Website wins awards for its accessibility to the visually impaired

An innovative project from The National Archives has won a prestigious Jodi Award for excellence in accessible museum, library and archive technology.The Jodi award for excellence in website accessibility went to The National Archives´ exhibition Prisoner 4099.

This online resource is the culmination of a three year collaborative project between The National Archives, a group of blind and visually impaired students from different parts of Britain and other national organisations keen to promote and develop accessibility on the Internet.

Prisoner 4099 deals with Victorian crime and focuses on the life of a 12 year-old boy, William Towers, who was arrested and sent to prison for stealing.William's story was the inspiration for a radio play produced by the students. This forms a significant part of the online exhibition, covering the events as seen in the minds of modern teenagers and showing how they might feel and deal with a similar situation.

The exhibition also presents detailed documentary evidence about Victorian crime and William's plight using original documents, images and maps from The National Archives.Throughout the project The National Archives worked in partnership with students, teachers and youth workers from New College Worcester, Youthcomm (a project of Worcester Youth service) and LOOK - the National Federation of Families with Visually Impaired Children.

At the Jodi Awards ceremony at the British Museum on 13 June, Martyn Green, web designer at The National Archives, said:"Our goal was not just to make a good website accessible to disabled people, but to involve people in our project, listen, try things out and see what worked. Then, with an understanding of standards and best practices, try to build a great website that everyone can explore and enjoy."