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
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