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e-power to the people
- 23 Nov 06, 02:01 PM
Now I expect you all to form an orderly queue telling me that I need to get out more, and find myself a life. I spend way too much time watching , and , so I find myself predictably excited that 10 Downing Street has launched a new online petition website. You can either create your own petition, or sign someone else’s if you feel strongly about certain issues raised.
Just as good news, is that it looks to be pretty accessible to everyone.
Downing Street has set up the e-petitions in association with the non-partisan charitable project , who brought you such websites as , which helps you to get in touch with your local MP.
Judging by the petitions already online, what makes it really interesting is that this looks like a project trying hard to show no political bias. The two most popular petitions are to repeal fox hunting legislation and to scrap ID cards – neither of which represent Downing Street's political stance. And petitions that have been rejected are listed with explanations as to why so it's all a very visible process.
When we talk about the internet, and how it can be a force for democratisation, then this is a fine example of that. I’m old enough to remember feeling frustrated at having a lack of a voice except to vote every four or five years. With the internet, its never been easier to get in touch with your MP, or rally support behind a cause.
So why don’t you go and have a look at it. You might find something that you want to sign. Or you might feel that you want to start a petition. Do you feel strongly about special needs schools, either for or against? Is there an aspect of the Disability Discrimination Act that needs to be tightened up? Or perhaps you are bothered that your beloved football team is being sold and you want to protest about it. Whatever cause is close to your heart, sign a petition, or start a new one.
Disabled people have long complained about access to the democratic process, whether that be physical access to polling stations or whatever. This has to be another really positive step forward in opening up government to all more easily.
If you do have any problems using it, let them know - they're still in beta stage so taking all comments on board. And if you start a petition, let us know as well!
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There is a web accessibility petition on the system at:
Why not sign up!
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Although a great promoter of web accessibility, I personally wouldn't sign the petition mentioned above.
To me (web) accessibility is not about achieving certain accessibility standards. I mean, if you ask the question, everyone comes up with a different answer.
Trying to impose that sites achieve accessibility through ticking some boxes in order to achieve AA compliance encourages people to focus on these points and forget about the picture as a whole.
We all know that a site can achieve certain standards, yet remain inaccessible. I'm tired of seeing sites that say they are accessible and try to prove this through badges.
Will achieving basic accessibility requirements improve the situation? If alt text gets missed out will someone 'get in trouble'?
Consider the example of something working well in IE, and doesn't work in FireFox. This would be inaccessible to FireFox users (as happens quite alot), yet this is not considered anywhere on the accessibility guidelines.
An alternative approach needs to be taken.
I write and consult about this kinda 'stuff' at:
and
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My only gripe at the moment is that it appears there is no way of searching or filtering on petitions. There are currently 606 petitions there, I personally wouldn't want to sift through all of them to find what I am looking for.
I do believe they are (or will be) working on a fix for this though.
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Hi Rosie,
You say;
"I'm tired of seeing sites that say they are accessible and try to prove this through badges."
Whilst I'm not a fan of these badges either and think they are mostly pretty ugly and pointless, you do have to think that some web site owners and commissioners may have spent a lot of extra cash developing and testing their site in order to be more accessible and achieve certain targets. So after going to this effort, some people like to show this off. And I for one can see why.
If you're talking about people lying about their level of accessibility, then this kind of thing has to be run by the Government. If someone is falsely advertising a level of accessibility a fine is issued etc.
After all, I could make a badge up saying Accessible to AAAAA+ level and there is nothing to stop me, is there?
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The reason website usually display these badges is because they don't fully understand what it means to be accessible.
Badges are bad because they become a focus. The focus for accessibility should on the user. Don't ignore guidelines or standards, use them with a pinch of salt, not a way of life.
And no there is nothing stopping you putting a badge saying you achieve a certain level of compliance, however, if it is untrue, and one of the accessibility advocates find out, there is nothing stopping them giving you some bad press - similar to a recent Cafe Rouge case:
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