clearly.

Note: The first time you send a message to a public W3C mailing list, you will get a reply email asking if you will give permission for your message to be distributed to the list and be part of the public archive. If you choose the option to give permission, you won’t receive this email again when sending future messages.

Replying to a message

• When your comments are not useful for the entire list, please reply off-list — that is, reply directly to the sender and do not send your message to the list.
• If you change topics, change the Subject. This is usually handled as follows:
  New Topic XYZ [was: Old Topic]
• Keep your reply comments near the top of your message, and only quote essential parts of a previous message at the top — so there are few quote markings for readers to wade through. Include the full text of the messages that you are replying to below your reply so that readers can easily get the context from previous messages.

Contact the chairs

If you have a question about the WAI Interest Group, email the chair and the W3C staff contact.