[LINK] Why javascript? [WAS: Australian Tsunami Warning Issued after Chile Earthquake]

[Tom Worthington]

David Boxall wrote:
> On 28/02/2010 7:41 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
>> ...
>> The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre (WCATWC) ...
> 
> <http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/>  consists of a single line of javascript:
> window.location = "http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/index.html".
> Does that enhance accessibility?

No. The WCATWC home page fails an automated web accessibility test, with
one level 1, thirty six level 2 and thirteen level three problems:
<http://www.tawdis.net/tawdis/online>.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre home page also has
accessibility problems ((zero level 1, sixteen level 2 and eight level
3) but not as severe as the Alaska one.

There is a balance needed between something which will be reliably
transmitted and which will be easy to understand. The traditional
method, still used by the Pacific centre, is an upper case only, text
message. These messages are difficult to read and use technical jargon
unsuitable for the media or the general public. The Australian centre
uses lower case text and more readable language. Both the Pacific and
Australian centres supplement the text with some maps. The Alaska centre
have been experimenting with web based techniques. Their enthusiasm may
have got ahead of what is prudent.

More on this in my talk to the Turkey's earthquake centre: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/emergency_management/>.

By the way, some of my colleagues involved with the Sahana open source 
emergency software are preparing to deploy to Chile at the request of 
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 
I expect there will be a request for assistance with software changes 
and data input issued in the next day or so. You do not have to go to 
Chile and dig in rubble, you can help from the comfort of your office: 
<http://sahana.lk/>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890