Real Time Communication Accessibility: User Needs and Requirements

Accessible telecommunication technology is increasingly important for people who are working, playing or studying remotely and relying on real-time communication (RTC) for their daily needs. Web Real-time communications (WebRTC) is a series of protocols that support quick direct browser-to-browser transfer of call (and other data). This transfer is nearly instantaneous with very small degrees of latency and is considered a robust way of supporting peer-to-peer based communication. 

WebRTC technologies can enable better video/audio calls, instant messaging text chat, file exchange, internet relay chat, as well as support captioning and subtitling (in conjunction with various HTML 5 APIs).

Joshue O Connor (W3C/WAI) will present (via video) his research on RTC Accessibility User Requirements, which outlines some of the challenges faced by people with disabilities in this space, as well as indicating user needs and potential requirements. Comments and suggestions for improvement welcome!