From saroj_primlani at ncsu.edu Wed Jan 9 08:06:28 2008 From: saroj_primlani at ncsu.edu (Saroj Primlani) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:49 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our problems, we really need to investigate this. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html Article in Technology Review http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ Monday, November 26, 2007 Searching Video Lectures A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review lectures. By Kate Greene Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they need in less than a second with Google. "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist at MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, Carnegie Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of work where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology is mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in the lab." A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines Blinkx and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT researchers faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many lecturers are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription tricky for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little discernable structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures aren't organized like normal text." To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software that converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything from "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to 50 percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription but can still be useful for keyword searches.) The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you ramble and mumble." To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks the text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the network lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or subtopic in the lecture. The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture that contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the browser shows the transcribed text below it. Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 hits a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired section. Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose technical challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing people into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a couple percentage points, making user experience even better. Copyright Technology Review 2007 _________________________________ Saroj Primlani Coordinator of University IT Accessibility Office of Information Technology 919 513 4087 http://ncsu.edu/it/access -----Original Message----- From: ITACCESS automatic digest system [mailto:LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:00 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) There are 3 messages totalling 2839 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates (3) ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 06:26:13 -0800 From: Terry Thompson Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Chad, I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service. Thanks, Terry _____ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Abbie, The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan: http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables _Plan I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168 _____ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hi Chad,
 
I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to = caption=20 and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost = analysis?=20 (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of = estimated=20 costs would be great information for any institutions that are = considering a=20 centralized in-house caption/description service. =
 
Thanks,
Terry
 


From: Killingsworth, Chad=20 [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = Wednesday,=20 January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = Section 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates

Missouri has its = own=20 standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a = couple of=20 tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not = written=20 into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. = There has=20 been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board = updates=20 their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the=20 idea.

 

The primary = problem spot=20 remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to = be=20 completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television = station,=20 radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be = over $1=20 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In = many=20 cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post = multimedia=20 content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in = the=20 process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are = also=20 excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has = an=20 avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem=20 continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = Adobe,=20 etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = looking at=20 smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = the=20 actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = purchased a=20 web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many=20 Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on=20 their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile = system, I=20 was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None = of the=20 form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab = and it was=20 a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten = legal action to=20 get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations=20 and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – = not better. For=20 a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. =  With=20 the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many accurate = responses do you=20 think we’re going to get now?

 

Chad=20 Killingsworth

Web Projects=20 Coordinator

Missouri State=20 University

 

From: Terry = Thompson=20 [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, = 2007 4:22=20 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: = [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft=20 Updates

 

Hi=20 Abbie,

 

The=20 latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory = Committee=20 polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the = Access=20 Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it = after that.=20 It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery = plan:=20

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I=20 personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned = grouping IT=20 products into six distinct categories, which is how the current = standards=20 document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with = the=20 current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., = if it's=20 an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to = comply=20 with web, software, or multimedia standards?)  

 

I also=20 like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and = many of=20 the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully = this=20 harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in = 2008 -=20 It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely=20 aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's=20 state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) = include=20 language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically = updated=20 in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky = adopting=20 something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to = start over=20 with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. =

 

Interestingly,=20 Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 = standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which = they=20 adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG = 2.0=20 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic = of this=20 approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current = than the=20 original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 = standards=20 are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to = start over.=20

 

What=20 are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing?

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology = Accessibility=20 Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of=20 Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168 =


From: = OSullivan,=20 Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, = December=20 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = Section 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates

What happened at = the Nov=20 12th meeting of the TEITAC = committee?

Abbie

 

From: = Killingsworth,=20 Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = Thursday,=20 November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section = 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed = updates to=20 the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these = standards=20 by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was = given the=20 option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology = director=20 who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.=20

 

The latest working draft of the standards can = be found at=20 http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26=20

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current=20 standard in that it combines what used be separate = standards/checkpoints for=20 each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications=20 for a procurement process – especially since we already have = enough trouble=20 getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the=20 matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November=20 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent=20 Group discussion list can be found at = http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent=20 Group discussion list can be found at = http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent Group=20 discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

********** Participation and subscription=20 information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be = found=20 at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:48:59 -0600 From: "Killingsworth, Chad" Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all for captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either - even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. =20 A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was not funded. =20 Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high demand. =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Hi Chad,=20 =20 I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.=20 =20 Thanks,=20 Terry =20 =20 =09 ________________________________ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. =20 The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. =20 The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. =20 The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Hi Abbie,=20 =20 The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan:=20 =09 http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Delivera bles_Plan =20 I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) =20 =20 I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned.=20 =20 Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update.=20 =20 Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over.=20 =20 What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing?=20 =20 Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168=20 =09 ________________________________ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]=20 Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie =20 From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.=20 =20 The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26=20 =20 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. =20 I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

We have limited in = house capabilities for transcription and none at all for = captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the = Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of = the other checkpoints either – even though most of those have a MUCH = smaller fiscal impact.

 

A few years ago, we = estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = not funded.

 

Neither of these = proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = demand.

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Chad,

 

I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.

 

Thanks,

Terry

 

 


From: Killingsworth, Chad = [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

Missouri has its own = standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = idea.

 

The primary problem = spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), = we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at = smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the = actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = was a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = action to get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = checkpoints.  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = accurate responses do you think we’re going to get = now?

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Abbie,

 

The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = detailed delivery plan:

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I personally like that the recommended new standards have = abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = to comply with web, software, or multimedia = standards?)  

 

I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = of standards more closely aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = a federal update.

 

Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although = awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I = suspect our state ISB will have to start over.

 

What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? =

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168


From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

What happened at the = Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee?

Abbie

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who = is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

 

The latest working draft of the standards can be = found at http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications for a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:26:13 -0500 From: Ron Stewart Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multipart message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Good morning, Based on the experiences from my program at Oregon State the typical cost to caption educational content in-house ended up being conservatively about $300 for each hour of video transcribed. This is based on an average of 12 hours of labor for the transcription and subtitling of the video at a total resource cost of $25.00 per hour. This was the average for the ~400 hours of video that had been completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006. If more detail is wanted about the program or its operation please contact me off list. Ron Stewart Technology Advisor Association on Higher Education and Disability. From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all for captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either - even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was not funded. Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high demand. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Chad, I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service. Thanks, Terry _____ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Abbie, The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan: http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables _Plan I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168 _____ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Good = morning,

 

Based on the = experiences from my program at Oregon State the typical cost to caption educational content in-house ended up being conservatively about $300 for each hour of video transcribed.  This is based on an average of 12 hours of labor for = the transcription and subtitling of the video at a total resource cost of = $25.00 per hour.  This was the average for the ~400 hours of video that = had been completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006.

 

If more detail is = wanted about the program or its operation please contact me off = list.

 

Ron = Stewart

Technology = Advisor

Association on Higher = Education and Disability.

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

We have limited in = house capabilities for transcription and none at all for = captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access = Board what financial implications the standards have on educational = institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this = one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either = – even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal = impact.

 

A few years ago, we = estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = not funded.

 

Neither of these = proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = demand.

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Chad,

 

I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.

 

Thanks,

Terry

 

 


From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

Missouri has its own = standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = idea.

 

The primary problem = spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = the actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = was a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = action to get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = checkpoints.  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = accurate responses do you think we’re going to get = now?

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Abbie,

 

The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = detailed delivery plan:

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I personally like that the recommended new standards have = abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = to comply with web, software, or multimedia = standards?)  

 

I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = of standards more closely aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = a federal update.

 

Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is = much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect = our state ISB will have to start over.

 

What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? =

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168


From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

What happened at the = Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee?

Abbie

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a = member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

 

The latest working draft of the standards can be = found at http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications for a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0-- ------------------------------ End of ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) *********************************************************** From kcahill at MIT.EDU Wed Jan 9 08:36:28 2008 From: kcahill at MIT.EDU (Kathleen Cahill) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:49 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> References: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> Message-ID: <4784F80C.1090900@mit.edu> Hi all; I have been in touch with Jim Glass, the researcher for this project to inquire about any plans to make the software available in the future. I'll post when I find something out. Thanks, Kathy _______________________ Kathleen Cahill MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 Cambridge MA 02139 (617) 253-5111 kcahill@mit.edu Saroj Primlani wrote: > Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech > recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our > problems, we really need to investigate this. > http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html > > Article in Technology Review > http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ > > Monday, November 26, 2007 > Searching Video Lectures > A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review > lectures. > By Kate Greene > Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves > one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy > academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, > and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser > website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures > publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The > search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT > and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. > > The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, > including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, > Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this > content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be > difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they need > in less than a second with Google. > > "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes > easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist at > MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it > easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be > interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." > > The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around > research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, Carnegie > Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern > California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software > that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says > Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of work > where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology is > mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's > time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in the > lab." > > A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines Blinkx > and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of > software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV > on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT researchers > faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many lecturers > are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription tricky > for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored > in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, > professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little discernable > structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy > searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures aren't > organized like normal text." > > To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software that > converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand > particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of > recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything from > "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with > additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists > the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. > If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and > vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to 50 > percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription > but can still be useful for keyword searches.) > > The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed > words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of > sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the > trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key > distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you > ramble and mumble." > > To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks the > text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The > software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have > similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer > together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the network > lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or subtopic > in the lecture. > > The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches > for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio > timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture that > contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that > surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the browser > shows the transcribed text below it. > > Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 hits > a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. > Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically > attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired section. > Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make > corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to > Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose technical > challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an > interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction > throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing people > into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a > couple percentage points, making user experience even better. > > Copyright Technology Review 2007 > _________________________________ > Saroj Primlani > Coordinator of University IT Accessibility > Office of Information Technology > 919 513 4087 > http://ncsu.edu/it/access > > From skeegan at htctu.net Wed Jan 9 10:49:44 2008 From: skeegan at htctu.net (Sean Keegan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:49 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Foot Mouse Message-ID: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Hello all, I am forwarding for another member - please see the message below. ********************* From: Howard Kramer [mailto:hkramer@colorado.edu] Subject: foot mouse Hello All: Anyone have any experience with the "foottime foot mouse," or any other brand of foot mouse." Second question - has anyone used Dragon 9 as of yet? Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 From skeegan at htctu.net Wed Jan 9 11:16:20 2008 From: skeegan at htctu.net (Sean Keegan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] (no subject) Message-ID: <002d01c852f4$1e3a1540$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Sean Keegan Web Accessibility Instructor High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges From danc at washington.edu Wed Jan 9 11:26:31 2008 From: danc at washington.edu (Dan Comden) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Foot Mouse In-Reply-To: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Message-ID: We've had the No Hands mouse (http://www.footmouse.com/) in our place for a few years now. I've had about 20 different people, mostly faculty and staff, try it, and a couple of those took it back to their offices for longer term evaluations of up to a couple of weeks. Nobody selected it as a mouse alternate. Fine motor control with feet is something that appears to take quite a lot of practice! As for question 2, yes we're using Dragon 9 now, though we don't have many hours of experience with it yet. Seems pretty accurate is about all I can say about it right now. *-*-*- Please note and update my slightly changed email address *-*-*-*- Dan Comden danc@washington.edu Access Technology Lab http://www.washington.edu/computing/atl/ University of Washington On Wed, 9 Jan 2008, Sean Keegan wrote: > Hello all, > > I am forwarding for another member - please see the message below. > > ********************* > From: Howard Kramer [mailto:hkramer@colorado.edu] > Subject: foot mouse > > Hello All: > > Anyone have any experience with the "foottime foot mouse," or any other > brand of foot mouse." Second question - has anyone used Dragon 9 as of yet? > > Thanks, > Howard From kcahill at MIT.EDU Wed Jan 9 11:47:35 2008 From: kcahill at MIT.EDU (Kathleen Cahill) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Foot Mouse In-Reply-To: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Message-ID: <478524D7.9010300@mit.edu> The Foot Mouse (or the No Hands Mouse, as it's called) requires you to sit forward in your seat to exert pressure on the foot pedals. This, in turn, leaves the user without enough low back support. The customers who have tried it generally have not purchased the device. Also, the company is not very responsive and as far as I know, does not have a USB version! (PS/2 only) Naturally Speaking 9 works quite well even without initial training. Its accuracy is better than Nat Speak 8, and users have generally been very happy with the speech to text. Hope this helps, Kathy Sean Keegan wrote: > Hello all, > > I am forwarding for another member - please see the message below. > > ********************* > From: Howard Kramer [mailto:hkramer@colorado.edu] > Subject: foot mouse > > Hello All: > > Anyone have any experience with the "foottime foot mouse," or any other > brand of foot mouse." Second question - has anyone used Dragon 9 as of yet? > > Thanks, > Howard > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > From Tim.Sears at mcckc.edu Wed Jan 9 12:21:19 2008 From: Tim.Sears at mcckc.edu (Tim Sears) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Scanning white text on black background Message-ID: <4784D85D.5F6C.0067.0@mcckc.edu> Hey all, I am using Abbyy Fine Reader to scan a book (Inconvenient Truth by Gore) which has white text on black background. Does anyone have recommended settings to get abbyy to read this as text. Tim Sears Adaptive Technology Specialist 3200 Broadway Blvd. Kansas City MO 64111 email: tim.sears@mcckc.edu telephone: 816-759-1092 work cell: 816-853-2485 ""Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure". - Nelson Mandela " From gdietrich at htctu.net Wed Jan 9 16:43:02 2008 From: gdietrich at htctu.net (Gaeir Dietrich) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: <4784F80C.1090900@mit.edu> References: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> <4784F80C.1090900@mit.edu> Message-ID: <008b01c85321$c200d600$9a821299@htctu.fhda.edu> We have looked at other similar products, and while they do a fairly decent job of indexing material, they are not even close to creating accurate word-for-word transcripts. If all you want is to know the kinds of words being spoken five minutes into an audio file, it works. If you actually want to know what is being said, it does not work. ****************************************************** Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges De Anza College, Cupertino, CA www.htctu.net 408-996-6043 -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Kathleen Cahill Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:36 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Cc: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine Hi all; I have been in touch with Jim Glass, the researcher for this project to inquire about any plans to make the software available in the future. I'll post when I find something out. Thanks, Kathy _______________________ Kathleen Cahill MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 Cambridge MA 02139 (617) 253-5111 kcahill@mit.edu Saroj Primlani wrote: > Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech > recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our > problems, we really need to investigate this. > http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html > > Article in Technology Review > http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ > > Monday, November 26, 2007 > Searching Video Lectures > A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review > lectures. > By Kate Greene > Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves > one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy > academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, > and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser > website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures > publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The > search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT > and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. > > The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, > including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, > Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this > content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be > difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they need > in less than a second with Google. > > "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes > easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist at > MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it > easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be > interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." > > The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around > research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, Carnegie > Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern > California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software > that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says > Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of work > where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology is > mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's > time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in the > lab." > > A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines Blinkx > and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of > software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV > on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT researchers > faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many lecturers > are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription tricky > for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored > in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, > professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little discernable > structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy > searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures aren't > organized like normal text." > > To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software that > converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand > particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of > recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything from > "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with > additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists > the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. > If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and > vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to 50 > percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription > but can still be useful for keyword searches.) > > The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed > words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of > sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the > trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key > distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you > ramble and mumble." > > To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks the > text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The > software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have > similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer > together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the network > lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or subtopic > in the lecture. > > The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches > for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio > timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture that > contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that > surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the browser > shows the transcribed text below it. > > Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 hits > a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. > Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically > attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired section. > Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make > corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to > Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose technical > challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an > interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction > throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing people > into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a > couple percentage points, making user experience even better. > > Copyright Technology Review 2007 > _________________________________ > Saroj Primlani > Coordinator of University IT Accessibility > Office of Information Technology > 919 513 4087 > http://ncsu.edu/it/access > > _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From JWeier at stlcc.edu Wed Jan 9 17:18:57 2008 From: JWeier at stlcc.edu (Weier, James A.) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Scanning white text on black background References: <4784D85D.5F6C.0067.0@mcckc.edu> Message-ID: Tim, Try this, right after you scan the document into ABBYY, but before you Read (OCR the image), go up to the menu bar at the top of ABBYY FineReader and select Image and from the drop down list choose Invert Image. That should change the text to black and the background to white. Then Read (OCR) the document and send to Word for cleanup. We use ABBYY FineReader 7.0 Pro and always save our scanned textbook images to a TIF file. If your version of ABBYY is 9.0 (the newest version) it should still have this function. Hope this helps. James A. Weier Adaptive Tech. Specialist/Access Office St. Louis Community College 3400 Pershall Road Ferguson, MO. 63135 314-513-4162 (voice) 314-513-4876 (fax) jweier@stlcc.edu There are three basic types, the wills, the won'ts, and the can'ts. The wills accomplish everything, the won'ts oppose everything, and the can'ts won't try anything. ________________________________ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org on behalf of Tim Sears Sent: Wed 1/9/2008 2:21 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: [Athen] Scanning white text on black background Hey all, I am using Abbyy Fine Reader to scan a book (Inconvenient Truth by Gore) which has white text on black background. Does anyone have recommended settings to get abbyy to read this as text. Tim Sears Adaptive Technology Specialist 3200 Broadway Blvd. Kansas City MO 64111 email: tim.sears@mcckc.edu telephone: 816-759-1092 work cell: 816-853-2485 ""Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure". - Nelson Mandela " _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dick.banks at gmail.com Thu Jan 10 07:52:22 2008 From: dick.banks at gmail.com (Dick Banks) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Fwd: Resending: Test documents for the Microsoft Save as DAISY XML Plug-in In-Reply-To: <003c01c853a0$695610e0$0300000a@LENOVO> References: <003c01c853a0$695610e0$0300000a@LENOVO> Message-ID: <6441e6a70801100752u57f6da4bx14a2dae2fd217f58@mail.gmail.com> George looking for some help. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: George Kerscher Date: Jan 10, 2008 9:48 AM Subject: Resending: Test documents for the Microsoft Save as DAISY XML Plug-in To: EASI@listserv.icors.org Hello again, I sent the message below over the holiday break. We are still in need of more test documents. There is also a planned beta release of the translator for late January. Sorry if you get this more than once. Best George *** Dear All, In support of the announced plug-in for Microsoft Word, Save as DAISY XML, we are seeking documents for testing. We are looking for documents from: -Publishers -Alternative Media Producers (AMP), such as libraries serving the blind and print disabled or university offices providing services to students with disabilities. -educators -individuals The DAISY Consortium, Microsoft, and the sub-contractors working on the "Save as DAISY XML" plug-in for Microsoft Word respect the rights of document owners. The copyright and any intellectual property contained in the documents submitted will be honored. The documents submitted will be used only for testing the translator. The documents will not be shared outside the small group working on the project. Each person working on the project has agreed to keep the documents secure. We are asking those submitting the documents to password protect the zipped files and to place them in a secure area. We can take files in Word 2007, 2003, and in Word XP. All languages are accepted. To start the process, please visit: http://www.daisy.org/projects/save-as-daisy-microsoft/ If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly. Best George George Kerscher Ph.D. Access to information is a fundamental human right in our Information Age. Senior Officer, Accessible Information Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) http://www.rfbd.org Secretary General, DAISY Consortium http://www.daisy.org Co-chair Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a division of the W3C http://www.w3c.org/wai Board Representative to the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) http://www.idpf.org Phone: +1 406/549-4687 Email: kerscher@montana.com -- Dick Banks CTO - EASI: Equal Access to Software and Information Online Courses Starting Feb. 4 Syllabus for Barrier-free Web Design http://easi.cc/workshops/easiweb.htm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From burke at ucla.edu Thu Jan 10 10:16:06 2008 From: burke at ucla.edu (Patrick Burke) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Old Braillenote Speech Synths Available Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20080110101403.0259f3c0@ucla.edu> Hi All, Sort of a strange offer, but ... Before I trash them, would anyone have any use for two old Keynote Gold external speech synthesizers? Batteries & power adapters are no longer working, but the units are intact & the speech chips should be ok. Free to anyone interested. Drivers available for Win 98 (last OS supported) if you need them. They could make for an interesting research project (or Museum Of Speech Synthesis exhibit). ... Drop me a note offlist: burke@ucla.edu . Thanks! Patrick -- Patrick J. Burke Coordinator UCLA Disabilities & Computing Program Phone: 310 206-6004 E-mail: burke ucla. edu From KCarini at matcmadison.edu Thu Jan 10 10:44:31 2008 From: KCarini at matcmadison.edu (Kevin Carini) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Accessible Microscopes Message-ID: <4786132F0200002500009BCC@mail.matcmadison.edu> Hello, Has anyone ever used a dual-headed microscope with projection onto a monitor (or similar set-up) for students who have difficulty accessing or manipulating the microscope? We are looking to purchase equipment that will make accessibility to our microscopes easier in our science labs. We made some temporary modifications last semester, but are looking to make it more permanent and universally accessible. Any information or experiences would be helpful. Thank you. Kevin M. Carini MS, CRC DRS Specialist kcarini@matcmadison.edu (608) 243-4612 From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Thu Jan 10 10:55:34 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] Accessible Microscopes In-Reply-To: <4786132F0200002500009BCC@mail.matcmadison.edu> References: <4786132F0200002500009BCC@mail.matcmadison.edu> Message-ID: <00fb01c853ba$61aa1ca0$24fe55e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> I have approached this in a couple of different ways, by attaching a FlexCam to the Ocular of the microscope http://www.microscopeworld.com/MSWorld/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=222&gcli d=CIyt2NWr7JACFQSHHgodxUFrQg Then we purchased a Digital Microscope which allowed the student to do the manipulations with a computer interface. http://www.microscopeworld.com/DigitalMicro/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=112 &gclid=CKj5zvGr7JACFQMlHgodLTklQg Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Carini Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:45 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: [Athen] Accessible Microscopes Hello, Has anyone ever used a dual-headed microscope with projection onto a monitor (or similar set-up) for students who have difficulty accessing or manipulating the microscope? We are looking to purchase equipment that will make accessibility to our microscopes easier in our science labs. We made some temporary modifications last semester, but are looking to make it more permanent and universally accessible. Any information or experiences would be helpful. Thank you. Kevin M. Carini MS, CRC DRS Specialist kcarini@matcmadison.edu (608) 243-4612 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From kcahill at MIT.EDU Thu Jan 10 11:11:13 2008 From: kcahill at MIT.EDU (Kathleen Cahill) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: <008b01c85321$c200d600$9a821299@htctu.fhda.edu> References: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> <4784F80C.1090900@mit.edu> <008b01c85321$c200d600$9a821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Message-ID: <47866DD1.1070800@mit.edu> Gaeir is right....the Lecture Browser if you try it out ( see http://www.galaxy.csail.mit.edu/lectures/ ) has a pretty high error rate. Prof. Glass said that they are continuing to try and improve the recognition, work with other colleagues and get more funding to improve it. So, I guess it's not ready yet for us AT providers as a reliable captioning/transcription option. Thanks, Kathy __________________________ Kathleen Cahill MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 Cambridge MA 02139 kcahill@mit.edu 617 253-5111 Gaeir Dietrich wrote: > We have looked at other similar products, and while they do a fairly decent > job of indexing material, they are not even close to creating accurate > word-for-word transcripts. > > If all you want is to know the kinds of words being spoken five minutes into > an audio file, it works. If you actually want to know what is being said, it > does not work. > > ****************************************************** > Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich > High Tech Center Training Unit of the > California Community Colleges > De Anza College, Cupertino, CA > www.htctu.net > 408-996-6043 > -----Original Message----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Kathleen Cahill > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:36 AM > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > Cc: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine > > Hi all; > > I have been in touch with Jim Glass, the researcher for this project to > inquire about any plans to make the software available in the future. > I'll post when I find something out. > > Thanks, > Kathy > > _______________________ > > Kathleen Cahill > MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab > 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 > Cambridge MA 02139 > (617) 253-5111 > kcahill@mit.edu > > > Saroj Primlani wrote: > >> Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech >> recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our >> problems, we really need to investigate this. >> http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html >> >> Article in Technology Review >> http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ >> >> Monday, November 26, 2007 >> Searching Video Lectures >> A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review >> lectures. >> By Kate Greene >> Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves >> one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a >> > lengthy > >> academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of >> > keywords, > >> and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser >> website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures >> publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The >> search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at >> > MIT > >> and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. >> >> The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, >> including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, >> Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this >> content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be >> difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they >> > need > >> in less than a second with Google. >> >> "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes >> easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist >> > at > >> MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it >> easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be >> interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." >> >> The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around >> research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, >> > Carnegie > >> Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern >> California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software >> that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says >> Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of >> > work > >> where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology >> > is > >> mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's >> time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in >> > the > >> lab." >> >> A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines >> > Blinkx > >> and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of >> software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV >> on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT >> > researchers > >> faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many >> > lecturers > >> are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription >> > tricky > >> for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored >> in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, >> professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little >> > discernable > >> structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy >> searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures >> > aren't > >> organized like normal text." >> >> To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software >> > that > >> converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand >> particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of >> recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything >> > from > >> "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with >> additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists >> the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. >> If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and >> vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to >> > 50 > >> percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription >> but can still be useful for keyword searches.) >> >> The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed >> words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of >> sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the >> trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key >> distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you >> ramble and mumble." >> >> To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks >> > the > >> text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The >> software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have >> similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer >> together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the >> > network > >> lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or >> > subtopic > >> in the lecture. >> >> The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches >> for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio >> timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture >> > that > >> contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that >> surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the >> > browser > >> shows the transcribed text below it. >> >> Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 >> > hits > >> a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. >> Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically >> attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired >> > section. > >> Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make >> corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to >> Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose >> > technical > >> challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an >> interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction >> throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing >> > people > >> into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a >> couple percentage points, making user experience even better. >> >> Copyright Technology Review 2007 >> _________________________________ >> Saroj Primlani >> Coordinator of University IT Accessibility >> Office of Information Technology >> 919 513 4087 >> http://ncsu.edu/it/access >> >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > From kerscher at montana.com Thu Jan 10 12:51:49 2008 From: kerscher at montana.com (George Kerscher) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: <47866DD1.1070800@mit.edu> Message-ID: <010301c853ca$a406afe0$0300000a@LENOVO> Related is: The thinner the better for new HDTV sets .Scrolling the radio A new technology unveiled Tuesday would show what's being said on the radio using a receiver with a screen that would scroll text much like closed captions roll by on TV. No manufacturer has yet committed to bring the technology to market. It is backed by National Public Radio and Harris Corp., a major supplier of broadcasting equipment, as well as a new research center at Towson University near Baltimore. NPR and its partners displayed a prototype text radio Tuesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Mike Starling, NPR's chief technology officer, said by phone that the group hoped to bring in commercial broadcasters, radio makers and other industry players. Starling said he hoped text-based broadcasts would become a new standard in radio, just as digital broadcasting - known as HD Radio - did several years ago. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/09/thinner-the-better-for-new -hdtv-sets/ Best George > -----Original Message----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org > [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Kathleen Cahill > Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 12:11 PM > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > Subject: Re: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture > search engine > > Gaeir is right....the Lecture Browser if you try it out ( see > http://www.galaxy.csail.mit.edu/lectures/ ) has a pretty high > error rate. > > Prof. Glass said that they are continuing to try and improve the > recognition, work with other colleagues and get more funding > to improve > it. So, I guess it's not ready yet for us AT providers as a reliable > captioning/transcription option. > > Thanks, > Kathy > > __________________________ > Kathleen Cahill > MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab > 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 > Cambridge MA 02139 > kcahill@mit.edu > 617 253-5111 > > Gaeir Dietrich wrote: > > We have looked at other similar products, and while they do > a fairly decent > > job of indexing material, they are not even close to > creating accurate > > word-for-word transcripts. > > > > If all you want is to know the kinds of words being spoken > five minutes into > > an audio file, it works. If you actually want to know what > is being said, it > > does not work. > > > > ****************************************************** > > Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich > > High Tech Center Training Unit of the > > California Community Colleges > > De Anza College, Cupertino, CA > > www.htctu.net > > 408-996-6043 > > -----Original Message----- > > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org > [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > > Behalf Of Kathleen Cahill > > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:36 AM > > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > Cc: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > > Subject: Re: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture > search engine > > > > Hi all; > > > > I have been in touch with Jim Glass, the researcher for > this project to > > inquire about any plans to make the software available in > the future. > > I'll post when I find something out. > > > > Thanks, > > Kathy > > > > _______________________ > > > > Kathleen Cahill > > MIT ATIC (Adaptive Technology) Lab > > 77 Mass. Ave. 7-143 > > Cambridge MA 02139 > > (617) 253-5111 > > kcahill@mit.edu > > > > > > Saroj Primlani wrote: > > > >> Have you all heard about this? I can't find information > on the speech > >> recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major > solution to our > >> problems, we really need to investigate this. > >> http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html > >> > >> Article in Technology Review > >> http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ > >> > >> Monday, November 26, 2007 > >> Searching Video Lectures > >> A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can > efficiently review > >> lectures. > >> By Kate Greene > >> Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search > tool that solves > >> one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to > break up a > >> > > lengthy > > > >> academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of > >> > > keywords, > > > >> and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT > Lecture Browser > >> website gives the general public detailed access to more > than 200 lectures > >> publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare > initiative. The > >> search engine leverages decades' worth of > speech-recognition research at > >> > > MIT > > > >> and other institutions to convert audio into text and make > it searchable. > >> > >> The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more > universities, > >> including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of > California, > >> Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures > online. While this > >> content is useful, locating specific information within > lectures can be > >> difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to > finding what they > >> > > need > > > >> in less than a second with Google. > >> > >> "This is a growing issue for universities around the > country as it becomes > >> easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, > research scientist > >> > > at > > > >> MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate > them and make it > >> easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture > they might be > >> interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." > >> > >> The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been > kicking around > >> research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, > >> > > Carnegie > > > >> Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the > University of Southern > >> California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have > produced software > >> that's finally good enough to find its way to the average > person, says > >> Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about > three decades of > >> > > work > > > >> where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. > "The technology > >> > > is > > > >> mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the > community that it's > >> time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done > all we can in > >> > > the > > > >> lab." > >> > >> A handful of companies, such as online audio and video > search engines > >> > > Blinkx > > > >> and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are > making use of > >> software that converts audio speech into searchable text. > (See "Surfing TV > >> on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT > >> > > researchers > > > >> faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many > >> > > lecturers > > > >> are not native English speakers, which makes automatic > transcription > >> > > tricky > > > >> for systems trained on American English accents. Second, > the words favored > >> in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says > Regina Barzilay, > >> professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little > >> > > discernable > > > >> structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy > >> searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she > says. "Lectures > >> > > aren't > > > >> organized like normal text." > >> > >> To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured > the software > >> > > that > > > >> converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand > >> particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short > snippets of > >> recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon > words--anything > >> > > from > > > >> "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers > provided it with > >> additional data, such as text from books and lecture > notes, which assists > >> the software in accurately transcribing as many as four > out of five words. > >> If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker > whose accent and > >> vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the > accuracy can drop to > >> > > 50 > > > >> percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for > direct transcription > >> but can still be useful for keyword searches.) > >> > >> The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to > the transcribed > >> words. Software was already available that could break up > long strings of > >> sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it > didn't do the > >> trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. > "One of the key > >> distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you > speak freely; you > >> ramble and mumble." > >> > >> To organize the transcribed text, her group created > software that breaks > >> > > the > > > >> text into chunks that often correspond with individual > sentences. The > >> software places these chunks in a network structure; > chunks that have > >> similar words or were spoken closely together in time are > placed closer > >> together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the > >> > > network > > > >> lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or > >> > > subtopic > > > >> in the lecture. > >> > >> The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a > person searches > >> for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a > video or audio > >> timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of > the lecture > >> > > that > > > >> contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets > of text that > >> surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the > >> > > browser > > > >> shows the transcribed text below it. > >> > >> Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an > average of 21,000 > >> > > hits > > > >> a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work > to be done. > >> Within the next few months, her team will add a feature > that automatically > >> attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired > >> > > section. > > > >> Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make > >> corrections to the transcript in the same way that people > contribute to > >> Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose > >> > > technical > > > >> challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, > because you want an > >> interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate > the correction > >> throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says > that bringing > >> > > people > > > >> into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of > the system by a > >> couple percentage points, making user experience even better. > >> > >> Copyright Technology Review 2007 > >> _________________________________ > >> Saroj Primlani > >> Coordinator of University IT Accessibility > >> Office of Information Technology > >> 919 513 4087 > >> http://ncsu.edu/it/access > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Athen mailing list > > Athen@athenpro.org > > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Athen mailing list > > Athen@athenpro.org > > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > From KCarini at matcmadison.edu Thu Jan 10 13:28:52 2008 From: KCarini at matcmadison.edu (Kevin Carini) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] Accessible Microscopes In-Reply-To: <00fb01c853ba$61aa1ca0$24fe55e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <4786132F0200002500009BCC@mail.matcmadison.edu> <00fb01c853ba$61aa1ca0$24fe55e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <478639B40200002500009BE9@mail.matcmadison.edu> Thanks Ron. Kevin M. Carini MS, CRC DRS Specialist kcarini@matcmadison.edu (608) 243-4612 >>> "Ron Stewart" 1/10/2008 12:55:34 PM >>> I have approached this in a couple of different ways, by attaching a FlexCam to the Ocular of the microscope http://www.microscopeworld.com/MSWorld/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=222&gcli d=CIyt2NWr7JACFQSHHgodxUFrQg Then we purchased a Digital Microscope which allowed the student to do the manipulations with a computer interface. http://www.microscopeworld.com/DigitalMicro/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=112 &gclid=CKj5zvGr7JACFQMlHgodLTklQg Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Carini Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 1:45 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: [Athen] Accessible Microscopes Hello, Has anyone ever used a dual-headed microscope with projection onto a monitor (or similar set-up) for students who have difficulty accessing or manipulating the microscope? We are looking to purchase equipment that will make accessibility to our microscopes easier in our science labs. We made some temporary modifications last semester, but are looking to make it more permanent and universally accessible. Any information or experiences would be helpful. Thank you. Kevin M. Carini MS, CRC DRS Specialist kcarini@matcmadison.edu (608) 243-4612 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From ea at emptech.info Sat Jan 12 04:06:09 2008 From: ea at emptech.info (E.A. Draffan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Dragon 9 In-Reply-To: References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Message-ID: <00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> Sorry I have been at Bett show for the last week - A bit belatedly - we have been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred vers 9 and it even works with commands to go to separate areas when using Moodle. Really quick to get up and running and when you use Parallels on the Mac with Windows XP and a USB headset it still seems to recognise my speech without training! I did find the mic dipped out at times and had to use audio setup to make the best of it - obviously one training script improves the output further. Best wishes E.A. -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Dan Comden Sent: 09 January 2008 19:27 To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Foot Mouse We've had the No Hands mouse (http://www.footmouse.com/) in our place for a few years now. I've had about 20 different people, mostly faculty and staff, try it, and a couple of those took it back to their offices for longer term evaluations of up to a couple of weeks. Nobody selected it as a mouse alternate. Fine motor control with feet is something that appears to take quite a lot of practice! As for question 2, yes we're using Dragon 9 now, though we don't have many hours of experience with it yet. Seems pretty accurate is about all I can say about it right now. *-*-*- Please note and update my slightly changed email address *-*-*-*- Dan Comden danc@washington.edu Access Technology Lab http://www.washington.edu/computing/atl/ University of Washington On Wed, 9 Jan 2008, Sean Keegan wrote: > Hello all, > > I am forwarding for another member - please see the message below. > > ********************* > From: Howard Kramer [mailto:hkramer@colorado.edu] > Subject: foot mouse > > Hello All: > > Anyone have any experience with the "foottime foot mouse," or any other > brand of foot mouse." Second question - has anyone used Dragon 9 as of yet? > > Thanks, > Howard _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1214 - Release Date: 08/01/2008 13:38 From ea at emptech.info Sat Jan 12 04:06:09 2008 From: ea at emptech.info (E.A. Draffan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:50 2018 Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine In-Reply-To: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> References: <000001c852d9$984cf3e0$6c01a8c0@sarojnewlaptop> Message-ID: <00f701c85513$85ca5af0$915f10d0$@info> Rather belatedly I am replying as we have had the Bett show all week. This a project that Dr Mike Wald has been involved with here in Southampton (UK) http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/seminars/72 as the Engineering and Computer Science department has links with MIT. Via Scribe is being used by many for this purpose http://www-03.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/ViaScribe.html Best wishes E.A. Mrs E.A. Draffan Learning Societies Lab, ECS, University of Southampton, Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246 http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk http://www.emptech.info -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Saroj Primlani Sent: 09 January 2008 16:06 To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Cc: athen@athenpro.org Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our problems, we really need to investigate this. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html Article in Technology Review http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ Monday, November 26, 2007 Searching Video Lectures A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review lectures. By Kate Greene Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a lengthy academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of keywords, and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at MIT and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they need in less than a second with Google. "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist at MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, Carnegie Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of work where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology is mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in the lab." A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines Blinkx and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT researchers faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many lecturers are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription tricky for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little discernable structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures aren't organized like normal text." To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software that converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything from "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to 50 percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription but can still be useful for keyword searches.) The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you ramble and mumble." To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks the text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the network lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or subtopic in the lecture. The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture that contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the browser shows the transcribed text below it. Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 hits a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired section. Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose technical challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing people into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a couple percentage points, making user experience even better. Copyright Technology Review 2007 _________________________________ Saroj Primlani Coordinator of University IT Accessibility Office of Information Technology 919 513 4087 http://ncsu.edu/it/access -----Original Message----- From: ITACCESS automatic digest system [mailto:LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:00 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) There are 3 messages totalling 2839 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates (3) ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 06:26:13 -0800 From: Terry Thompson Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Chad, I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service. Thanks, Terry _____ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Abbie, The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan: http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables _Plan I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168 _____ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hi Chad,
 
I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to = caption=20 and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost = analysis?=20 (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of = estimated=20 costs would be great information for any institutions that are = considering a=20 centralized in-house caption/description service. =
 
Thanks,
Terry
 


From: Killingsworth, Chad=20 [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = Wednesday,=20 January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = Section 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates

Missouri has its = own=20 standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a = couple of=20 tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not = written=20 into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. = There has=20 been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board = updates=20 their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the=20 idea.

 

The primary = problem spot=20 remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to = be=20 completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television = station,=20 radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be = over $1=20 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In = many=20 cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post = multimedia=20 content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in = the=20 process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are = also=20 excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has = an=20 avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem=20 continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = Adobe,=20 etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = looking at=20 smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = the=20 actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = purchased a=20 web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many=20 Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on=20 their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile = system, I=20 was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None = of the=20 form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab = and it was=20 a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten = legal action to=20 get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations=20 and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – = not better. For=20 a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. =  With=20 the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many accurate = responses do you=20 think we’re going to get now?

 

Chad=20 Killingsworth

Web Projects=20 Coordinator

Missouri State=20 University

 

From: Terry = Thompson=20 [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, = 2007 4:22=20 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: = [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft=20 Updates

 

Hi=20 Abbie,

 

The=20 latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory = Committee=20 polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the = Access=20 Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it = after that.=20 It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery = plan:=20

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I=20 personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned = grouping IT=20 products into six distinct categories, which is how the current = standards=20 document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with = the=20 current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., = if it's=20 an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to = comply=20 with web, software, or multimedia standards?)  

 

I also=20 like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and = many of=20 the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully = this=20 harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in = 2008 -=20 It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely=20 aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's=20 state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) = include=20 language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically = updated=20 in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky = adopting=20 something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to = start over=20 with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. =

 

Interestingly,=20 Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 = standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which = they=20 adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG = 2.0=20 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic = of this=20 approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current = than the=20 original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 = standards=20 are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to = start over.=20

 

What=20 are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing?

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology = Accessibility=20 Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of=20 Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168 =


From: = OSullivan,=20 Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, = December=20 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = Section 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates

What happened at = the Nov=20 12th meeting of the TEITAC = committee?

Abbie

 

From: = Killingsworth,=20 Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = Thursday,=20 November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To:=20 ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section = 508=20 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed = updates to=20 the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these = standards=20 by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was = given the=20 option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology = director=20 who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.=20

 

The latest working draft of the standards can = be found at=20 http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26=20

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current=20 standard in that it combines what used be separate = standards/checkpoints for=20 each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications=20 for a procurement process – especially since we already have = enough trouble=20 getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the=20 matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November=20 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent=20 Group discussion list can be found at = http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent=20 Group discussion list can be found at = http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

**********=20 Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = Constituent Group=20 discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20

********** Participation and subscription=20 information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be = found=20 at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:48:59 -0600 From: "Killingsworth, Chad" Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all for captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either - even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. =20 A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was not funded. =20 Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high demand. =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Hi Chad,=20 =20 I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.=20 =20 Thanks,=20 Terry =20 =20 =09 ________________________________ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. =20 The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. =20 The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. =20 The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Hi Abbie,=20 =20 The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan:=20 =09 http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Delivera bles_Plan =20 I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) =20 =20 I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned.=20 =20 Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update.=20 =20 Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over.=20 =20 What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing?=20 =20 Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168=20 =09 ________________________________ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]=20 Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie =20 From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates =20 Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.=20 =20 The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26=20 =20 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. =20 I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. =20 Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University =20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

We have limited in = house capabilities for transcription and none at all for = captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the = Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of = the other checkpoints either – even though most of those have a MUCH = smaller fiscal impact.

 

A few years ago, we = estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = not funded.

 

Neither of these = proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = demand.

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Chad,

 

I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.

 

Thanks,

Terry

 

 


From: Killingsworth, Chad = [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

Missouri has its own = standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = idea.

 

The primary problem = spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), = we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at = smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the = actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = was a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = action to get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = checkpoints.  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = accurate responses do you think we’re going to get = now?

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Abbie,

 

The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = detailed delivery plan:

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I personally like that the recommended new standards have = abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = to comply with web, software, or multimedia = standards?)  

 

I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = of standards more closely aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = a federal update.

 

Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although = awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I = suspect our state ISB will have to start over.

 

What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? =

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168


From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

What happened at the = Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee?

Abbie

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who = is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

 

The latest working draft of the standards can be = found at http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications for a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:26:13 -0500 From: Ron Stewart Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates This is a multipart message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Good morning, Based on the experiences from my program at Oregon State the typical cost to caption educational content in-house ended up being conservatively about $300 for each hour of video transcribed. This is based on an average of 12 hours of labor for the transcription and subtitling of the video at a total resource cost of $25.00 per hour. This was the average for the ~400 hours of video that had been completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006. If more detail is wanted about the program or its operation please contact me off list. Ron Stewart Technology Advisor Association on Higher Education and Disability. From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all for captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access Board what financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either - even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was not funded. Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high demand. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Chad, I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service. Thanks, Terry _____ From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the vendor to even partially comply. The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Hi Abbie, The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery plan: http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables _Plan I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or multimedia standards?) I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? Terry Terry Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist DO-IT, Computing & Communications University of Washington tft@u.washington.edu 206/221-4168 _____ From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? Abbie From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. The latest working draft of the standards can be found at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a procurement process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. Chad Killingsworth Web Projects Coordinator Missouri State University ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Good = morning,

 

Based on the = experiences from my program at Oregon State the typical cost to caption educational content in-house ended up being conservatively about $300 for each hour of video transcribed.  This is based on an average of 12 hours of labor for = the transcription and subtitling of the video at a total resource cost of = $25.00 per hour.  This was the average for the ~400 hours of video that = had been completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006.

 

If more detail is = wanted about the program or its operation please contact me off = list.

 

Ron = Stewart

Technology = Advisor

Association on Higher = Education and Disability.

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

We have limited in = house capabilities for transcription and none at all for = captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = produced times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = requested bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = person to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = information with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = was going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access = Board what financial implications the standards have on educational = institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this = one area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either = – even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal = impact.

 

A few years ago, we = estimated that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = that time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = the resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = prioritization based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = not funded.

 

Neither of these = proposals covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = as the number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = demand.

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Chad,

 

I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = costs would be great information for any institutions that are considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.

 

Thanks,

Terry

 

 


From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

Missouri has its own = standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = idea.

 

The primary problem = spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = content in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation.

 

The second major = problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = the actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = by many Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = on their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = the form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = was a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = action to get the vendor to even partially comply.

 

The new TEITAC = recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = checkpoints.  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = accurate responses do you think we’re going to get = now?

 

Chad = Killingsworth

Web Projects = Coordinator

Missouri State = University

 

From:= Terry = Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

 

Hi Abbie,

 

The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = the Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = detailed delivery plan:

http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= ings_and_Deliverables_Plan

 

I personally like that the recommended new standards have = abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = current standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = with the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = to comply with web, software, or multimedia = standards?)  

 

I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = with the W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = of standards more closely aligned. 

 

Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = have adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = a federal update.

 

Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is = much more comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = stops making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect = our state ISB will have to start over.

 

What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? =

 

Terry

Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168


From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = Draft Updates

What happened at the = Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee?

Abbie

 

From:= = Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = Updates

 

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = to the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a = member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

 

The latest working draft of the standards can be = found at http://teitac.org/wiki/E= WG:Draft_Oct_26

 

This draft is a substantial departure from the = current standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = implications for a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor.

 

I’d be interested in other institutions = thoughts on the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = 12.

 

Chad Killingsworth

Web Projects Coordinator

Missouri State University

 

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. =

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0-- ------------------------------ End of ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) *********************************************************** _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1214 - Release Date: 08/01/2008 13:38 From saroj_primlani at ncsu.edu Sat Jan 12 12:14:11 2008 From: saroj_primlani at ncsu.edu (Saroj Primlani) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Athen Digest, Vol 24, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3136.24.40.128.28.1200168851.squirrel@webmail.ncsu.edu> Hi all, My experience with Via Scribe has not been very good. The accuracy remained around 90+ %, not good enough for transcripts as it required manual editing. What I was intrigued by the MIT solution was not only their grasp of all the variable when recording classroom lectures, but their approach as how to address them. According to Barzilay, the result of their work has been to achieve is a coherent transcription. I was hoping that test their technology in our classroom capture systems and see if it made a difference. The work we did with Dragon Naturally speaking Pro version gave us good results (9*+% accuracy) if the dictation was done directly into the computer with the system on it but depreciated appreciably when the lecture was recorded as we were unable to remove the audio artifacts from recorded lectures. We tried different microphones, recorders and other techniques. I would love to try the MIT solution, as they seem to have taken the variables of real live classroom lectures into consideration. Saroj Send Athen mailing list submissions to > athen@athenpro.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > athen-request@athenpro.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > athen-owner@athenpro.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Athen digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Dragon 9 (E.A. Draffan) > 2. Re: Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine > (E.A. Draffan) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:06:09 -0000 > From: "E.A. Draffan" > Subject: [Athen] Dragon 9 > To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" > > Message-ID: <00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Sorry I have been at Bett show for the last week - A bit belatedly - we > have > been using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred vers 9 and it even works > with > commands to go to separate areas when using Moodle. Really quick to get > up > and running and when you use Parallels on the Mac with Windows XP and a > USB > headset it still seems to recognise my speech without training! I did find > the mic dipped out at times and had to use audio setup to make the best of > it - obviously one training script improves the output further. > > Best wishes E.A. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Dan Comden > Sent: 09 January 2008 19:27 > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Foot Mouse > > > We've had the No Hands mouse (http://www.footmouse.com/) in our place for > a few years now. I've had about 20 different people, mostly faculty and > staff, try it, and a couple of those took it back to their offices for > longer term evaluations of up to a couple of weeks. Nobody selected it as > a mouse alternate. Fine motor control with feet is something that appears > to take quite a lot of practice! > > As for question 2, yes we're using Dragon 9 now, though we don't have many > hours of experience with it yet. Seems pretty accurate is about all I can > say about it right now. > > *-*-*- Please note and update my slightly changed email address *-*-*-*- > Dan Comden danc@washington.edu > Access Technology Lab http://www.washington.edu/computing/atl/ > University of Washington > > > On Wed, 9 Jan 2008, Sean Keegan wrote: > >> Hello all, >> >> I am forwarding for another member - please see the message below. >> >> ********************* >> From: Howard Kramer [mailto:hkramer@colorado.edu] >> Subject: foot mouse >> >> Hello All: >> >> Anyone have any experience with the "foottime foot mouse," or any other >> brand of foot mouse." Second question - has anyone used Dragon 9 as of > yet? >> >> Thanks, >> Howard > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1214 - Release Date: > 08/01/2008 > 13:38 > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:06:09 -0000 > From: "E.A. Draffan" > Subject: Re: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search > engine > To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" > , > Message-ID: <00f701c85513$85ca5af0$915f10d0$@info> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Rather belatedly I am replying as we have had the Bett show all week. > This > a project that Dr Mike Wald has been involved with here in Southampton > (UK) > http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/seminars/72 as the Engineering and Computer > Science department has links with MIT. Via Scribe is being used by many > for > this purpose http://www-03.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/ViaScribe.html > > Best wishes E.A. > > Mrs E.A. Draffan > Learning Societies Lab, > ECS, University of Southampton, > Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246 > http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk > http://www.emptech.info > > > -----Original Message----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Saroj Primlani > Sent: 09 January 2008 16:06 > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Cc: athen@athenpro.org > Subject: [Athen] Searching Video Lectures - MIT lecture search engine > > Have you all heard about this? I can't find information on the speech > recognition engine. If this is viable it would a major solution to our > problems, we really need to investigate this. > http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/lectures-tt1107.html > > Article in Technology Review > http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/page1/ > > Monday, November 26, 2007 > Searching Video Lectures > A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review > lectures. > By Kate Greene > Researchers at MIT have released a video and audio search tool that solves > one of the most challenging problems in the field: how to break up a > lengthy > academic lecture into manageable chunks, pinpoint the location of > keywords, > and direct the user to them. Announced last month, the MIT Lecture Browser > website gives the general public detailed access to more than 200 lectures > publicly available though the university's OpenCourseWare initiative. The > search engine leverages decades' worth of speech-recognition research at > MIT > and other institutions to convert audio into text and make it searchable. > > The Lecture Browser arrives at a time when more and more universities, > including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, > Berkeley, are posting videos and podcasts of lectures online. While this > content is useful, locating specific information within lectures can be > difficult, frustrating students who are accustomed to finding what they > need > in less than a second with Google. > > "This is a growing issue for universities around the country as it becomes > easier to record classroom lectures," says Jim Glass, research scientist > at > MIT. "It's a real challenge to know how to disseminate them and make it > easier for students to get access to parts of the lecture they might be > interested in. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." > > The fundamental elements of the Lecture Browser have been kicking around > research labs at MIT and places such as BBN Technologies in Boston, > Carnegie > Mellon, SRI International in Palo Alto, CA, and the University of Southern > California for more than 30 years. Their efforts have produced software > that's finally good enough to find its way to the average person, says > Premkumar Natarajan, scientist at BBN. "There's about three decades of > work > where many fundamental problems were addressed," he says. "The technology > is > mature enough now that there's a growing sense in the community that it's > time [to test applications in the real world]. We've done all we can in > the > lab." > > A handful of companies, such as online audio and video search engines > Blinkx > and EveryZing (which has licensed technology from BBN) are making use of > software that converts audio speech into searchable text. (See "Surfing TV > on the Internet" and "More-Accurate Video Search".) But the MIT > researchers > faced particular challenges with academic lectures. For one, many > lecturers > are not native English speakers, which makes automatic transcription > tricky > for systems trained on American English accents. Second, the words favored > in science lectures can be rather obscure. Finally, says Regina Barzilay, > professor of computer Science at MIT, lectures have very little > discernable > structure, making them difficult to break up and organize for easy > searching. "Topical transitions are very subtle," she says. "Lectures > aren't > organized like normal text." > > To tackle these problems, the researchers first configured the software > that > converts the audio to text. They trained the software to understand > particular accents using accurate transcriptions of short snippets of > recorded speech. To help the software identify uncommon words--anything > from > "drosophila" to "closed-loop integrals"--the researchers provided it with > additional data, such as text from books and lecture notes, which assists > the software in accurately transcribing as many as four out of five words. > If the system is used with a nonnative English speaker whose accent and > vocabulary it hasn't been trained to recognize, the accuracy can drop to > 50 > percent. (Such a low accuracy would not be useful for direct transcription > but can still be useful for keyword searches.) > > The next step, explains Barzilay, is to add structure to the transcribed > words. Software was already available that could break up long strings of > sentences into high-level concepts, but she found that it didn't do the > trick with the lectures. So her group designed its own. "One of the key > distinctions," she says, "is that, during a lecture, you speak freely; you > ramble and mumble." > > To organize the transcribed text, her group created software that breaks > the > text into chunks that often correspond with individual sentences. The > software places these chunks in a network structure; chunks that have > similar words or were spoken closely together in time are placed closer > together in the network. The relative distance of the chunks in the > network > lets the software decide which sentences belong with each topic or > subtopic > in the lecture. > > The result, she says, is a coherent transcription. When a person searches > for a keyword, the browser offers results in the form of a video or audio > timeline that is partitioned into sections. The section of the lecture > that > contains the keyword is highlighted; below it are snippets of text that > surround each instance of the keyword. When a video is playing, the > browser > shows the transcribed text below it. > > Barzilay says that the browser currently receives an average of 21,000 > hits > a day, and while it's proving popular, there is still work to be done. > Within the next few months, her team will add a feature that automatically > attaches a text outline to lectures so users can jump to a desired > section. > Further ahead, the researchers will give users the ability to make > corrections to the transcript in the same way that people contribute to > Wikipedia. While such improvements seem straightforward, they pose > technical > challenges, Barzilay says. "It's not a trivial matter, because you want an > interface that's not tedious, and you need to propagate the correction > throughout the lecture and to other lectures." She says that bringing > people > into the transcription loop could improve the accuracy of the system by a > couple percentage points, making user experience even better. > > Copyright Technology Review 2007 > _________________________________ > Saroj Primlani > Coordinator of University IT Accessibility > Office of Information Technology > 919 513 4087 > http://ncsu.edu/it/access > > -----Original Message----- > From: ITACCESS automatic digest system > [mailto:LISTSERV@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:00 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) > > There are 3 messages totalling 2839 lines in this issue. > > Topics of the day: > > 1. Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates (3) > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 06:26:13 -0800 > From: Terry Thompson > Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > > ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="us-ascii" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > Hi Chad, > > I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe > multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or > has > anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs > would > be great information for any institutions that are considering a > centralized > in-house caption/description service. > > Thanks, > Terry > > > > > _____ > > From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 > standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The > standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed > without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the > standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we > aren't too thrilled with the idea. > > > > The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of > higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from > our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we > estimated > that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia > content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that > they > can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In > Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a > transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is > restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. > > > > The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors > (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. > However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that > show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an > example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting > system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple > federal > agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the > contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final > review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had > labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - > the > form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the > vendor to even partially comply. > > > > The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the > procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the > current > standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving > to > over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? > > > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > > > From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Hi Abbie, > > > > The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory > Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to > the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to > it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed > delivery plan: > > http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables > _Plan > > > > I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned > grouping > IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current > standards > document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the > current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if > it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to > comply > with web, software, or multimedia standards?) > > > > I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, > and > many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this > harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 > - > It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. > > > > Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 > standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are > automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might > find > that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is > for > states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal > update. > > > > Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted > Section > 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they > adopted > Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will > become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this > approach > given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the > original > 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are > harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. > > > > What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? > > > > Terry > > Terry Thompson > Technology Accessibility Specialist > DO-IT, Computing & Communications > University of Washington > tft@u.washington.edu > 206/221-4168 > > > _____ > > > From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? > > Abbie > > > > From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 > standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws > which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to > comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a > member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. > > > > The latest working draft of the standards can be found at > http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 > > > > This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it > combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type > into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a > procurement > process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid > answers back from a vendor. > > > > I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final > meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. > > > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040 > Content-Type: text/html; > charset="us-ascii" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt =3D=20 > "uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s =3D=20 > "uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z =3D "#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b = > =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:oa =3D=20 > "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html =3D=20 > "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q =3D=20 > "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" XMLNS:D =3D "DAV:" xmlns:x2 = > =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ois =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds =3D=20 > "http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd =3D=20 > "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sps =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi =3D=20 > "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcxf =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:wf =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:mver =3D=20 > "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m = > =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels =3D=20 > "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" = > xmlns:ex12t =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m = > =3D=20 > "http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"> > charset=3Dus-ascii"> > > > > >
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008>Hi Chad,
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008> 
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008>I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to = > caption=20 > and describe multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost = > analysis?=20 > (or has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of = > estimated=20 > costs would be great information for any institutions that are = > considering a=20 > centralized in-house caption/description service. = >
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008> 
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008>Thanks,
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008>Terry
>
size=3D2> class=3D531225413-08012008> 
color=3D#0000ff size=3D2>
> style=3D"PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px = > solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> >
>
> From: Killingsworth, Chad=20 > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = > Wednesday,=20 > January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
To:=20 > ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = > Section 508=20 > Access Board Standards - Draft Updates

>
>
>

Missouri has its = > own=20 > standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a = > couple of=20 > tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not = > written=20 > into the law and as such can be changed without too much headache. = > There has=20 > been some discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board = > updates=20 > their standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the=20 > idea.

>

#1f497d"> 

>

The primary = > problem spot=20 > remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to = > be=20 > completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television = > station,=20 > radio station and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be = > over $1=20 > million to caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In = > many=20 > cases this simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post = > multimedia=20 > content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in = > the=20 > process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are = > also=20 > excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already has = > an=20 > avenue for a 504 accommodation.

>

#1f497d"> 

>

The second major = > problem=20 > continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = > Adobe,=20 > etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = > looking at=20 > smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = > the=20 > actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = > purchased a=20 > web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = > by many=20 > Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = > on=20 > their VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile = > system, I=20 > was asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None = > of the=20 > form fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab = > and it was=20 > a mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten = > legal action to=20 > get the vendor to even partially comply.

>

#1f497d"> 

>

The new TEITAC = > recommendations=20 > and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – = > not better. For=20 > a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 checkpoints. = >  With=20 > the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many accurate = > responses do you=20 > think we’re going to get now?

>

#1f497d"> 

>
>

Chad=20 > Killingsworth

>

Web Projects=20 > Coordinator

>

Missouri State=20 > University

>

#1f497d"> 

>
> style=3D"BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: = > #b5c4df 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: = > medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none"> >

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">From: style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"> Terry = > Thompson=20 > [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, December 21, = > 2007 4:22=20 > PM
To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: = > > [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft=20 > Updates

>

 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">Hi=20 > Abbie, style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">The=20 > latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory = > Committee=20 > polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to the = > Access=20 > Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to it = > after that.=20 > It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed delivery = > plan:=20 > style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'"> = > href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_D= > eliverables_Plan">http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= > ings_and_Deliverables_Plan style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">I=20 > personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned = > grouping IT=20 > products into six distinct categories, which is how the current = > standards=20 > document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with = > the=20 > current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., = > if it's=20 > an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to = > comply=20 > with web, software, or multimedia standards?)   style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>
>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">I also=20 > like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, and = > many of=20 > the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully = > this=20 > harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in = > 2008 -=20 > It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely=20 > aligned.  style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">Do Missouri's=20 > state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 standards) = > include=20 > language that addresses whether the state standards are automatically = > updated=20 > in parallel with 508? I would assume states might find that risky = > adopting=20 > something they haven't seen, but the alternative is for states to = > start over=20 > with their adoption process anytime there's a federal update. = > style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">Interestingly,=20 > Washington's state Information Services Board adopted Section 508 = > > standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which = > they=20 > adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG = > 2.0=20 > will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic = > of this=20 > approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current = > than the=20 > original 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 = > standards=20 > are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to = > start over.=20 > style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">What=20 > are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'"> 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Arial','sans-serif'">Terry style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

>

Terry Thompson
Technology = > Accessibility=20 > Specialist
DO-IT, Computing & Communications
University of=20 > Washington
tft@u.washington.edu
206/221-4168 = >

>
align=3Dcenter> style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> >
>
>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">From: style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"> = > OSullivan,=20 > Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
Sent: Friday, = > December=20 > 21, 2007 1:30 PM
To:=20 > ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] = > Section 508=20 > Access Board Standards - Draft Updates style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">

> style=3D"BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: = > medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 5pt 0in 5pt = > 3.75pt; BORDER-LEFT: blue 1.5pt solid; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: = > medium none"> >

What happened at = > the Nov=20 > 12th meeting of the TEITAC = > committee?

>

#1f497d">Abbie

>

#1f497d"> 

>
> style=3D"BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: = > #b5c4df 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: = > medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none"> >

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: = > 'Tahoma','sans-serif'">From: style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'"> = > Killingsworth,=20 > Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
Sent: = > Thursday,=20 > November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
To:=20 > ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [ITACCESS] Section = > 508=20 > Access Board Standards - Draft = > Updates

>

 

>

Have any of you been following the proposed = > updates to=20 > the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these = > standards=20 > by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was = > given the=20 > option to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology = > director=20 > who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.=20 >

>

 

>

The latest working draft of the standards can = > be found at=20 > = > href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26">http://teitac.org/wiki/E= > WG:Draft_Oct_26=20 >

>

 

>

This draft is a substantial departure from the = > current=20 > standard in that it combines what used be separate = > standards/checkpoints for=20 > each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = > implications=20 > for a procurement process – especially since we already have = > enough trouble=20 > getting valid answers back from a vendor.

>

 

>

I’d be interested in other institutions = > thoughts on the=20 > matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November=20 > 12.

>

 

>

Chad Killingsworth

>

Web Projects Coordinator

>

Missouri State University

>

 

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">**********=20 > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = > Constituent=20 > Group discussion list can be found at = > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 >

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">**********=20 > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = > Constituent=20 > Group discussion list can be found at = > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 >

>

style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New = > Roman','serif'">**********=20 > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE = > Constituent Group=20 > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 >

********** Participation and subscription=20 > information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be = > found=20 > at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------=_NextPart_000_0024_01C851BF.5E6A3040-- > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:48:59 -0600 > From: "Killingsworth, Chad" > Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > > ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="us-ascii" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all > for captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough > estimate of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for > captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service > from a few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with > online video and flash. By request, we shared this information with our > state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was > going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the > Access Board what financial implications the standards have on > educational institutions. The main fear was that states would not be > able to meet compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to > work on any of the other checkpoints either - even though most of those > have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. > > =20 > > A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would > cost approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less > content than we do now and we realized that the resources created by > that money were not sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed > captioning content as we could using a prioritization based on the > potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was not funded. > > =20 > > Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told > that even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire > someone to caption/describe live content as the number of qualified > persons is extremely small and in very high demand. > > =20 > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > =20 > > From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 > Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft > Updates > > =20 > > Hi Chad,=20 > > =20 > > I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe > multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or > has anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated > costs would be great information for any institutions that are > considering a centralized in-house caption/description service.=20 > > =20 > > Thanks,=20 > > Terry > > =20 > > =20 > > =09 > ________________________________ > > > From: Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - > Draft Updates > > Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the > Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the > standard). The standard itself is not written into the law and as such > can be changed without too much headache. There has been some discussion > of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their standards, > but as a state we aren't too thrilled with the idea. > > =20 > > The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an > institution of higher education to be completely compliant is huge. > Ignoring content from our television station, radio station and any > athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million to > caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases > this simply means we tell faculty that they can't post multimedia > content unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in > the process of lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are > also excluding content in which the audience is restricted and already > has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. > > =20 > > The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major > vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT > answers. However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get > VPATs that show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even > close. As an example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation > reporting system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and > multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and > was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked > to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of the form > fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it > was a mess - the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal > action to get the vendor to even partially comply. > > =20 > > The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make > the procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the > current standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards > we're moving to over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're > going to get now? > > =20 > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > =20 > > From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]=20 > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - > Draft Updates > > =20 > > Hi Abbie,=20 > > =20 > > The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the > Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then > presenting it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate > on what happens to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. > Here's a more detailed delivery plan:=20 > > =09 > http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Delivera > bles_Plan > > =20 > > I personally like that the recommended new standards have > abandoned grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is > how the current standards document is organized. This has been an area > of some confusion with the current version as the line between > categories is often blurry (e.g., if it's an interactive web-based > multimedia application, does it need to comply with web, software, or > multimedia standards?) =20 > > =20 > > I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with > the W3C, and many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". > Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of standards > move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets of > standards more closely aligned.=20 > > =20 > > Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have > adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state > standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume > states might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but > the alternative is for states to start over with their adoption process > anytime there's a federal update.=20 > > =20 > > Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board > adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in > which they adopted Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, > then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the > logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive > and current than the original 508 web standards, but it stops making > sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect > our state ISB will have to start over.=20 > > =20 > > What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing?=20 > > =20 > > Terry > > Terry Thompson > Technology Accessibility Specialist > DO-IT, Computing & Communications > University of Washington > tft@u.washington.edu > 206/221-4168=20 > > =09 > ________________________________ > > > From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]=20 > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - > Draft Updates > > What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC > committee? > > Abbie > > =20 > > From: Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]=20 > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - > Draft Updates > > =20 > > Have any of you been following the proposed updates to > the Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these > standards by state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently > was given the option to comment on the draft by our state assistive > technology director who is a member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the > standards.=20 > > =20 > > The latest working draft of the standards can be found > at http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26=20 > > =20 > > This draft is a substantial departure from the current > standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints > for each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big > implications for a procurement process - especially since we already > have enough trouble getting valid answers back from a vendor. > > =20 > > I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the > matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. > > =20 > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > =20 > > ********** Participation and subscription information > for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 > > ********** Participation and subscription information > for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this > EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this > EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/.=20 > > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C > Content-Type: text/html; > charset="us-ascii" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" = > xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" = > xmlns:x=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" = > xmlns:p=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" = > xmlns:a=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" = > xmlns:dt=3D"uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" = > xmlns:s=3D"uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" = > xmlns:rs=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z=3D"#RowsetSchema" = > xmlns:b=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" = > xmlns:ss=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" = > xmlns:c=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" = > xmlns:oa=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" = > xmlns:html=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" = > xmlns:q=3D"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:D=3D"DAV:" = > xmlns:x2=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" = > xmlns:ois=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" = > xmlns:dir=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" = > xmlns:ds=3D"http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" = > xmlns:dsp=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" = > xmlns:udc=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" = > xmlns:xsd=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" = > xmlns:sps=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" = > xmlns:xsi=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" = > xmlns:udcxf=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" = > xmlns:wf=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" = > xmlns:mver=3D"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006= > " xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" = > xmlns:mrels=3D"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationshi= > ps" = > xmlns:ex12t=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"= > = > xmlns:ex12m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messag= > es" xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> > > > charset=3Dus-ascii"> > > > > > > > > >
> >

We have limited in = > house > capabilities for transcription and none at all for = > captioning/describing. The > estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = > produced > times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = > requested > bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = > person > to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = > information > with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = > was > going to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the = > Access > Board what financial implications the standards have on educational > institutions. The main fear was that states would not be able to meet > compliance on this one area and so simply choose not to work on any of = > the > other checkpoints either – even though most of those have a MUCH = > smaller > fiscal impact.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

A few years ago, we = > estimated > that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = > that > time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = > the > resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the > content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = > prioritization > based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = > not > funded.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

Neither of these = > proposals > covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = > funds, it > would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = > as the > number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = > demand.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >

Chad = > Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects = > Coordinator

> >

Missouri State = > University

> >
> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Terry = > Thompson > [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Hi Chad, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = > describe > multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = > has > anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = > costs > would be great information for any institutions that are considering a > centralized in-house caption/description service. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Thanks, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Terry style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; > margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'= >> > >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> > >
> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From: style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Killingsworth, Chad = > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] >
> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates
Roman","serif"'>

> >

Missouri has its own = > standards. > It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks > (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = > into the > law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = > some > discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their > standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = > idea.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The primary problem = > spot remains > multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = > completely > compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = > station > and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = > to > caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = > this > simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = > content > unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = > process of > lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = > content > in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 > accommodation.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The second major = > problem continues > to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), = > we can > at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start looking at = > smaller > companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when the = > actual > product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently purchased a > web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = > by many > Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = > on their > VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = > was > asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = > the form > fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = > was a > mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = > action > to get the vendor to even partially comply.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The new TEITAC = > recommendations > and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not > better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = > checkpoints. >  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = > accurate > responses do you think we’re going to get = > now?

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >

Chad = > Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects = > Coordinator

> >

Missouri State = > University

> >
> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Terry = > Thompson > [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Hi Abbie, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = > the > Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = > presenting > it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = > happens > to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = > detailed > delivery plan: New Roman","serif"'>

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'> href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_D= > eliverables_Plan">http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= > ings_and_Deliverables_Plan style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I personally like that the recommended new standards have = > abandoned > grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = > current > standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = > with > the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = > (e.g., if > it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = > to > comply with web, software, or multimedia = > standards?)   style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = > with the > W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG > 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of > standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = > of > standards more closely aligned.  style=3D'font-size:12.0pt; > font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = > have > adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state > standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = > states > might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = > alternative > is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = > a > federal update. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services > Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT > except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = > until WCAG > 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although = > awkward, > I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is much more > comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = > stops > making sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I = > suspect > our state ISB will have to start over. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt; > font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? = > style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Terry style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

Terry Thompson
> Technology Accessibility Specialist
> DO-IT, Computing & Communications
> University of Washington
> tft@u.washington.edu
> 206/221-4168

> >
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> > >
> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From: style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> OSullivan, Abigail R. > [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates
Roman","serif"'>

> >
1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; > margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'= >> > >

What happened at the = > Nov 12th > meeting of the TEITAC committee?

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'>Abbie

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> = > Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = > to the > Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = > by > state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = > option > to comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who = > is a > member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

> >

 

> >

The latest working draft of the standards can be = > found at href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26">http://teitac.org/wiki/E= > WG:Draft_Oct_26 >

> >

 

> >

This draft is a substantial departure from the = > current > standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = > for > each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = > implications for > a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = > trouble > getting valid answers back from a vendor.

> >

 

> >

I’d be interested in other institutions = > thoughts on > the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = > 12.

> >

 

> >

Chad Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects Coordinator

> >

Missouri State University

> >

 

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> > > > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------_=_NextPart_001_01C85205.9B56886C-- > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 10:26:13 -0500 > From: Ron Stewart > Subject: Re: Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > This is a multipart message in MIME format. > > ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="US-ASCII" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > Good morning, > > > > Based on the experiences from my program at Oregon State the typical cost > to > caption educational content in-house ended up being conservatively about > $300 for each hour of video transcribed. This is based on an average of > 12 > hours of labor for the transcription and subtitling of the video at a > total > resource cost of $25.00 per hour. This was the average for the ~400 hours > of video that had been completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006. > > > > If more detail is wanted about the program or its operation please contact > me off list. > > > > Ron Stewart > > Technology Advisor > > Association on Higher Education and Disability. > > > > From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] > Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > We have limited in house capabilities for transcription and none at all > for > captioning/describing. The estimate was based on an extremely rough > estimate > of content hours produced times an outsourced rate for > captioning/describing. We informally requested bids for this service from > a > few companies as research for hiring a new person to help with online > video > and flash. By request, we shared this information with our state liaison > who > is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She was going to use the > information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access Board what > financial implications the standards have on educational institutions. The > main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this one > area and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints > either > - even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal impact. > > > > A few years ago, we estimated that to do the same thing in-house would > cost > approximately $200,000. At that time, we were producing less content than > we > do now and we realized that the resources created by that money were not > sufficient to cover all of the content. We proposed captioning content as > we > could using a prioritization based on the potential audience of the > content. > This entire proposal was not funded. > > > > Neither of these proposals covered any live content. We have been told > that > even if we had the funds, it would be very difficult to hire someone to > caption/describe live content as the number of qualified persons is > extremely small and in very high demand. > > > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > > > From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] > Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Hi Chad, > > > > I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and describe > multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or > has > anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated costs > would > be great information for any institutions that are considering a > centralized > in-house caption/description service. > > > > Thanks, > > Terry > > > > > > > _____ > > > From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] > Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > Missouri has its own standards. It just happens to be the Section 508 > standards with a couple of tweaks (usually lessening the standard). The > standard itself is not written into the law and as such can be changed > without too much headache. There has been some discussion of updating the > standards when the Access Board updates their standards, but as a state we > aren't too thrilled with the idea. > > > > The primary problem spot remains multimedia. The cost to an institution of > higher education to be completely compliant is huge. Ignoring content from > our television station, radio station and any athletic events, we > estimated > that it would be over $1 million to caption and describe our multimedia > content in a year. In many cases this simply means we tell faculty that > they > can't post multimedia content unless they can provide the captioning. In > Missouri, we are in the process of lessening the standard to allow for a > transcript. We are also excluding content in which the audience is > restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 accommodation. > > > > The second major problem continues to be procurement. From major vendors > (such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. > However when we start looking at smaller companies we often get VPATs that > show perfect compliance when the actual product isn't even close. As an > example, we recently purchased a web-based ethics violation reporting > system. The vendor (which is used by many Universities and multiple > federal > agencies) claimed perfect compliance on their VPAT and was awarded the > contract. As this was a high-profile system, I was asked to do a final > review before the product was rolled out. None of the form fields had > labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it was a mess - > the > form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal action to get the > vendor to even partially comply. > > > > The new TEITAC recommendations and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the > procurement process worse - not better. For a web-based system, the > current > standard has around 20 checkpoints. With the new standards we're moving > to > over 50. How many accurate responses do you think we're going to get now? > > > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > > > From: Terry Thompson [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU] > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Hi Abbie, > > > > The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has the Advisory > Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then presenting it to > the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what happens to > it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more detailed > delivery plan: > > http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_Deliverables > _Plan > > > > I personally like that the recommended new standards have abandoned > grouping > IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the current > standards > document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion with the > current version as the line between categories is often blurry (e.g., if > it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need to > comply > with web, software, or multimedia standards?) > > > > I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely with the W3C, > and > many of the 508 standards are "harmonized with WCAG 2.0". Hopepfully this > harmonization will continue as both sets of standards move forward in 2008 > - > It will be nice to have these two sets of standards more closely aligned. > > > > Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that have adopted 508 > standards) include language that addresses whether the state standards are > automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume states might > find > that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the alternative is > for > states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's a federal > update. > > > > Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services Board adopted > Section > 508 standards across all categories of IT except Web, in which they > adopted > Section 508 temporarily until WCAG 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will > become the standard. Although awkward, I can see the logic of this > approach > given that WCAG 2.0 is much more comprehensive and current than the > original > 508 web standards, but it stops making sense if the new 508 standards are > harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect our state ISB will have to start over. > > > > What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? > > > > Terry > > Terry Thompson > Technology Accessibility Specialist > DO-IT, Computing & Communications > University of Washington > tft@u.washington.edu > 206/221-4168 > > > _____ > > > From: OSullivan, Abigail R. [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU] > Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > What happened at the Nov 12th meeting of the TEITAC committee? > > Abbie > > > > From: Killingsworth, Chad [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU] > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM > To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft Updates > > > > Have any of you been following the proposed updates to the Section 508 > standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards by state laws > which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the option to > comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a > member of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards. > > > > The latest working draft of the standards can be found at > http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26 > > > > This draft is a substantial departure from the current standard in that it > combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints for each product type > into a single list. This has some pretty big implications for a > procurement > process - especially since we already have enough trouble getting valid > answers back from a vendor. > > > > I'd be interested in other institutions thoughts on the matter. The final > meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November 12. > > > > Chad Killingsworth > > Web Projects Coordinator > > Missouri State University > > > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0 > Content-Type: text/html; > charset="US-ASCII" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" = > xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" = > xmlns:x=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" = > xmlns:p=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" = > xmlns:a=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" = > xmlns:dt=3D"uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" = > xmlns:s=3D"uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" = > xmlns:rs=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z=3D"#RowsetSchema" = > xmlns:b=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" = > xmlns:ss=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" = > xmlns:c=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" = > xmlns:oa=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" = > xmlns:html=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" = > xmlns:q=3D"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:D=3D"DAV:" = > xmlns:x2=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" = > xmlns:ois=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" = > xmlns:dir=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" = > xmlns:ds=3D"http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" = > xmlns:dsp=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" = > xmlns:udc=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" = > xmlns:xsd=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" = > xmlns:sps=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" = > xmlns:xsi=3D"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" = > xmlns:udcxf=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" = > xmlns:wf=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" = > xmlns:mver=3D"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006= > " xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" = > xmlns:mrels=3D"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationshi= > ps" = > xmlns:ex12t=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"= > = > xmlns:ex12m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messag= > es" xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> > > > charset=3Dus-ascii"> > > > > > > > > >
> >

Good = > morning,

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

Based on the = > experiences from my > program at Oregon State the typical cost to caption educational content > in-house ended up being conservatively about $300 for each hour of video > transcribed.  This is based on an average of 12 hours of labor for = > the > transcription and subtitling of the video at a total resource cost of = > $25.00 > per hour.  This was the average for the ~400 hours of video that = > had been > completed when I left Oregon State in mid 2006.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

If more detail is = > wanted about > the program or its operation please contact me off = > list.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

Ron = > Stewart

> >

Technology = > Advisor

> >

Association on Higher = > Education > and Disability.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> = > Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:49 AM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

We have limited in = > house > capabilities for transcription and none at all for = > captioning/describing. The > estimate was based on an extremely rough estimate of content hours = > produced > times an outsourced rate for captioning/describing. We informally = > requested > bids for this service from a few companies as research for hiring a new = > person > to help with online video and flash. By request, we shared this = > information > with our state liaison who is also a member of the TEITAC committee. She = > was going > to use the information to help make it clear to TEITAC and the Access = > Board > what financial implications the standards have on educational = > institutions. The > main fear was that states would not be able to meet compliance on this = > one area > and so simply choose not to work on any of the other checkpoints either = > – > even though most of those have a MUCH smaller fiscal = > impact.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

A few years ago, we = > estimated > that to do the same thing in-house would cost approximately $200,000. At = > that > time, we were producing less content than we do now and we realized that = > the > resources created by that money were not sufficient to cover all of the > content. We proposed captioning content as we could using a = > prioritization > based on the potential audience of the content. This entire proposal was = > not > funded.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

Neither of these = > proposals > covered any live content. We have been told that even if we had the = > funds, it > would be very difficult to hire someone to caption/describe live content = > as the > number of qualified persons is extremely small and in very high = > demand.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >

Chad = > Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects = > Coordinator

> >

Missouri State = > University

> >
> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Terry = > Thompson > [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:26 AM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Hi Chad, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I'm curious about your $1 million estimate to caption and = > describe > multimedia content for a year. Did you actually do a cost analysis? (or = > has > anyone else on the list?) Even a rough itemization of estimated = > costs > would be great information for any institutions that are considering a > centralized in-house caption/description service. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Thanks, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Terry style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; > margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'= >> > >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> > >
> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From: style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:32 AM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates
Roman","serif"'>

> >

Missouri has its own = > standards. > It just happens to be the Section 508 standards with a couple of tweaks > (usually lessening the standard). The standard itself is not written = > into the > law and as such can be changed without too much headache. There has been = > some > discussion of updating the standards when the Access Board updates their > standards, but as a state we aren’t too thrilled with the = > idea.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The primary problem = > spot remains > multimedia. The cost to an institution of higher education to be = > completely > compliant is huge. Ignoring content from our television station, radio = > station > and any athletic events, we estimated that it would be over $1 million = > to > caption and describe our multimedia content in a year. In many cases = > this > simply means we tell faculty that they can’t post multimedia = > content > unless they can provide the captioning. In Missouri, we are in the = > process of > lessening the standard to allow for a transcript. We are also excluding = > content > in which the audience is restricted and already has an avenue for a 504 > accommodation.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The second major = > problem > continues to be procurement. From major vendors (such as Microsoft, = > Adobe, > etc), we can at least get valid VPAT answers. However when we start = > looking at > smaller companies we often get VPATs that show perfect compliance when = > the > actual product isn’t even close. As an example, we recently = > purchased a > web-based ethics violation reporting system. The vendor (which is used = > by many > Universities and multiple federal agencies) claimed perfect compliance = > on their > VPAT and was awarded the contract. As this was a high-profile system, I = > was > asked to do a final review before the product was rolled out. None of = > the form > fields had labels. I went and tested the product on our AT lab and it = > was a > mess – the form was completely unusable. We had to threaten legal = > action > to get the vendor to even partially comply.

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >

The new TEITAC = > recommendations > and WCAG 2.0 are going to make the procurement process worse – not > better. For a web-based system, the current standard has around 20 = > checkpoints. >  With the new standards we’re moving to over 50. How many = > accurate > responses do you think we’re going to get = > now?

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >

Chad = > Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects = > Coordinator

> >

Missouri State = > University

> >
> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Terry = > Thompson > [mailto:tft@U.WASHINGTON.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 4:22 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Hi Abbie, style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>The latest delivery plan for the Section 508 standards has = > the > Advisory Committee polishing their proposal in early January, then = > presenting > it to the Access Board on January 9. I can't really speculate on what = > happens > to it after that. It will be interesting to monitor. Here's a more = > detailed > delivery plan: New Roman","serif"'>

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'> href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meetings_and_D= > eliverables_Plan">http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007#Upcoming_Meet= > ings_and_Deliverables_Plan style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I personally like that the recommended new standards have = > abandoned > grouping IT products into six distinct categories, which is how the = > current > standards document is organized. This has been an area of some confusion = > with > the current version as the line between categories is often blurry = > (e.g., if > it's an interactive web-based multimedia application, does it need = > to > comply with web, software, or multimedia = > standards?)   style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>I also like that the advisory committee has worked closely = > with the > W3C, and many of the 508 standards  are "harmonized with WCAG > 2.0". Hopepfully this harmonization will continue as both sets of > standards move forward in 2008 - It will be nice to have these two sets = > of > standards more closely aligned.  style=3D'font-size:12.0pt; > font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Do Missouri's state standards (or any other states that = > have > adopted 508 standards) include language that addresses whether the state > standards are automatically updated in parallel with 508? I would assume = > states > might find that risky adopting something they haven't seen, but the = > alternative > is for states to start over with their adoption process anytime there's = > a > federal update. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Interestingly, Washington's state Information Services > Board adopted Section 508 standards across all categories of IT > except Web, in which they adopted Section 508 temporarily = > until WCAG > 2.0 is finalized, then WCAG 2.0 will become the standard. Although > awkward, I can see the logic of this approach given that WCAG 2.0 is = > much more > comprehensive and current than the original 508 web standards, but it = > stops making > sense if the new 508 standards are harmonized with WCAG 2.0. I suspect = > our > state ISB will have to start over. style=3D'font-size:12.0pt; > font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>What are other states that have adopted 508 standards doing? = > style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

New Roman","serif"'> 

> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; > color:blue'>Terry style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New = > Roman","serif"'>

> >

Terry Thompson
> Technology Accessibility Specialist
> DO-IT, Computing & Communications
> University of Washington
> tft@u.washington.edu
> 206/221-4168

> >
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> > >
> >
> >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From: style=3D'font-size:10.0pt; > font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> OSullivan, Abigail R. > [mailto:osullivana@MISSOURI.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 1:30 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - = > Draft > Updates
Roman","serif"'>

> >
1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; > margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'= >> > >

What happened at the = > Nov 12th > meeting of the TEITAC committee?

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'>Abbie

> >

style=3D'color:#1F497D'> 

> >
> >
0in 0in 0in'> > >

style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:= > style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> = > Killingsworth, Chad > [mailto:ChadKillingsworth@MISSOURISTATE.EDU]
> Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 2:49 PM
> To: ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
> Subject: [ITACCESS] Section 508 Access Board Standards - Draft = > Updates

> >
> >
> >

 

> >

Have any of you been following the proposed updates = > to the > Section 508 standards? Many institutions are subject to these standards = > by > state laws which adopt the federal standards. I recently was given the = > option to > comment on the draft by our state assistive technology director who is a = > member > of the TEITAC Committee drafting the standards.

> >

 

> >

The latest working draft of the standards can be = > found at href=3D"http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_Oct_26">http://teitac.org/wiki/E= > WG:Draft_Oct_26 >

> >

 

> >

This draft is a substantial departure from the = > current > standard in that it combines what used be separate standards/checkpoints = > for > each product type into a single list. This has some pretty big = > implications for > a procurement process – especially since we already have enough = > trouble > getting valid answers back from a vendor.

> >

 

> >

I’d be interested in other institutions = > thoughts on > the matter. The final meeting of the TEITAC Committee is November = > 12.

> >

 

> >

Chad Killingsworth

> >

Web Projects Coordinator

> >

Missouri State University

> >

 

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >

New Roman","serif"'>********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent = > Group > discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. = >

> >
> > > > > ********** > Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent > Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. > > ------=_NextPart_000_01FF_01C851E0.E6FF3BF0-- > > ------------------------------ > > End of ITACCESS Digest - 2 Jan 2008 to 8 Jan 2008 (#2008-2) > *********************************************************** > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1214 - Release Date: > 08/01/2008 > 13:38 > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > > End of Athen Digest, Vol 24, Issue 6 > ************************************ > From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Wed Jan 16 12:58:56 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Info Request Message-ID: <00f101c85882$9c72a150$d557e3f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Happy new year folks, I hope your terms are off to a good start. Take a look at the redesigned website and to give you a reason to go there the latest version of the ATHEN E-Journal is available for your reading enjoyment at: http://athenpro.org/node/86 Now to the real purpose for my email this afternoon. Anyone ever heard of or had any dealings with NISOD? They seem to be billing themselves as the Community Colleges alternative to Educause. http://www.nisod.org/ ********************************************************************* Ron Stewart -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Thu Jan 17 08:42:33 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Bylaws revision Message-ID: <00dd01c85927$f58db2c0$e0a91840$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Morning all, It has come to my attention that with the growth and development of the organization we need to take a look at our bylaws in a couple of areas. I would like to start a discussion on this topic and have it as an agenda item for our next in person meeting which should be at CSUN. Ron ********************************************************************* Ron Stewart Vice President for Operations Dolphin Computer Access Inc. 231 Clarksville RD Suite 3 Princeton Junction, NJ 08550 Direct: 609 803-2174 Mobile: 609 213-2190 Sales (toll free): 866 797-5921 Support: 866 797-5921 Fax: 609 799-0475 ron.stewart@dolphinusa.com http://www.dolphinusa.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron at ahead.org Fri Jan 18 08:21:45 2008 From: ron at ahead.org (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: ATMac Message-ID: <00b501c859ee$39f7aa80$ade6ff80$@org> Some good info related to Mac Access. Ron From: bounce-5956720@emailenfuego.net [mailto:bounce-5956720@emailenfuego.net] On Behalf Of ATMac Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 11:11 AM To: ron@ahead.org Subject: ATMac ATMac Apple Keynote: What does it mean for assistive tech users? Posted: 17 Jan 2008 09:42 PM CST The Macworld Keynote was a few days ago now, what are the implications for Mac OS X users with disabilities? For those who aren?t following avidly, the new announcements from Apple included: ? Macbook Air - A slimmer, lighter laptop which can optionally be used with a flash memory drive. ? Time Capsule - A self-contained wireless backup drive intended to be used with Leopard?s Time Machine backup software. ? iPhone Software Upgrades and iPod Touch Software Upgrades adding functionality and upgrades. ? Movie Rentals with iTunes now available. ? iPhone software developers kit to be released in February. ? New AppleTV Software and a lower price for AppleTV There have also today been updates to QuickTime and iTunes available via the ?Software Update? in Leopard. There may have been some other small bits and pieces I?m missing - I didn?t watch the actual keynote - but that was the main stuff at least. So, are there any assistive technology (AT) implications of these new announcements? In my view there are many possibilities and and it seems that the rest of the OS X ?disability blogosphere? agrees with me - I?ll link to other articles where I?m aware of them. The Screenless Switchers Podcast number 21 apparently covers the blindness and visual impairment implications but I haven?t listened to it yet and there?s no transcript so I may unintentionally double up on things they have said. MacBook Air First the MacBook Air. The main differences between a regular MacBook laptop and a MacBook Air is that the Air seem to be these: ? Air is significantly thinner and lighter - see Engadget?s Photos to get a good idea of the differences. ? Air is somewhat less powerful. ? Air has a smaller size hard drive. ? Air has the possibility of a flash memory drive (no moving parts) instead of a regular hard drive. ? Air doesn?t have a removable battery or a CD/DVD drive. ? Air has a large multi-touch touchpad, the same technology that?s in the iPhone and iPod Touch. Samuel Sennott at AllTogether has already pointed out the AAC possibilities of the MacBook Air - if used with a flash drive, it essentially has no moving parts which will make it much more durable than anything with a spinning hard drive and as it?s a full computer rather than a specialised device it?s more flexible than many AAC devices in its use. The one problem I see in terms of AAC device use would be the battery life. Five hours is claimed an the MacBook Air website and website claims are usually ?best case scenario?, but even 5 hours of use would not be enough for an entire day?s use without recharging. And if the Air was also used for other things such as school/work, watching movies, playing games, then the battery life is a bigger problem. You don?t want your AAC device to have a flat battery just before you tell the taxi driver where you live so he can take you home, for example - they have to be as reliable as possible. I hope this is something that can be overcome because the Air certainly has many plusses as an AAC device. One thing that springs to mind is that it has an iSight camera built in so if somebody ports Camera Mouse or similar to OS X then people who need head tracking will be able to use the Air as an AAC device and/or general laptop by themselves. Another use for a MacBook Air with the flash device option may be for users who are rough with their computers due to uncontrolled movements, weak/unreliable grip, or other disabilities that lead to them dropping or bumping the laptop frequently. I don?t think anybody has tested one to destruction yet but I assume a computer with fewer moving parts will be tougher than an average one. The lightness of the MacBook Air also makes it ideal for users who have weakness and/or fatigue problems. It takes less strength and less stamina to carry and move a machine that?s lighter. This is likely to be especially important for students who are likely to have books and other heavy objects to lug around also. Time Capsule The main reason the new wireless Time Capsule backup device is great for OS X users who are disabled is that it takes virtually no effort to set up, and zero effort to use with Leopard?s Time Machine software once it?s set up. If I understand right, as long as your Time Capsule is set up then just turning on your computer in the same house is enough for the backups to function correctly! Firstly it?s great because users with disabilities probably have things to spend limited energy on that are much more urgent than backups. There?s no need to teach personal attendants or other helpers about doing backups, and no worries that anybody will forget them. As long as it?s set up and turned on, your backups will happen. Secondly, for most of the OS X users that I know at least, much more of our lives are saved on our computers than for average able-bodied people. For example, I use my computer to dial the phone for me and as a caller ID device so every phone number I know is entered into Address Book, so if I loose all my data I can?t phone anybody. I use my computer for videos and talking books and etexts, so if I loose my data I have nothing to read or watch. I use my computer for a lot of things! Or imagine somebody who uses their computer as their main AAC device - loosing their data would mean literally loosing their language. I could obviously go on with endless examples, but in short: backups are vital for everybody who uses a computer for anything significant, but for somebody who uses a computer for assistive tech needs it?s even more vital. Something that makes it a ?set and forget? thing that any non-technical user can manage is a boon. iPhone and iPod Touch software upgrades I?m not sure exactly what the access implications of these are - I don?t have an iPod Touch and the iPhone is not available in Australia yet. If anybody has more information, I?d love to know about it. Movie Rentals with iTunes For those with mobility impairments but decent broadband connections, this looks like a great thing. I?m not sure how many countries, if any, outside the USA are going to have movie rentals available - here in Australia you still can?t buy TV shows or movies from the iTunes store so I highly doubt the rentals are going to show up. Hopefully this is something that will spread geographically, however. The contributors over at DeafMac have found that movie rentals support close captions including when they?re transferred to the iPhone which is great news for caption users. That?s all I know about for now? more news to follow. - Ricky Buchanan (more?) MacSpeech Dictate Posted: 17 Jan 2008 07:34 PM CST With the release of MacSpeech Dictate, we are entering a new era in speech recognition for Mac OS X. MacSpeech Dictate is the most accurate, easiest to use speech recognition program ever made, and it is exclusively for Macs. MacSpeech Dictate works the way you do, in the applications you use every day. Just speak, and see your words appear in Microsoft Word, Pages, Mail, iChat, or anywhere else. Based on the award winning Dragon Naturally Speaking speech recognition engine, MacSpeech Dictate will astound you with its amazing accuracy. The words you utter are written exactly the way you said them. MacSpeech Dictate gets it right the first time. Accuracy is so good, in fact, you may be tempted to give up typing! Website: MacSpeech Dictate ATMac Comment: Dragon Naturally Speaking widely acknowledged as the best continuous speech recognition program for Windows that?s available, and far better than MacSpeech?s iListen product for OS X. Having a new MacSpeech program that has all of MacSpeech?s integration with OS X and all of the accuracy of Dragon?s product seems like a dream come true! This product will be available from February 15th, and there?s a discount for iListen owners - of which I am one, even though I couldn?t get it to work. I wish ATMac was well known enough that people gave me review copies of things! Have to work on that ? but stay tuned, and if anybody gets their paws on a copy of MacSpeech Dictate please let me know how it goes so I can report back here. - Ricky Buchanan Edited to add: I found out from the Lioncourt.com article that MacSpeech Dictate is advertising VoiceOver compatibility so hopefully VoiceOver users who need speech input as well as the speech output of VoiceOver will be able to use this new product! That?s great news from MacSpeech! You are subscribed to email updates from ATMac To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner Inbox too full? (feed)Subscribe to the feed version of ATMac in a feed reader. If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: ATMac, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From repam at saclink.csus.edu Fri Jan 18 09:48:16 2008 From: repam at saclink.csus.edu (Repa, Melissa J.) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] Instructional Materials Specialist - Accessible Technology Postion at Sacramento State In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: California State University, Sacramento is currently recruiting for the following position: Instructional Materials Specialist - Accessible Technology DEPARTMENT: INFORMATION RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGY: ACADEMIC COMPUTING RESOURCES JOB#: 07/08-140; Information Technology Consultant, Career GENERAL SUMMARY OF DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES: The position consults with and provides direct support to faculty in their efforts to develop, convert and maintain instructional materials in accessible formats, including materials to be delivered on campus or in an online environment. The position's primary focus is on the research, development, evaluation and implementation of accessible design in the production of instructional materials. The performance of the duties outlined below must be carried out within the mission of university and must at all times conform to the statement of the Shared Code of Conduct for the Division of Information Resources & Technology. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: * Assist faculty with the creation of accessible documents and uploading instructional materials into the learning management system. * Provide hands-on training to faculty and staff on techniques to create universally designed (accessible) instructional material. * Assist faculty to plan, develop and implement online instructional material, including content, online tests and other instructional material. * Communicate problems and solutions to colleagues and customers. * Help faculty locate accessible versions of textbooks through various accessible media repositories. * Create accessible syllabi and upload into the learning management system. * Participate in the hiring of student assistants to help develop accessible instructional material. * Personally retrofit and convert existing inaccessible instructional content. * Log and track faculty and staff accessible instructional material support to aid in determining long term needs. * Develop procedures and processes to ensure new instructional content is accessible. * Research and recommend emerging applications, accessible tools and universal design strategies and advise on their implementation. * Assist with the development and maintenance of web sites. * Research, review, interpret and translate federal and state laws and technical standards related to accessibility into easy to understand language. * Design and develop training materials and facilitate workshops specifically applications typically used to produce accessible documents. * Develop, design and deliver a series of online accessibility tutorials on steps to create accessible content. * Provide training for individuals, small groups and large participant workshops. * Deliver assigned aspects of user consultation, materials development, training and documentation on time and as specified. * Submit project status reports as specified. * Maintain excellent working relationship with other departments and customers. * Continuously acquire new technical skills and enhance professional growth and development through participation in self-development, conferences and professional training as approved. * Serve as a resource on the Accessible Technology Initiative project. APPLICATION INFORMATION: Postal Address: Staff Employment Office of Human Resources California State University, Sacramento 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819-6032 Phone: 916-278-7343 Online App. Form: http://www.csus.edu/hr/staff/ataf2.htm APPLICATION DEADLINE: OPEN UNTIL FILLED. First review of applications begins February 4 and continues until position is filled. RECRUITMENT RANGE: Based upon the availability of funds, the anticipated appointment range is $4,500.00 -$5,000.00 per month. Salary offers within this range are contingent upon the experience and qualifications of each individual applicant. (This does not apply to promotions of on-campus employees have a potential salary range of $4,314 to $8,831, per MOU.) Eligible on-campus applicants in CSUEU Bargaining Units 2, 5, 7, and 9 will be given first consideration in this recruitment. This is a full-time probationary-track position which may become permanent upon successful completion of a probationary period. BENEFITS/FLSA: This position is covered by health benefits, and is exempt (not eligible for overtime compensation) according to the Fair Labor Standards Act. HOURS: MONDAY - FRIDAY, 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. SPECIAL SKILLS AND ABILITIES: Equivalent to graduation from a four year college or university in a job related field, Master's degree in related field is desirable. Experience providing training and consultations in a higher education setting, preferably in instructional material development. Basic knowledge of adult learning and instructional design techniques and theories. Experience with Windows and Macintosh operating systems, course management systems, MS Word, PowerPoint, PDF and web development software. Familiarity with accessible formats is desirable. Experience in delivering presentations and conducting training and workshops. Basic knowledge or willingness to learn about accessible technology issues, applications, laws and compliance requirements, including Section 508 technical standards, is desirable and helpful in performing the above work assignments. ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS: Information Technology Consultants provide consultative support to students, staff, and faculty, to enhance the use and access of technology and information systems. The core functions for the Information Consultant are user consultation, site administration, and development. To enter this classification, a basic foundation of knowledge and skills in technical information systems and application program packages is a prerequisite. This foundation would normally be obtained through a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, educational technology, communications, or related fields, or similar certified course work in applicable fields of study. Three broad skill levels are defined for the information technology series: Foundation, Career, and Expert. The factors used to determine different skill levels include technical know-how, critical thinking skills, and interaction capabilities. A position is placed at a skill level based on the skill requirements of the position. An individual may be working at different skill levels in various work assignments or skill dimensions; however, the overall skill level determination is based on where the majority of the skill requirements fall in the skill level continuum. The career level is broad and includes intermediate through senior level positions. Incumbents at this level work relatively independently and possess the experience to be fully proficient in performing most or all of the work assignments defined for their position. Typically, incumbents have acquired the requisite skills and knowledge through a combination of education, training, and progressive work experience to be able to demonstrate competence in independently applying technical judgment to standard and nonstandard applications and systems, solving a wide range of problems and developing practicable and thorough solutions, and using effective communication and listening skills. ________________________________ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Fri Jan 18 12:21:28 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse Message-ID: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> First of all, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the foot mouse. The student I'm working with decided to go with the slipper mouse: http://www.bilila.com/foot_mouse_slipper_mouse (Also available at Enablemart) It looks like a better design than the hands-free mouse. I'll let you know how it works for the student. On another matter, I'm looking for a device that would be used in the classroom by a low vision user to view the blackboard, powerpoint, etc. I thought there was a device with a "beta" in the title which looked like a portable camcorder. It could also be connected to a laptop. Perhaps it no longer exists. I found the ClearNote and PCMate which seem to work similarly. Anyone have experience with these devices? Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Fri Jan 18 12:29:03 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Message-ID: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Hello All: Here's another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We've been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they're ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I'll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. Is anyone aware of this "grandfather" stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dina.rosenbaum at carroll.org Fri Jan 18 13:01:55 2008 From: dina.rosenbaum at carroll.org (Dina Rosenbaum) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse In-Reply-To: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <479113C3.1040307@carroll.org> try the FLipper or acrobat We have students using these with success (powerpoints he should get ahead of time to view on his own laptop) http://www.nanopac.com/products.htm has both listed -- Dina Rosenbaum Carroll Center for the BLind 770 Centre St, Newton, MA 02459 800-852-3131 www.carroll.org www.carrolltech.org Howard Kramer wrote: > > First of all, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the foot > mouse. The student I?m working with decided to go with the slipper mouse: > > http://www.bilila.com/foot_mouse_slipper_mouse (Also available at > Enablemart) > > It looks like a better design than the hands-free mouse. I?ll let you > know how it works for the student. > > On another matter, I?m looking for a device that would be used in the > classroom by a low vision user to view the blackboard, powerpoint, > etc. I thought there was a device with a ?beta? in the title which > looked like a portable camcorder. It could also be connected to a > laptop. Perhaps it no longer exists. I found the ClearNote and PCMate > which seem to work similarly. Anyone have experience with these devices? > > Thanks, > > Howard > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > From rbeach at kckcc.edu Fri Jan 18 13:17:46 2008 From: rbeach at kckcc.edu (Robert Beach) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] listening systems Message-ID: <4790C31A020000CF0000A577@mymail.kckcc.edu> Hi all, We have a student who is HH and wants to use an FM listening system in classes. We have one borrowed from another institution for the moment and she really likes it. The one she really likes (Telex SoundMate SR100) is apparently no longer made. The SR100 has a transmitter that the speaker wears. The listener has the receiver that they plug their headset into to listen. It has adjustable frequencies to match the two devices up and still avoid interference from other sources. The student says this system is great for the anatomy lab and the math class. However, the anatomy class is different because the instructor encourages a lot of class discussion and she is not picking up on that. I'm thinking a conference type of microphone system may fix that problem, but not sure how well it would work. Using the headset is fine as she does not use hearing aids. Does anybody have any experience with a system like I'm describing and can make some recommendations of systems to look at or ones to avoid? I have been in contact with a company that has recommended 2 different systems that "sound" like they could work. One is the Array AG300 3-Channel FM Kit and the other is the Comfort Contego Communication System. The Contego system would support the class discussion setting better, but I'm not sure it will accommodate the other classes as well. Any info you all can share on these systems or similar ones that you have experience with would be greatly appreciated. Have a great 3-day weekend! Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Fri Jan 18 13:54:17 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] listening systems In-Reply-To: <4790C31A020000CF0000A577@mymail.kckcc.edu> References: <4790C31A020000CF0000A577@mymail.kckcc.edu> Message-ID: <019101c85a1c$b1632cb0$14298610$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> We had a lot of similar systems at OSU, and we would just match the units up and send the student off with them for the quarter. We used Phoneic Ear Equipment and were very happy with it, I think when I left we had about area base transmitters in about 60 classrooms and probably 25 paired systems that we checked out. We use the EasyListening equipmen: http://www.phonicear.dk/eprise/main/PhonicEar/DK_gb/SEC_ALD/_index I have also worked with the Array system in some conference venues and it is good stuff as well. Williams Sound is very popular in the DHH community, but I have not found that the equipment is very durable. The cadalac stuff is from Sennheiser but you may already be familiar with that name from your weekend job Robert: http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/category.asp?transid=cat113 Whatever system you decide on you want to work with a local vendor who has expertise in sound field systems and ALD systems because there are a lot of extenuating factors that can inpact the effectiveness of the equipment. Also only buy one brand of equipment and stick to it. While the all supposedly operate in the same frequency range each vendor tweaks their equipment a bit so that it is optimized to work best with their own stuff. Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Beach Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 4:18 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] listening systems Hi all, We have a student who is HH and wants to use an FM listening system in classes. We have one borrowed from another institution for the moment and she really likes it. The one she really likes (Telex SoundMate SR100) is apparently no longer made. The SR100 has a transmitter that the speaker wears. The listener has the receiver that they plug their headset into to listen. It has adjustable frequencies to match the two devices up and still avoid interference from other sources. The student says this system is great for the anatomy lab and the math class. However, the anatomy class is different because the instructor encourages a lot of class discussion and she is not picking up on that. I'm thinking a conference type of microphone system may fix that problem, but not sure how well it would work. Using the headset is fine as she does not use hearing aids. Does anybody have any experience with a system like I'm describing and can make some recommendations of systems to look at or ones to avoid? I have been in contact with a company that has recommended 2 different systems that "sound" like they could work. One is the Array AG300 3-Channel FM Kit and the other is the Comfort Contego Communication System. The Contego system would support the class discussion setting better, but I'm not sure it will accommodate the other classes as well. Any info you all can share on these systems or similar ones that you have experience with would be greatly appreciated. Have a great 3-day weekend! Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From dsrisdall at aol.com Fri Jan 18 14:26:33 2008 From: dsrisdall at aol.com (dsrisdall@aol.com) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html. This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states?with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: ? Here?s another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We?ve been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they?re ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I?ll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. ? Is anyone aware of this ?grandfather? stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. ? Thanks, Howard ? ? Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co? 80309 303-492-8672 ? _______________________________________________ then mailing list then@athenpro.org ttp://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Fri Jan 18 14:30:07 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> Message-ID: <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the guidelines. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html . This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: Here?s another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We?ve been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they?re ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I?ll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. Is anyone aware of this ?grandfather? stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _____ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dsrisdall at aol.com Fri Jan 18 14:49:01 2008 From: dsrisdall at aol.com (dsrisdall@aol.com) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <8CA283B743BC7CD-990-1F60@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> See the table in ADAAG at section 9.1.2 at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal/Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html -----Original Message----- From: Ron Stewart To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 2:30 pm Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the guidelines. ? Ron ? From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA ? Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html. This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states?with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: ? Here?s another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We?ve been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they?re ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I?ll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. ? Is anyone aware of this ?grandfather? stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. ? Thanks, Howard ? ? Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co? 80309 303-492-8672 ? _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail! _______________________________________________ then mailing list then@athenpro.org ttp://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Fri Jan 18 15:07:56 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <8CA283B743BC7CD-990-1F60@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> <8CA283B743BC7CD-990-1F60@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> Message-ID: <01fe01c85a26$f67bba60$e3732f20$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> As I understand the ADAAG/ABA Guidelines they allow for the requirements to be met with one of three options. The transfer shower, the roll-in shower and alternate roll in shower. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:49 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA See the table in ADAAG at section 9.1.2 at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal/Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html -----Original Message----- From: Ron Stewart To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 2:30 pm Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the guidelines. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org ] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html . This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: Here?s another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We?ve been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they?re ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I?ll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. Is anyone aware of this ?grandfather? stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _____ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _____ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dsrisdall at aol.com Fri Jan 18 15:53:28 2008 From: dsrisdall at aol.com (dsrisdall@aol.com) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <01fe01c85a26$f67bba60$e3732f20$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> <8CA283B743BC7CD-990-1F60@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> <01fe01c85a26$f67bba60$e3732f20$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <8CA284474FB7E53-990-213C@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> The 2004 ADA/ABA guidelines developed by the Access Board makes that distinction (the prevision of accessible bathtubs or showers) but this document is not enforceable yet. DOJ has not made an announcement for their NPRM. The current ADA regulations?state?table 9.1.2 is a requirement. -----Original Message----- From: Ron Stewart To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 3:07 pm Subject: Re: [Athen] [ATHEN] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA As I understand the ADAAG/ABA Guidelines they allow for the requirements to be met with one of three options.? The transfer shower, the roll-in shower and alternate roll in shower.? ? Ron ? From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:49 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA ? See the table in ADAAG at section 9.1.2 at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal/Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html -----Original Message----- From: Ron Stewart To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 2:30 pm Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the guidelines. ? Ron ? From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA ? Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancies/ADAAG_9.html. This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states?with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: ? Here?s another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We?ve been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they?re ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I?ll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. ? Is anyone aware of this ?grandfather? stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. ? Thanks, Howard ? ? Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co? 80309 303-492-8672 ? _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail! _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail! _______________________________________________ then mailing list then@athenpro.org ttp://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org ________________________________________________________________________ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Fri Jan 18 16:42:59 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <008301c85a10$c3d398a0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu><8CA283850BE9AA4-990-1EBD@webmail-nf17.sim.aol.com> <01cb01c85a21$aeb00150$0c1003f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <000501c85a34$7f4ab1e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> The ADAAG regulations (as per the link in dsrisdall's e-mail) do say that any hotel with more than 50 rooms has to have a room with a roll in shower. 1 additional sleeping room with a roll in shower is required for each multiple of 100 rooms in the hotel. Or am I misreading the guidelines? -Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 3:30 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the guidelines. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM To: athen@athenpro.org Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Howard, There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancie s/ADAAG_9.html . This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older buildings it is the ideal level to attain. There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA compliance (for those states with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. -----Original Message----- From: Howard Kramer To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA Hello All: Here's another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We've been looking over their accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they're ADA compliant because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than 50 years old. I'll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some of you might be knowledgeable about this. Is anyone aware of this "grandfather" stipulation? It would seem that not having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _____ More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Sat Jan 19 03:46:09 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (ron.stewart@dolphinusa.com) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA In-Reply-To: <000501c85a34$7f4ab1e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <1200743169.75474@stewartr.securesites.net> Howard I was wrong I just got my reply from the ADA expert and that is correct. In the process I came across a great resource for this: http://www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/comparison/comparison.pdf Ron On Jan 18 17:42, Howard Kramer wrote: > > Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA > > The ADAAG regulations (as per the link in dsrisdall's e-mail) do say that > any hotel with more than 50 rooms has to have a room with a roll in shower. > 1 additional sleeping room with a roll in shower is required for each > multiple of 100 rooms in the hotel. > > > > Or am I misreading the guidelines? > > > > -Howard > > > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > > > _____ > > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Ron Stewart > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 3:30 PM > To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' > Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA > > > > That said I do not believe there is a requirement for roll-in showers in the > guidelines. > > > > Ron > > > > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of dsrisdall@aol.com > Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 5:27 PM > To: athen@athenpro.org > Subject: Re: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA > > > > Howard, > > There is no such provision as a grandfather clause in the current ADA > regulations. Public accommodations operating in older buildings (built prior > to the ADA) that have not been modified or altered have a requirement to > remove architectural barriers to people with disabilities. Post ADA > alterations/ modifications must conform with the ADA Accessibility > Guidelines (ADAAG). > > The section of ADAAG that applies to hotels states that hotels and inns with > 50 or more sleeping rooms or suites are to provide accessible rooms with > roll- in shower conforming to the requirements at > http://www.dbtac.vcu.edu/adaportal//Facility_Access/ADAAG/Special_Occupancie > s/ADAAG_9.html > s/ADAAG_9.html> . > > This is the standard to strive for in new construction however in older > buildings it is the ideal level to attain. > > There is a very good resource for assisting with both Federal and state ADA > compliance (for those states with more restrictive laws). The Network of ADA > Centers can be contacted at (800) 949-4232. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Howard Kramer > To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' > Sent: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29 pm > Subject: [Athen] Hotel, accessible sleeping rooms & the ADA > > Hello All: > > > > Here's another question and it concerns the Millennium hotel which we use > for Accessing Higher Ground conference. We've been looking over their > accessible sleeping rooms. None of their rooms have roll-in showers, only > grab bars and shower seats. According to the hotel, they're ADA compliant > because they were grandfathered on the basis of the building being more than > 50 years old. I'll check some other ADA resources on this but thought some > of you might be knowledgeable about this. > > > > Is anyone aware of this "grandfather" stipulation? It would seem that not > having any roll-in shower rooms would be a significant barrier. Any feedback > would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks, > > Howard > > > > > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > _____ > > > More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail > lcmp00050000000003> ! > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > From ron at ahead.org Mon Jan 21 10:43:12 2008 From: ron at ahead.org (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist Message-ID: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is not in the listing. Ron Stanford web site: http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), Stanford University Position Description During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is charged with providing a centrally coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to computers and online information resources for persons with disabilities. The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the Director with technology-related programmatic development and strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and support the use of assistive technology by investigating and implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching and learning. The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several departments and programs participating in a program that provides specialists to assist with the integration of technology into teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute to the development of the ATS Program. Responsibilities o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new technology and services. o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a model for providing such resources and services to this student population. o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, learning strategies, and training needs. o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced pedagogical opportunities for instructors. o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive technology policies, procedures, and support. o Support the institutional web accessibility program, including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service providers to meet student needs. o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide training as necessary. o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and others. o Support specialized technology systems necessary for alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion of printed material into alternative formats. o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access to their curricula for students with disabilities. o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network with colleagues within and without the University; participate in newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. Qualifications The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity in providing assistive technology services to individuals with disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical and learning needs. Specific requirements include: o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Coursework and direct experience implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and alternate input devices. o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI guidelines and techniques. o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical training to a non-technical audience. o Excellent time management and project management skills. Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the academic community; experience working in an environment where colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and faculty training needs and disability status. o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer and library access. From wink.harner at mcmail.maricopa.edu Mon Jan 21 19:35:10 2008 From: wink.harner at mcmail.maricopa.edu (Wink Harner) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> Message-ID: <4735689C000074C2@email3.dist.maricopa.edu> Ron, Walking on water IS included if you think about the salary and the location! Definitely would have to walk on water to get to work (grin). Wink >-- Original Message -- >From: "Ron Stewart" >To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:12 -0500 >Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist >Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is >not >in the listing. > >Ron > >Stanford web site: >http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >Stanford University > >Position Description > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >charged with providing a centrally >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >computers and online information resources for persons with >disabilities. > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >Director with technology-related programmatic development and >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching >and learning. > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >departments and programs participating in a program that provides >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute >to the development of the ATS Program. > >Responsibilities > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >technology and services. > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >model for providing such resources and services to this student >population. > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >learning strategies, and training needs. > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >technology policies, procedures, and support. > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >providers to meet student needs. > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >training as necessary. > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >others. > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >of printed material into alternative formats. > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > >Qualifications > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >and learning needs. > >Specific requirements include: > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >alternate input devices. > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >guidelines and techniques. > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >training to a non-technical audience. > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >academic community; experience working in an environment where >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >faculty training needs and disability status. > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >and library access. > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org Ms. Wink Harner Manager Disability Resources & Services Mesa Community College Mesa AZ 480-461-7447 From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Mon Jan 21 19:49:06 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <4735689C000074C2@email3.dist.maricopa.edu> References: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> <4735689C000074C2@email3.dist.maricopa.edu> Message-ID: <006201c85ca9$be0535a0$3a0fa0e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Maybe some day if your real nice I will share my Stanford story, not to dissimilar to a CSUN story of more recent vintage Ron -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Wink Harner Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 10:35 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist Ron, Walking on water IS included if you think about the salary and the location! Definitely would have to walk on water to get to work (grin). Wink >-- Original Message -- >From: "Ron Stewart" >To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:12 -0500 >Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist >Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is >not >in the listing. > >Ron > >Stanford web site: >http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >Stanford University > >Position Description > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >charged with providing a centrally >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >computers and online information resources for persons with >disabilities. > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >Director with technology-related programmatic development and >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching >and learning. > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >departments and programs participating in a program that provides >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute >to the development of the ATS Program. > >Responsibilities > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >technology and services. > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >model for providing such resources and services to this student >population. > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >learning strategies, and training needs. > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >technology policies, procedures, and support. > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >providers to meet student needs. > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >training as necessary. > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >others. > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >of printed material into alternative formats. > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > >Qualifications > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >and learning needs. > >Specific requirements include: > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >alternate input devices. > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >guidelines and techniques. > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >training to a non-technical audience. > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >academic community; experience working in an environment where >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >faculty training needs and disability status. > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >and library access. > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org Ms. Wink Harner Manager Disability Resources & Services Mesa Community College Mesa AZ 480-461-7447 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From dann at digilifemedia.biz Tue Jan 22 05:28:33 2008 From: dann at digilifemedia.biz (dann) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist Message-ID: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A712427B@trinity.trinityumc.local> Looks can deceive - check one or more of the 'cost of living' calculators online. Also consider commute time, quality of life (both inside and outside the institution), spouse opportunities and more. These are all factors that contributed to drive me away from BU. Daniel Berkowitz Digilife Media, LLC (email) dann@digilifemedia.biz (mobile) 978-914-4601 ----- Original Message ----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Sent: Mon Jan 21 21:35:10 2008 Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist Ron, Walking on water IS included if you think about the salary and the location! Definitely would have to walk on water to get to work (grin). Wink >-- Original Message -- >From: "Ron Stewart" >To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:12 -0500 >Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist >Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is >not >in the listing. > >Ron > >Stanford web site: >http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >Stanford University > >Position Description > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >charged with providing a centrally >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >computers and online information resources for persons with >disabilities. > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >Director with technology-related programmatic development and >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching >and learning. > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >departments and programs participating in a program that provides >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute >to the development of the ATS Program. > >Responsibilities > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >technology and services. > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >model for providing such resources and services to this student >population. > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >learning strategies, and training needs. > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >technology policies, procedures, and support. > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >providers to meet student needs. > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >training as necessary. > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >others. > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >of printed material into alternative formats. > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > >Qualifications > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >and learning needs. > >Specific requirements include: > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >alternate input devices. > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >guidelines and techniques. > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >training to a non-technical audience. > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >academic community; experience working in an environment where >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >faculty training needs and disability status. > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >and library access. > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org Ms. Wink Harner Manager Disability Resources & Services Mesa Community College Mesa AZ 480-461-7447 _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From accessible.text at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 05:43:39 2008 From: accessible.text at gmail.com (Robert Martinengo) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Message-ID: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] From jbailey at uoregon.edu Tue Jan 22 08:53:10 2008 From: jbailey at uoregon.edu (James Bailey) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A712427B@trinity.trinityumc.local> References: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A712427B@trinity.trinityumc.local> Message-ID: <1201020790.575882.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> Whoa - Dann, I had no idea you left BU. Anyway, good luck in the private sector. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:28:33 -0600, "dann" wrote: > > Looks can deceive - check one or more of the 'cost of living' calculators online. Also consider commute time, quality of life (both inside and outside the institution), spouse opportunities and more. These are all factors that contributed to drive me away from BU. > > Daniel Berkowitz > Digilife Media, LLC > (email) dann@digilifemedia.biz > (mobile) 978-914-4601 > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > Sent: Mon Jan 21 21:35:10 2008 > Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist > > Ron, > > Walking on water IS included if you think about the salary and the location! > Definitely would have to walk on water to get to work (grin). > > Wink > > >-- Original Message -- > >From: "Ron Stewart" > >To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" > >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:12 -0500 > >Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist > >Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > > > > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is > >not > >in the listing. > > > >Ron > > > >Stanford web site: > > http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > > > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), > >Stanford University > > > >Position Description > > > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically > >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with > >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is > >charged with providing a centrally > >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources > >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate > >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and > >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to > >computers and online information resources for persons with > >disabilities. > > > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology > >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the > >Director with technology-related programmatic development and > >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning > >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus > >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting > >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both > >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and > >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and > >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating > >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and > >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching > >and learning. > > > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists > >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information > >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several > >departments and programs participating in a program that provides > >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into > >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology > >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based > >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective > >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental > >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of > >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology > >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and > >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > > > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology > >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the > >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, > >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute > >to the development of the ATS Program. > > > >Responsibilities > > > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of > >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > > > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for > >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. > >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new > >technology and services. > > > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs > >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with > >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. > >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a > >model for providing such resources and services to this student > >population. > > > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, > >learning strategies, and training needs. > > > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and > >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning > >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced > >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > > > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional > >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive > >technology policies, procedures, and support. > > > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, > >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible > >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and > >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with > >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > > > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > > > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and > >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > > > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > > > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service > >providers to meet student needs. > > > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive > >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide > >training as necessary. > > > > > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the > >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen > >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, > >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and > >others. > > > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for > >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion > >of printed material into alternative formats. > > > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access > >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > > > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network > >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in > >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of > >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > > > >Qualifications > > > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity > >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with > >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in > >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical > >and learning needs. > > > >Specific requirements include: > > > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience > >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of > >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience > >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > > > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, > >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working > >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > > > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and > >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, > >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and > >alternate input devices. > > > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough > >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI > >guidelines and techniques. > > > > > > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, > >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, > >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > > > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical > >training to a non-technical audience. > > > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. > >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, > >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > > > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. > >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the > >academic community; experience working in an environment where > >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > > > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and > >faculty training needs and disability status. > > > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights > >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer > >and library access. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Athen mailing list > >Athen@athenpro.org > > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > Ms. Wink Harner > Manager > Disability Resources & Services > Mesa Community College > Mesa AZ > > 480-461-7447 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From jbailey at uoregon.edu Tue Jan 22 08:57:31 2008 From: jbailey at uoregon.edu (James Bailey) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A712427B@trinity.trinityumc.local> References: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A712427B@trinity.trinityumc.local> Message-ID: <1201021051.663386.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> Ooh - one quick thing - http://www.digilifemedia.biz/about.html did not play nice at all with Firefox. I presume you want to present yourself as someone who knows how to place text where it belongs. So really now - I wish you very good luck since you're one of the owners. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:28:33 -0600, "dann" wrote: > > Looks can deceive - check one or more of the 'cost of living' calculators online. Also consider commute time, quality of life (both inside and outside the institution), spouse opportunities and more. These are all factors that contributed to drive me away from BU. > > Daniel Berkowitz > Digilife Media, LLC > (email) dann@digilifemedia.biz > (mobile) 978-914-4601 > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org > To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > Sent: Mon Jan 21 21:35:10 2008 > Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist > > Ron, > > Walking on water IS included if you think about the salary and the location! > Definitely would have to walk on water to get to work (grin). > > Wink > > >-- Original Message -- > >From: "Ron Stewart" > >To: "'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'" > >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:43:12 -0500 > >Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist > >Reply-To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network > > > > > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is > >not > >in the listing. > > > >Ron > > > >Stanford web site: > > http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > > > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), > >Stanford University > > > >Position Description > > > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically > >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with > >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is > >charged with providing a centrally > >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources > >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate > >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and > >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to > >computers and online information resources for persons with > >disabilities. > > > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology > >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the > >Director with technology-related programmatic development and > >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning > >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus > >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting > >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both > >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and > >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and > >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating > >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and > >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching > >and learning. > > > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists > >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information > >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several > >departments and programs participating in a program that provides > >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into > >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology > >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based > >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective > >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental > >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of > >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology > >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and > >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > > > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology > >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the > >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, > >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute > >to the development of the ATS Program. > > > >Responsibilities > > > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of > >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > > > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for > >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. > >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new > >technology and services. > > > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs > >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with > >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. > >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a > >model for providing such resources and services to this student > >population. > > > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, > >learning strategies, and training needs. > > > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and > >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning > >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced > >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > > > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional > >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive > >technology policies, procedures, and support. > > > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, > >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible > >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and > >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with > >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > > > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > > > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and > >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > > > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > > > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service > >providers to meet student needs. > > > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive > >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide > >training as necessary. > > > > > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the > >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen > >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, > >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and > >others. > > > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for > >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion > >of printed material into alternative formats. > > > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access > >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > > > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network > >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in > >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of > >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > > > >Qualifications > > > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity > >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with > >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in > >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical > >and learning needs. > > > >Specific requirements include: > > > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience > >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of > >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience > >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > > > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, > >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working > >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > > > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and > >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, > >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and > >alternate input devices. > > > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough > >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI > >guidelines and techniques. > > > > > > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, > >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, > >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > > > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical > >training to a non-technical audience. > > > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. > >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, > >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > > > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. > >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the > >academic community; experience working in an environment where > >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > > > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and > >faculty training needs and disability status. > > > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights > >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer > >and library access. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Athen mailing list > >Athen@athenpro.org > > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > Ms. Wink Harner > Manager > Disability Resources & Services > Mesa Community College > Mesa AZ > > 480-461-7447 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From jbailey at uoregon.edu Tue Jan 22 09:00:31 2008 From: jbailey at uoregon.edu (James Bailey) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] sorry about my notes to Dann Message-ID: <1201021231.521803.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> I just realized (I think) my notes to Dann were going to all. My mistake and I am sorry. Although since we are now in the public forum I think we should all wish Dann good luck and I do think this was BU's loss. In the future, I'll be more careful about the "TO:" when I reply. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu From dann at digilifemedia.biz Tue Jan 22 10:19:21 2008 From: dann at digilifemedia.biz (dann) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] sorry about my notes to Dann References: <1201021231.521803.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> Message-ID: <1C0A17730536A641A679589E755028A710FC51@trinity.trinityumc.local> Don't sweat it James -- we are all friends. I though the word had gotten out already. Yes -- I have left Boston University and am now up and running with the private DigiLife Media, LLC. I'd direct you to the website but apparently we are having some difficulties (part of the growing pains of a new company). You can probably guess the focus of the company -- alt-format and e-text production, training, and consultation. Anyone wanting details can contact me separately. I will be presenting at Nercomp (Educause) and at CSUN if anyone wants to track me down in either location. --------------- Daniel Berkowitz, CEO DigiLife Media, LLC 1 Bryant Avenue Bradford, MA 01835-7424 phone: 617-512-4315 mobile: 978-914-4601 e-mail: dann@digilifemedia.biz web: www.digilifemedia.biz ________________________________ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org on behalf of James Bailey Sent: Tue 1/22/2008 12:00 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] sorry about my notes to Dann I just realized (I think) my notes to Dann were going to all. My mistake and I am sorry. Although since we are now in the public forum I think we should all wish Dann good luck and I do think this was BU's loss. In the future, I'll be more careful about the "TO:" when I reply. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ccolaci at yukoncollege.yk.ca Mon Jan 21 11:10:21 2008 From: ccolaci at yukoncollege.yk.ca (Catalina Colaci) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] about "minimun" req for RAM In-Reply-To: <00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> <00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> Message-ID: Hello, everybody Is anybody around who is working with adaptive technology in a post-sec environment and can help bridging the communication gap between a coord of services and the computer support people (who are overworked already with the "standard" applications)? We are having a problem getting the message across the computer-people in our institution regarding the technology needs. At the moment we have 2 stand-alone computers -not linked to a server- one has internet access, the other does not. We need to be able to run on the same computer -if possible- Dragon 9 Kurzweil 3000 version 10 A scanner Inspiration Text-help We explained that the minimum RAM requirements for Dragon 9 are 1 GM, for Kurzweil between 300 MB to 500+. We ended up with 512 MB in each and huge problems of computers freezing up on an on-going basis . We got one computer upped to .99 GB (I did not know they made that denomination) but we were told that we should use only Office and Dragon in it, then in the other only Kurzweil, well, you get the picture. Our problem seems to be a communication one, the techies are asking us expressly HOW MUCH RAM we need in each computer... we said more than 1GB, and towards 2 GB and we are asked "WHY"/"Where did you get the info", etc. Thanks in advance for your attention... If my message is not clear -I love technology but I do not talk the talk-, please ask me for more details Thanks again Catalina Colaci Coordinator Learning Assistance Centre Support Services for Students with Disabilities Yukon College Yukon Territory CANADA From SKelmer at stlcc.edu Tue Jan 22 11:46:47 2008 From: SKelmer at stlcc.edu (Kelmer, Susan M.) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:51 2018 Subject: [Athen] sorry about my notes to Dann Message-ID: Well, I think Dann implied it at AHG this year but I didn't know for sure. So yeah, Dann, you should probably make an announcement. You know, sound the trumpets and shoot off the fireworks and send out the press releases. Or something. LOL And fix the web page. Firefox doesn't like it at all, and there are plenty of broken links. But of course you already knew that, I'm sure! Best of luck in your new endeavors!! Susan Kelmer Coordinator Information ACCESS Lab St. Louis Community College at Meramec 314/984-7951 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From JWeier at stlcc.edu Tue Jan 22 11:52:35 2008 From: JWeier at stlcc.edu (Weier, James A.) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] about "minimun" req for RAM References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu><00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> Message-ID: Catalina, Here is the minimum system requirements for the Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional 9.0 version: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/professional/sysreqs.asp Here is the minimum system requirements for the Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 9.0 version: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/preferred/sysreqs.asp (I don't know which version of DNS you will be using so I gave both minimum system requirements to you). Here is the minimum system requirements for the Kurzweil 3000 version 10: http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k3000_hardware.aspx Here is the minimum system requirements for Inspiration: http://www.inspiration.com/techsupport/tech_popups.cfm?fuseaction=i8sysr eqs As far as the Text-Help minimum system requirements is concerned, which software specifically? Here is the link to the website: http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp (Do you mean BrowseAloud, Read & Write Gold???) Anyway, here's the minimum system requirements for Read & Write Gold from Text-help: http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=10104 Basically, give the links to your IT dept. and they will see the proof of the RAM, CPU, Hard Disk space, etc. requirements for the software in question. This is all your IT dept. would need to know to be able to setup your computers correctly. Hardware-wise. James A. Weier Adaptive Tech. Specialist/Access Office St. Louis Community College 3400 Pershall Road Ferguson, MO. 63135 314-513-4162 (voice) 314-513-4876 (fax) jweier@stlcc.edu There are three basic types, the wills, the won'ts, and the can'ts. The wills accomplish everything, the won'ts oppose everything, and the can'ts won't try anything. -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Catalina Colaci Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 1:10 PM Subject: [Athen] about "minimun" req for RAM Hello, everybody Is anybody around who is working with adaptive technology in a post-sec environment and can help bridging the communication gap between a coord of services and the computer support people (who are overworked already with the "standard" applications)? We are having a problem getting the message across the computer-people in our institution regarding the technology needs. At the moment we have 2 stand-alone computers -not linked to a server- one has internet access, the other does not. We need to be able to run on the same computer -if possible- Dragon 9 Kurzweil 3000 version 10 A scanner Inspiration Text-help We explained that the minimum RAM requirements for Dragon 9 are 1 GM, for Kurzweil between 300 MB to 500+. We ended up with 512 MB in each and huge problems of computers freezing up on an on-going basis . We got one computer upped to .99 GB (I did not know they made that denomination) but we were told that we should use only Office and Dragon in it, then in the other only Kurzweil, well, you get the picture. Our problem seems to be a communication one, the techies are asking us expressly HOW MUCH RAM we need in each computer... we said more than 1GB, and towards 2 GB and we are asked "WHY"/"Where did you get the info", etc. Thanks in advance for your attention... If my message is not clear -I love technology but I do not talk the talk-, please ask me for more details Thanks again Catalina Colaci Coordinator Learning Assistance Centre Support Services for Students with Disabilities Yukon College Yukon Territory CANADA _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From rbeach at kckcc.edu Tue Jan 22 12:44:29 2008 From: rbeach at kckcc.edu (Robert Beach) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] about "minimun" req for RAM In-Reply-To: References: <002c01c852f0$66ff1180$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu><00f201c85513$85025000$8f06f000$@info> Message-ID: <4796014D020000CF0000A93C@mymail.kckcc.edu> One thing I would recommend is take the highest requirement and double it. Many times these system requirements are made based on systems running very minimal programs, mainly just the assistive tech and the OS. When you start throwing in networking, Office, maybe some internet, and try to do any multi-tasking, you quickly drag the system down to nothing. Just as a rule, I always order new AT machines with 4 GB of ram and minimum 100GB hard drive, fastest processor our IT folks will purchase, high-end non-integrated sound cards (yes it does make a difference with DNS), and high-end non-intigrated video card. Oh yes, 20-inch monitors, but it sometimes cuts me down to 19 or even 17 inch. Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu >>> "Weier, James A." 1/22/2008 1:52 PM >>> Catalina, Here is the minimum system requirements for the Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional 9.0 version: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/professional/sysreqs.asp Here is the minimum system requirements for the Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred 9.0 version: http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/preferred/sysreqs.asp (I don't know which version of DNS you will be using so I gave both minimum system requirements to you). Here is the minimum system requirements for the Kurzweil 3000 version 10: http://www.kurzweiledu.com/products_k3000_hardware.aspx Here is the minimum system requirements for Inspiration: http://www.inspiration.com/techsupport/tech_popups.cfm?fuseaction=i8sysr eqs As far as the Text-Help minimum system requirements is concerned, which software specifically? Here is the link to the website: http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp (Do you mean BrowseAloud, Read & Write Gold???) Anyway, here's the minimum system requirements for Read & Write Gold from Text-help: http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=10104 Basically, give the links to your IT dept. and they will see the proof of the RAM, CPU, Hard Disk space, etc. requirements for the software in question. This is all your IT dept. would need to know to be able to setup your computers correctly. Hardware-wise. James A. Weier Adaptive Tech. Specialist/Access Office St. Louis Community College 3400 Pershall Road Ferguson, MO. 63135 314-513-4162 (voice) 314-513-4876 (fax) jweier@stlcc.edu There are three basic types, the wills, the won'ts, and the can'ts. The wills accomplish everything, the won'ts oppose everything, and the can'ts won't try anything. -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Catalina Colaci Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 1:10 PM Subject: [Athen] about "minimun" req for RAM Hello, everybody Is anybody around who is working with adaptive technology in a post-sec environment and can help bridging the communication gap between a coord of services and the computer support people (who are overworked already with the "standard" applications)? We are having a problem getting the message across the computer-people in our institution regarding the technology needs. At the moment we have 2 stand-alone computers -not linked to a server- one has internet access, the other does not. We need to be able to run on the same computer -if possible- Dragon 9 Kurzweil 3000 version 10 A scanner Inspiration Text-help We explained that the minimum RAM requirements for Dragon 9 are 1 GM, for Kurzweil between 300 MB to 500+. We ended up with 512 MB in each and huge problems of computers freezing up on an on-going basis . We got one computer upped to .99 GB (I did not know they made that denomination) but we were told that we should use only Office and Dragon in it, then in the other only Kurzweil, well, you get the picture. Our problem seems to be a communication one, the techies are asking us expressly HOW MUCH RAM we need in each computer... we said more than 1GB, and towards 2 GB and we are asked "WHY"/"Where did you get the info", etc. Thanks in advance for your attention... If my message is not clear -I love technology but I do not talk the talk-, please ask me for more details Thanks again Catalina Colaci Coordinator Learning Assistance Centre Support Services for Students with Disabilities Yukon College Yukon Territory CANADA _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From rmhaven at stanford.edu Tue Jan 22 12:50:54 2008 From: rmhaven at stanford.edu (Shelley Haven) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> References: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> Message-ID: Hi, Ron (and all)! I was just about to repost this job opening to the list (I did so last November along with some insights), so thanks for saving me the trouble. Walking on water is not required, but it helps to have a broad background and an innovative bent. My 7+ years in that position have been the most challenging of my professional life (and I mean that in a good way). As for cost of living, I moved here from Arizona in 2000 and found that the increase in cost of living and increase in salary more-or-less balanced each other out. But then again, I was renting, not buying a house. - Shelley **-*-*--*--*---*---*--*--*-*-** Rachael M. Haven (Shelley) ATP, RET FORMER Academic Technology Specialist/Technology Coordinator ;-) Office of Accessible Education Stanford University At 1:43 PM -0500 1/21/08, Ron Stewart wrote: >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is not >in the listing. > >Ron > >Stanford web site: >http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >Stanford University > >Position Description > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >charged with providing a centrally >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >computers and online information resources for persons with >disabilities. > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >Director with technology-related programmatic development and >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching >and learning. > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >departments and programs participating in a program that provides >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute >to the development of the ATS Program. > >Responsibilities > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >technology and services. > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >model for providing such resources and services to this student >population. > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >learning strategies, and training needs. > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >technology policies, procedures, and support. > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >providers to meet student needs. > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >training as necessary. > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >others. > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >of printed material into alternative formats. > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > >Qualifications > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >and learning needs. > >Specific requirements include: > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >alternate input devices. > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >guidelines and techniques. > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >training to a non-technical audience. > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >academic community; experience working in an environment where >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >faculty training needs and disability status. > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >and library access. > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Tue Jan 22 13:01:46 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: References: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> Message-ID: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Thanks and for being a good egg about our warped senses of humor. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Shelley Haven Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:51 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist Hi, Ron (and all)! I was just about to repost this job opening to the list (I did so last November along with some insights), so thanks for saving me the trouble. Walking on water is not required, but it helps to have a broad background and an innovative bent. My 7+ years in that position have been the most challenging of my professional life (and I mean that in a good way). As for cost of living, I moved here from Arizona in 2000 and found that the increase in cost of living and increase in salary more-or-less balanced each other out. But then again, I was renting, not buying a house. - Shelley **-*-*--*--*---*---*--*--*-*-** Rachael M. Haven (Shelley) ATP, RET FORMER Academic Technology Specialist/Technology Coordinator ;-) Office of Accessible Education Stanford University At 1:43 PM -0500 1/21/08, Ron Stewart wrote: Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is not in the listing. Ron Stanford web site: http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), Stanford University Position Description During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is charged with providing a centrally coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to computers and online information resources for persons with disabilities. The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the Director with technology-related programmatic development and strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and support the use of assistive technology by investigating and implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching and learning. The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several departments and programs participating in a program that provides specialists to assist with the integration of technology into teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute to the development of the ATS Program. Responsibilities o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new technology and services. o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a model for providing such resources and services to this student population. o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, learning strategies, and training needs. o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced pedagogical opportunities for instructors. o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive technology policies, procedures, and support. o Support the institutional web accessibility program, including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service providers to meet student needs. o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide training as necessary. o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and others. o Support specialized technology systems necessary for alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion of printed material into alternative formats. o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access to their curricula for students with disabilities. o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network with colleagues within and without the University; participate in newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. Qualifications The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity in providing assistive technology services to individuals with disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical and learning needs. Specific requirements include: o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Coursework and direct experience implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and alternate input devices. o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI guidelines and techniques. o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical training to a non-technical audience. o Excellent time management and project management skills. Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the academic community; experience working in an environment where colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and faculty training needs and disability status. o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer and library access. _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From normajean.brand at hccs.edu Tue Jan 22 16:55:02 2008 From: normajean.brand at hccs.edu (normajean.brand) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse In-Reply-To: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: Howard, We've had great success with both the Flipper and Acrobat (not to be confused with Adobe Acrobat, although why this company chose Acrobat when Adobe has almost always been known as that Acrobat company I'll never know...). Both V.I. students and employees enjoy either the Flipper or Acrobat but the Acrobat LCD seems to be gaining popularity because of the greater flexibility. There are a couple of different versions of the Acrobat. Not sure who your vendor is in Colorado, but you can see the information for the adaptive equipment at www.christal-vision.com (our vendor here in Texas). Hope this helps. Regards, NJ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NJ Brand Houston Community College-NW Technical Support and Innovation Center Assistive Technology Specialist/Sr. Lab Assistant Town and Country Square Campus MC 1379 Room RC13 1010 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N. Houston TX 77043 VM/Office: 713.718.5604 FAX: 713.718.5430 Email: normajean.brand@hccs.edu http://nwc.hccs.edu http://learning.nwc.hccs.edu/members/normajean.brand ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:21 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse First of all, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the foot mouse. The student I'm working with decided to go with the slipper mouse: http://www.bilila.com/foot_mouse_slipper_mouse (Also available at Enablemart) It looks like a better design than the hands-free mouse. I'll let you know how it works for the student. On another matter, I'm looking for a device that would be used in the classroom by a low vision user to view the blackboard, powerpoint, etc. I thought there was a device with a "beta" in the title which looked like a portable camcorder. It could also be connected to a laptop. Perhaps it no longer exists. I found the ClearNote and PCMate which seem to work similarly. Anyone have experience with these devices? Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rmhaven at stanford.edu Tue Jan 22 22:01:02 2008 From: rmhaven at stanford.edu (Shelley Haven) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: Not a problem, Ron. I interpreted the "walk on water" and subsequent comments as implying that Stanford was asking for the world in terms of candidate qualifications...which, of course, I'm sure they'd love to have. ;-) - Shelley >Thanks and for being a good egg about our warped senses of humor. > >Ron > >From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] >On Behalf Of Shelley Haven >Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:51 PM >To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network >Subject: Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist > >Hi, Ron (and all)! > >I was just about to repost this job opening to the list (I did so >last November along with some insights), so thanks for saving me the >trouble. > >Walking on water is not required, but it helps to have a broad >background and an innovative bent. My 7+ years in that position >have been the most challenging of my professional life (and I mean >that in a good way). > >As for cost of living, I moved here from Arizona in 2000 and found >that the increase in cost of living and increase in salary >more-or-less balanced each other out. But then again, I was >renting, not buying a house. > >- Shelley > >**-*-*--*--*---*---*--*--*-*-** >Rachael M. Haven (Shelley) ATP, RET >FORMER Academic Technology Specialist/Technology Coordinator ;-) >Office of Accessible Education >Stanford University > > >At 1:43 PM -0500 1/21/08, Ron Stewart wrote: > >Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on water is not >in the listing. > >Ron > >Stanford web site: >http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). > > >Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >Stanford University > >Position Description > >During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >charged with providing a centrally >coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >computers and online information resources for persons with >disabilities. > >The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >Director with technology-related programmatic development and >strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching > >and learning. > > > >The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists > >Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >departments and programs participating in a program that provides >specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. > >In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute > >to the development of the ATS Program. > >Responsibilities > >o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. > >o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. > >Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >technology and services. > >o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >model for providing such resources and services to this student >population. > >o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >learning strategies, and training needs. > >o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >pedagogical opportunities for instructors. > >o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >technology policies, procedures, and support. > >o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. > >o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and software. > >o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. > >o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other departments. > >o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >providers to meet student needs. > >o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >training as necessary. > > > >o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >others. > >o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >of printed material into alternative formats. > >o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >to their curricula for students with disabilities. > >o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. > >Qualifications > >The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >and learning needs. > >Specific requirements include: > >o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. > >o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. > >o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >alternate input devices. > >o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >guidelines and techniques. > > > > >o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, > >experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. > >o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >training to a non-technical audience. > >o Excellent time management and project management skills. >Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, > >and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. > >o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >academic community; experience working in an environment where >colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. > >o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >faculty training needs and disability status. > >o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >and library access. > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > > >_______________________________________________ >Athen mailing list >Athen@athenpro.org >http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pratikp1 at gmail.com Tue Jan 22 22:36:01 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse In-Reply-To: References: <007001c85a0f$b6b629e0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <006901c85d8a$39b76750$ad2635f0$@com> Hello Howarde, The camquarter device you are thinking about was made by a company called Betacom. A couple of our students used the device for a few months on a trial basis but found it a bit bulky. The company went out of business before we could return the product and they were no longer interested in getting their trial products back. A few of our campuses are starting to experiment with the the new Freedomscientific camera-based Omix magnifiers They appear to like some of their features. You may want to play around with them for a little while before deciding. Hope this helps. Regards, Pratik From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of normajean.brand Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 7:55 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse Howard, We've had great success with both the Flipper and Acrobat (not to be confused with Adobe Acrobat, although why this company chose Acrobat when Adobe has almost always been known as that Acrobat company I'll never know.). Both V.I. students and employees enjoy either the Flipper or Acrobat but the Acrobat LCD seems to be gaining popularity because of the greater flexibility. There are a couple of different versions of the Acrobat. Not sure who your vendor is in Colorado, but you can see the information for the adaptive equipment at www.christal-vision.com (our vendor here in Texas). Hope this helps. Regards, NJ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NJ Brand Houston Community College-NW Technical Support and Innovation Center Assistive Technology Specialist/Sr. Lab Assistant Town and Country Square Campus MC 1379 Room RC13 1010 W. Sam Houston Pkwy N. Houston TX 77043 VM/Office: 713.718.5604 FAX: 713.718.5430 Email: normajean.brand@hccs.edu http://nwc.hccs.edu http://learning.nwc.hccs.edu/members/normajean.brand ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:21 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] classroom cctv & foot mouse First of all, thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the foot mouse. The student I'm working with decided to go with the slipper mouse: http://www.bilila.com/foot_mouse_slipper_mouse (Also available at Enablemart) It looks like a better design than the hands-free mouse. I'll let you know how it works for the student. On another matter, I'm looking for a device that would be used in the classroom by a low vision user to view the blackboard, powerpoint, etc. I thought there was a device with a "beta" in the title which looked like a portable camcorder. It could also be connected to a laptop. Perhaps it no longer exists. I found the ClearNote and PCMate which seem to work similarly. Anyone have experience with these devices? Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pratikp1 at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 01:31:21 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From johumber at iupui.edu Wed Jan 23 05:23:32 2008 From: johumber at iupui.edu (Humbert, Joseph A) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> Message-ID: Hi! I just wanted to put my two cents in as far as ANGEL learning. They designed the cms for Kelly Direct (https://cms.kd.iu.edu/) of the Kelly Business school here. We tested their "Accessible" version. It had so many problems and was pretty much a copy of their pda port of the cms. I contacted their office to get some questions answered and they have yet to respond or fix the problems. So what good is a etext standard that is infused into a inaccessible cms? Thankx. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Wed Jan 23 06:08:56 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> Message-ID: <008401c85dc9$92e8a930$b8b9fb90$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> I would also look to the Safari X collaboration in the publishing space for another example of this. I do not belive they intend though that the curriculum modules will plug into other vendors platforms. Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From kcahill at MIT.EDU Wed Jan 23 06:13:57 2008 From: kcahill at MIT.EDU (Kathleen Cahill) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist In-Reply-To: References: <00df01c85c5d$7bdc2cc0$73948640$@org> <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <47974BA5.30108@mit.edu> I'm pretty sure Shelley walks on water! I bet they were sorry to see you go. Kathy Shelley Haven wrote: > Not a problem, Ron. I interpreted the "walk on water" and subsequent > comments as implying that Stanford was asking for the world in terms > of candidate qualifications...which, of course, I'm sure they'd love > to have. ;-) > > - Shelley > > >> Thanks and for being a good egg about our warped senses of humor. >> >> Ron >> >> *From:* athen-bounces@athenpro.org >> [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org]* On Behalf Of* Shelley Haven >> *Sent:* Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:51 PM >> *To:* Access Technologists in Higher Education Network >> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] FW: Job Posting-Academic Tech. Specialist >> >> Hi, Ron (and all)! >> >> I was just about to repost this job opening to the list (I did so >> last November along with some insights), so thanks for saving me the >> trouble. >> >> Walking on water is not required, but it helps to have a broad >> background and an innovative bent. My 7+ years in that position have >> been the most challenging of my professional life (and I mean that in >> a good way). >> >> As for cost of living, I moved here from Arizona in 2000 and found >> that the increase in cost of living and increase in salary >> more-or-less balanced each other out. But then again, I was renting, >> not buying a house. >> >> - Shelley >> >> **-*-*--*--*---*---*--*--*-*-** >> Rachael M. Haven (Shelley) ATP, RET >> /FORMER/ Academic Technology Specialist/Technology Coordinator ;-) >> Office of Accessible Education >> Stanford University >> >> >> At 1:43 PM -0500 1/21/08, Ron Stewart wrote: >> >> Looks like Stanford is hiring again. Surprised that walking on >> water is not >> in the listing. >> >> Ron >> >> Stanford web site: >> http://jobs.stanford.edu/find_a_job.html (Job ID# 28052). >> >> >> Academic Technology Specialist, Office of Accessible Education (OAE), >> Stanford University >> >> Position Description >> >> During the past decade, technological innovations have dramatically >> >> increased post-secondary educational opportunities for students with >> >> disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education at Stanford (OAE) is >> >> charged with providing a centrally >> coordinated, campus-wide program of assistive technology resources >> for students with disabilities. A major goal is to integrate >> assistive technology into the areas of instruction, research, and >> employment for persons with disabilities and to support access to >> computers and online information resources for persons with >> disabilities. >> >> The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) will provide technology >> leadership for the Office of Accessible Education, assisting the >> Director with technology-related programmatic development and >> strategic planning for the use and evaluation of learning >> technologies. The ATS will also act as a resource for the campus >> community in the development of accessible resources and in promoting >> the campus-wide adoption of Universal Design principles in both >> learning and instruction. The ATS will also actively encourage and >> support the use of assistive technology by investigating and >> implementing new tools and resources for students, disseminating >> knowledge of these tools throughout the University, and creating and >> supporting an infrastructure that allows use of the tools in teaching >> >> and learning. >> >> >> >> The incumbent will be a member of the Academic Technology Specialists >> >> Program within Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information >> Resources. The Office of Accessible Education is one of several >> departments and programs participating in a program that provides >> specialists to assist with the integration of technology into >> teaching, learning, and research activities. Academic Technology >> Specialists are placed within schools, programs or departments based >> not simply on technical expertise, but on their respective >> discipline-specific backgrounds. They participate in the departmental >> culture and share academic interests with the faculty. As members of >> both the academic and the IT community, Academic Technology >> Specialists are uniquely positioned to bridge different cultures and >> to facilitate a creative and mutual exchange. >> >> >> In addition to working with the OAE, the Academic Technology >> Specialist will devote 20 percent time to the ATS Program. There the >> ATS will engage with other ATSs in projects of common interest, >> organize and attend meetings with technology experts, and contribute >> >> to the development of the ATS Program. >> >> Responsibilities >> >> o Support OAE efforts to move toward campus-wide adoption of >> Universal Design (UD) principles in both learning and instruction. >> >> o Initiate ideas, implement solutions, and find resources for >> use in providing technology access to students with disabilities. >> >> Work with vendors and external partners in testing and developing new >> technology and services. >> >> o Support enhanced technology resources, services, and programs >> for the OAE's Schwab Learning Center which serves students with >> learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. >> Collaborate with OAE staff on efforts to develop and proliferate a >> model for providing such resources and services to this student >> population. >> >> o Provide technology leadership to OAE staff on assessment, >> learning strategies, and training needs. >> >> o Lead the Proteus R&D project that capitalizes on current and >> developing technologies to create a more inclusive learning >> environment for students with disabilities as well as enhanced >> pedagogical opportunities for instructors. >> >> o Help develop long-term funding plans for institutional >> oversight of assistive technology expenditures. Coordinate assistive >> technology policies, procedures, and support. >> >> o Support the institutional web accessibility program, >> including membership in the university's Subcommittee on Accessible >> Technology. This subcommittee is tasked with promoting and >> facilitating creation of accessible webpages and compliance with >> institutional legal obligations concerning accessibility. >> >> o Oversee a computer lab providing assistive hardware and >> software. >> >> o Test and evaluate new technologies, recommend purchase and >> develop strategic plan for future acquisitions and capabilities. >> >> o Coordinate accessible computing resources with other >> departments. >> >> o Act as a liaison with external consultants and service >> providers to meet student needs. >> >> o Consult with students, faculty and staff who have assistive >> technology needs. Assess and recommend solutions, and provide >> training as necessary. >> >> >> >> o Provide individual and group training for OAE staff in the >> use of assistive technologies, including speech recognition, screen >> magnification, Braille systems, writing/compositional aids, >> alternative computer input devices, electronic organizers, and >> others. >> >> o Support specialized technology systems necessary for >> alternative format conversion. Work with OAE staff in the conversion >> of printed material into alternative formats. >> >> o Consult with faculty members as necessary to provide access >> to their curricula for students with disabilities. >> >> o Review professional literature; attend conferences; network >> with colleagues within and without the University; participate in >> newsgroups and other forums to continually improve knowledge of >> assistive technology and post-secondary instruction. >> >> Qualifications >> >> The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity >> in providing assistive technology services to individuals with >> disabilities and demonstrated leadership and resourcefulness in >> identifying and integrating technological solutions to pedagogical >> and learning needs. >> >> Specific requirements include: >> >> o An advanced degree, plus at least five years experience >> working with assistive technology, or the equivalent combination of >> education and experience. Coursework and direct experience >> implementing Universal Design principles in an academic environment. >> >> o Experience consulting with individuals with sensory, >> learning, and/or physical disabilities. Preferred experience working >> in an academic setting with students at a post-secondary level. >> >> o Thorough knowledge of assistive computer hardware and >> software, including speech input and output, screen magnification, >> >> scanning and OCR, Braille conversion and output devices, and >> alternate input devices. >> >> o Expertise in xhtml, dhtml, html and css with thorough >> knowledge of web standards generally, and familiarity with the WAI >> guidelines and techniques. >> >> >> >> >> o Expert knowledge of Macintosh and Windows operating systems, >> >> experience with unix bash scripting, and familiarity with python, >> perl, php, ruby, or other web programming language. >> >> o Demonstrated experience developing and delivering technical >> training to a non-technical audience. >> >> o Excellent time management and project management skills. >> Demonstrated ability to manage a complex workload, prioritize tasks, >> >> and use good judgment in providing services based on goals. >> >> o Excellent teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills. >> Ability to interact effectively and tactfully with members of the >> academic community; experience working in an environment where >> colleagues have diverse backgrounds and customs. >> >> o A commitment to the confidentiality of student, staff, and >> faculty training needs and disability status. >> >> o Familiarity with state and federal laws pertaining to rights >> of persons with disabilities, particularly in reference to computer >> and library access. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Athen mailing list >> Athen@athenpro.org >> http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Athen mailing list >> Athen@athenpro.org >> http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > From rbeach at kckcc.edu Wed Jan 23 06:25:16 2008 From: rbeach at kckcc.edu (Robert Beach) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> Message-ID: <4796F9EC020000CF0000AA11@mymail.kckcc.edu> Hi, I haven't done a complete, indepth test, but my first impressions of the Angel system is that it is accessible with screen reading technologies; at least as much as any other system I've tested. I've successfully logged into a class, posted messages to and read messages from the discussion board, posted and received e-mail, and read course materials. It appears to be less busy than some of the other systems I've worked in. There are a few things I believe would make it better, but those could be classified as personal taste rather than accessibility issues. I did not test the chat room component as we do not necessarily use that here. However, I've not found the chat rooms of the other systems to be accessible either. Again, I haven't taken a full class in Angel, but have gone in and accessed the different components with JAWS, Read&Write, and Universal Reader. Things seemed to work fine to me. Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu >>> "Humbert, Joseph A" 1/23/2008 7:23 AM >>> Hi! I just wanted to put my two cents in as far as ANGEL learning. They designed the cms for Kelly Direct (https://cms.kd.iu.edu/) of the Kelly Business school here. We tested their "Accessible" version. It had so many problems and was pretty much a copy of their pda port of the cms. I contacted their office to get some questions answered and they have yet to respond or fix the problems. So what good is a etext standard that is infused into a inaccessible cms? Thankx. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From johumber at iupui.edu Wed Jan 23 06:53:31 2008 From: johumber at iupui.edu (Humbert, Joseph A) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: <4796F9EC020000CF0000AA11@mymail.kckcc.edu> References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> <4796F9EC020000CF0000AA11@mymail.kckcc.edu> Message-ID: Hi! So maybe the accessibility problems are just in the Kelly direct cms. It could be a custom build. That I am not sure. Thankx for the feedback. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Beach Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:25 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Hi, I haven't done a complete, indepth test, but my first impressions of the Angel system is that it is accessible with screen reading technologies; at least as much as any other system I've tested. I've successfully logged into a class, posted messages to and read messages from the discussion board, posted and received e-mail, and read course materials. It appears to be less busy than some of the other systems I've worked in. There are a few things I believe would make it better, but those could be classified as personal taste rather than accessibility issues. I did not test the chat room component as we do not necessarily use that here. However, I've not found the chat rooms of the other systems to be accessible either. Again, I haven't taken a full class in Angel, but have gone in and accessed the different components with JAWS, Read&Write, and Universal Reader. Things seemed to work fine to me. Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu >>> "Humbert, Joseph A" 1/23/2008 7:23 AM >>> Hi! I just wanted to put my two cents in as far as ANGEL learning. They designed the cms for Kelly Direct (https://cms.kd.iu.edu/) of the Kelly Business school here. We tested their "Accessible" version. It had so many problems and was pretty much a copy of their pda port of the cms. I contacted their office to get some questions answered and they have yet to respond or fix the problems. So what good is a etext standard that is infused into a inaccessible cms? Thankx. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From rbeach at kckcc.edu Wed Jan 23 06:58:42 2008 From: rbeach at kckcc.edu (Robert Beach) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com> <010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com> <4796F9EC020000CF0000AA11@mymail.kckcc.edu> Message-ID: <479701C2020000CF0000AA1F@mymail.kckcc.edu> Hmmm, could be. I would like to hear other folks' observations on Angel too. Has anybody else "played" with the system? Have you found issues that I missed? Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu >>> "Humbert, Joseph A" 1/23/2008 8:53 AM >>> Hi! So maybe the accessibility problems are just in the Kelly direct cms. It could be a custom build. That I am not sure. Thankx for the feedback. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Beach Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:25 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Hi, I haven't done a complete, indepth test, but my first impressions of the Angel system is that it is accessible with screen reading technologies; at least as much as any other system I've tested. I've successfully logged into a class, posted messages to and read messages from the discussion board, posted and received e-mail, and read course materials. It appears to be less busy than some of the other systems I've worked in. There are a few things I believe would make it better, but those could be classified as personal taste rather than accessibility issues. I did not test the chat room component as we do not necessarily use that here. However, I've not found the chat rooms of the other systems to be accessible either. Again, I haven't taken a full class in Angel, but have gone in and accessed the different components with JAWS, Read&Write, and Universal Reader. Things seemed to work fine to me. Robert Lee Beach Assistive Technology Specialist Kansas City Kansas Community College 7250 State Avenue Kansas City, KS 66112 Phone: (913) 288-7671 Fax: (913) 288-7678 E-mail: rbeach@kckcc.edu >>> "Humbert, Joseph A" 1/23/2008 7:23 AM >>> Hi! I just wanted to put my two cents in as far as ANGEL learning. They designed the cms for Kelly Direct (https://cms.kd.iu.edu/) of the Kelly Business school here. We tested their "Accessible" version. It had so many problems and was pretty much a copy of their pda port of the cms. I contacted their office to get some questions answered and they have yet to respond or fix the problems. So what good is a etext standard that is infused into a inaccessible cms? Thankx. Joe Humbert Assistive Technology Specialist Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Office: IT 214E Email: johumber@iupui.edu Phone: 317-274-4378 Cell: 847-431-6545 AIM:ATCIUPUI -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] Simply put, Cartredges are electronic textbooks but with far more multimedia/rich content in them. Content cartredges can be developed and then be plugged into a CMS or a LMS. Until now, each LMS has had its own proprietary cartredge format. This set of testing activities allow providers to develop and attempt to plug-in CC's into LMS. I'm assuming that Angel will be one of the first to try. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Robert Martinengo Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:44 AM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] So what exactly is a cartridge, and how does it relate to actual educational content (words, pictures, that kind of stuff)? http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/01/prweb606161.htm Learning Industry Leaders Agree to be Initial Investors in Testing Platform for Open Standards-based Digital Learning Materials IMS Global Learning Consortium announces development of community source software for testing content in the Common Cartridge format. Lake Mary, FL (PRWEB) January 22, 2008 -- The IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS GLC) today announced the launch of a new project that will produce a community source testing tool for the Common Cartridge (CC) format. Nine industry-leading organizations have agreed to be the anchor investors in the project, sponsored by the Common Cartridge Alliance. Those organizations include: ANGEL Learning, eCollege, JISC, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, The Open University United Kingdom, Pearson Education and Ucompass.com. [...] _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From jbailey at uoregon.edu Wed Jan 23 09:19:51 2008 From: jbailey at uoregon.edu (James Bailey) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] AT and user permissions In-Reply-To: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <1201108791.259106.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> Our AT lab just got hit by a fairly nefarious attack. As an old-timer I have generally kept student-user permissions set fairly open so it would not hinder any of the AT. Clearly that plan needs replaced. Does most of our technology play nice with restricted permissions? Are there any specific products that still require it? Thanks in advance for your wisdom. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu From meyerah at slu.edu Wed Jan 23 09:23:34 2008 From: meyerah at slu.edu (Adam Meyer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] converting foreign language textbooks Message-ID: <007e01c85de4$ae70e4e0$109586a5@slu.loc> What is the best way to make a Spanish, French, Italian, etc. book accessible in an audio format? I know that some programs, such as Text Aloud, offer different language voices. Is this the best approach? Thanks for your assistance. Adam Adam Meyer, MS, CRC Disabilities Counselor Saint Louis University DuBourg Hall, Room 36 221 North Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63103 P: 314-977-8885 F: 314-977-3735 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Wed Jan 23 09:31:14 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] AT and user permissions In-Reply-To: <1201108791.259106.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> References: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> <1201108791.259106.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> Message-ID: <015301c85de5$c2739db0$475ad910$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Hey James, As probably would not be a surprise OSU took the opposite tack and locked down things pretty heavily either by editing the user rights schema in Windows or using a secondary product like Deep Freeze or Folderbolt. In all these instances the user rights had to be modified by enabeling write propererties in the system folders for most of the products. I liked Deep Freese because it had a diagnostic mode that would tell you what apps needed special permissions. We were also never able to implement the "Kzy to Go" or similar schemas because our system rights had to transcend subnets. It worked out fine, and in a couple of instances we were even able to support custom student preferences using roaming profiles because we had a stand alone AT server that it could tag. In the general lab unique profiles were not supported for any students. Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of James Bailey Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 12:20 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] AT and user permissions Our AT lab just got hit by a fairly nefarious attack. As an old-timer I have generally kept student-user permissions set fairly open so it would not hinder any of the AT. Clearly that plan needs replaced. Does most of our technology play nice with restricted permissions? Are there any specific products that still require it? Thanks in advance for your wisdom. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From ccolaci at yukoncollege.yk.ca Wed Jan 23 11:32:46 2008 From: ccolaci at yukoncollege.yk.ca (Catalina Colaci) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] converting foreign language textbooks In-Reply-To: <007e01c85de4$ae70e4e0$109586a5@slu.loc> References: <007e01c85de4$ae70e4e0$109586a5@slu.loc> Message-ID: Hi, I have tried the Spanish and Italian language option in Kurzweil 3000; the reading is pretty good, so I imagine that also will be in the 1000 version. The way I would proceed is: 1. get a digital version of the book -Kurzweil can handle pdf quite well, so I am told JAWS- 2. convert the file onto the "screen reader", 3. choose the language and voice 4. the program will give you the option to produce an audio file 3. save the audio file onto MP3 format. The only problem which might come up is if there are characters which the "reader" misreads/misinterprets (this happen in any language) so you should ask someone proficient in the said language to check some pages at random and, if necessary edit the text -much alike you would do in English- before producing a MP3 file. You could also check with Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic http://www.rfbd.org/ Hope this helps CC Catalina Colaci Coordinator Learning Assistance Centre Support Services for Students with Disabilities Yukon College Canada ________________________________ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Adam Meyer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:24 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] converting foreign language textbooks What is the best way to make a Spanish, French, Italian, etc. book accessible in an audio format? I know that some programs, such as Text Aloud, offer different language voices. Is this the best approach? Thanks for your assistance. Adam Adam Meyer, MS, CRC Disabilities Counselor Saint Louis University DuBourg Hall, Room 36 221 North Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63103 P: 314-977-8885 F: 314-977-3735 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Wed Jan 23 13:07:03 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Message-ID: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gdietrich at htctu.net Wed Jan 23 13:08:46 2008 From: gdietrich at htctu.net (Gaeir Dietrich) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Job Announcement In-Reply-To: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <002e01c85e04$255e3430$9a821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Two FT Tenure Track Positions Available in Beautiful Northern California Wine Country! Santa Rosa Junior College is actively recruiting for a FT tenure track LD Specialist and a FT tenure track Assistive Technology Specialist to begin 08-09. If working in a great program, on a gorgeous campus, in the beautiful northern California wine country sounds interesting, please check out the job announcement at this web address: Information on the LD position: Assistive Technology Specialist: SRJC's Disability Resources Program has a unique case management model of service delivery and offers a rich instructional program with over 40 different credit courses. The LD position will include some teaching,advising and assessment duties for a set caseload of LD students. The AT position will include some teaching, advising, consulting, and supervision. A staff of approximately 140 serve a DSPS studentpopulation of nearly 3000. We have a great team as evidenced by thelongevity of our staff. Please forward this message to anyone you think might have an interest. Thank you. Patie Wegman, Director DSPS Santa Rosa Junior College pwegman@santarosa.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From obriemic at hvcc.edu Wed Jan 23 13:33:37 2008 From: obriemic at hvcc.edu (Michael O'Brien) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Wed Jan 23 13:38:59 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> Message-ID: <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> You could use "walk and roll" J Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:34 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jfoliot at stanford.edu Wed Jan 23 13:50:30 2008 From: jfoliot at stanford.edu (John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> Message-ID: <00e201c85e09$f92d6ec0$333142ab@stanford.edu> I would agree with Mike, (IMHO) taking political correctness too far can often be as offensive as ignoring it entirely; that said, the term "in-person request" could happily replace the term "walk-in" from what I understand from your note. just my $0.02 JF -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: January 23, 2008 1:34 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From marks at mso.umt.edu Wed Jan 23 14:29:07 2008 From: marks at mso.umt.edu (Marks, Jim) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> Message-ID: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ From pratikp1 at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 14:37:11 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Message-ID: <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> I would highly recommend that you use gray scale only as an option when you need it. For most texts, you will find that the 300 or 400 DPI will suffice. Because of the details included in the gray scale image files, the large sizes are a common occurrence. Depending on the scanner you are using, you can achieve similar results if you use the drop color feature. FR9's new style processing for MS Word also creates larger file sizes. The other suggestion is to use the scanner utility to scan images and then process them in FR. I'm assuming here that you are using FR to scan as well as to OCR. If you're not, it may just be that FR is retaining a lot more gray scale info in the tif images it stores. Hope this is useful. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Wed Jan 23 14:43:04 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Message-ID: <022501c85e11$534cdba0$f9e692e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> I have seen that it is a hog, but had not really looked at comparative file sizes. Based on your email I just looked at a file for a chapter that I am working on and it is 280MB which is about 10 times what I would have expected. The same file as a 300 DPI full image PDF is 27.5 mb. Its system requirement are also a lot higher with a spec of 512MB for swap space. Too bad I did not keep 8 as a seperate install to do a little comparison. Ron -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From marks at mso.umt.edu Wed Jan 23 14:45:32 2008 From: marks at mso.umt.edu (Marks, Jim) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu><001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu><14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> Message-ID: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Thanks! Yes, we are using FR to do the scanning, not the scanner software. One concern I have --- not sure whether it's legit --- is whether we would end up with two sets of image files, one from the scanner software and one for FR. Am I thinking wrong on this one? Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:37 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems I would highly recommend that you use gray scale only as an option when you need it. For most texts, you will find that the 300 or 400 DPI will suffice. Because of the details included in the gray scale image files, the large sizes are a common occurrence. Depending on the scanner you are using, you can achieve similar results if you use the drop color feature. FR9's new style processing for MS Word also creates larger file sizes. The other suggestion is to use the scanner utility to scan images and then process them in FR. I'm assuming here that you are using FR to scan as well as to OCR. If you're not, it may just be that FR is retaining a lot more gray scale info in the tif images it stores. Hope this is useful. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From pratikp1 at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 14:56:16 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu><001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu><14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Message-ID: <013501c85e13$2a64ae50$7f2e0af0$@com> Hi Jim, You would end up with two sets of images but you are certainly not required to keep both sets. You can either delte the original set after importing them into FR or delete the FR images after OCR has been performed and you've made the necessary corrections. My personal preference would be to keep the FR image files though. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:46 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems Thanks! Yes, we are using FR to do the scanning, not the scanner software. One concern I have --- not sure whether it's legit --- is whether we would end up with two sets of image files, one from the scanner software and one for FR. Am I thinking wrong on this one? Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:37 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems I would highly recommend that you use gray scale only as an option when you need it. For most texts, you will find that the 300 or 400 DPI will suffice. Because of the details included in the gray scale image files, the large sizes are a common occurrence. Depending on the scanner you are using, you can achieve similar results if you use the drop color feature. FR9's new style processing for MS Word also creates larger file sizes. The other suggestion is to use the scanner utility to scan images and then process them in FR. I'm assuming here that you are using FR to scan as well as to OCR. If you're not, it may just be that FR is retaining a lot more gray scale info in the tif images it stores. Hope this is useful. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From pratikp1 at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 14:57:41 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu><001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu><14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Message-ID: <013601c85e13$5ced3c20$16c7b460$@com> Jim, And, for me the other perspective is that storage is absolutely cheap these days that you should not need to worry significantly about storage issues. Processing is another matter entirely. Regards, Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:46 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: Re: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems Thanks! Yes, we are using FR to do the scanning, not the scanner software. One concern I have --- not sure whether it's legit --- is whether we would end up with two sets of image files, one from the scanner software and one for FR. Am I thinking wrong on this one? Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Pratik Patel Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:37 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems I would highly recommend that you use gray scale only as an option when you need it. For most texts, you will find that the 300 or 400 DPI will suffice. Because of the details included in the gray scale image files, the large sizes are a common occurrence. Depending on the scanner you are using, you can achieve similar results if you use the drop color feature. FR9's new style processing for MS Word also creates larger file sizes. The other suggestion is to use the scanner utility to scan images and then process them in FR. I'm assuming here that you are using FR to scan as well as to OCR. If you're not, it may just be that FR is retaining a lot more gray scale info in the tif images it stores. Hope this is useful. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From pratikp1 at gmail.com Wed Jan 23 15:06:56 2008 From: pratikp1 at gmail.com (Pratik Patel) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <022501c85e11$534cdba0$f9e692e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F7D@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> <022501c85e11$534cdba0$f9e692e0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <013a01c85e14$a77d9040$f678b0c0$@com> Ron, Was this a PDF you created by scanning or saved it from the images that FR 9 scanned? The other factor to keep in mind for ttext processing is tif images vs JPG. I haven't tried this but older versions of FR used to embed JPG's into PDF's rather than JPG files by default. This may still be the case. It may also be that FR now uses a different tif format too. Different tif formats also have different storage size implications. Pratik -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:43 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] [ATHEN] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems I have seen that it is a hog, but had not really looked at comparative file sizes. Based on your email I just looked at a file for a chapter that I am working on and it is 280MB which is about 10 times what I would have expected. The same file as a 300 DPI full image PDF is 27.5 mb. Its system requirement are also a lot higher with a spec of 512MB for swap space. Too bad I did not keep 8 as a seperate install to do a little comparison. Ron -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Marks, Jim Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:29 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems We just upgraded from ABBYY Fine Reader 8 to version 9, and find ourselves slammed by the huge files the new version creates. Anyone know whether it's possible to tell Fine Reader 9 to work with smaller files? We scan in 300 DPI resolution and in grey scale from within Fine Reader. To give you an idea of what we are facing, all of our fall e-text required 2.5 Gb of hard disk space. That was with using version 8 of Fine Reader. With version 9, we have used up 40 Gb of space, and we've hardly begun our conversions. Either we are doing something wrong or the new version is a memory pig of exponential dimensions. Thanks in advance for any advice! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Wed Jan 23 15:28:58 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu><001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <001801c85e17$ba75cc00$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> I like that. But I think I agree with Michael - it's a figure of speech, such as saying "I'll see you later" to a blind person. -Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:39 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology You could use "walk and roll" :-) Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:34 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From edward at ngtvoice.com Wed Jan 23 15:29:26 2008 From: edward at ngtvoice.com (Ed. Rosenthal) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] AT and user permissions In-Reply-To: <015301c85de5$c2739db0$475ad910$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <023201c85d3a$02c413b0$084c3b10$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> <1201108791.259106.alphamail@mailapps1.uoregon.edu> <015301c85de5$c2739db0$475ad910$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <00d801c85e17$da1be8a0$8e53b9e0$@com> In general I find that most AT that allows a user to create a personal configuration (ZoomText, Wynn, and so on) may have 'issues' if you lock them down, or reimage using Deep Freeze or similar. As Ron points out one often needs to 'carve out' permissions to enable use, or not wipe out the personal settings each night. My experience is that many manufacturers can provide the specific 'permissions' necessary to enable their techologies to work in a limited permissions environment. -ed. -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:31 AM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] [ATHEN] AT and user permissions Hey James, As probably would not be a surprise OSU took the opposite tack and locked down things pretty heavily either by editing the user rights schema in Windows or using a secondary product like Deep Freeze or Folderbolt. In all these instances the user rights had to be modified by enabeling write propererties in the system folders for most of the products. I liked Deep Freese because it had a diagnostic mode that would tell you what apps needed special permissions. We were also never able to implement the "Kzy to Go" or similar schemas because our system rights had to transcend subnets. It worked out fine, and in a couple of instances we were even able to support custom student preferences using roaming profiles because we had a stand alone AT server that it could tag. In the general lab unique profiles were not supported for any students. Ron Stewart -----Original Message----- From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of James Bailey Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 12:20 PM To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network Subject: [Athen] AT and user permissions Our AT lab just got hit by a fairly nefarious attack. As an old-timer I have generally kept student-user permissions set fairly open so it would not hinder any of the AT. Clearly that plan needs replaced. Does most of our technology play nice with restricted permissions? Are there any specific products that still require it? Thanks in advance for your wisdom. - James -- James Bailey Adaptive Technology Access Adviser, University of Oregon 1299 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1299 Office: 541-346-1076 jbailey@uoregon.edu _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org _______________________________________________ Athen mailing list Athen@athenpro.org http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org From skeegan at htctu.net Wed Jan 23 16:49:30 2008 From: skeegan at htctu.net (Sean Keegan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] converting foreign language textbooks In-Reply-To: References: <007e01c85de4$ae70e4e0$109586a5@slu.loc> Message-ID: <00ae01c85e22$fb3f7c80$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> > What is the best way to make a Spanish, French, Italian, etc. book accessible in an audio format? > I know that some programs, such as Text Aloud, offer different language voices. Is this the best approach? Thanks for your assistance. I don't know if this is the "best" way, but here is another approach using TextAloud MP3 that we teach in one of the classes at the HTCTU: How do I change voices within a single article in TextAloud MP3? As of version 2 of TextAloud MP3, Nextup.com added the ability to change voices within a document. This is helpful when creating audio from documents that have more than one language in the text. An example would be a foreign language textbook where English and another language are intermixed in the text. The ability to switch voices within a text works only with SAPI 5 compliant voices. To find out which SAPI 5 voices you have installed on your computer, go to the Options menu, select the Files and Voices Options, and select Use SAPI 5 to find out what voices are SAPI 5 compliant. Step 1: Select the location where you want to change voices While viewing the document in TextAloud MP3, move your cursor to the location right before you want the voice to be changed. Step 2: Adding the voice tag to the text Right click on the cursor and select Insert Voice Change and select the voice that you want to use. You can also do this by selecting Insert Voice Change from the Edit menu. Step 3: Select next location in the text where you want the voice to change Select the next location in the text where you want the voice to change. Repeat Step 2. Take care, Sean Sean Keegan Web Accessibility Instructor High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From skeegan at htctu.net Wed Jan 23 18:13:07 2008 From: skeegan at htctu.net (Sean Keegan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Common Cartridge Alliance[?] In-Reply-To: <479701C2020000CF0000AA1F@mymail.kckcc.edu> References: <9edf8160801220543t482beff3jb16b70fb8ca87066@mail.gmail.com><010e01c85da2$b86c4e90$2944ebb0$@com><4796F9EC020000CF0000AA11@mymail.kckcc.edu> <479701C2020000CF0000AA1F@mymail.kckcc.edu> Message-ID: <00e401c85e2e$a96eb310$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> > Has anybody else "played" with the system? Have you found issues that I missed? I played with Angel about 12-18 months ago, so there may have been changes to the system since then (this was before they had released their personalized accessibility profiles). Overall, I found that it worked okay with screen-readers as well as basic keyboard navigation (I was not testing all AT, just a quick test with a screen-reader). At the time, their "508-mode" was basically a linearized view of the page without any frames and seemed to function well. Could have used improvement with more structured HTML, but it seemed functional. Navigation around the interface seemed functional as well. One of the biggest challenges was the chat region in that it did not seem to work consistently. Their implementation of the synchronous chat appeared to be using a Flash interface and we had some problems getting a consistent user experience with a screen-reader. That being said, all I was really looking at was the basic structure of the system - instructor content is a separate issue and we did not get into that. > We tested their "Accessible" version. It had so many problems and was > pretty much a copy of their pda port of the cms. I contacted their office > to get some questions answered and they have yet to respond or fix the problems. Do you have a copy of the issues that you encountered with Angel? It would be great to be able to all be on the same page if we speak with Angel representatives about the changes that need to occur in their platform. Take care, Sean From obriemic at hvcc.edu Thu Jan 24 05:59:56 2008 From: obriemic at hvcc.edu (Michael O'Brien) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <003301c85e91$66885a20$b1176797@hvcc.edu> Yes, you could, but would you dare to? Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:39 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology You could use "walk and roll" J Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Michael O'Brien Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:34 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. Mike _____ From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an individual requesting services in-person at the library without an appointment, is offensive. Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion of others. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mstores at indiana.edu Thu Jan 24 06:19:48 2008 From: mstores at indiana.edu (Mary Stores) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] [ATHEN] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <001801c85e07$9d6345d0$b1176797@hvcc.edu> <01e201c85e08$5fa446d0$1eecd470$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <20080124091948.2zevjufr444s8gkg@webmail.iu.edu> It honestly would have never occurred to me to think that the term "walk-in" would be offensive. I think the term is fine. Mary Stores Braille and Alternate Media Format Specialist Adaptive Technology Center Indiana University Bloomington http://www.indiana.edu/~iuadapts Quoting Ron Stewart : > You could use "walk and roll" J > > > > Ron > > > > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Michael O'Brien > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:34 PM > To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' > Subject: Re: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology > > > > I wouldn't think this would be any different than saying to a blind > person "did you see this?" many blind people, myself included, use the term > see all the time, as we use the term watch when referring to television. > > > > Mike > > > > _____ > > From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On > Behalf Of Howard Kramer > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 4:07 PM > To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' > Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology > > Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by > another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an > individual requesting services in-person at the library without an > appointment, is offensive. > > > > Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the physical > act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd get the opinion > of others. > > > > Thanks, > > Howard > > > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > > > From kcahill at MIT.EDU Thu Jan 24 06:37:19 2008 From: kcahill at MIT.EDU (Kathleen Cahill) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] "walk-in" terminology In-Reply-To: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <000801c85e03$e8662420$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <4798A29F.6060805@mit.edu> We use the term "Walk-in" in our descriptions of how customers come to us. Many schedule appointments but in the "I need it now" mentality that is MIT (and many other schools, I am sure), we have many unscheduled walk-ins. Kathy Howard Kramer wrote: > > Here's another question for the oracle known as ATHEN. I was asked by > another department on campus if the term "walk-in" which refers to an > individual requesting services in-person at the library without an > appointment, is offensive. > > > > Is this considered poor terminology because of the reference to the > physical act of walking? I would think this is okay but thought I'd > get the opinion of others. > > > > Thanks, > > Howard > > > > Howard Kramer > Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator > AT Conference Coordinator > Disability Services > CU-Boulder, 107 UCB > Boulder, Co 80309 > 303-492-8672 > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Athen mailing list > Athen@athenpro.org > http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jongund at uiuc.edu Thu Jan 24 06:56:52 2008 From: jongund at uiuc.edu (Jon Gunderson) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Development of Web Accessibility Training Materials at UIUC Message-ID: <20080124085652.BBH08367@expms1.cites.uiuc.edu> Please consider this position or share this information with people you think may be interested. Link to University of Illinois job posting: http://www.eoa.uiuc.edu/eeo/index.asp?search=11605 TITLE Visiting Information Technology Accessibility Specialist DESCRIPTION The visiting information technology accessibility specialist will develop training resources to support the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) Web Accessibility Initiative. The training resources will support both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments. The position will also be responsible for the delivery of training resources for the integration of accessible design techniques into mainstream training materials used to teach the creation of HTML, Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF-based resources. The person will also be responsible for coordinating the promotion, coordination and evaluation of all training events sponsored by IBHE Web Accessibility Initiative. ? Develop and maintain training materials on accessible web design for instructors ? Work with instructors statewide to include accessibility principles in the their courses and training materials ? Coordinate and develop training schedules ? Coordinate the publicity of training opportunities ? Coordinate the collection and analysis of evaluation information on training resources ? Maintain training resources on the iCITA website ? Other duties as assigned The position requires a bachelor?s degree, masters preferred. Minimum of two years of experience in technical writing associated with web development, including HTML and CSS coding practices, graphics design, Adobe PDF creation and skills in using Microsoft Office applications is required. Strong interest or experience in working with educational technology settings, editing technical training materials and knowledge of accessible web design issues for people with disabilities is highly desired. Additional knowledge and skills in one or more of the following technologies are preferred: Flash, Quicktime, Real Media, Windows Media Formats, XML, XSLT, PHP, Python, POSTGRES database and training evaluation. Salary is commensurate with experience. This position may become regular at a later date. This is a full-time academic professional appointment. Full consideration will be given to applications received by February 11. Send cover letter, vita and contact information for three professional references to: Mindy Johnson Administrative Assistant to the Director Rehabilitation-Education Center 1207 S Oak Street Champaign, IL 61820 E-mail: mindy@uiuc.edu (preferred method of communication) Voice:(217) 333-4600. The UIUC is an AA-EOE. Jon Gunderson, Ph.D. Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility Disability Resources and Educational Services Rehabilitation Education Center Room 86 1207 S. Oak Street Champaign, Illinois 61821 Voice: (217) 244-5870 WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/ WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/ From skeegan at htctu.net Thu Jan 24 11:47:31 2008 From: skeegan at htctu.net (Sean Keegan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] FW: ATPC Job Opportunity Message-ID: <002f01c85ec1$f5c72fb0$99821299@htctu.fhda.edu> Must be something in the water these days with all these job postings. More information below regarding a position at the Alternate Text Production Center for the California Community Colleges. Take care, Sean ****************** Colleagues, To review and learn more about ATPC's Technology Support Specialist position, visit the web posting at http://jobs.vcccd.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50914 Please give this your widest distribution. Thank you Mike Michael J. Bastine Director, Alternate Text Production Center (805) 654-6396 Posting Number 0600391 Official Title Alternate Text Production Center Technology Support Specialist Position: Full Time Percent Position: 100 Months 12 Hourly Salary Range: Hourly Starting Salary: Job Category Classified Brief Description: Under the direction of the Director, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), perform a variety of technical database processing utilizing mainframe/networked databases; maintain detailed ATPC production and financial transactions using a variety of software tools; input, evaluate, and reconcile database discrepancies; and produce sophisticated webpage presentations, data production analysis and financial status reports. Job Duties: Debug and run programs, create and format detailed documents, reports, spreadsheets, and data files using Microsoft Office and other applications; serve as database specialist for the ATPC. E Develop new databases and spreadsheets to automate and capture production efforts and fiscal transactions. E Generate automated production estimates and manipulate invoice files from a variety of international service vendors; process production and invoice payment files using off-the-shelf financial software to document and track real time expenditures to include fee-for-service production revenues. E Download and install the latest software releases; derive, analyze and extract information from enterprise-class databases for the purpose of web-based production reports. E Update and revise reports and records using Microsoft Office applications and other off-the-shelf software programs for the ATPC. E Prepare and transmit electronic and written correspondence, verifying production and financial status; respond to requests involving budget information and verification of production status and records. E Maintain production records and files, prepare statistical and other reports; maintain various financial or statistical records requiring a working knowledge of accounting principles and practices. E Verify, balance and adjust accounts; reconcile expenditures and income accounts; prepare and enter accounting information into district resources; review journal accounts; verify budget balances; and support corrective accounting actions. E Load and update software releases of software licensed to the ATPC. E Coordinate and update security access and backup provisions for financial software and database information. E Monitor the ATPC listserves for customer feedback and program defects. E Troubleshoot and report software problems to the Director, Alternate Text Production Center. E Provide technical training and guidance to others as assigned by the Director. E Update Website, presentation displays, brochures and other outreach information; assist in the development of electronic and hardcopy forms as needed. E Perform related duties as required. E=Essential Duty Minimum Qualifications Any combination equivalent to two years of college coursework, including coursework in computer information systems, and two years experience as a database specialist in relational and non-relational database environments interfacing with enterprise-class databases via Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Preferred Qualifications: Knowledge and/or experience with Banner software. General software program development knowledge and/or experience. Licenses or other Requirements: Na Knowledge Of: IBM PC operating systems using enterprise-class database software Computer applications running on IBM compatible equipment including database management systems, word processors, spreadsheets, and other types of computer software Computer local area network (LAN) concepts, tools and techniques Principles of operation of various computers and data processing equipment Hard disk file maintenance practices and procedures Relational database management and concepts Correct English usage, grammar, spelling, punctuation and vocabulary Oral and written communications skills Technical aspects of field of specialty MS Office products Accounting principles and practices Ability To: Operate and configure IBM compatible PC, network, enterprise class software services and ancillary equipment Independently resolve routine computer programming problems independently Detect database and program execution errors Prepare Statistical charts and spreadsheets Maintain production and financial records and prepare reports Establish and maintain cooperative and effective working relationships with others Utilize various software applications including MS Access, MS Excel, and off-the-shelf accounting software, etc. Learn quickly to perform assigned specialized duties, independently and with little direction Analyze and report on data from an enterprise-class database environment Interpret rules, regulations and policies regarding assigned area Understand and follow oral and written direction Write clear and concise documentation Communicate effectively both orally and in writing Plan and organize work Analyze situations accurately and adopt an effective course of action Meet schedules and timelines Communicate with technical support Train and assist others with computer applications use Physical Abilities Dexterity of hands and fingers to operate computer and office equipment Seeing to observe the computer monitor, to proofread documents, and to sort and file documents Reaching to maintain and retrieve files Hearing and speaking to exchange information on the telephone or in person Sitting for extended periods of time Requested Start Date: TBD Work Week/Hours Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This 12 month, 100% position will be at Ventura College The closing date for this position has been extended. Closing Date 02-11-2008 Required Applicant Documents Required Selection Process: PRELIMINARY SCREENING OF APPLICATIONS & SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE In completing the application and the supplemental questionnaire (if required), outline in detail your education, training (such as classes, seminars, workshops) and experience. Application materials will be screened by a committee of subject matter experts, who will recommend candidates for participation in the oral examination process. Appearance before the oral examination board will be limited to the candidates with the highest written and/or screening scores. ELIGIBILITY LIST Upon completion of the examination, the open / promotional eligibility list will be compiled by combining the screening score, oral score, and applicable seniority and veteran's credits, if any. The candidates will be ranked according to their total score on the eligibility list. Certification will be made from the highest three ranks of the open / promotional eligibility list. This eligibility list will be used to fill the current vacancies up to one year from the date of the oral examination. APPOINTMENTS The candidate selected will be recommended by the Chancellor to the Governing Board for final approval. PROBATIONARY PERIOD All appointments made from eligibility lists for initial appointment or for promotion shall be probationary for a period of six months. ACCOMMODATIONS Individuals with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must inform the Ventura County Community College District Human Resources Department in writing no later than the filing date stated on the announcement. Those applicants needing such accommodations should document this request including an explanation as to the type and extent of accommodation needed to participate in the selection process. Salary Range: $3,369.00 - $4,654.00 Special Instructions to Applicants EXAMINATION AND SELECTION PROCESS: OPEN / PROMOTIONAL Screening Examination, Weighted 40% Oral Examination, Weighted 60% PRELIMINARY SCREENING EXAMINATION In completing the application and supplemental questionnaire (if required), outline in detail your education, training (such as classes, seminars, workshops) and experience. This information will be evaluated and scored to determine those candidates who will participate in the oral examination. Supplemental Questions: The following questions will be asked of all applicants. Starting Salary: New employees may request salary placement above step one based on directly related experience which exceeds the minimum qualifications for the classification. Advanced salary placement must be requested at the time of offer and is subject to verification of qualifying experience and applicable Collective Bargaining Agreements and/or Personnel Commission Rules. $3,369.00 - $3,756.00 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tex at humboldt.edu Thu Jan 24 14:37:31 2008 From: tex at humboldt.edu (Cassandra Tex) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Talking Financial Calculators Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.0.20080124143642.01b40eb0@humboldt.edu> Greetings All, Any ideas where I can get a talking financial calculator? One that does NPV, IRR, and other financial calculations? There's one at MaxiAids, but it is not clear whether it has the functions NPV and IRR. I have a call into MaxiAids, but thought I would check with the wisdom of the group... Thanks for your assistance! Cassandra Tex Assistive Technology Specialist Humboldt State University From marks at mso.umt.edu Thu Jan 24 16:09:37 2008 From: marks at mso.umt.edu (Marks, Jim) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] ABBYY Fine Reader 9 Problems In-Reply-To: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> References: <013401c85e10$7fe6d0e0$7fb472a0$@com> <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A3F8C@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Message-ID: <14BCA38CB48BE940AB983D950061FA7A8A41A0@MUMMAILVS2.gs.umt.edu> Just in the way of an update so that others can benefit from our folly, we decided to roll back to ABBYY Fine Reeder version 8 from version 9. Version 9 files take up so much space, we do not have the drive capacity to accommodate it. However, version 9 looks to be a much better program in other ways, so we plan to go back to version 9 after we invest in a larger capacity server. It will have to wait until after the spring semester rush, though. One last thing to mention is that the technical support from FR told us that they were unaware of this issue. Files that are 10 times or more larger makes for quite the unexpected problem, though. Thanks! Jim Marks Director of Disability Services University of Montana jim.marks@umontana.edu http://www.umt.edu/dss/ From norm.coombs at gmail.com Fri Jan 25 20:39:25 2008 From: norm.coombs at gmail.com (Prof Norm Coombs) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:52 2018 Subject: [Athen] Now Everyone Can Be Famous! Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.2.20080125202547.02117300@pop.gmail.com> An artist once said that the time was coming that everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. Maybe he should have said 15 seconds or maybe I'm too cynical. However the overwhelming popularity today of Blogs, Wikis, Web 2.0 and social networking has thousands of people sharing themselves, their pictures, their thoughts and prejudices with the world. The more people who are placing content on the Web, the more the potential for the use of design features that may exclude people with older technology or who need to use special adaptive technology. Yes, people with disabilities want their time in the sun too! Starting on Thursday Feb. 7 at 2 PM EASI presents a 4-part weekly Webinar on Blog and Wiki accessibility. While some of us stick-in-the mud types thought these fads were for teen-agers, this is not true. Schools, colleges and universities are using them as another educational technology tool in their arsenal. Schools at least are expected to make their course content available in accessible formats. Read more and register online for this fee-based Webinar series at http://easi.cc/clinic.htm (Note that EASI Annual Members have free access to these fee-based Webinars). --------------------------------------------------- Norman Coombs, Ph.D. Laguna Hills CA (949) 855-4852 CEO EASI http://easi.cc EASI January 2008events http://easi.cc 5 exciting Webinars 3 of which are public and have no charge http://easi.cc/clinic.htm 2 online courses: Barrier-free Information Technology Creating and Repurposing More Accessible Content http://easi.cc/workshop.htm Podcasts and Vodcasts http://easi.cc/podcasts From Lissner.2 at osu.edu Mon Jan 28 14:28:11 2008 From: Lissner.2 at osu.edu (Lissner, Scott) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:53 2018 Subject: [Athen] Multiple Perspectives on Assistive Technologies In-Reply-To: <200801281522.m0SFMAXZ014495@email.uah.edu> References: <200801281522.m0SFMAXZ014495@email.uah.edu> Message-ID: <80FCE4F8AFF74D4EAF5AE29906BFC6B59ACF9D@Yukon.admin.ohio-state.edu> There will be a track exploring assistive technologies at the Eighth Annual Multiple Perspectives On Access, Inclusion & Disability The conference will take place April 21-23, 2008 in the Pfahl Executive Education and Conference Center on the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University. The conference offers two pre-conference sessions "Access by Design: >From Minimum Compliance to Universal Design" (AIA CEUs Pending) and "From Legal Principles to Informed Practice: Non-lawyers Reading the Law?" (SHRM CEUs Pending), a student poster reception (proposals for student posters will be accepted through March 21, 2008) and over 30 concurrent sessions including eight sessions exploring aspects of assistive technology: * Web accessibility 2.0 * A Screen Reading View of Vista * Accessible Math Technology: A Status * Quality Indicators in Assistive Technology for Adults * Free Assistive Technology Software: Yes, Free! * Can students with disabilities actually use course management systems? * The ATPC - A State-Of-The-Art Braille And Electronic Textbook Production Center for Students with Print-Related Disabilities * Stigma, Disability, and Technology Access in Schools Registration is Open http://mpconference.osu.edu/ What is "Multiple Perspectives"? As a modern land grant university Ohio State University's mission includes serving the community. Since 2001 The Ohio State University's ADA Coordinator's Office has hosted Multiple Perspectives On Access Inclusion & Disability. The conference offers a unique opportunity for professionals, scholars and advocates to discuss the full spectrum of disability issues and experiences. The annual gathering provides a forum for individuals and organizations to share their knowledge; broaden their perspectives; and increase community resources through the synergy of collaboration Each year Multiple Perspectives strives to present a program that can serve as a catalyst for change; providing a springboard for collaborations among individuals with and with out disabilities working in education, business, government and non-profits. The Conference's presenters have included faculty, entrepreneurs, authors, artists and advocates as well as representatives from The U.S. Access Board, The EEOC, The Ohio Civil Rights Commission, The American Institute of Architects, The U.S. Department of Education, and The Department of Justice. http://mpconference.osu.edu/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU Mon Jan 28 17:12:36 2008 From: Howard.Kramer at Colorado.EDU (Howard Kramer) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:53 2018 Subject: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? Message-ID: <01db01c86214$08c2c7f0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Hello All: As you may be aware, the ATIA conference is this week. On Thursday, me, Dan Comden & Jayme Johnson will be on a panel presenting on the topic: Access in the University Setting - Information Resources and Best Practices. We'll be taking questions during the second half of the session which runs 9:15 - 10:15 a.m. EST. I though it might be interesting to hook into the ATHEN network by letting ATHEN folks answer questions from off-site via the Internet. It would advertise ATHEN, demonstrate it as an information resource and also increase our knowledge base during the Q & A. Is anyone interested in participating? Can anyone suggest the best way to do this - what software would be needed? I would try to do voice through Internet but I have never tried this and don't have time to put too much overhead into setting this up. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com Mon Jan 28 18:28:12 2008 From: ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com (Ron Stewart) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:53 2018 Subject: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? In-Reply-To: <01db01c86214$08c2c7f0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> References: <01db01c86214$08c2c7f0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> Message-ID: <015101c8621e$9d358350$d7a089f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> I will be in the audience as my schedule allows. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 8:13 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? Hello All: As you may be aware, the ATIA conference is this week. On Thursday, me, Dan Comden & Jayme Johnson will be on a panel presenting on the topic: Access in the University Setting - Information Resources and Best Practices. We'll be taking questions during the second half of the session which runs 9:15 - 10:15 a.m. EST. I though it might be interesting to hook into the ATHEN network by letting ATHEN folks answer questions from off-site via the Internet. It would advertise ATHEN, demonstrate it as an information resource and also increase our knowledge base during the Q & A. Is anyone interested in participating? Can anyone suggest the best way to do this - what software would be needed? I would try to do voice through Internet but I have never tried this and don't have time to put too much overhead into setting this up. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co 80309 303-492-8672 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ea at emptech.info Tue Jan 29 01:40:19 2008 From: ea at emptech.info (E.A. Draffan) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:53 2018 Subject: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? In-Reply-To: <015101c8621e$9d358350$d7a089f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> References: <01db01c86214$08c2c7f0$ca5f8a80@ad.colorado.edu> <015101c8621e$9d358350$d7a089f0$@stewart@dolphinusa.com> Message-ID: <002a01c8625a$f6791c10$e36b5430$@info> Ok here come my questions for the panel (or for now) from across the waves - not sure that makes me disembodied but I feel it sadly not being able to come to ATIA or CSUN this year... If you want to embed audio or video in Web 2.0 type pages using the free editors such as FCKeditor, is the JW FLV Media Player 3.14 http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_FLV_Player a good option? (A transcript would be seen beneath the player) What do you offer students and staff who wish to change the background colours of web pages? Show them how to do it in every browser as in 'My Web, My Way' http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/ Offer a set of homemade CSS files? Show them how to change the code themselves? An extra tool bar for each browser used, such as Accessibar in Firefox? Policy about PDFs - what do you say to Faculty? Just enough to fit on a postcard please! Best wishes E.A. Mrs E.A. Draffan Learning Societies Lab, ECS, University of Southampton, Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246 http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk http://www.emptech.info From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Ron Stewart Sent: 29 January 2008 02:28 To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: Re: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? I will be in the audience as my schedule allows. Ron From: athen-bounces@athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces@athenpro.org] On Behalf Of Howard Kramer Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 8:13 PM To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network' Subject: [Athen] Disembodied ATHEN at ATIA? Hello All: As you may be aware, the ATIA conference is this week. On Thursday, me, Dan Comden & Jayme Johnson will be on a panel presenting on the topic: Access in the University Setting ? Information Resources and Best Practices. We?ll be taking questions during the second half of the session which runs 9:15 ? 10:15 a.m. EST. I though it might be interesting to hook into the ATHEN network by letting ATHEN folks answer questions from off-site via the Internet. It would advertise ATHEN, demonstrate it as an information resource and also increase our knowledge base during the Q & A. Is anyone interested in participating? Can anyone suggest the best way to do this ? what software would be needed? I would try to do voice through Internet but I have never tried this and don?t have time to put too much overhead into setting this up. Thanks, Howard Howard Kramer Assistive Technology Lab Coordinator AT Conference Coordinator Disability Services CU-Boulder, 107 UCB Boulder, Co? 80309 303-492-8672 No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.13/1246 - Release Date: 27/01/2008 18:39 From norm.coombs at gmail.com Wed Jan 30 14:41:27 2008 From: norm.coombs at gmail.com (Prof Norm Coombs) Date: Sat Jun 9 18:28:53 2018 Subject: [Athen] February EASI Newsletter Message-ID: <6.0.3.0.2.20080130143902.020ef180@pop.gmail.com> EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) February Newsletter This month, we have a rich array of opportunities to share with you: Podcasts and Vodcasts EASI Online Course: Barrier-free Web Design Webinars: 6 different Webinar experiences with both EASI and guest speakers February is ALMOST here. Several of these opportunities start at the beginning of the month. Don't put off checking out these opportunities. Podcasts and Vodcasts We now have 4 different Podcast and Vodcasts we deliver every month. The newest one shares videos designed to watch online or, better, on your MP4-enabled personal player. These are all captioned IT Tips and Tricks shares audio on ideas to make information technology more accessible. It's About People Not Technology contains personal interviews AT conferences carries recordings from recent conferences. This month is a presentation from the 2007 Higher Ground conference about accessible math You can find these from the Podcast link on the home page (http://easi.cc) EASI's online courses can be taken individually or 5 of them will earn the Certificate in Accessible Information Technology. This month, the course is Beginner Web Design. While for many this may be old hat, the Web is including more and more interactive elements which cause new accessibility problems. While this is an overview course, it does introduce participants to making interactive elements accessible. The course starts Feb. 4 but registrations will be accepted till Feb. 8. You can read more and register at (http://easi.cc) and select courses Six different Webinar experiences (2 are fee-based series and 4 are open to the public. Taming MS Office Programs Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26 This series will aim at different audiences. One focus will be on using these applications to create output for delivery in several different modes but in formats that will be accessible to users with disabilities. The other focus will be to help users with disabilities and their trainers to master these products using their special software. Accessible Blogs and Wikis Feb. 7, 14, 21 28 Blogs, Wikis and the many different formats of social networking are prime examples of how the Web is more than a window through to view information. It is now highly interactive enabling the user both to interact with the Web itself and to interact with other people through the medium of the Web. These 2 fee-based Webinar series are free to EASI Webinar annual members. The normal fee is $195 per series. Read about these and register from the Webinar link on the home page (http://easi.cc) There are 4 open, public Webinars but you need to register online in advance to reserve a seat in the Webinar room. These can be found from the Webinar link on the home page (http://easi.cc) 1 AutoHotkeys (Feb. 13 and 20) is software that makes it easier to create your own hot keys. The application is accessible and people with disabilities are some of those who benefit from these tools to facilitate manipulating a computer. This is a 2-part public series 2 Bookshare update Feb. 26 AT NOON EASTERN Jim Fruchterman will provide an update. With the new grant Bookshare has received, it will become more useful and important as a resource for electronic texts 3. Webinar Snapshot, Accessible Cell Phones Feb 6 This will be a short overview of the current state of the accessibility of cell phones. Accessibility of these phones has been slow in coming and is still less than perfect. 4 Webinar snapshot Feb. 27 demonstrating editing audio with Audacity open source software. With the popularity of making podcasts, free open source editing software is a good place to get started. Both individuals and institutions can benefit from subscribing to the EASI Webinar Annual Membership. For one fee, you can access all the fee-based Webinar series for an entire year and get a discount on all courses. Read more at: http://easi.cc/sub.htm or write me: norm.coombs@gmail.com