2002 Volume 21.22 Pages 161-169
This study focuses on IT-based administrative activities: the present situation, web accessibility verification of administrative web sites, and proposals for future implementation of a barrier-free information society. The present situation and new trends in the use of IT - mainly Internet technologies, in both central and local administrative activities in Japan - is reviewed. The policy of the promoton of a barrier-free information society is reviewed with reference to the concept "web accessibility." A web accessibility test of 47 web sites of Japanese prefectural governments was conducted in order to determine to what extent they are open to different audiences and web access environments. The results show that none of the sites has perfect accessibility: none of them are fully compliant with HTML standards, and 37 of them may be inaccessible to certain audiences, including the visually impaired. The limitations and defects of the test conducted are also examined. The author points out the possibility of low recognition of the web accessibility concept among the persons concerned, both web developers and administrative officers. The invisiblity of web accessibility issues is also examined with reference to latent defects in web authoring. It is pointed out that we need to be aware that IT and its derivative cyberspace are never perfect nor universal. It is also suggested that the existence of the "information-poor" in cyberspace requires a greater awareness of accessibility issues.
