Accolades from our Strategic Partners
The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) works closely with our strategic partners to help them build internal accessibility expertise and gain valuable knowledge in the areas of digital television, rich media, convergent media, Internet, e-books and other forms of media. We marry NCAM's research and development projects with the specific needs of each partner. We asked our partners to tell us why the program works for them, and how it is making a difference to their customers and employees with disabilities.
"Throughout my many years at Apple, AT&T Labs, and now Yahoo!, I have worked with a number of strategic partners around the world to further the cause of accessibility and to increase the quality of life for individuals with disability. No organization has been as consistently helpful, effective, or enjoyable to work with as NCAM. In my opinion, they are the premier player in the field of accessibility. I can't imagine continuing our work without them."
-Alan Brightman, Ph.D., Senior Policy Director, Yahoo! Global Accessibility Program
"Verizon’s partnership with NCAM is a critical component of our company-wide effort to integrate universal design principles into everything we do so that all of our products and services from wireless to broadband to FiOS television can be enjoyed by anyone who chooses to use them. NCAM’s role in helping Verizon stay true to our mission cannot be overstated and is more important today than it has been at any time."
-Jeff Kramer, Executive Director, Strategic Alliances, Verizon
"NCAM advised the Whitney Museum on ways of making our exhibitions and technologies accessible for the broadest possible audience while maintaining the intentions of our artists and the integrity of the works we exhibit. Providing access to the unique content of the Whitney Museum was the goal of our ongoing work with NCAM. They surveyed our existing website, exhibition program and services to identity the accessibility challenges that we faced. Because they were always supportive and non-judgmental, our work together was a true collaboration. Not only does NCAM bring expertise and experience to their work, but also they always engaged knowledgeable people with disabilities in every stage of our collaboration. Museum professionals are not trained to be accessibility experts and therefore, we sought advice from NCAM because of their reputation for being trustworthy and for following the highest standards in accessibility formats and guidelines."
-Kathryn Potts, Associate Director, Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education, Whitney Museum of American Art
"IBM is a long-time supporter of NCAM's cutting-edge work in access to new and emerging technologies and media. NCAM's CD-ROM Access Project successfully put IBM's Self-Voicing Kit technology for Java tm to the test with an industry first directly accessible science application prototype. The users who have disabilities, the technology industry, and our respective organizations benefit as we continue to collaborate on NCAM's development tool, MAGpie, accessibility standards and protocols, and solutions for making rich Web media such as audio and video accessible."
-Phill Jenkins, Program Manager, IBM Accessibility Center
"NCAM is helping us comply not only with the letter of the section 508 regulations, but with the spirit of the law as well. With hundreds of web sites at NCI, we looked to NCAM for their pragmatic and practical advice on how to analyze our accessibility and how to prioritize our work load."
-Janice Nall, Chief, Communication Technologies Branch, Office of Communications, National Cancer Institute
"NCAM is an extremely valuable resource to AOL as we work to implement solutions to optimize usability of AOL products and services by people with disabilities. We have found their expertise in accessible web design, effective techniques for rich media and their involvement in other access research to be a perfect fit with our efforts."
-Tom Wlodkowski, Director of Accessibility, America Online
"Throughout my many years at Apple, AT&T Labs, and now Yahoo!, I have worked with a number of strategic partners around the world to further the cause of accessibility and to increase the quality of life for individuals with disability. No organization has been as consistently helpful, effective, or enjoyable to work with as NCAM. In my opinion, they are the premier player in the field of accessibility. I can't imagine continuing our work without them."
-Alan Brightman, Ph.D., Senior Policy Director, Yahoo! Global Accessibility Program
"Verizon’s partnership with NCAM is a critical component of our company-wide effort to integrate universal design principles into everything we do so that all of our products and services from wireless to broadband to FiOS television can be enjoyed by anyone who chooses to use them. NCAM’s role in helping Verizon stay true to our mission cannot be overstated and is more important today than it has been at any time."
-Jeff Kramer, Executive Director, Strategic Alliances, Verizon
"NCAM advised the Whitney Museum on ways of making our exhibitions and technologies accessible for the broadest possible audience while maintaining the intentions of our artists and the integrity of the works we exhibit. Providing access to the unique content of the Whitney Museum was the goal of our ongoing work with NCAM. They surveyed our existing website, exhibition program and services to identity the accessibility challenges that we faced. Because they were always supportive and non-judgmental, our work together was a true collaboration. Not only does NCAM bring expertise and experience to their work, but also they always engaged knowledgeable people with disabilities in every stage of our collaboration. Museum professionals are not trained to be accessibility experts and therefore, we sought advice from NCAM because of their reputation for being trustworthy and for following the highest standards in accessibility formats and guidelines."
-Kathryn Potts, Associate Director, Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education, Whitney Museum of American Art
"IBM is a long-time supporter of NCAM's cutting-edge work in access to new and emerging technologies and media. NCAM's CD-ROM Access Project successfully put IBM's Self-Voicing Kit technology for Java tm to the test with an industry first directly accessible science application prototype. The users who have disabilities, the technology industry, and our respective organizations benefit as we continue to collaborate on NCAM's development tool, MAGpie, accessibility standards and protocols, and solutions for making rich Web media such as audio and video accessible."
-Phill Jenkins, Program Manager, IBM Accessibility Center
"NCAM is helping us comply not only with the letter of the section 508 regulations, but with the spirit of the law as well. With hundreds of web sites at NCI, we looked to NCAM for their pragmatic and practical advice on how to analyze our accessibility and how to prioritize our work load."
-Janice Nall, Chief, Communication Technologies Branch, Office of Communications, National Cancer Institute
"NCAM is an extremely valuable resource to AOL as we work to implement solutions to optimize usability of AOL products and services by people with disabilities. We have found their expertise in accessible web design, effective techniques for rich media and their involvement in other access research to be a perfect fit with our efforts."
-Tom Wlodkowski, Director of Accessibility, America Online