The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery website is an easy to use portal to the city's seven museums

The shortlist for the Jodi Awards 2006, which recognise excellence in museum, library, archive and heritage website accessibility, has been announced.

The six shortlisted websites all meet demanding criteria and were chosen by a panel of four experienced judges from the sector, three of whom have personal experience of disability. Automated testing was also carried out on the sites.

“We want to keep accessibility at the forefront of the sector’s consciousness when creating or commissioning websites and their content,” said Matthew Cock, one of the Awards organisers and New Media Content Manager at the British Museum.

The shortlist is:
• Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery website
• Finds, by The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)
• i-MAP ‘The Everyday Transformed’, by Tate Modern
• Their Reading Futures, by the Reading Agency
• The History of Wolverhampton, by Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service
• Speaking Volumes, by Wakefield Library and Information Service

i-Map focuses on six modern artists and offers improved tools for exploring their works

The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery site is an easy to navigate portal to information about the city’s seven museums and links to BMAGiC – an online collections database. The site includes straightforward advice on changing text size, sharp images and an alternative, text enriched version of the Flash kids’ website.

On www.finds.org.uk visitors will discover what the PAS is all about and how you can get involved if you are an amateur archaeologist or metal detectorist.

As well as advice on archaeological finds and a fantastic kids’ sub-site, there’s a searchable database of finds, with images that can be magnified. Plenty of attention has been given to accessibility, with a bold option on the homepage to change text size and a page explaining other features.

Tate’s first i-Map project, launched in 2002, won the inaugural Jodi Award. The online resource was designed to allow visually impaired people to engage with the gallery’s Matisse and Picasso exhibition independently, using animation, audio and raised image technology.

The new i-Map site, subtitled The Everyday Transformed, focuses on six modern artists and offers improved tools for exploring their works based on user feedback.

Their Reading Futures has been designed with accessibility as a priority

Their Reading Futures provides tools and advice for library staff who work with young people. The site has been designed with accessibility as a priority and scores very well in automated testing.

Comments from disabled users were taken on board in the construction of the The History of Wolverhampton site, making it straightforward to use. Informative sections on leisure, people, politics and work in the West Midlands city with enlargeable images are complemented by simple instructions on how to customise the site’s appearance.

Speaking Volumes is a fully interactive site devoted to reading and the enjoyment of books for people with visual impairments. Most of the content is contributed by users, with the spotlight is on audio books and reading groups. Site users air their views not just on plots but on narrators, too, and you can even listen to a reading group take place.

Speaking Volumes is devoted to increasing enjoyment of reading by visually impaired people

“It has been really exciting being a judge this year,” said Marcus Weisen, Health and Disability Advisor at MLA and Chair of the judges. “The quality of this year’s nominations was high – it is a sign that the best museums, libraries and archives are developing ambitious web accessibility targets and playing an active part nationally in meeting e-government targets.”

The ‘Jodis’ were launched in 2003 by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in memory of Jodi Mattes (1973-2001) who worked to ensure the British Museum’s COMPASS site was as accessible as possible. After COMPASS went live in 2000, she went on to work for the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

The awards, which will be given for ‘Excellence’ and ‘Excellence with low budget’, are run by MLA, the 24 Hour Museum and the British Museum and are sponsored this year by new media consultancy Simulacra. The judges are Nina Baptiste (Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council), Ross Parry (Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester), Jon Pratty (24 Hour Museum) and Marcus Weisen (MLA).

The History of Wolverhampton site used comments from disabled users to make it easy to use

In selecting winners, the judges will look for high performance in a number of areas and consider findings of user testing by blind, partially-sighted, dyslexic and deaf users. User involvement in website development, commitment to access for disabled people and innovation will all be taken into account.

“It’s been great fun and a real education for me, looking at all the sites entered this year,” commented Judge Jon Pratty, editor of the 24 Hour Museum. “It’s clear the message is getting across now, that we have to welcome all users, of all abilities, to our websites. The Jodi Awards, thanks to the sponsorship this year of Simulacra Media, are now well placed to develop that message further.”

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, and MLA Chairman Mark Wood will attend the awards ceremony on April 5 2006 at the British Museum.