AIR-Houston Fact Sheet

What is AIR-Houston? The Accessibility Internet Rally for Houston (AIR-Houston) is a one-day Web competition in which teams of professional Web developers compete to create fully functional, accessible Web sites for nonprofit organizations and schools. The Rally Day (October 16th) is preceded by a series of training and networking activities to help participants understand how and why to create Web sites that can be used by everyone – including people with disabilities.

AIR-Houston is based on the award-winning AIR program developed by the nonprofit advocacy group Knowbility. Partners in Houston include the Disability Law Resource Project @ ILRU, a program of TIRR and the University of Houston. Michael Garfield, the High Tech Texan™, chairs the program and a group of local advisors with expertise in disability issues, technology, and Web accessibility provides organizational support.

Sponsoring AIR-Houston - AIR-Houston is currently seeking sponsors and participants. The Houston Endowment has generously provided seed funding and we are actively seeking cash and in kind sponsors to support the many awareness and educational opportunities that AIR brings to the Houston region. Sponsors receive community and PR benefits outlined in our sponsor packet, available online at http://knowbility.org/air-houston/sponsorInfo.pdf or contact Alivia Coleman at (713) 520-0232 x 111. Sponsors share our high community profile in public events, published articles, and promotional materials. Their employees are given access to training and networking activities worth thousands of dollars.

Promoting AIR-Houston - A press conference with on-board partners and sponsors will be held in mid-to-late April to announce goals and the many opportunities available through AIR-Houston. In addition, regular press releases will be sent highlighting activities, participants and sponsors. At the culmination of AIR-Houston in October, a special pullout section of the newspaper will be published to highlight all of the progress made in raising awareness and accessible design skills in the Houston area. The pullout section will include features on all sponsors, participants, and organizers to put faces on the important issues that drive the program.

Recruiting teams of Web developers - AIR-Houston offers great incentives for teams to participate – Web accessibility training, networking activities, and the chance to win recognition for their work. We recruit from businesses, encouraging them to send employees as a team-building and skills-training exercise. In addition, we accept free-lance developers who form teams among their colleagues and friends. AIR-Houston will also offer the opportunity to educational I.T. professionals to compete in a separate category and include their students and faculty in AIR activities.

Categories of competition - AIR-Houston will award prizes in three categories: The Stock Car category is for basic HTML sites with no scripting, multimedia or advanced features. Formula One is for sites with advanced features, such as multimedia, scripted elements, style sheets, and so on. These two categories will have about a week to meet with their nonprofit “client” and plan the site. The actual pages will be built on Rally Day.

The Educational Edge category is new to AIR, originating in the Houston competition. I.T. professionals from K-12 schools will develop sites for school-based programs. They may choose to use the program as a class activity and include students, or may develop the site with faculty/staff only. This category will do the development work in the weeks preceding the competition and on Rally Day bring their team together for finishing the work for submission.

Student participation - They may apply to be an AIR Apprentice. We are asking the development teams to indicate when they register if they are willing to accept and mentor a student as part of their team. Teams that do this will be assigned a student apprentice. Students will be screened for technology aptitude and skills. They will be assigned to appropriate teams based on skill match and geographical location in the city.

How do nonprofit organizations participate? Register on the AIR-Houston site and we will match the application to the interest and skills of the team.

How many individuals per team? A typical team in the Stock Car and F1 categories is four participants, but we leave that decision to the team itself. Be aware that if team grows too large, it becomes more difficult for each member to make a meaningful contribution in a one-day program. The Educational Edge competition may be used as a class exercise, in which case the team may be much larger. On Rally Day, however, we recommend that the Educational teams bring no more than six participants to the Rally site.

Benefits of participating in AIR-Houston - Participants receive training from world-renowned experts in the important emerging field of software accessibility. Educational professionals can receive Continuing Education credits. In addition, AIR-Houston will offer unique connections to the community through the partnerships with schools and nonprofit groups. Finally, the program includes several opportunities for networking with business, education, and community leaders. And of course, everyone gets the commemorative T-shirt!

Cost - The team fee for participating is nominal, set by the local advisory board, and scholarships are available. Fees are charged for both the development teams and the nonprofit organizations. These nominal fees serve several purposes – they make the commitment to the program real and they cover part of the participant expenses, such as the awards dinner and the T-shirts.

How are the entries judged? A panel of experts including Jim Thatcher, Dr. John Slatin, Dr. Jim Allan, and others will judge the sites based on the criteria posted at http://knowbility.org/air-interactive/2004/AIRJudgingForm.xls.

Can others become judges and trainers? Yes, AIR-Houston is dedicated to developing local accessibility expertise. We encourage anyone that has interest and experience in accessibility issues to contact us. We will schedule trainings specifically for judges and trainers. By the end of AIR-Houston Year 1, we hope to have the local groups of judges and trainers in place for future programs.

Where can I get more information? Knowbility maintains a Web site for AIR-Houston at http://www.knowbility.org/air-houston, or contact Alivia Coleman at alivia@knowbility.org or call (713) 520-0232 x 111.

Thanks for your interest and we hope you will
Join Us in the Race to Accessibility!

 

 

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