What is EIR and why are we concerned about accessibility?
We use a variety of electronic and information resources* (EIR) on and off campus to provide information and services.
What are EIR?
Imagine
You see an event on a website or email, and you want to add it to your calendar, but you can't highlight the text to copy/paste it in. Instead you have to type the whole thing out.
While this is an inconvenience for you, it is an accessibility issue for people who are blind: they can't see the text that was on that event image to know when to come or what it is all about.
We want to close those types of gaps and make all our lives a little more convenient as well as accessible to people with disabilities.
Accessible EIR provides the following benefits:
- Increases effective communication
- Extends learning opportunities to our diverse community in a university environment
- Broadens employment opportunities to our current, and future, faculty and staff
- Expands participation in, or benefits from, programs and activities
- Keeps our university in compliance with federal and state laws, along with A&M System regulations
- Provides everyone with more usable electronic and information resources, creating more ease and simplicity to our daily activities and tasks
We want to progressively improve accessibility
It is true that much of what we use is inaccessible. However, given the great strides we have with technology, some of these issues can be resolved right now. Our goal is to educate ourselves and the companies we work with to create a more inclusive community and environment for learning.
* Transitioning from "EIR" to "ICT"
EIR is an acronym used in the State of Texas and throughout the Texas Administrative Code (TAC). The definition can be found in TAC 206.1 and TAC 213.1:
(9) Electronic and information resources (EIR)--Includes information technology and any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment used to create, convert, duplicate, store, or deliver data or information. EIR includes telecommunications products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, web sites, multimedia, and office equipment such as copiers and fax machines. The term does not include any equipment that contains embedded information technology that is used as an integral part of the product, but the principal function of which is not the acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. For example, thermostats or temperature control devices, and medical equipment that contain information technology that is integral to its operation, are not information technology. If the embedded information technology has an externally available web or computer interface, that interface is considered EIR. Other terms such as, but not limited to, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Information Technology (IT), Electronic Information Technology (EIT), etc. can be considered interchangeable terms with EIR for purposes of applicability or compliance with this chapter.
The Digital Accessibility Officer at TAMU-CC is the current Electronic and Information Resources Accessibility Coordinator (EIRAC) per TAC 213.41. This working title change was meant to assist our community and our service providers when communicating about digital accessibility.
"EIR" will be replaced with "ICT" or "IT" to reduce confusion as well. ICT is used by federal agencies. It is also used in federal regulations that affect TAMU-CC as a public university.