From: Kelly Pierce
Subject: computer user network news no. 12
The following is the twelfth issue of "Computer User Network
News" from the Chicago Blind Computer User Network. To learn
more about us, check out our web site at
http://www.city-net.com/vipace/friends/chicago or join us online
through the visually impaired computer user group mailing list.
to learn more about the list send an electronic mail message to
listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu and in the body type "info vicug-
l" without the quotation marks. to join the list, just send an
e-mail to the address above and type "subscribe vicug-l" in the
message body, without the quotation marks.
Kelly
COMPUTER USERS NETWORK NEWS
Adaptive Technology
for the Blind and Visually-Impaired
Vol. III no. 2 March-April, 1997
Published Bimonthly by the
Computer Network
http://www.city-net.com/vipace/friends/chicago
Sponsored by
Blind Service Association
22 West Monroe Street
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-236-0808
Calendar Line: 312-458-9006
Copyright: 1997
Editor: Cindy Brown
Project Coordinator: Dave Porter
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Subscriptions to this newsletter are included in the annual
Computer Network membership donation to Blind Service Association
of fifteen dollars or more. The newsletter is available on
cassette, in print, or on-line.
If joining the Network by mail, send your check (payable to
Blind Service Association) to the Computer Network, c/o Blind
Service Association, 22 W. Monroe St., Chicago, Il 60603, and
please indicate in which format you prefer to receive the
Computer Users Network News. CONTENTS
CHECK US OUT
BUY CHANCE
THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE CHICAGO BLIND COMPUTER NETWORK
by David Porter
TEAMWORK
WANTED: ENERGY, CONGENIALITY, AND COORDINATION
THE RIGHT STUFF: HOW TO CHOOSE ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
by Kelly Pierce
THINGS TO REMEMBER (FOR THE FRUSTRATED COMPUTER USER)
MEMBER COMMENTARY
by Carlos Hranicka
USING F5--LIST FILES (IN WP5.1)
by Marie Porter
FYI
DATES TO REMEMBER CHECK US OUT
You can check us out on the web page made available to us
through Vipace. You'll find current and back issues of this
newsletter. That's at http://www.city-
net.com/vipace/friends/chicago.
If you want a quick-and-easy way to check out our calendar of
events, call BSA's new information line at 312-458-9006.
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BUY CHANCE
Here is an exciting way to accomplish two highly desirable
goals at the same time. You can:
--Win $10,000 or one of two other cash prizes! Your chance is
one in eighty-three.
--Help blind people succeed in jobs and education through access
to the latest in computer technology.
HOW CAN YOU DO THIS?
Buy one of two hundred fifty raffle tickets in Blind Service
Association (BSA)'s Grand Sweepstakes. The winning prize is a
COOL $10,000.00! The second-place winner receives $1500.00, and
the third prize is $500.00.
WHAT IS THE PRICE OF A RAFFLE TICKET?
One hundred dollars. Buy one or join with others to share a
ticket. Last year's ten-thousand-dollar award went to ten
friends.
HOW CAN YOU BE SURE OF THE 83-1 ODDS?
There will be three prizes. We will sell no more than two
hundred fifty raffle tickets.
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THE RAFFLE?
Winners need not be present at the drawing, but need to supply
their address and tax identification number before receiving
their prizes.
WHEN AND WHERE IS THE DRAWING?
At BSA's Annual Meeting, June 14, 1997, at Chicago's Westin
Hotel, 909 North Michigan.
WHAT IS BLIND SERVICE ASSOCIATION?
For seventy-five years we have been providing blind and
visually-impaired residents of the Chicago area with the services
that they most want and need: reading and customized recording of
print material, college scholarships, support groups, senior and
youth programs, and the COMPUTER NETWORK--THE BENEFICIARY OF THIS
RAFFLE. We are "PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE CREATE THEIR OWN FUTURE."
WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?
To order your raffle ticket(s), send your check or money
order, along with your name and address, to us as soon as
possible to ensure you are among the two hundred fifty
participants.
Alternately, you may bring the money to our Loop office at 22
West Monroe Street (eleventh floor). On receipt of your funds,
we will send or give you your raffle ticket, keeping the stub for
the drawing.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, CALL US AT 312-236-0808.
Remember: even if you lose, you are a winner!
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THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHICAGO BLIND COMPUTER NETWORK
by David Porter
I have been the project coordinator of the Chicago Computer
Network for blind and visually-impaired computer users for two
years now. I have seen initiatives start up and blossom; I have
seen other ones fizzle. I have seen many people sift through our
bevy of projects and come out more confident, purposeful, and,
perhaps, more focused. It has been an enlightening, intriguing
and exciting experience. In trying to assemble the details of
what we have accomplished and have yet to accomplish, a look at
the past year's doings can best tell our story.
Over the past year, 169 of us became involved in the flood of
Network projects. Throughout the year we held 11 general
meetings. They occurred and continue to occur on the First
Saturday of each month. In January, we conducted a Windows
overview and training session. In February, we held an
Arkinstone Atlas Speaks day-long seminar. In March, we had a
lynx based online seminar. April saw an adaptive equipment and
technique show&tell. In May we had our task team reviews, a
posse computer repair workshop, and a peer training Windows
presentation. In June we conducted an Internet web tour, a site
show&tell and a peer training strategy workshop. In July we had
a computers-for-kids day. The August presentation was for high
school kids-- pathways to careers: the Internet as a tool. In
September we held an intensive access to Windows seminar. Our
October event was an offsite network-building field trip to the
Danka Training Center for a can-do presentation. Our November
adventure was a peer training all day note-taking and personal
information coordination organization chautauqua. We wound up
the year with our December end-of-the year open house raffle.
In this last year our teams were busy.
The all-write team, under the able guidance of editor Cindy
Brown, wrote, assembled, produced, and distributed four
newsletters--all the articles having been submitted by Network
members.
Our posse computer-repair team, led by David McClain,
procured, refurbished, and circulated eighteen computers, four
printers, and a trove of miscellaneous computer parts.
Our resource force, led by Jim Ferneborg, obtained and
distributed eleven computers to Network members or other people
who needed them for school, etc., and set up and coordinated our
open-house raffle where we were able to raise $9,000, and to
award raffle winners with five machines.
Our preview crew, led by Dan TeVelde, coordinated our beta-
testing program and conducted group try-outs on adaptive software
and hardware: Arkinstone Atlas, Turbo Braille, Turbo-Tax+, and
Megadots Version 5C.
Our outreach team, led by Tom Jones, Carlos Hranicka, and Joe
and Darlene deCourcey set up and managed a phone tree and Network
information distribution initiative to keep us all abreast of
what was happening and when.
I had the honor of guiding our peer training team through
seven intensive training seminars, three college lab tune-ups,
four job placements, nine job expansions (using adaptive
technology
enhancements to achieve job promotions), six job retentions
(using advocacy and adaptive technology to retain jobs), and two
high school pathway-to-careers seminars.
Our lynx squad online team, ably coordinated by Kelly Pierce,
has established a commendable presence on the Internet, assisted
thirty-four members in getting connected to Internet Local BBS's,
etc., and formed the local conduit for the emerging Internet
linking to other forming networks around the world, as well as
being an inspiring provider of information and strategies for
fulfillment of our vision as independent contributing people.
I must say that our most exciting achievement of the past year
has been the development of our cognoscenti, governing board for
the Network. From December 11, 1995 to present we have been
meeting every second Wednesday of the month. This group, framed
by the 7 team leaders, has been mapping out the course of the
Network. We have been drawing on each other's strengths,
experiences, and insights to shape programs which can directly
address and rise above the barriers we face. By tapping in to
each other's area of expertise we are finding that we can present
a wide array of platforms to barter our skills and test our
ideas. We are also finding that we can use the networking
infrastructure to convert threatening problems into challenging
opportunities for each other. So what about this next year? I
would like to put eight challenges on the board. As the
restructuring of services to and for the blind is being redefined
in social service circles, we must 1. Do what ever we can to
convert our image as grateful
consumers of these services to resourceful providers of them to
and for us--these are some of the true marks of independence.
2. Do whatever it takes to change our relationship with other
service providers from their willing subjects to able peers.
Experience plus mastery of techniques divided by focused energy
equals expertise. We all have within us a level of
resourcefulness.
3. Get more directly involved in the development of research,
standardization and marketing of adaptive technology products and
services. Any adaptive technology artifact can be effective if
it can be efficiently operated by an end-user. The network model
provides the best stable of end-users I know.
4. Become involved in developing training curricula for
hardware and software use by blind end-users. If I really want to
learn something, I seek out people who are doing it, those who
can do and can teach by example.
5. Pool our resources with other network initiatives
worldwide. There is power in numbers--strength in a concentrated
sense of purpose, and wisdom in divergent experiences.
6. Tap into the individual talents of network members to
provide opportunities for each other. From newsletter to
magazine, posse to computer tune-up shop, lynx squad to web-page,
phone tree to conference, peer training to peer school, and job-
support venue. We have it within us, and we have the tools to
bring it out in each other.
7. Expand the network to embrace senior citizens, kids,
parents, teachers, and anybody else who feels lost in a computer
quagmire. We've been there, done that, got there by trial and
error, and wished we had a resource like this one to get us
started. ... Lucky for them--they do. If we play our cards
right, it's win for them, win for us.
8. Expand the concepts in the adaptive technology arena to
embrace other facets of the rigors of our daily lives. Skill
building, homemaking, employment placement, small-business job
development, travel, spiritual enrichment, political advocacy--
these focuses constitute the ring of our dreams.
We are changing ages. Over the next year, a blizzard of new
technologies will befall us. The Internet will become an audio-
as well as video-text driven channel. Windows 95-97 n.t. and a
myriad of other operating platforms will further crowd and cloud
the marketplace. Takeovers, mergers, bankruptcies, greed, and
mismanagement will continue to obliterate the adaptive technology
playground. Changes in funding, structures, politics and focus
will reduce social service delivery systems to chaos.
How do we fit into this maze? What do we make of this manic
frenzy?
Wisthin the divergent collection of people that make up any
group lie all the experiences necessary to fulfill our voids.
Within the divergent collections of experiences that constitute
ourselves lies an opportunity to fill any void in any given
group. Oh--and it's a barter system--the more we put into it, the
more we get out of it.
Our goal becomes to get more out of it than we put into it.
We achieve that by putting more into it. It's all there for the
taking. Go for it! It's Network '97!
(Dave Porter is president of Comp-Unique, an adaptive
technology development and consultation firm. He is the
coordinator of the Computer Network.)
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TEAMWORK
The Computer Network is made up of teams. The word network,
for most of us, connotes a system of interactive parts.
Interaction among peers is meant to be the fuel that keeps this
network alive. The teams are the parts of the Network which
address specific tasks. Become involved by joining one of the
teams described below. To contact team leaders, talk to Jim
Ferneborg at 312-236-0808.
Outreach. "You-all come!" is the motto of this team. Its job
is to spread the word to youth and adults in the community-at-
large about our activities--Jim Ferneborg, chairperson.
Membership. Welcoming, orienting, and hooking in new members
is this team's raison d'etre. We're looking to reorganize and
revitalize this very important team. (See "Wanted: Energy,
Congeniality, and Coordination," next article.)
Preview Crew. "What's new?" That's what these computer
veterans are asking, as they are eager to beta-test new
technology pro ducts.--Dan TeVelde, chairperson.
Posse. "Let's not forget about the old stuff." Hands-on
refurbishing of hand-me-down computers is the focus here. They
meet to tinker. Phone for date of next meeting.--Dave McClain,
chairperson.
Lynx Squad. It seems the whole world is talking about the
Internet, the World Wide Web, and e-mail. To join in, sign up
with this team. Reasonable word processing and typing skills are
helpful. Meetings are held the second Thursday evening of each
month. Note the change of day.--Kelly Pierce, chairperson.
Peer Training. "Each one teach one." Planning and executing
monthly seminars for novices and the advanced is the focus of
this team. Ideas for events as well as volunteers to help are
welcome. --Dave Porter, chairperson.
All-Write! "All I know is what I read in the newsletter." We
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