[Linux-aus] comment for an article on Government website accessibility

[Dahna McConnachie]

Hi all,

I am seeking some comments from Linux users for an article I am
putting together, triggered by the ANAO's recently released audit
report: "Online Availability of Government Entities' Documents Tabled
in the Australian Parliament":
http://www.anao.gov.au/director/publications/auditreports/2008-2009.cfm

The report found, contrary to objectives set out to support open
standards, that of the documents examined in 2008, only about 25 per
cent were in
HTML and less than five per cent were in RTF. 23. In contrast, over 95
per cent of the documents examined in 2008 were in PDF, being a
proprietary software format.

I want to use this report as the basis for a broader article on
Technology and Business (http://www.technologyandbusiness.com.au/)
about Government websites generally and where they stand in terms of
accessibility and open standards. I noticed there were some recent
comments about this on the forum in terms of AGIMO's suggestions etc.

I am just keen to get some responses from some Linux users about using
Government websites generally.

*Do you often have interoperability issues with Government websites,
and particularly with publications within these websites? To what
extent? Does the Government generally have a long way to go in terms
of ensuring that people who use open source systems and software can
fully access all of its published content? Any other comments about
the report specifically? Any other comments generally?

I look forward to hearing back from some of you in the next 12 hours or so....

Cheers,

Dahna