California IT Strategic Plan - I Stand Corrected

Clark Kelso, California's Chief Information Officer, was kind enough to respond to my recent post, California Updates State IT Strategic Plan, commenting on the state's new strategic plan and what I perceived to be a lack of focus on making technology accessible to people with disabilities.



Clark writes:

...I am pleased to see that our planning activities are being followed so closely in the trade press.



The last paragraph in your article suggests we may not be paying sufficient attention to Section 508 issues in our web developments. Although we did not cite Section 508 in the strategic plan, accessibility is the very heart of our efforts. As your article notes,

the very first goal of the plan is to "Make government services more accessible to citizens and State clients." That concept of accessibility includes not only opening up new, technology-enabled vehicles for delivering services, information and benefits, but the goal of ensuring that those vehicles -- as well as all existing vehicles -- are ADA accessible and compliant.



Our Portal Steering Committee, which was only recently created and is just starting to warm up to the topic, has already expressly recognized ADA compliance as a required component of the State's web presence. The following link plainly identifies ADA accessibility and compliance as a necessary aspect of the user interface:

http://www.cio.ca.gov/PDFs/Portal_Committee-040805.pdf (PDF, 100KB)



The State's web pages are NOT always appropriately accessible, but this is most certainly an issue that we take seriously at the highest planning levels, and we encourage all departments to make accessibility a high priority.

I'm sure that being the State Chief Information Officer must be a wildly complicated and challenging task. Just reading the list of "roles and responsibilities" California's CIO is charged with made my head spin:

The State CIO establishes a strategic vision for the coordinated planning, acquisition and development of cost-effective information technology solutions to business problems... The State CIO's role, therefore, is as a strategic planner and architect for the State's information technology programs and as a leader in formulating and advancing a vision for that program.

It's gratifying that among the many competing issues the CIO must address each day, accessibility is on his mind, and he took the time to write and let us know. I stand corrected.