Mike if you and others on list haven't already signed this then, it would be great if you did. The Raised Bar Petition http://www.raisedbar.net/petition.htm What's the petition for? Raised Bar is trying to gather statistics to aid the cause of improving access to music technology for visually-impaired people. One of the biggest obstacles to achieving success in this area is being able to convince hardware and software manufacturers that there is sufficient demand to warrant their investment in making the necessary changes. To help us overcome this obstacle, we ask you to submit your name and email address to our petition so that we can present meaningful numbers when we meet with interested individuals and organisations. Any submitted names and email addresses will only ever be used for this purpose. We're only asking for email addresses at all because they will act as a proof that there's a person behind the name. We will only ever divulge them to the interested bodies if we obtain your permission first and only then as a means of verifying the total being presented. In addition, we will never use this information to aid our own marketing - you are not signing up to become part of Raised Bar's customer database. Please only submit valid information - we're not trying to artificially inflate the figures as this would irreparably damage our credibility with those we are trying to encourage to help our cause. This is your chance to help raise the bar in terms of the level of access that we all need, so please sign up now! Regards, Phil Muir Accessibility Training Telephone: US (615) 713-2021 UK+44-1747-821-794 Mobile: UK +44-7968-136-246 E-mail: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> URL: www.accessibilitytraining.co.uk/ <http://www.accessibilitytraining.co.uk/> -----Original Message----- From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Mike Tyo Sent: 30 September 2009 22:20 To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.t voice over Ah - yes; this subject of voice access and touch-screen technology and other related issues dealing with accessibility has been a real bugaboo for quite some time now. While there are companies out there doing a great job of making products accessible either by manufacturing stand-alone devices or developing software that'll provide decent interfaces to non-accessible applications, today's electronic instruments are by enlarge inaccessible to people who are blind. I've been told by some sighted musicians that they don't like touch-screen based instruments because they're difficult to deal with on stage and in situations where the lighting is such that they can't see the screens properly. they feel that they might hit the wrong button during a performance, and I don't have to elaborate on the consequences of that. When I was a Product Specialist for the former Technics Musical Instruments, I had many conversations with folks in research and development about this very issue, and while there was a fair amount of enthusiasm from people in the US, it fell on deaf ears when it was brought up at the factory in Japan. One idea was to not change the design of the instruments, rather it was to adapt them so that they could be interfaced with computers that had assistive technologies running. I didn't believe that the wheel needed to be reinvented at that point, and I still don't. However, the fact still remains that accessibility to today's Workstations and consumer line keyboards is a major problem for the blind community. Before I became aware of Dancing Dots and its mission, I was considering calling it quits to my musical career because I was growing sick and tired of trying to do a professional job in putting projects together, and just plain being able to operate an instrument for my own enjoyment. I already have many frustrations in using products from cell phones to DVRs confidently; I certainly don't need to compound those frustrations trying to deal with things that are supposed to enhance what I love doing. On top of that, there are all kinds of appliances and other everyday devices that one needs for daily living that are incorporating touch-screen controls, and I fear that this could put the blind community further back into the dark ages. Ramy's right in that more needs to be done in lobbying for better accessibility to things, especially products in the music industry. I think that one major problem is that the blind community doesn't have the resources needed to lobby corporations and government bodies sufficiently so as to be properly heard on this issue. There was an article that appeared in the Baltimore Son several years ago and was picked up by my local newspaper that dealt with accessibility issues with Web Sites, etc. A gentleman by the name of Dr Jonathon Lazar, who I believe is a computer science professor, made a point that nearly 75 % of the adult blind community in the US is out of work because many of the applications used in various places of employment, be it Internet or otherwise, are becoming more and more inaccessible due to how they're designed. Many of them could be made accessible just by adding or modifying code. There have been a lot of discussions on this subject for many years now, but that's all it has amounted to, just discussions. I wrote to Dr Lazar and suggested that we somehow need to get passed the discussion phase and move toward a more pro-active phase where things get done in resolving these problems, but I never got a response one way or another. I believe that there are practical solutions to achieving this goal without necessarily having to redesign already existing technologies. Dancing Dots is doing just that. I can't say enough positive things about what this company's doing in that regard. They've been able to take a program like Sonar and make it work for us, and that's not only amazing, but it's proving my point that it can be done without having to retool everything to do it. So keep up the great work! In the meantime, we have to figure out a way to generate resources to effectively lobby for further accessibility in all things without breaking the bank. Have a good one. Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ramy Moustafa" <moshtaqlealganna@xxxxxxxxx> To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 15:41 Subject: [ddots-l] O.t voice over > Hi all: > > > > Really am too happy, to see the voice over is making another success, > > After huge success in I phones, apple, put there voice over screen reader > in > Ipods. > > And now, we can easily use the ipod with touch screen machines, > > So my question, can’t we try to tell the musical companys that are > producing > touch screen keyboards like korg, to put a screen reader to be able to use > there products? > > Even they can make it optional, but really its well be very very helpful. > > So please, try to think with me how can we start, my English is not so > good > to make an online potition. > > And don’t know how can we show to them that we are so interested in this > matter. > > So please, need your ideas and thoughts to be able to use the touch screen > keyboards, cause I think that all world well go toward this touch screen > things. > > > > To read more about voice over go to: > > http://www.apple.com/accessibility/itunes/ipodtouch.html > > > > Any ideas well be highly abbreciated > > > > Cheers > > Ramy Moustafa > > Skype: > > Roma30 > > > > PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE! > To leave the list, click on the immediately following link: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe > If this link doesn't work then send a message to: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > and in the Subject line type > unsubscribe > For other list commands such as vacation mode, > click on the immediately following link: > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq or > send a message, to > ddots-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > and in the Subject line type > faq > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- This message is free of crap. 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