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Sergio Luján Mora

Catedrático de Universidad

Benefits of Web Accessibility in Emergency Scenarios

Sergio Luján-Mora
6th Extreme Conference on Communication and Computing (ExtremeCom 2014), p. 13-16, Galápagos Islands (Ecuador), August 11-16 2014. ISBN: 978-989-96001-9-5.
(XCOM'14) Congreso internacional / International conference

Resumen

Currently, the World Wide Web (the Web) is present in all areas of our lives, from accessing the Web to collect information about different topics to using online services as the electronic government. In a very short period, the Web has become an essential part of our society and lives. Recent disaster events have proven that users heavily rely on mobile networks and online social networks to communicate and organize during disasters. Even governments have started to use social networks as a means to provide information during emergency scenarios. The Web can be very useful during disasters by quickly and effectively disseminating important news and it can also be an invaluable resource for those searching for missing relatives. Unfortunately, many mobile phone networks are unable to cope in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, if hundreds of thousands of users try to make a call or send a text at the same time. The download speed of Internet connections may not be sufficient to download large files or watch streaming videos in real-time. Therefore, during a disaster situation, users can face some problems that make them situationally disabled. Because of this, web accessibility principles can be applied to improve the functionality and usability of web applications.