[Athen] FW: [leadership] FYI: A Press Release re Access to the Kindle

Pratik Patel pratikp1 at gmail.com
Tue Nov 17 16:25:54 PST 2009






From: leadership-bounces at acb.org [mailto:leadership-bounces at acb.org] On
Behalf Of Melanie Brunson
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:02 PM
To: leadership at acb.org; acb-l at acb.org
Cc: announce at acb.org
Subject: [leadership] FYI: A Press Release re Access to the Kindle



Hello all.



I thought the content of the press release pasted below might provide some
enjoyable reading.



Melanie Brunson



Begin Text of Release.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 18, 2009



University Commitment to Accessible e-book Technology



As the first university in the nation to formally open its doors to students
with severe physical disabilities (1948), the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign has a long history of ensuring that students with
disabilities are afforded egalitarian access to its programs, services and
resources, including emergent educational and administrative information
systems and technologies. Furthermore, as a public university, Illinois is
committed to meeting its obligations under the Illinois Information
Technology Accessibility Act (Public Act 095-0307), the nation's most
rigorous information technology accessibility statute, by ensuring to the
greatest extent possible that the information technology developed,
purchased, or provided by the University is accessible to individuals with
disabilities.



Quite apart from our legal obligations, we at Illinois believe that our
technology choices should be shaped by our institutional values and
aspirations. We will not embrace technologies that undercut our commitment
to accessibility. We will instead apply our ingenuity to technologies that
enable everyone to participate more fully in society.



Like our colleagues at Wisconsin and Syracuse, we recognize the
groundbreaking potential that read-aloud features have for making textbooks
accessible to students with disabilities. Sadly, that potential can't be
realized until vendors of e-book readers, like the Kindle, add accessible
read-aloud menus and basic navigation to their products.



About Illinois and the Office of the CIO:

The University of Illinois is a world leader in research, teaching and
public engagement that is distinguished by the breadth of its programs,
broad academic excellence, and internationally renowned faculty. The focus
of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is to provide
campus-wide IT strategies that will contribute to the success of the
university as an intellectual community and facilitate pre-eminence in
research, teaching, and public engagement.



# # #



CONTACT:



Sally Jackson

Chief Information Officer

Office of the CIO

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

(217) 333-3303

sallyj at illinois.edu









Melanie Brunson

Executive Director

American Council of the Blind

2200 Wilson Blvd. Suite 650

Arlington, VA 22201

Ph. (202) 467-5081, (800) 424-8666

Fax: (703) 465-5085

mbrunson at acb.org



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