🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1093

                          Monday, December 05, 1994

Today's Topics:


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                         Re: Address of NAB in India
                                Introduction
                              IDEA amd Braille
                      Re: Blind children and bicycling
                              IDEA amd Braille
                               Re: Radio Shack
            braille information on APA formatting for term papers
          Compuserve-visually impaired may lose access-please read
                                  InfoUCLA2
                                  InfoUCLA1
                                    oasis


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                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



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Subject: Re: Address of NAB in India
From: sinh@dlep1.itg.ti.com (Arun Sinha)

==============================================================
 Addresses for NAB in Bharat
--------------------------------------
National Association for the Blind
Rustom Alpaiwalla Complex
124-127 Cotton Depot
Cotton Green
Bombay, 400033
Ph: 375-6802
Pres: Mr. Arvind N Lalbhai
Educ. Dir: M K Choudhary

National Association for the Blind
Delhi Branch
Sector V, R K Puram
New Delhi, 110022




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Subject: Introduction
From: djc@crl.com (Don Coco)

Greetings from a totally blind person who just recently subscribed to
your fine Newsletter Bill.  I live in Oakland which is real chily now a
day with lots of Rain.  I am asking what happened to the beautiful
California weather we are so use to.
My talking computer is the Eureka a.4 which is made by Robotron of
Melbourne Australia and I use it at a full Unix site here with a Zoom
9600 Baud Modem.
I am an old Hippy and grew up in the Boston Area but have lived out here
for 10 years now and I am 42.
Just wanted to send greetings your way Bill and greet all the fine people
out their who hopefully will read this.  I really enjoy chatting so if
people would like to drop me E/mail I'd be happy to write and chat about
any subject in the world.  You can drop mail to djc@crl.com or finger
djc@crl.com for info about me and if I am online I will be pleased to
chat with you.
Thanks again Bill for a great and valuable service.

          djc@crl.com Out!





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Subject: IDEA amd Braille
From: da0011@epfl2.epflbalto.org (DAVID ANDREWS)

> From: kmorrow@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu (Kimberly Morrow)
>
> David,
>
> Do you feel that all blind students should have a choice of two
> media--that they should be taught bot print and braille so that
> they have the option of utilizing whichever medium is most
> advantageous to the particular task they are endeavoring to
> accomplish at the time?
>

Dear Kim,

Yes, basically I agreement with your
statement above, as long as a student can seel well enough
to get some use from print.  If he or she can use print,
at least some, he/she should learn.  However, if a
"visually impaired" person has some sight, this also shouldn't
preclude their using Braille.  There will b3e times when this
might be more convenient and efficient, like when giving a speech
or when being away from magnification equipment.
Our position in the NFb starts with the presumption that Braille will
be taught unless it can absolutely be demonstrated that
the person can function efficiently and competitively with
print.  Most school districts today do not
presukme the teaching of Braille.  It has to be fought for.
David Andrews




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Subject: Re: Blind children and bicycling
From: dday@nikita.bham.wednet.edu (Debbie Day)

In regards to blind children & bicycling:
        Trail-a-Bike is a detachable children's tandem that can be used
with any adult bike.  It connects to your bicycle using a cusom-made
seatpost/hitch unit.  Easy to install on any bike, the seatpost is a
strong, lightweight, solid aluminum post with a bearing bracket that
allows rotation vertically and horizontally while restricting side-to-side
rolling motion.
        Your child has the freedom to pedal as much or as little as they
want.  Trail-a-Bike has no brake or active steering, so you maintain
full control of direction and braking.  The gearing is set so that up to
20 km/hr (about 12 mph) the child can actively pedal at a comfortable
cadence.  It has a low center of gravity which makes for stable riding
and a comfortable turning radius.  The handlebars and seat are fully
adjustable so to accommodate children from about 4-10 years of age.
        My son is a small 11 year old and still is able to use ours.
I forget the cost but check with a local bike shop.  The company is
Adams Trail-a-Bike, phone 613-384-5568.
                Debbie Day



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Subject: IDEA amd Braille
From: mikef@pacifier.com (Mike Freeman)
Organization: Pacifier BBS, Vancouver, Wa.  ((206) 693-0325)

In a missive to All dated 18 Nov 94 20:21, Da0011@Epfl2.Epflbalto.Or writes:

 Da> Index Number: 34490

 Da> Our position in the NFb starts with
 Da> the presumption that Braille will
 Da> be taught unless it can absolutely be demonstrated that
 Da> the person can function efficiently and competitively with
 Da> print.  Most school districts today do not
 Da> presukme the teaching of Braille.  It has to be fought for.

And how!  It is unbelievable how much flak one must take in order to
get Braille for students with even a modicum of remaining vision!

What NFB's position amounts to is a reversal in thinking on the
part of those involved in a child's individualized education program.
Although not explicitly stated, there is a tacit assumption that
(except for the absolutely most severe combinations of disabilities)
the ability to read and write print is essential to satisfactory
educational progress (even if this means only writing/recognizing one's
name and being able to distinguish "MEN" from "WOMEN").  WE of NFB
would reverse this reasoning for blind children (including those with
useable vision):  we maintain that one should assume that the ability
to read and write Braille is crucial to satisfactory educational
progress (to the same extent that print is so deemed for sighted
students of comparable grade level and ability).

We are not saying that print shouldn't be taught (if it proves useful);
we *are* saying that Braille should be taught to many, many more blind
children (including those with some residual vision) than is now the case.

Incidentally, NFB is no longer alone in this view.  While we NFB-ers
are constantly being accused of being militant radicals, some of the
pronouncements of members of ACB's special-interest affiliate, the Braille
Revival League, go  far beyond anything NFB and the National
Association to Promote the Use of Braille have advocated {grin}.

--- CRR QWK 1.60

--
Mike Freeman            |       Internet: mikef@pacifier.com
GEnie: M.FREEMAN11      |       Amateur Radio Callsign: K7UIJ
... "Innovation is hard to schedule." -- Dan Fylstra



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Subject: Re: Radio Shack
From: mikef@pacifier.com (Mike Freeman)
Organization: Pacifier BBS, Vancouver, Wa.  ((206) 693-0325)

In a missive to All dated 15 Nov 94 05:06, Kseven@Delphi.Com writes:

 Ks> Index Number: 34372

 Ks> Radio Shack is just full of
 Ks> disappointments.  I bought a very useful talking
 Ks> watch with the RS Replacement Warranty
 Ks> - good thing as I have had to replace it
 Ks> 4 times in the past year. But now the
 Ks> watch is no longer sold by RS (not a
 Ks> surprise considering its quality/price
 Ks> ratio). But they want to replace the
 Ks> watch with one of considerably less
 Ks> suitability to my needs. It would appear
 Ks> their replacement deal may not be what
 Ks> it appears...and I want the watch I
 Ks> bought because I love to hear it say
 Ks> 4:44 with its British accent, and I want
 Ks> the count-up timer, not a count-down
 Ks> timer of the current model. Anyone else
 Ks> solve this one yet? K7


Nope, I haven''t solved the problem, either.  I had much the same
experience (though I exchanged the watch only twice before getting
the less-satisfactory replacement and I did *not* have a warranty and had
one replacement after the original had run out and RS did replace it so
things aren't *all* bad).  I, too, enjoyed the British accent and
ability to zero-set the watch to WWV.  However, I am moved to wonder
(asside from esthetics) why you'd want a watch which has proven
so unreliable?  What you're *really* asking for is for RS to re-engineer
that particular watch so it's reliable!  Don't think their gonna do that.

Let;s face it:  talking devices are, while ubiquitous, a marginal
part of any company's business.  IMHO we owe the plethora still available
to the market stupidity of companies who ignore what happened to
all the previous talking devices and who think that *their* device
will succeed!

--- CRR QWK 1.60

--
Mike Freeman            |       Internet: mikef@pacifier.com
GEnie: M.FREEMAN11      |       Amateur Radio Callsign: K7UIJ
... "Innovation is hard to schedule." -- Dan Fylstra



------



Subject: braille information on APA formatting for term papers
From: KIMBERLY@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services


I am searching for information in a braille format regarding APA
formatting for term papers.  Does anyone know if there is anything
available in braille that deals specifically with the guidelines of
formatting established by the American Psychological Association?

Thanks,
Kimberly Morrow





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Subject: Compuserve-visually impaired may lose access-please read
From: patt@squid.tram.com (Patt Bromberger)

--- Forwarded mail from EASI Digest November 19-20, 1994

Date:    Mon, 21 Nov 1994 00:54:48 GMT
from:    Shel Talmy <sst@NETCOM.COM>
subject: Compuserve-visually impaired may lose access-please read

I wrote to Kathryn Woods in customer service at Compuserve,
having spotted her name in a message somebody posted, as the
person most knowledgeable about how Compuserve and the visually
impaired 'co-exist'.

My message expressed my concern at the 'rumor' that Compuserve
was rapidly moving towards a graphics environment and will
forsake ASCII access, to the detriment of those of us who need
it.  I asked optimisticly, for Ms. Woods to dispell the 'nasty'
rumor, and here is her reply.

Oh well, it appears it's time to clear the decks for action!  I
don't know about anybody else, but i'm tired of losing ground.
If Compuserve goes the way of America-On-Line and Prodigy, only
Internet will remain as an information/communication service, and
as great as I think Internet is, I'm damned unhappy at being
denied access to practically every other service on the planet.
This erosion has to stop.

Date:  18-Nov-94 13:13 PST
From:  Odradek [70004,1617]
Reply to: Graphics rumor

Hello!

The trend does seem to be to move towards HMI (that's the
graphical windows mode) versions of all of the areas online, but
I'm afraid that I don't know what's planned for development and
support of the ASCII interface.  We in Customer Service are
generally not informed of such decisions until they've already
become final or until they are shortly to be put into action, so
I'm afraid that I can't make any assurances to you in either
direction.

I would highly recommend that you write a letter to our CEO,
Maury Cox.  I'm not sure what he would be able to tell you about
plans for the text mode either, but he's naturally the best
person to whom to make your concerns known.  The address to use
would be:

        Maury Cox
        5000 Arlington Centre Blvd.
        Columbus, OH  43220

The phone number for Corporate Headquarters is 614/457-8600, but
a letter would probably be best.

I'm sorry that I couldn't provide you with any more specific
information; however, if there's anything else that I can help
you with, please don't hesitate to let me know!

        Kathryn Woods

P.S. I wish I could say that I'm involved in any official way
with concerns for the visually-impared here; unfortunately, as of
this moment most of what I'm working on (the ASCII users guide
and signup kit for the visually-impared) is a personal project
only.  However, I am trying to get management involved with my
ideas because I would like to see CompuServe become more
accessable to the visually-impared.  If you are interested in
acquiring an ASCII version of the users guide, or who have
friends or family who would benefit from a signup kit, please let
me know.  Thanks for writing!  --K

------------------------------





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Subject: InfoUCLA2
From: djc@crl.com (Don Coco)

Announcing: InfoUCLA in ICADD Format, with Gopher Demo

Greetings,

I'm happy to announce a new service at UCLA that makes online information
more accessible to people with print impairment, and a gopher server that
demonstrates how it works: InfoUCLA in ICADD format.

UCLA's campus wide information system (CWIS) is called InfoUCLA.  Like
other universities' CWIS's, InfoUCLA contains many documents of interest to
the campus community, from the schedule of classes to the bookstore
inventory to the campus directory. This in itself is a great thing for
everyone on campus, but an especially wonderful thing for people who have
never seen such information in any form due to disability.  As online
information available in text, or ASCII, format, this information is
accessible to people with print impairment through adaptive computing
technologies.

But the world of online information is moving beyond ASCII.  ASCII cannot
convey much important information about the structure and content of
documents using presentation conventions, like italics, boldfacing, tables,
and other important document features that print readers take for granted.
SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language, ISO 8879) is an international
document standard that enables you to capture and preserve the important
structure and context of the information and allow for easy down
translations into many applications (your favorite word processor, for
example, or Gopher or World Wide Web) on many platforms (the Mac, PC, Unix
worstation, mainframe).

Sighted computer users will have access to this increasingly rich world of
online text.  Will print impaired users?  Information in InfoUCLA is now
being converted into SGML.  This will enable campus wide information to be
directly translated into many applications and platforms.  One of these is
the ICADD (International Committee on Accessible Document Design, ISO
12083) document standard, an implementation of SGML, designed to enable
print-impaired readers to have equal access to the same document features
as their non-disabled peers.  An electronic document that has been
formatted with the ICADD standard can be converted into braille, large
print or voice output by an application designed to accept ICADD files.

At UCLA we have recently converted our first InfoUCLA data set into ICADD:
GRAPES, the Graduate and Postdoctoral Exramural Support data base.  When
anyone at UCLA looks up GRAPES on InfoUCLA, they can now view it either as
a text document or as an ICADD document.  This is the model for the
conversion of all future information on InfoUCLA.

We have set up a gopher demonstration of this document conversion process
so you can follow the whole procedure.  You will find it on the
Disabilities and Computing Program Gopher Server on InfoUCLA.  From your
gopher client, select UCLA, go to Other UCLA Gopher Servers, select the
Disabilities and Computing Program Gopher Server, then chose the folder
"InfoUCLA Access for People with Print Impairments."  There you will find a
document "About InfoUCLA Access for People with Print Impairments."  This
file will guide you through the demonstration.

In the demo you will first see a sample GRAPES document as raw data, then
follow it as it is converted into SGML, then ICADD, then into Grade II
Braille (via Mega Dots, a braille translation program designed to accept
ICADD files). You can print this Grade II file on your brailler to
experience an ICADD formatted braille document first hand.  A simulated
braille file is also available for sighted users (from Mega Dots).  An
ASCII version of the sample Grapes document (from ICADD) is available for
large print and voice output, as there is as yet no large print or screen
reading program that accepts ICADD.

You will also find a folder that repeats this whole procedure using a
portion of the campus directory.  Look at the raw data.  See what a mess it
is!  You'll see why it is so hard to even get online data as "simple
ASCII."  Then look at it after it has gone through the document conversion
process and you'll understand why SGML and ICADD are a superior method to
represent etext for people with print impairment.

InfoUCLA is joint effort of the UCLA Microcomputer Support Office (MSO, a
part of the Office of Academic Computing) and the UCLA Library.  The MSO's
Disabilities and Computing Program (DCP) is a part of the InfoUCLA planning
effort and the InfoUCLA - ICADD project is the result of this
collaboration.  Participants in the InfoUCLA - ICADD project include Jeff
Suttor, Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Guido Grimaldi, Patrick Burke, Betsy Coles,
and Grant Young. Thanks too to David Holliday of Raised Dot Computing for
his support with Mega Dots.

For more information on the project contact:

Jeff Suttor, UCLA library, JSuttor@Library.UCLA.Edu, 310-825-1206
Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program
hilton-chalfen@mic.ucla.edu, 310-206-7133, TDD: 310-206-5155

Sincerely yours,

Danny

Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Ph.D.
Coordinator, UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program

.



------



Subject: InfoUCLA1
From: djc@crl.com (Don Coco)


About InfoUCLA Access for People with Print Impairment

InfoUCLA is an important source of public information for the
entire UCLA community.  But for people with difficulty reading
hardcopy print information due to disability, InfoUCLA is a
breakthrough.  People with print impairments can use adaptive
computer technology to read InfoUCLA screens on computers at home,
in their office, or in campus computer labs.  Voice synthesizers
make InfoUCLA text accessible for people who are blind, have low
vision, or certain common learning disabilities.  InfoUCLA
documents can also be converted into braille.  Large print software
magnifies text on computer displays for people with low vision.

This basic level of accessibility to InfoUCLA documents is here
now.  But what of the future?  Print and computer documents come in
different kinds of styles and formats.  InfoUCLA is evolving to
capture this richness of existing document types.  How are we
planning for future accessibility to InfoUCLA for people with print
impairment?

Briefly, InfoUCLA documents are being converted into a widely used,
international publishing standard, SGML (Standard Generalized
Markup Language, ISO 8879)).  SGML documents contain "tags" that
indicate style and formatting features, such as <para> for
paragraph.  Once in SGML format, documents can be converted into
many other kinds of widely used formats for information
dissemination:  ORION, Gopher, World Wide Web, Z39.50, WAIS,
netnews -- even future formats we don't know about yet.
Flexibility is the power of SGML.

There is also a special SGML-based document standard for disability
access, ICADD (International Committee on Accessible Document
Design, ISO 12083).  Any SGML document can be converted into an
ICADD formatted document.  This means that, unlike standard
computer text (or ASCII) files, ICADD formatted files preserve the
document structure -- the headings, italics, centering, bolding,
etc.  -- that most non-print impaired readers take for granted.

The ICADD document standard was designed to work with adaptive
computer software for people with print impairment.  So, for
example, a software program that converts computer files into
braille can be designed to accept ICADD formatted files.  This
would mean that people who read braille can read the same document
formatting features as their sighted peers.

In short:  Teaming up InfoUCLA with SGML and ICADD means equal
access to information for people with print impairment.
Departments, by making their public information available on
InfoUCLA, make it available to all, in keeping with the spirit of
the Americans with Disabilities Act.

How to find out more:

We have designed a simple demonstration of this document conversion
process for you.  You will find it in the Disabilities and
Computing Program Gopher Server folder in this section titled "Demo
of InfoUCLA Access for People with Disabilities."  Here is a brief
description of the documents you will find in the demo:

- Generic InfoUCLA Model.  A chart portraying how InfoUCLA
documents provided by campus departments are converted into SGML
and then into other formats, including ICADD.

- ICADD in the InfoUCLA Model.  A chart portraying how InfoUCLA
documents are converted from SGML to ICADD to braille, large print
and voice output (in both ASCII and Grade II Braille versions).

- Sample:  GRAPES -> SGML -> ICADD.  A set of documents that show
one page excerpted from GRAPES (the Graduate and Postdoctoral
Extramural Support database) as it is converted from its original
form into an SGML file, then into an ICADD file, and then into a
braille file.  The braille file is shown in two versions:  One, in
simulated form as a "dots" file produced with the braille
translation program Mega Dots; the other as an actual grade two
braille file that can be printed on a braille printer, while
preserving the ICADD formatting (Also produced with Mega Dots).
The file is also shown as an ASCII file, with ICADD formatting.

- Sample:  Directory.  A set of documents that show one page
excerpted from the campus Telephone Directory as it is converted
from its original form into an SGML file, then into an ICADD file,
and then into a braille file.  The braille file is shown in two
versions:  One, in simulated form as a "dots" file produced with
the braille translation program Mega Dots; the other as an actual
grade two braille file that can be printed on a braille printer,
while preserving the ICADD formatting (Also produced with Mega Dots).
The file is also shown as an ASCII file, also with ICADD formatting.

Finally, we now have a full InfoUCLA data base available in ICADD
format, the GRAPES data base.  The ICADD version is available in
two locations.  First, under the standard heading in InfoUCLA, in
this case under "The Researcher" heading.  We have also put this
data base into a folder on the DCP Gopher, "InfoUCLA Documents in
ICADD format."  For your convenience, this and all future ICADD
formatted InfoUCLA documents will available through this one
folder, in addition to their regular locations throughout the
InfoUCLA Gopher.

The conversion of InfoUCLA documents into ICADD format and this
demonstration gopher are a joint project of the UCLA Library and
the UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program (part of the Office of
Academic Computing's Microcomputer Support Office).

For more information on:

- Converting InfoUCLA documents into ICADD format:
    Jeff Suttor
    UCLA Library
    310-825-1206
    JSuttor@Library.UCLA.Edu

- Accessing InfoUCLA documents in braille, voice synthesis, and
large print:
    Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, Ph.D
    UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program
    310-206-7133    TDD: 310-206-5155
    hilton-chalfen@mic.ucla.edu

Winter, 1994
.



------



Subject: oasis
From: MONICADO@DSL.RHILINET.GOV

I am using the program oasis at work.  For those who are not
familiar with this program it develops job matches based on
a profile which consists of previous work history, job analysis,
Dictionary of Occupation Title criterian, aptitudes, strengths,
functional limitations and  lots of other pertinant information.
I work for the state vocational rehabilitation agency and this
a program used by this  department to develop job matches and
career exploration.

I use a sounding board with vocaleyes version 2.2.  I need help
in making this program accessable.  In a few of the screens I
can use vocaleyes but in most of them I receive a continuous
onslaught of information that I can not distinguish.

All suggestions are most welcomed and are appreciated.  GWmicro
is aware but I understand that there are users who have over
come the technicial problems.  Thank you.

Monica Dzialo  Monicado@dsl.rhilinet.gov



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                 End of Issue # 1093 of the Blind News Digest

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