WASHINGTON STATE ACCESS TO JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY PRINCIPLES: A PERSPECTIVE FOR JUSTICE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS, THE

Several portions of the final report merit special attention. The group designated two groups of activities as foundation essentials for meaningful and effective implementation and institutionalization of the Court Order and the Principles:

1) The first is a Web-based resource bank, which will "house and identify a variety of tools and resources to support the planning, development, use and maintenance of barrier-free technologies within justice system and associated agencies." Such tools and activities include:

a) Best Practices Template: a customizable online tool that supports the integration of accessibility into plans, designs, deployment, and use of e-filing, Web-site, and public-access-terminal applications (and, over time, other applications). The template was developed through a grant from the State Justice Institute and customized for the ATJ community. It is ready for use and can be accessed online at www.techatlas.org/atj.

(b) Two checklists, one focused on the organizational level and the other on the systems-development level, are designed to help organizations assess and prevent or remove organizational and technological barriers to access, including measuring their own incorporation of the Principles into their processes, products, and outcomes.

(c) The provision of standard language for use in contracts and procurement documents (including RFPs) to ensure that the Principles are integrated into technology projects.

(d) An accessible Web site dedicated to the ATJ Technology Principles and their implementation and institutionalization, already available at http://www.atjtbor.org.

2) The second activity calls for initial and ongoing communication and training for justice system and associated agencies about the Principles and available resources for implementation.

The group stated that "[t]hese ongoing activities have significant potential to support implementation of the Principles by reaching hundreds of key policy, project-based and day-to-day decision-makers," and "strongly recommend[ed] that the capacity to carry out these activities be established and continued."

Other activities, described in the report, that the group believed to be highly useful and desirable, but, given limited resources, not necessarily essential until the earlier foundational items were accomplished, included:

a) Peer Consultation Resource Group. A group of people with knowledge and experience to be made available as needed to assist others in practical planning, development, implementation, and maintenance,

(b) Technology Expert Advisory Group. An advisory group comprised of four to five experts in various aspects of technology. They would be high-level, well-respected people both locally and nationally. The advisory group would have no regular meetings but would be available for specific purposes,

c) Demonstration Projects. Support for-and, as appropriate, involvement in-development and implementation of court- and community-based projects that illustrate the benefits of applying the Principles early in the project-development process. ATJ is leading the first such collaborative effort to create a pilot community-based technology justice center at the principal site of a statewide network of community health centers, which have provided health and associated services to low-income, immigrant, and other vulnerable people for more than two decades. This project is the first of a variety of efforts that may be developed to demonstrate the practical application of the Principles in the context of public access to technology.