T.H. Schee

Are we being played as fools by our road safety masters? Sy Nunan offers some thoughts on managing risk. (Editorial note: this is by far the most incisive piece we’ve ever seen on this subject.)

回應 zonble 兄之『我很好奇我也充滿疑惑的是…』一文中的：

那麼，這些中文網站，這些weblog，曾經有哪些中文世界disable的朋友瀏覽過呢？這些論述究竟提供了多少可行的方法，還是只告訴了我關於Accessibility的想像態呢？

我的看法是，我們可以不用兩分：『提供可行/還是引發想像』的想像來處理；我把他看成是程度(degree of level)的問題。 舉我自己來說好了，我不是專職網頁設計師，不會美工，更不是可以把 coding(which is inherently logical) 提升到近似 magical 程度的 programmer. 那當我看到這些關於引用 W3C 的諸多論述(be it blog or news)，甚至提到正有國內官方在進行推動，或是香港也舉辦了相關的研討會之際，我可以學到什麼？又，可以直接 apply 的 technique, 除了閱覽『深入親和力』一書外，還有什麼是足資藉運的技巧或綱要，能拿來處理類似 Big5 編碼在 lynx 底下無以為現的親和力障礙？

先撇開技術面(which is of course our primary concern)，我的另一個問題是，有多少人已經意識到網頁 accessibility 的問題？或是，我們一般的網頁瀏覽者是在什麼樣的情境之下，開始親身遭遇到 accessibility 的問題？

我第一次體驗到原來 web 不是像實體頁面一樣 — 一個模子就只會是一個樣 — 大約是在 IE 3.x 和 Netscape Navigator 3.x 的時候。但那時我把不同的 page rendering 看成是美工或是程式設計的問題，沒多想 accessibility, 也不知到其實可以用親和力的角度來切入想像。我相信那時後的 web designer 一定有意識到這些問題, but it’s not just a compatibility issue(相容性).

問過自己身邊作 web design 的人，顯然，親和力仍不夠大聲。

目前許多不重親和力的網頁設計，或許可能會讓本來 “enable" 的人對於虛擬空間的認知變成 disabled-level(this whole line is my argument), 進而反饋到我們對於所存之實像界缺乏無障礙空間思維的忽視；反之則也。親和力的受惠對象，包含所有形色之使用者。近來台灣有許多人在使用 blog, 但我認為，它不只是一個工具，它可以是一個運用來重新界定我們自己為何的『輔具架構』。這個架構，讓我更容易去意識到 accessibility 原來是一個可以努力的領域。Tools invariably will shape how we perceive the world, and blogs, with which we can see through, offer a better scope. 在 BBS 上，很難 sense 到 accessibility 的問題吧？

實作方法？Sorry, I still got no clue. But 正如 inertia 在小實驗一文中所言：

我不知道什麼是klog或者終身學習，但總之，實踐總沒錯，至少就韋伯的目的倫理來說沒錯。

Sense 到問題可以是第一步。至於本身涉及相關產業的工作者要如何解套，我們還有討論空間，也急需集眾智為用，開始對話。I am not a designer, 所以只能扮演輔助提供訊息的角色(然後把無障礙議題推上 Google 正體中文排行榜)。我很遺憾，自己沒有早一點注意到這個東西。

註：我中英交雜使用就是一個不佳的例子

CoWeb(SWiki) 是喬治亞理工學院在1997年便著手開發的一套教育 wiki 系統，它和傳統 wiki 最大的不同是在於，它就是以教學用途為主，因此, Mark Guzdial 在開發系統初期就特別注意到所有 SWiki 使用者的角色扮演問題。我們來看一看有哪些：

1) Authors: 增加、編纂、修訂、鏈結不同內容和頁面
2) Purposeful agents: 打手，作用為引介正確 wiki 語法和活絡頁面協同撰寫行為
3) Central users: 負責將頁面空間整理(編排版面)
4) Peripheral users: 多數參與的學生或是外來的瀏覽人仕
5) Site designers: 擔崗網頁設計的工作
6) Developers: 程式發展
7) Administrators: 大頭目
8) Support Stuff: 『課服』人員、教育訓練

在進行 e-Learning 教育平台開發和運用時, “role support" 可能是必須要一併考慮的面向。

首先是來自 Jedi 的消息。今日下午的『無障礙網路空間研討會』於國立臺灣師範大學的教育大樓二樓演講廳舉行。我因未與會，無法作任何判斷，但從行政院研考會主責之『無障礙網路空間服務網』內容架構看來，顯然還需要用功一下。 延伸思考。淡江大學盲生資源中心之網頁標題為『無障礙全球資訊網』。很巧，與前者皆以『無障礙』訴求為出發點。不過，淡江大學的首頁用 mozilla 是看不到的。真正的頁面在這裡。

看看另外一邊的發展。Mark Pilgrim 的 Dive Into Accessibility 之中譯為『深入親和力』，是一本小冊子，開宗明義就說：

這本書回答了兩個問題：第一個問題是「為什麼該讓我的網站更具親和力？」如果你沒有網站的話，你並不是這本書的對象。第二個問題是「該如何讓我的網站更具親和力？」如果你沒有被第一個問題的回答所說服，那麼你也不會對第二個問題感興趣。

好的，先不管什麼無障礙還是親和力。從文字詞意給觀眾的第一印象來看，兩個 links 一個是『無障礙資訊』，另外是『深入親和力』。你們會想要點哪一個？

推一個類似的規範標準時，主其事的譯者，必須要想到譯名『親和力』的問題。這一連串在 blog.elixus.org 的無障礙與親和力之討論文章，頗有值得借鏡之處。

雜想：Mark Pilgrim 之前的那禪宗八隻牛，不是隨便放上去的。Zen 影響他的 philosophy of accessibility 頗大。有趣的是，這個從東方過去的東西(zen)，又被西方人再次運用了。"Movable Type(活字印刷)" 不也是畢昇為先嗎？手有藏寶而不知運納為用，惜哉。

一起比對網站：中華民國無障礙環境推廣協會 || Usability Week 2003 || 香港『網頁易用無障礙‧共享數碼新年代』研討會 || IBM Accessibilit Center

根據 slashdot 上的轉述報導，美國緬因州(Maine) 正進行一項為期四年的計劃，預計逐步添購 Apple iBook 給州內所有七年級的學生。對，就是一人一台。

Laptops Win Over the Skeptics, Even in Maine

Althogh less known, but they certainly deserve our attention:

PukiWiki (from Japan)
ChiqChaq Wiki (from Israel)
IAwiki
OddMuse (also known as emacswiki, which is a heavily patched UseMod)

And PublicWikis page.

Standord Law School, Center for Internet and Society

Copyright 2003 The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times

All Rights Reserved
Los Angeles Times

February 27, 2003 Thursday Home Edition

SECTION: Calendar Weekend; Part 5; Page 14; Calendar Desk

LENGTH: 625 words

HEADLINE: INTERNET;
Into the blog;
The digerati gather to discuss life as seen through their laptops.

BYLINE: Gendy Alimurung, Special to The Times

BODY:
The “Live From the Blogosphere!" confab is equal parts literary salon, cyberpunk press conference and geek cocktail party. And before the party is over, strangers who’ve traded secrets but know each other only by code names will have met in the flesh for the first time, and a young hacker possibly will have become a millionaire.

Six of the biggest personas in blogging have converged on the Electronic Orphanage, a small black box of a gallery in Chinatown, to deconstruct the blog. (Blogs, or Web logs, are online journals with entries running in reverse chronological order, the last appearing first.) Onstage, gray-haired Doc Searls, senior editor of Linux Journal, is the tribe’s sage. Mark Frauenfelder, founder of bOingbOing and Wired Online, is the pro: He was in an Apple commercial. Tony Pierce — “not an IT genius, not a professional writer" — is the everyman. Susannah Breslin, who orchestrated the event (with moderator Xeni Jardin and electronic arts collective Rhizome.org), is the lady holding the virtual whip. She runs the racy Reverse Cowgirl’s Blog. Evan Williams, the cute guy in the Blogger T-shirt, is the boy who built the blogging software. To the digerati, he’s “the Blogfather." If Williams is the blogger every other blogger wants to be, then Heather Havrilesky, the author of the Rabbit Blog who is brainy and sexy in the manner of Agent Scully, is the blogger everyone wants to be with.

By a quarter to 8, a crowd of a hundred or so has gathered. Attendees scribble not their names but their blog addresses onto sticky badges — “Hello My Name Is … http://www.lablogs.com." They tote laptops, cell phones and Palm Pilots with miniature screens that glow blue in the darkened room. The super six answer questions: Are blogs a threat to conventional journalism? How has the blog phenomenon evolved? How are blogs changing our culture?

“Live From the Blogosphere!" is unprecedented: It is the first time the alpha bloggers onstage have been in the same place at the same time. Though in blogger parlance, “place" is a hazy concept. “If I’d known I was having guests," Pierce quips as his blog scrolls up live onto the giant overhead screen, “I’d have spruced it up a bit."

The blogosphere moves fast. Speed is its nature. People blog about the event at the event. Seconds after questions are posed, they go public online through a WiFi wireless connection.

A contradictory mix of anonymity and intimacy is also part of the blogosphere’s nature. You can, for example, know what Havrilesky’s fourth grade teacher told her about the Apocalypse but never know what makes her laugh. You can, as one blogger confides, be a vixen in the blogosphere but a wallflower in person. In the spirit of intimacy, Searls confesses why the line to the bathroom was so long — he was in there blogging.

The panelists also discuss physical interaction. “This guy came up to me and said, ‘Hi, I’m Boogah,’ " says Frauenfelder, gesturing toward a large fellow dressed in black. “I recognized him from my blog, but he didn’t tell me his real name." Says Pierce: “Mark was nerdier than I expected, while Evan was cooler. And Doc, I was surprised at how down to earth he was."

As the discussion draws to a close, Williams suddenly gets hot news. In lieu of an explanation, he shakily brings up his blog on the giant screen: “Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time," it reads. Pyra Labs is the company Williams founded. It makes the Blogger software. Google, of course, is Big Money. “Everyone imaginable will be doing it this year," he’d replied earlier to the question of what this technology will mean to the mainstream. Tonight, a community. Tomorrow, an empire. But for now, boot up and read about it on a blog.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: CONNECTIONS: Attendees at “Live From the Blogosphere!" blogged away on their laptops even as they talked about the young art and science of blogging. Blogs, or Web logs, are online journals. PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Frauenfelder

什麼樣的議題在 blog 上討論，會讓人有如踩地雷的感覺？政治嗎？還是信仰？或是 Microsoft 大戰 Linux? 在中文 Blog 界談論這些有如地雷般的議題，是不是會『污染』這塊新興的網路淨土？還是促起集(個)體無(有)意識的筆戰對抗？

期盼有一天能看到中文界有類似 talkleft.com 之 blog, 或是 euronews 的媒體。