From: Kelly Pierce
Subject: blind computer user network news #11
Below is the eleventh newsletter of the Blind Computer User Network in
Chicago. For
back issues, check out our home page at
http://www.city-net.com/vipace/friends/chicago.
Computer Users Network News
Adaptive Technology
For the Blind and Visually-Impaired
Vol. III No. 1 Jan.-Feb., 1997
Published bimonthly by
Blind Service Association
22 West Monroe Street
Chicago, Illinois 60603
(312) 236-0808
Copyright: 1997
Editor: Cindy Brown
Project Coordinator: Dave Porter
Our mission is to provide a vehicle for our consumers to share information
with each
other. This is accomplished by stimulating the pro-active involvement of our
readers.
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Contents
Membership/Subscription n Information
So What About the Network? by Dave Porter
Teamwork
Be Connected with Us by E-Mail
On-Line Glossary--Part II
Treasures
Editing: Art or Science? by Cindy Brown and Anna Byrne
Things to Keep in Mind
FYI
Dates to Remember!
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So What About the Network?
by Dave Porter
In December of 1994 we took on the challenge of building and maintaining a
computer
users network. Two years later,... What has happened? What hasn't happened?
What more
can we make happen? Can we build on the processes, experiences, and
interchanges we've
had so far and entice more people to become involved with us and try this
approach with
an eye toward shaping their future?
Adaptive technology is providing a great opportunity to bring us into the
information
age in style. Mastery of it will be a survival criterion for the majority of
us. Most jobs will
depend on our familiarity with and mastery of technology. As for acquiring
and
manipulation of information--we're closer to competitive parity then we've
ever been.
Nature is a course of gives and takes. Nothing gives without borrowing
from its neighbor.
We depend on and shoot for this balance. We're at our best when we're as
close to that
balance as possible. I replace what I take; what I give away is replaced;
or the whole tenor
of my life becomes unfulfilled and the supply of or quality of all I have
and have to offer
becomes compromised.
We all harbor pieces of knowledge. Our knowledge is unique to us, fashioned
by our
dreams, shaped by our experiences, carved by our efforts, and refined by our
resourcefulness. The best way to obtain information is to dialogue with its
possessors.
The Network provides a great opportunity to obtain that information. The
details and
dynamics of adaptive technology have become so sophisticated that we have to
use it to
know it. Vicarious experience doesn't cut it. By using it we learn tips,
tools, tricks, and
techniques that, combined with our unique spins on things, make it work. The
Network
becomes a conduit for sharing what we have learned with each other, making
that
knowledge exponential.
A shift to end-user driven determination of what works has had a serious
impact on the
adaptive technology industry. With an enlightened consumer base, technology
peddlers now
know that they can't simply sell novelty. If it doesn't work it won't fly,
and if it doesn't fly
it won't last. If it doesn't last and they don't withdraw, replace, or
revamp it, they won't
last. Notice all the adaptive technology companies that are changing hands,
restructuring,
merging, reshaping, etc.
Furthermore, salesmen can no longer expect to march into the field armed
with glitzy
glosses, patronizing smiles, and flashy brochures targeted at human resources
departments,
employers, special need instructors, deans of admissions, etc., and assume
things will remain
copacetic. Now the end-user must be consulted, and his/her input must be
considered.
Salesmen, in order to succeed, need products that work. Companies have
become more
performance driven and look more and more toward functional end-users.
The Network is the natural habitat for enlightened, enlivened, empowered,
self-determined end-users. Becoming fully employed is one of the most
difficult aspects of
blindness. Because of society's misguided perceptions about our
employability, I believe we
in the Network have a social responsibility to share any skills, tips,
tricks, tools, or
techniques that we have with anyone we can to dispel those perceptions.
Because
employment requires specialized training and social skills we too often don't
refine, we need
to cultivate any outlets we can find to further refine our training and
social skills to protect
and expand the context of our work. Because hiring a blind or
visually-impaired person
often requires special accommodations which puts us at a disadvantage in
competition with
other employable entities, we need to assert ourselves as exceptionally
competent.
We can get enmeshed in a system where we are perpetually the recipients of
habilitative
or rehabilitative services, or we can take control of our destinies by taking
initiative on our
own behalf. The hardest transition that we as blind people may have to make
is from being
a subject to being a peer. Peers manage their own affairs no matter how
awkward or
inconvenient that may be. Subjects, on the other hand, allow themselves to
be passive
recipients because it's the most convenient role for them and their servers.
We need to rise
above the societal perceptions of us and replace it with the personal
conviction of who we
are and expect others to see us as equals.
I see The Network as an exponential outlet for much of these exchanges and
strategies
to take place. The Network interface provides a resolute testing ground for
trying out our
personal convictions on each other. Here among peer professionals reside the
most harsh
critics imaginable--peers. It is in the interest of all for each one of us
to be at our best. We
know that the better each one of us does, the better we all will do. We know
that the
impression one of us makes affects the way people react to all of us.
The safe harbor of this structure provides an opportunity to test
strategies, theories, and
tactics on an objective resolute assemblage. Effecting change is a long,
hard endeavor,
riddled with many trials and errors. But each time we rotate through the
process, we come
out a little stronger, more focused, and more determined. How did I do that?
How can that
be better done? How did she do that? How do you do that? The process
involves give and
take. To succeed, our livelihood depends on creating and exploiting as many
opportunities
as possible.
For the coming year I propose setting the following goals. I see many
opportunities to
expand the Network structure and outreach. I want to work with kids and
seniors, doing
on-site seminars, job fairs, etc.--you give us a platform, we'll find an
interested audience.
Doing in-house seminars, we'll give a platform to companies doing day-long
show-and-tell
seminars to a quality audience. We will continue to develop more ways to get
more people
involved in the Network: expanding the Posse to a computer tune-shop,
developing and
maintaining a community web-site to best get and manage information. What
about
expanding the newsletter to a magazine so we can get the right word out
right, finding ways
to embrace rehabilitation without threatening new computer users? and using
the
cognoscenti as an avenue to shape what the Network does, musing over what
would make
this network thing work better?
I'm struck by what my compulsive grandiose picture must look like to people
who live
by details. There are detail-oriented people in the cognoscenti to keep me in
line. By their
challenging my sometimes crazy ideas, they actually give me space to be more
grandiose,
knowing I can afford to risk ideas because they'll shape them to conform to
reality. To be
absorbed, ideas must work.
Finally, can we link the process with other networks--help them grow while
absorbing
thier ideas?
(Dave Porter is president of Comp-Unique, an adaptive technology
development and
consulting firm. He is 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.
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. "We hope you'll stay awhile" is what you'll hear from this
team.
Welcoming, orienting, and hooking in new members is this team's raison
d'etre, and they
also keep members informed of upcoming events through the phone tree.--Joe
and Darlene
DeCourcey, co-chairpersons.
Preview Crew. "What's new?" That's what these computer veterans are asking,
as they
are eager to beta-test new technology products.--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.--Dave McClain,
airperson.
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 think this is
a cop-out! We
hope you will add what you know to the pages of future newsletters by
contributing
technology-related articles. Submit articles (on 3.5-in. diskette in ASCII or
WordPerfect 5.1)
to Cindy Brown at Blind Service Association. The deadline for the next issue
is Wed.,
March 12, 1997 at noon.
We're looking for editors for FYI and Personal Profiles.--Cindy Brown,
editor.
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Be Connected With Us
The electronic mailing list of the Computer Network sizzles with the latest
news, articles
and resources. If someone has an e-mail account, he/she can join the list.
Network
members share with each other the treasures they have discovered online,
offering to others
the best of the Net, making available newspaper and magazine articles, Usenet
postings,
web resources, product announcements, and the latest in technology and
information access.
Recent electronic golden nuggets have included information about such things
as an
innovative online training class that allows people to become braille
transcribers online,
newsletters from other blind user groups, a guide from the UK that simply
explains and
clarifies basic concepts of Microsoft Windows, a Lynx tutorial, and an
article on buying a
new Pentium for under $1,000. In addition, minutes of Network cognoscenti
meetings are
distributed and you can keep abreast of announcements of CN meetings,
technology
seminars, demonstrations, and other meetings that are going on in Chicago.
Share and learn
and join the network community online.
To be added to the mailing list, send an e-mail message to Kelly Pierce
with your
request. His e-mail address is kelly@ripco.com.
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Online Glossary--Part II
submitted by Dave Porter
M
--mailing list: A subject-specific automated e-mail system AKA a listproc,
listserve or
majordomo. Users subscribe to it and via e-mail they receive information
about the subject
of the list and postings about the topic from other list subscribers.
--mediaware (the spectrum of media delivery storage and management products
and
services.
--mil (pronounced MILL): A domain name suffix denoting an abbreviation for
military.
In Internet addresses, mil indicates a site belonging to a military branch or
organization.
modem (pronounced MOE-dim): Shortened form of "modulator-demodulator." A
device
that allows computers to communicate with each other via telephone lines,
cellular signals
or television cables. To send information from one computer to another, a
modem converts
digital signals from a computer into analog signals that can be sent over
telephone lines. On
the receiving end, the modem converts the analog signals back into digital
ones that can be
understood by the computer.
--morphing: Changing shape or image due to changing conditions.
--MPEG, mpeg, mpg (pronounced EM-peg): A standard for compressing video
images
developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group. Video clips on the Web are
sometimes
available in MPEG format; however, video clips are more often found in AVI
nd
QuickTime formats.
--MUD (pronounced like the word "mud"): Multi-User Dungeon. An online
role-playing
game similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Normally text-based, Multi-User
Dungeons allow
numerous people to play and interact in the same game scenario at the same
time.
N
--net: An abbreviation for "network." In Internet addresses,
net indicates a computer network service. When capitalized, Net is used as a
slang term for
the Internet.
--netizens: end-users who surf the Net hour after hour looking for hot
sites and cool
topics.
--Netscape Navigator: A Web browser that's widely used because of its
speed and easy
interface.
--netiquette (pronounced NET-i-ket or -kit): Internet etiquette is
sometimes obscure and
usually learned only through experience.
--network: A hardware/software system that allows two or more computers to
be
connected so they share resources.
--newbie (pronounced new-be): A new Internet user. As used by
more experienced Internet users, newbie usually carries derogatory
connotations. They are
often faulted for not knowing etiquette. --newsgroup: A broad grouping
of online
discussion groups--the Internet equivalent of BBS's. Most are distributed
through USENET.
--newsreader: A Program used to read through and organize
newsgroup text and information.
O
--org (pronounced ORG): A domain name suffix denoting an
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* Origin: NFBnet Internet Email Gateway (1:282/1045)
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