By John T. Moore

Austin, Texas

A one-day collaborative effort in Austin that teams nonprofits with Web designers in a competition to create disabled-accessible Web sites may soon be launched nationwide.

The Accessibility Internet Rally for Austin -- an annual event started in the fall of 1998 and held again in 1999 -- may be duplicated in up to three cities in 2000: Denver; Irvine, Calif.; and Raleigh, N.C.

The friendly competition does more than simply get nonprofits online to market themselves. AIR-Austin aims to teach Web designers how to build a Web site that is accessible by the disabled.

AIR-Austin was launched in the fall of 1998 as a collaborative effort between Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN), the Virtual Volunteering Project and Goodwill Industries.

MAIN, which provides free Web site hosting for nonprofits, has held "Web raisings" since the early 1990s as informal one-day events that match community organizations with Web experts who provide training and advice on site creation. The nonprofit and community organizations usually are left with a well-designed Web site hosted by MAIN.

In 1997, the Austin branches of Easter Seal and Goodwill Industries proposed a new form of Web raising -- that of AIR-Austin, which keeps disabled Internet users in mind. The event is based on other Web design competitions such as 1997's "Cool Site in a Day Contest."

The first AIR-Austin event was held in the fall of 1998. It is now an annual event.

Through AIR-Austin, technology experts helped nonprofit design a Web site, while training classes leading up to the event teach these experts issues surrounding accessibility and the Internet.

These classes are taught by Knowbility, a nonprofit launched in March of this year as a result of the 1998 event's success. Knowbility now runs the event.

The training becomes more valuable as accessibility becomes mandated by the government, says Sharron Rush, Knowbility's executive director. It also becomes more important as other devices, such as mobile phones, are used to access the Web.

"If you use the universal designing techniques that we teach, your Web site becomes accessible to a million more users," Rush says.

New technologies are allowing disabled people to compete for jobs that may have once been hard to perform. Knowbility provides access to educational and employment opportunities in information technology to people with disabilities.

"Assistive technologies can really level the playing field like we've never seen before," Rush says.

In addition to learning about assistive technologies, Web experts also get a connection to their communities through the event.

Although the technology industry is booming in Austin, the people in the sector often are fairly isolated from civic participation, Rush says.

Knowbility is looking to connect other technology experts to their communities through nationwide AIR events.

Rush says organizers look for three main things in rally host cities: a facility willing to host the competition; strong local nonprofits; and a strong corporate partnership in each city. Once those things have been identified, Rush says Knowbility can move ahead and get AIR events running quickly.

Event organizers begin recruiting nonprofits about six months before the event takes place. Nonprofits chosen for the event are on a first-come, first-serve basis, although Rush says they've never turned anyone away in Austin.

These nonprofits must make a commitment to maintain the site regularly by updating it and keeping information current. Through training sessions, nonprofit representatives learn how to do that.

In the 1998 event, 120 people took part in competing teams representing 40 different nonprofit, public sector and technology companies. In 1999, there were 175 people and 22 teams participating.

The search intensifies about six months in advance, and training classes for both designers and nonprofits are set for a weekend about one month before the event.

A kick-off party is held the Thursday before the event. That's where the teams are announced. Each team is made up of four designers and one representative from the nonprofit group, who plays the role of client.

From the time they are introduced Thursday night until 8 a.m. on Saturday morning -- the day of the event -- teams are encouraged to talk about what they're going to do with the Web site. Web designers are allowed to visit the nonprofit's physical location to learn what the organization does, but no Web coding can begin.

Rush says there is a difference in the Web sites that were built by a team that took the time to talk beforehand, and the ones that weren't.

This year's Austin rally had a racing theme and was called "Race to Accessibility." The teams could compete in two categories, "Formula 1" and "Stock Cars."

"Stock Car" Web sites will be hosted on the MAIN site for free, but due to space limitations require some technological restrictions. No advanced Internet Web features such as CGI scripting, IPng/HTML9x, Java/JavaScript or ASP are allowed on these sites. This category handles just HTML presentations and URL/e-mail links.

The "Formula 1" competition is for teams who want all of the "whizbang" effects technology can provide. The catch is that the teams design the site and find a way to host and support it.

The Formula 1 event is used by organizations such as Goodwill, which wanted to include an online application form for the disabled who aren't able to come into a center to fill one out. That site needs to be sophisticated enough to handle the organization's needs. Goodwill also has an inhouse Webmaster who can do the maintenance and long-term upkeep, Rush says.

John T. Moore can be reached at
johntm@mindspring.com