From: Pete Donahue 
Subject: Internet Odyssey Article
knocking over a stack of large packages.  Workers shouted and
hollered at each other trying to clean the place out as quickly as
possible so we could move in.  From time to time the building shook
with the sound of a forklift that drove right in to the room,
hauling away the junk left from the previous occupant of this area
and bringing in the furniture that we would be using.  Over the
next several hours this smelly minefield of debris and trash would
be transformed in to the setting in which we would exhibit our
technology and share the Federation=FEs story with all who passed
through the Internet Odyssey.=20
When we arrived the gentlemen who would assist us in setting up
were there waiting and we spent some of the time getting acquainted
as there was nothing else to do but sit and wait while the place
was being cleaned up.  We were ready for the Internet Odyssey but
it was not ready for us! As the hours passed new carpeting was laid
down and booths were set up.  But it would be a while before we
could prepare our pc and exhibit area for the show.  Since Lisa had
to go to work that afternoon we decided to go home and I would come
back that evening to prepare for the opening of the show the next
day.  Mrs. Halsema drove us home and she brought me back to the
convention center that evening.  Upon returning to the convention
center that evening I discovered that the nightmare we walked in to
that morning  was gone and that the various exhibit areas and
seminar rooms were set up as well.  But since some of the computers
had not arrived I would still have to sit around and wait until the
machine was set up.  Back to sitting around for another four hours.
I didn't get to do anything in our booth until after 9 p.m. That
evening.  Perhaps the most interesting project was the setting up
of the computer network.  While they have installed computer
networks for their day-to-day use many of our public exhibition
facilities such as the convention center are not, (Wired) for
computer shows like the Internet Odyssey.  Thus it is necessary to
install a computer network whenever one of these shows is held in
the convention center.  The Internet Odyssey Team plans to work
with the City of San Antonio to correct this situation in the near
future.  As the carpeting was being laid down I observed someone I
met from the Alamo personal Computer Users group testing the wiring
that would be used for constructing the network.  Still other
workers were testing such network components as routers, switches,
couplers, and the all-important network server.  The electronic,
(Boss) of the network  In addition to lines that supplied
electrical power to the exhibit areas some of the lines for the
network were run under the carpeting while others were suspended
from the rafters of the building.  In a place such as an office
building they would be run inside the walls much like telephone or
electrical wiring.  Getting the wiring through the rafters was a
hair-raising business.  A small crane was brought in to the
exhibition area and a person got in to a bucket with some of the
wiring to be installed and was hoisted to the ceiling where he/she
passed the wires over the rafters throughout the exhibit area until
all the supply lines were in place.  Lines called drops hung off of
the supply line and were fed in to each area where a computer to be
connected to the network was placed.  The exhibitor or  a
technician connected the pc to the network by connecting the drop
to the pc with a simple rj11 connector; the type found on most
modern telephones, and then by entering the information the pc
would need in order to communicate with the network; in this case
a Local area  Network or lAN.  The network topology used for the
Internet Odyssey was a protocol called Ethernet.  It is fast and
reliable.  We can report that Jaws for Windows worked well on this
network and we experienced no difficulties.  When all was said and
done we had both a network connection plus a phone line donated by
the Internet Odyssey so that those wanting to access their own
providers via a shell account could do so since Dos Access was not
a part of the network configuration for this year=FEs show.  During
this time I met Professor Wadsworth and we discussed our
participation in the show.  Upon learning how long I had been
waiting to get things set up he offered me some of his supper; part
of a poboy sandwich, french fries and a coke.  Finally I was
escorted back to our booth only to discover that we didn't have
electrical power to run the pc so Mrs. Halsema and I set out the
NFB Literature that we would distribute during the  show.  These
included an article called leveling the Road Ahead by Judith Dixon
of the Library of Congress.  It gives web page designers ideas on
how to create web pages so that they are blind computer user
friendly as well as appealing to sighted visitors.  The second
article was an article by  Dr. Jernigan on Newsline, and since
Newsline would begin operating in San Antonio we felt it
appropriate to disseminate this information as well.  We also
brought other NFB articles and brochures.  After many delays and
much waiting we were able to install our software and get things
ready, but this operation was not without flaws.  It took several
tries at installing Vocal-Eyes before it finally came up talking.=20
Jaws for Windows on the other hand required a rodeo before it would
work.  It took a number of reconfigurations to the pc before it too
decided to work for us, but that was just half of the battle.  This
program needed to be installed three times, each time using an
upgrade to the previous version until we were up to version
1.21.23.  But is comforting to know that at no time during the show
did we loose our speech.  We installed Procomm plus that morning
and when noon time came we were ready for the opening of the show.=20
But at the moment I was ready to go home and get some much-needed
sleep.  I didn't finnish up the installation until well after
midnight.  After doing the final installations of software and
making last-minute preparations we were ready for the opening of
the show.  At 12 noon we heard the unmistakable opening chords to
the theme from 2001; A Space Odyssey indicating that the show was
open and ready to receive the public.  As that afternoon passed we
were visited by many persons including some Teachers of the Blind
as well as local business persons and others interested in what we
had to share with show visitors.
 In addition to distributing our literature we displayed the NFB
WEB Site and showed visitors the wealth of information about
blindness they could find there.  We discovered that keeping the
computer talking was the key to keeping them coming to our  booth.=20
When the speech stopped President sofka would shout:
=FECome on Pete, get that speech going!  That=FEs what=FEs got them
coming over here so keep that speech going!=FE  Some of those who
listened to the speech complained that it was unintelligible to
them, and they could not understand what was being said.  We
explained that understanding synthetic speech, especially low-
quality synthetic speech required one to develop an ear for what is
being said and how words are being pronounced.  Since we use
synthetic speech regularly our ears are accustomed to it and we can
understand what is being said.  However, even among blind persons
there are those who can't understand synthesized speech and for
them, and for those who if given a choice of computer access
methods large print or Braille access is more desirable.
Several of us worked the computer taking turns during the show.=20
Those who weren't computer literate were put to work handing out
literature and talking to visitors about the NFB in general.=20
Sufficed to say anyone who wanted to help out had a job to do
whether they were computer literate or not.  When not working the
booth some of us took time to explore the many other exhibits at
the show.  One area of fascination was the Technology Time tunnel.=20
This area showcased the development of the pc from the earliest
Radio Shack machines to the modern computers with the pentium
Processors onboard.  Another area of interest was the electronic
petting zoo.  Here individuals could see just what makes a personal
computer work in a harmless way.  Mary felt a mother board and I
examined a hard drive.  Other exhibits included the Island Theater
which introduced show visitors to the Internet, the Odyssey Store
where one could purchase Internet Odyssey Memorabilia, the test
drive area which was a bank of computers loaded with the latest
software to allow show visitors to give these packages a try-out
and a silent auction and a treasure hunt for the children.  Our
booth was adjacent to The cybercafe, a place where show-weary
exhibiters and visitors alike could buy refreshments, and take time
out for a break from the show=FEs demands.  One could visit with
folks to chat about computer or Internet-related matters, or just
carry on a friendly conversation.  During this time I got to know
the woman who was asked to help us with various miscellaneous needs
during the show.  These included finding a relief area for one=FEs
guide dog to getting something to drink.  As was mentioned earlier
the Internet Odyssey Team saw to it that we had plenty of
assistance during the show.  The high point for us came on Monday
afternoon of October 28th when we gave our seminar on computer
access for the blind.  Shortly before the seminar began an
announcement went out over the PA System encouraging anyone
interested in how blind persons access the Internet using adaptive
technology to come to our booth.  We conducted the seminar at the
booth to avoid having to move the pc around as it was the only one
which had the screen reading software installed on it.  People came
running from everywhere.  Vendors closed down their booths, and
even the workers in the cyberCafe came over to see what all the
fuss was about.  Later we were told that there were at least fifty
to one hundred people at our seminar; the most number of attendees
at any of the seminars that took place during the entire show.=20
President Sofka welcomed everyone to the seminar and gave a brief
explanation of what the NFB was and what we were hoping to
accomplish at the Internet Odyssey.  Following his speech several
of us demonstrated how we accessed various components of the
Internet.  Scott Edwards used Gopher, a program that provides text-
based access to various on-line archives such as the National
library service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped=FEs book
collection.  This was followed by Lisa Hall=FEs demonstration of
Internet Relay chat, (IRC) which allows one to talk over the net in
real time with folks from around the World.  Prior to the show she
arranged with some of her friends on Genie, one of several widely-
known on-line services to meat her in one of genie=FEs chat rooms.=20
These are areas where persons can meat in order to discuss matters
of specific interest such as surfing the Internet for example.  Her
demonstration was received with much applause from the audience.=20
But the climax of the seminar was the sending of an E-mail message
around the World on seven different blindness-related mailing lists
or as some call them listservs.  Since we wanted to let the blind
of the World know what we were doing to improve access to
information and to raise awareness of the need to protect this
access even among the blind population we felt it appropriate to do
this in the hopes that others would be inspired to do what we were
doing.  The message read in part:
Blind people of the World,
This message is coming to you from the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention
center in San antonio Texas.  We are participating in the 1996
South Texas Internet Odyssey to show how blind persons can use a
personal computer and the adaptive technology and to raise
awareness of the threat to our continued ability to access the
Information superhighway posed by the ever-increasing use of
graphical user interfaces, bitmap-images , and other factors.  The
members of the Greater san antonio Chapter of the National
Federation of the Blind of Texas would like to encourage you to do
what you can to promote awareness of these issues, including
participating in similar events such as this one.  Greeting from
all of us and let=FEs keep the net accessible to the blind.
Yours truly,
James Sofka
President, greater san Antonio Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Texas
Throughout that week we received responses to that message
congratulating us on our efforts and some people even shared
information about what they were doing in their community or
country to heighten awareness of the challenges faced by blind
computer users.  But the best complement we received came from
Marti knight, one of the principle organizers of the Internet
Odyssey:
If we have done anything at all this year this is it.  Showcasing
the use of the Internet by the disable will more than justify what
we have spent in terms of time, money, and manpower to put on this
show.  This is an area we need to expand on in the coming years.=20
The show concluded on October 29, and all of us were exhausted, but
we all felt good about a job well done.  I believe that not only
did the sighted public, but we ourselves took away something from
this show as well.  For one thing we were the first group of any of
the disable to exhibit at this show.  In addition we proved to
ourselves that no matter what its size, any of our chapters can
stage events such as this when chapter members work together to see
the task through; even when the going gets rough, and no one seems
to want to lend a hand.
Perhaps some of us took away something deep and personal.  I for
one had this happen as helping to put this event together for our
chapter led me to once more confirm something about myself.  I am
one person that thrives on challenge and when challenging
situations are absent from my life or when the outcome is
unsuccessful I tend to turn in to myself for entertainment.  This
what I mean.  When I was a student at several schools for the blind
I was more often then not discouraged from doing things thought
impossible for a blind person such as rock climbing of studying
Animal Science.  Solution?  Create imaginary characters who can
sleigh the dragons for you so you can have those opportunities, and
some of these (Imaginary characters) were actual people I had heard
about from other students at the school.  The most notorious of
these lasted for two long years before it finally blew itself out.=20
Many times I think to myself that if the NFB was around back then
and we were as strong and influential as we are now, and someone
was their to encourage us to take on challenging situations rather
than discourage us from trying new things and testing our abilities
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