Summary: The World Wide Web has entered hypergrowth stage, both attracting and challenging "ordinary people" in their millions on a daily basis. It’s vast, complex, dynamic—but most importantly—daunting, even to those of us who have been along for the whole ride. Only a fraction of the Internet is accessible now, even to people without disabilities. We have only begun to define in general terms how the Internet can serve a mainstream audience now coming online, much less the needs of handicapped Americans. More serious consideration should be given as to the suitability of the ADA for the digital environment. The Internet is not a physical structure, a "facility" for which some general disability-serving standards might be conceivable and applicable across the board—it is assortment of sometimes conflicting technologies, and business models in the trial-and-error mode.

Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, good afternoon.

My name is Susyn Conway, and I am an independent consultant for Internet marketing, research, design and production. I am also here as a representative of the US Internet Industry Association.

The World Wide Web has entered hypergrowth stage, both attracting and challenging

"ordinary people" in their millions on a daily basis. It’s vast, complex, dynamic—but most importantly—daunting, even to those of us who have been along for the whole ride.

It’s being wired and strung by people who want to deliver the very latest technologies to people who don’t really know how to use them. Just trying to get "on" to the Internet is a source of constant frustration now to many home users trapped behind an out-dated infrastructure that was deployed to carry telephone conversations.

I) Only a fraction of the Internet is accessible now, even to people without disabilities.

The number of pages and websites is mutiplying exponentially; it has far outpaced the ability of any existing tools to catalog or index its contents. Last July NEC Research reported that the most comprehensive search engine of the time covered only 16% of the Internet. Taken all together, the top 11 search engines indexed only 42%.(1)

An article in the August 23, 1999 issue of Forbes Magazine, which underscored the "exasperating experience of trying to search for something on the Web" estimated an existing 400 million Web pages, expected to quadruple by 2002. A study published in January indicates the Web now contains over a billion unique documents—and 4.5 million sites.

17% of these sites were deemed to be "bad" – in that a communications or some other problem prevented access over a 10-day period. The dream of a "high performance Internet" is several years away and will require an estimated $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2003 to make it happen. (2)

New regulations imposed on companies engaged in developing this channel into a more reliable, better defined and manageable resource—able to best serve every segment of our society—will only serve to slow down the achievement of these goals.

II) We have only begun to define in general terms how the Internet can serve a mainstream

audience now coming online, much less the needs of handicapped Americans.

Everybody involved in the Internet right now, those trying to establish a new medium for their business, and those trying to utilize it—is at the low end of the learning curve.

It’s an investment-intensive exercise for any company, just discovering what is required to make websites intuitive and easy to use for their particular audience or market segments. Millions, tens of millions of dollars are being wasted on failed designs and websites that do NOT work as intended.

According to Forrester Research, sites drive away up to 40% of repeat traffic by not making it easy for visitors to find the information they need. (3) Even users without any disability find much of the Internet confusing to navigate and difficult to adapt for their individual needs.

Not every website publisher or business has the resources to conduct the continual performance monitoring that is required to improve usage value – to locate and eliminate interminable page downloads, oversized images, cluttered pages, broken links, coding errors, outdated content and other problems.

Every single website is unique. There are few common denominators that exist today. Every site uses different features, tools, navigation elements and functionality. Software changes almost daily, and distribution or adoption of new or better technology often lags due to the high costs involved in making constant changes.

The Internet is not a physical structure, a "facility" for which some general disability-serving standards might be conceivable and applicable across the board—it is assortment of sometimes conflicting technologies, and business models in the trial-and-error mode.

More serious consideration should be given as to the suitability of the ADA for the digital environment. Compliance would most likely be very low, enforcement difficult and time-consuming.

III) The industry is already moving toward making the Internet more accessible to Americans

with disabilities, producing guidelines and tools, and encouraging their adoption.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (http://www.w3.org) is an international organization founded in 1994 to "lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols to promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability."

Their commitment to lead the Web to its full potential includes promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities, which they are actively pursuing through ensuring that core Web technologies support accessibility, developing guidelines and tools, conducting research, education and outreach.

On February 3, W3C announced the release of Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,

to provide guidance to developers on how to design accessible authoring tools that produce accessible content. This follows the release last May of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Further, the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) (http://www.cast.org), a non-profit organization founded in 1984 with the mission to expand opportunities for the disabled through innovative technology has developed "Bobby", a Web-based program to help designers make their sites accessible. CAST promotes the adoption of Bobby among corporations, government agencies, educational institutions and other non-profits.

Currently, however, there is still not much consensus regarding what "accessibility" really means

or requires. The industry is already moving as fast as it can—independently, without the impetus of any federal laws—to address these issues. The situation would be relatively easy to address from a programming standpoint, when there IS more consensus and we can begin to add true functionality for Americans with disabilities.

It would seem that Congress could more positively support development of the Internet to serve ALL of its constituents by funding awareness programs which educate the marketplace on the buying power of a disabled community of some 50 million consumers.

Funding might also be directed at establishing a special online community for disabled Americans, and incentivizing private companies to populate it with their content, products and services.

Susyn Conway

2109 Lirio Court

Reston, VA 20191

(703) 758-0050

conway001@erols.com

Representing herself, and the US Internet Industry Association

US Internet Industry Association

1901 North Ft. Myer Drive

Arlington, VA 22209

(703) 312-1111

(703) 312-1113 Fax

info@usiia.org

http://www.usiia.org

1) WebMap, a four-month study by Inktomi and the NEC Research Institute.

2) Nortel Networks with IDC Research. Reported in eMarketer, February 4, 2000.

3) The Industry Standard, June 21, 1999.

Internet and Marketing Consulting

Market Research

Internet Business Strategy and Service/Site Design

Years of Experience: 28

Industry Background: Business Services, Telecommunications, Electronic Services,

Susyn has a strong marketing background from both advertising agencies and high tech

companies, with emphases in marketing communications, marketing strategy, sales support and market research. Her range includes business-to-business and consumer markets, with international experience. Most recently, she has been doing Internet business opportunity development and performing other related Internet services such as site design and production.

Previously, as a Director with America Online, Susyn activated marketing communications for two new divisions within the company, as well as initiated the function/department of market research to energize new revenue streams. These activities

involved managing a full scope of research programs, including segmentation studies and site usability requirements. Susyn participated in AOL's "first click" research, one of the first commercial online user behavioral studies.

Prior to AOL, Susyn was a VP with Redgate Communications, a new media company whose mission was "bringing buyers and sellers closer together through unique programs, alliances, ventures and the application of new and developing technology" In her

role, Susyn managed project design, planning, research, and implementation for four offices (including Europe) and assessed new business opportunities for client companies. She also managed a new product market trial for the first, proposed, home shopping CD-ROM. This included developing the original concept, writing the test plan, managing all research, and completing a post-trial analysis.

As Director, Business Promotion with iNet Company of America she built a Marketing

Communications Department and provided marketing, advertising and sales support for

three regional offices for this start-up provider of custom electronic business networks. In this role she produced a successful direct response TV campaign and created promotion

packages for ISPs, resellers, customer training, and corporate and partner relationships.

Independent Consultant 1996 to Present:

Internet/intranet

America On-line 1994 to 1996:

Director, Corporate Programming; Director, Market Research

Redgate Communications 1991 to 1994:

VP, New Media Marketing: Director, Research and Client Services

Technology Consultant to advertising/marketing companies 1989 to 1991

INet Company of America (Bell Canada) 1987 to 1989:

Director, Business Promotion

GTE Spacenet 984 to 1987:

Manager, Business Promotion

J. Walter Thompson, National-International Advertising 1977 to 1982

Advertising agencies regional and national 1971 to 1982

BA, University of Miami 1969 : Commercial Art and History

Post grad courses completed in Business and Data Processing

Statement of Disclosure

Susyn Conway does not currently have any federal grant, contract or subcontract, and has not had in the preceding two fiscal years.

The US Internet Industry Association does not currently have any federal grant, contract or subcontract, and has not had in the preceding two fiscal years.