Free Wi-Fi ups coffee shops’ popularity

I wrote this story for my news writing (JMC 301) class. It was published in the Oct. 6 edition of The State Press. I have reposted it in full for the benefit of blind readers, who may find this copy easier to access

Photo caption:

surfing the web: ASU sophomore Michael Robinson takes advantage of the free Wi-Fi at Starbucks Monday night. He said he often comes after work to meet friends or study. (scott stuk | The State Press)

By: Darrell Shandrow

Published On: Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Many Tempe coffee shop customers said free wireless Internet access adds an important dimension to their experience, and shop owners are delighted by the increased business.

Margie Derwin, owner of Margie’s Coffee House just west of South Hardy Drive on West Broadway Road in Tempe, said she added free Wi-Fi shortly after her shop’s April grand opening and has never looked back.

The business generated by customers who use the free Internet connection is well worth the $80 monthly price tag, Derwin said.

“A lot of people come in here and ask if we have Wi-Fi,” said Derwin. “They’re either students wanting to study or businesspeople who need to work. They need to get to the Internet.”

Psychology senior Lauren Watson prefers shops that help her go online and study.

“I’m much more likely to frequent a coffee shop if it has wireless Internet available,” Watson said. “Most of the stuff I have to do is online, either through Blackboard or other sites where I need to look up information.”

Watson is not alone. According to a September 2008 survey released by standards-setting organization Wi-Fi Alliance, 52 percent of undergraduate college students said the availability of wireless Internet connectivity affects their coffee shop choice.

Amir Dabir, a tourist attending a conference in Phoenix, frequents coffee shops regularly. He said shops get more of his business when they offer free Wi-Fi.

“I like to drink coffee, answer e-mails and be able to enjoy myself online while I’m at the coffee shop,” Dabir said as he waited to meet a friend at Cupz Coffee on South College Avenue, just north of the Tempe campus.

Dabir said he appreciates a shop with a free, reliable wireless connection.

“If it doesn’t have free Wi-Fi, I wouldn’t sit around and do work,” he said. “I’d just basically get my coffee and leave.”

Hannah Baldwin, wildlife biology junior and a barista at Xtreme Bean on East Southern Avenue in Tempe, said students spend an average of two to three hours in the coffee shop when they go online.

“Just looking around, you can see pretty much half the people with their laptops,” she said.

Many of the students who go online at the store are also socializing or participating in study groups, Baldwin said.

“We have some students we see come in midday and they don’t leave until we close,” Baldwin said. “Everyone who comes in grabs a coffee and they sit down and it’s totally fine. It’s a good atmosphere.”

The ambience of a coffee shop is almost as important is whether it has Wi-Fi, Watson said.

“The atmosphere has a lot to do with it, of course,” she said. “I’m looking for one that’s friendly but individual, where it’s quiet enough so you can be on your own if you need to, or you can start a conversation with a stranger.”

Derwin said she aims to please with her shop’s fast, reliable Wi-Fi connections and calm, friendly atmosphere.

“I get a handful of serious students who come in here and want to find a place to study,” said Derwin. “I like the home-away-from-home feeling. I want people to feel like they’re at home. We’re just relaxing. There’s no stress. We’re just being friendly.”

Lawsuit Leads to Reconsideration of Patent

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has re-examined a patent held by the maker of a screen reader for blind computer users in connection with an infringement lawsuit filed against a competing company. Reliable sources hailed the move as a significant victory for the defendant.

The Document Placemarker patent, held by Freedom Scientific, Inc., covers a specialized screen reading capability that allows a blind person to save their position on a Web page and return to the same place at a later time. The company's Job Access With Speech (JAWS) screen reading software incorporates this feature.

In a July 15, 2008 complaint filed in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division, the self-proclaimed "world's leading manufacturer of assistive technology products for those who are vision impaired" accused GW Micro, the maker of the competing Window-Eyes screen reader, of deliberate patent infringement, claiming their placemarker technology is the same as that described in the patent. According to court documents, Freedom Scientific is seeking an injunction requiring GW Micro to stop including the placemarker feature in their product, asks for significant unspecified financial compensation for the infringement and requests recovery of legal fees.

“I believe that this technology shouldn't have been patented to begin with," said Doug Geoffray, Vice President of Development with GW Micro, Inc. "It obviously was around way before what they've done. We have stated that our version, Window-Eyes 3.1 back in 1999, had previous position capability."

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agreed. In a re-examination of Freedom Scientific's patent, at the request of GW Micro's attorneys, the office rejected all claims to the invention.

"A person shall be entitled to a patent unless the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States," stated a published document describing the re-examination as the basis for the patent's rejection on the grounds that the technology had already been invented.

The document also cited two existing patents and the availability of IBM's Home Page Reader, a product employing place marker technology prior to the Freedom Scientific patent, in its reasoning behind the decision.

"We take that as a positive sign,” Geoffray said.

"It's a victory," said Dennis Karjala, Jack E. Brown Professor of Law, Faculty Fellow, Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. "There's no question that, if the re-examination decision is upheld, that's the end of it. There is no patent."

He said Freedom Scientific may still have some cards to play in this case.

"The patent owner in a re-examination proceeding may appeal," Karjala said. "It goes to an appeals board within the Patent Office and then they can later seek judicial review. This thing could go on for awhile."

According to the re-examination document, the Patent Office must receive a response from Freedom Scientific by Oct. 28 if it wishes to appeal the decision.

Karjala said the legal trend points to a probable GW Micro victory.

"Because the Supreme Court has been reviewing so many of their cases with an obvious eye to overturning them, the Patent Office is pretty sensitive now that they're being accused of being too patent friendly," said Karjala. "My guess is once you got a ruling by the examiner that the patent is invalid, I'd say the chances are pretty good it will be upheld by the board in the Patent Office. If it's upheld by the board, the chances that a court would overturn it in this atmosphere are pretty slim."

Freedom Scientific representatives declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Notes:

• The examiner cited Patent 6085161 describing the invention of a system for assigning and playing specific sounds when a Web page changes or the user encounters a specific Web page element such as a header or list. All of the claims in Freedom Scientific’s patent were rejected based on the positioning techniques described in this "sonification" system.


• The examiner also cited Patent 7058887 describing a means of determining the position on a Web page according to user-defined settings, including the page’s domain. This IBM patent was referenced in the re-examination as clarification for the rejection of the sixth claim.


• The examiner also referred to the IBM Home Page Reader Version 2.5 Manual.


• Ex Parte Re-examination, Control Number 90/010,473, Central Re-examination Unit, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Visit the Patent Application Information Retrieval Web site and enter the specified control number to obtain this document. The Patent Office provides this document only in scanned image PDF, which is inaccessible to blind readers. An accessible copy of this document has been made available using Kurzweil K1000 Version 11.03 optical character recognition software.


• An accessible copy of Freedom Scientific's complaint was made available in the July 24, 2008 article about the lawsuit.

Seeking Blind People Tossed Out of Their Jobs by Discrimination, Inaccessible Technology

Are you a blind person who has lost your job due to blatant discrimination or inaccessible technology? If so, we want to hear from you!

In a Sept. 30 press release, President Obama said he proclaims October National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

"Fair access to employment is a fundamental right of every American, including the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities," Obama said in the press release. "A job can provide financial stability, help maximize our potential, and allow us to achieve our dreams."

What does this really mean for blind people? Can we have "fair access" to employment while much of the technology used by the sighted remains out of the reach of the screen readers and other assistive technologies that enable us to effectively operate computers? What happens when technology in a workplace changes without a thought to the needs of employees with disabilities? How are we supposed to respond to the removal of "financial stability," the wasted potential and shattered dreams of blind people who have lost their jobs due to the wreckless actions of thoughtless employers who respond to technology inaccessibility by tossing away the person as though they are yesterday's newspaper or just so much trash whose usefulness has expired?

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act substantially increased funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and provided more than $500 million for vocational rehabilitation services, including job training, education, and placement," said Obama. "If we are to build a world free from unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination, we must ensure that every American receives an education that prepares him or her for future success."

Although blind people continue to face discrimination and negative stereotypes on a daily basis, many are also hired to fill positions in virtually all walks of life based on their qualifications. Through our own experiences in the world of business and employment, many of us are growing to believe the barrier of inaccessibility is a critical factor that holds us down. In an increasing number of cases, employers would love to hire or retain blind people as employees if only the software they must use in order to do their jobs could be accessed with a screen reader.

Let's use National Disability Employment Awareness Month to make a strong case for greater accessibility. If you have lost your job because of inaccessible technology or were not hired because the software used in the workplace could not be made accessible, we would like to hear from you right away. Now is the opportunity for you to let your voice be heard around the world, not only on Blind Access Journal, but possibly in the mainstream media. Please e-mail employment@blindaccessjournal.com and tell us your story.

Download Instructions for Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft released its new free anti-malware Security Essentials product to Genuine Windows users Tuesday. The company's Web developers forgot to make sure that the download process was intuitive for its blind customers. While browsing the Security Essentials Web site, people who rely on screen readers feel or hear a link containing the following text: "A38FFBF2-1122-48B4-AF60-E44F6DC28BD8/mssefullinstall-x86fre-en-us-vista-win7." Microsoft representatives have been asked about this concern, and a response from the company's public relations staff is anticipated in the near future.

Until Microsoft corrects the download process, an alternative exists for blind users to gain access to the software. Follow these steps to download Microsoft Security Essentials:

1. Visit the Microsoft Security Essentials Web site.


2. Select the "Locales and languages" link.


3. Press the screen reader keystroke to redraw or refresh the interpretation of the screen's contents. This command is Insert+Escape for JAWS and System Access, and Insert+Backslash for Window-Eyes. This step is critical in order to view the information that has changed on the dynamic Web page.


4. Select the country in which you are located from the combo box.


5. Select the link appropriate for the 32- or 64-bit operating system you are running. The download process begins.

Job Opportunity: Lighthouse Seeks Blind Executive Director

Kirk Adams, President, The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc has asked us to carry the following job announcement to fill an executive director position.

"I am committed to having a blind person in the top leadership position at our Inland Northwest Lighthouse facility," said Adams. "This is an exceptional opportunity for the right person, and I am willing to take all the time necessary to find the right fit. Either a person with the skills and experience to step right in, or someone who can develop with training and mentoring."

Underscoring his desire to see a blind person holding a leadership role in the community served by the Lighthouse, Adams added: "We opened about fifteen months ago, making office products for the federal government. We currently have 35 blind employees, with a goal of 45 by year's end. I believe this operation will support employment of 100 blind people five years from now."

The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc

Inland Northwest Lighthouse

Job Announcement

Title: Executive Director

Department: Administration

Reports To: President, CEO

Location: Spokane, Washington

Hours: Full Time M-F, includes some Saturday work

Summary: The Executive Director is responsible for accomplishing the mission of The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. at Inland Northwest Lighthouse (INL). Provide leadership, with passion, to address issues facing persons who are blind, Deaf-Blind and blind with other disabilities. Educate and create awareness about the blindness field within the greater Spokane community. Provide successful leadership and management of the INL facility. Align INL initiatives with the strategic plan of the Lighthouse. Accountable to accomplish specific goals that support the INL business plan.

Responsibilities:

• Leadership
  
  
  
  • Represent the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. and the INL within the Inland Northwest community.
  
  
  • Participate with the INL Advisory Committee and CEO to develop a vision, mission, values, and INL strategic and business plans.
  
  
  • Identify, assess, and inform the Advisory Committee and CEO of internal and external issues that affect the organization.
  
  
  • Foster effective team work among the Advisory Committee, staff, and CEO.
  
  


• Operational planning and management
  
  
  
  • Ensure the INL meets the expectations of its customers, employees, Advisory Committee, funders, CEO and all other stakeholders, including blindness consumer groups, NIB and its associated agencies.
  
  
  • Oversee the performance management system including creation and implementation of individual development plans for each INL employee.
  
  
  • Oversee accommodations, accessibility and use of assistive technology at organizational and individual employee levels.
  
  
  • Give input to Lighthouse HR staff in terms of developing and implementing policies and procedures that affect the INL.
  
  
  • Ensure that personnel, client, donor and volunteer files are securely stored and privacy/confidentiality is maintained.
  
  
  • Work with Board Support Team to prepare meeting agenda and supporting materials for the INL Advisory Committee.
  
  


• Program planning and management
  
  
  
  • Ensure that the programs and services offered by the organization contribute to the organization’s mission and reflect the priorities of the Advisory Committee, CEO and blindness communities.
  
  
  • Work closely with Lighthouse government relations to partner with agencies and public officials to identify issues and improve mission-related legislation, services and supports.
  
  
  • Monitor the day-to-day delivery of the programs and services of the organization to maintain or improve quality.
  
  


• Human resources planning and management
  
  
  
  • Work with HR Department, GMO, and GMA to determine staffing requirements for overall organizational management, program & service delivery. Work with GMO as requested to support workforce needs in manufacturing.
  
  
  • Oversee the implementation of the human resources policies, procedures and practices.
  
  
  • Establish a positive, healthy, safe and accessible work environment that promotes positive open communication in accordance with the Lighthouse human resources, safety & wellness program and applicable laws and regulations.
  
  
  • Recruit, interview and select staff that have the knowledge, skills and abilities to help further the organization's mission.
  
  
  • Ensure that all staff receives orientation and training appropriate for their positions.
  
  


• Financial planning and management
  
  
  
  • Work with CFO, GMO, and INL Production Manager to prepare a comprehensive budget. Monitor actual performance against the budget and recommend corrective actions to achieve budget as needed.
  
  
  • Work with the Advisory Committee and development staff to secure adequate funding to meet INL goals.
  
  
  • In conjunction with the Communications Department, coordinate and lead INL fundraising activities.
  
  
  • Work with Lighthouse CFO to ensure that accounting and recordkeeping policies and procedures are implemented.
  
  


• Community relations/advocacy
  
  
  
  • Establish good working relationships and collaborative arrangements with community groups, funders, public officials and other organizations to help achieve goals including funding, donations, customer support, community responsibility and involvement in the blindness field.
  
  
  • Attend NFB, WCB and AFB meetings and events as appropriate. Participate and serve as a speaker as appropriate.
  
  


• Risk management
  
  
  
  • Identify and evaluate organizational risks to: stakeholders including employees and persons receiving services; property, finances, goodwill, and image. Implement measures to control risks.
  
  

Requirements: (equivalent education/and or experience may substitute)

• Education
  
  
  
  • Bachelor degree in business/management and non-profit leadership.
  
  


• Knowledge
  
  
  
  • Knowledge of current community challenges and opportunities relating to the mission of the organization.
  
  
  • Knowledge of leadership and management principles as they relate to non-profit/ voluntary organizations.
  
  
  • Knowledge of sound business practices and principles.
  
  
  • Knowledge of government, political process, fundraising, community service and service provider organizations.
  
  
  • Knowledge of federal legislation applicable to voluntary sector organizations.
  
  
  • Knowledge of human resources management.
  
  
  • Knowledge of financial management.
  
  
  • Knowledge of project management.
  
  
  • Knowledge of disability issues, workplace accommodations and assistive technology strongly preferred.
  
  

Skills

• Demonstrated blindness skills that support independent living such as orientation and mobility, cane travel, use of assistive technology such as JAWS or ZoomText. Braille, or guide dog/cane use are strongly preferred.


• Leadership, collaboration and teambuilding skills necessary to work seamlessly with all stakeholders and employees.


• Excellent presentation and communication skills are necessary.


• Proficiency in the use of computers for Word processing, financial management, and e-mail.

Abilities and Attributes

• Adaptability: Demonstrate a willingness to be flexible, versatile and/or tolerant in a changing work environment while maintaining effectiveness and efficiency.


• Demonstrate Ethics: Understand ethical behavior and business practices, and ensure that own behavior and the behavior of others is consistent with these standards and aligns with the values of the organization.


• Build Relationships: Establish and maintain positive working relationships with others, both internally and externally, to achieve the goals of the organization.


• Communicate Effectively: Speak, listen and write in a clear, thorough and timely manner using appropriate and effective communication tools and techniques.


• Creativity/Innovation: Develop new and unique ways to improve operations of the organization and to create new opportunities.


• Focus on needs of those being served: Anticipate, understand, and respond to the needs of disabled employees and community members to meet or exceed their expectations within the organizational parameters.


• Foster Teamwork: Work cooperatively and effectively with others to set goals, resolve problems, and make decisions that enhance organizational effectiveness.


• Leadership: Positively influence others to achieve results that are in the best interest of the organization.


• Make Decisions: Assess situations to determine the importance, urgency and risks, and make clear decisions which are timely and in the best interests of the organization.


• Organize: Set priorities, develop a work schedule, monitor progress towards goals, and track details, data, information and activities.


• Plan: Determine strategies to move the organization forward, set goals, create and implement action plans, and evaluate the process and results.


• Solve Problems: Assess problem situations to identify causes, gather and process relevant information, generate possible solutions, and make recommendations and/or resolve the problem.


• Think Strategically: Assesses options and actions based on trends and conditions in the environment, and the vision and values of the organization.

Experience

• Five or more years of progressive management experience in a nonprofit sector preferred.


• Experience in government and political processes; blindness consumer groups and issues.

Working Conditions

• Work in an office environment within a manufacturing facility.


• Work a standard work week, but additionally will often work evening, weekends, and overtime hours to accommodate activities such as attending advisory council meetings and public events.

Persons who are legally blind and meet the qualifications are urged to apply for this position.

Seattle Lighthouse will conduct a nation wide search to fill this position. We expect this extensive search to take six to twelve months.

Equal Opportunity Employer M/F

Please email cover letter and resume to jobs (at) seattlelh.org or mail them to:

The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.

Attn.: Don Helsel

2501 S. Plum Street

Seattle, Washington 98144

Telephone: (206) 436-2760

Fax: 206.436.2244

TTY: (206) 324-1388

Visit our Web site for more information about employment at the Lighthouse, and to download an application form.

Friday’s State-wide Cox Outage Inconveniences Customers

Some Cox Communications customers throughout Arizona woke up Friday morning to find themselves disconnected from their digital lives. Technical support calls were greeted by a recorded message that stated: “We are currently experiencing outages affecting high speed Internet and digital telephone state-wide. Our engineers are working to resolve this issue. There is no estimated time of repair.”

Tempe resident Lauren Peikoff, an Arizona State University journalism student, wanted to go online before leaving for class.

"I needed to check to see if I had any assignments posted," said Peikoff. "I wanted to find out if there was anything else I needed to do. What if my instructor said class was canceled?"

She was also concerned about an assignment in her online class due Friday evening.

"I was thinking ahead. OK. I am going to have to go to the library to submit my homework," Peikoff said.

She was relieved to discover she could complete the assignment at home after service was restored sometime between 1:30 and 2 p.m.

Tempe resident Corey Nava also experienced the outage.

"I was trying to check my e-mail at the time and I couldn't even get to it. It was just a pain, really," Nava said. "I was actually looking for a car online, too, so, it kind of put a damper on that."

Cox representatives said the service interruption was caused by a software problem.

"It disrupted service to around 10 percent of our customers," said Michael Dunne, Director of Media Relations, Cox Communications, Southern Arizona. "It wasn't geographically located. It was kind of all over. Our techs immediately started working the issue."

Cox Media Relations Director Andrea Katsenes prefers not to classify the incident as an outage. "The interruption was intermittent," she said.

"We've been talking to our customers on a case-by-case basis," Katsenes said, declining to provide details on any steps Cox might take to compensate customers.

Nava said he won’t ask Cox for any credit to his account. "I probably won't even follow up on it. It was an inconvenience and it's not the first time it happened."

Let's Ask Twitter to Enable Us to Moderate Follow Requests

Hard-working, honest Twitter users are getting sick and tired of all the bogus follow requests they receive on a daily basis as they post updates to Twitter. It seems there are automated computer programs, AKA bots, that search for interesting topics and try to follow everyone who tweets about them in hopes the favor will be reciprocated. Once the user follows the bogus Twitter account, their time line can be spammed with unwanted links to advertising and marketing from a strange company with an unknown reputation. What measures can we take now to protect ourselves and what can Twitter do to help?

Some people I know take a conservative, guarded approach to Twitter. These users protect their accounts. They may be followed only by request and their tweets may be viewed only by approved followers. Users in this camp restrict their followers to close friends and relatives, limiting their participation in all that Twitter has to offer. These users can't be followed by others with a legitimate interest in the topics about which they tweet and are unable to meet new people. It would seem they lose out on most of the benefits of social media. While a portion of these users really do want a private Twitter experience, others feel the need to employ these measures as protection against spammers.

In contrast, other users wish to avail themselves of all the social media benefits Twitter offers, putting up with the junk in the process. They allow everyone to follow their public tweets and revel in the prospect of connecting and communicating with people they met online. The public profile of these users exposes them to phishing, spamming, social engineering and other forms of abuse. How can public users protect themselves while enjoying all of Twitter's benefits?

There are currently a number of ways for public Twitter users to combat abuse, but all may require significant time and effort. How does one avoid unscrupulous users while ensuring they allow participation by those who have a legitimate interest in their tweets? While much of the abuse is perpetrated by bots, it seems the defense must be conducted manually, on a case-by-case basis as attacks are attempted.

Good protection seems to start at the point where a user makes a follow request. The requester is asking for permission to see your updates on their Twitter home page or in their Twitter application. Once the user follows you, he or she typically hopes you will return the favor in order to form a connection. When two Twitter users follow each other, a two-way relationship exists permitting the private exchange of direct messages and the public swapping of Twitter updates. The malicious user can abuse this new relationship by posting pushy marketing information to all their followers or by attempting to lure their followers to questionable Web sites that try to collect usernames, passwords and other personal data.

The key is to ensure you are only forming healthy relationships on Twitter by carefully evaluating each new follow request and keeping these guidelines in mind before approving anyone:

• Check the Twitter username. If it contains several numbers after the name, this may represent a red flag. Proceed with caution. Bots can create accounts based on a name, adding numbers until an unused one has been found.


• Look for nonsensical names or missing biographical information on the user's Twitter home page. If you don't like what you see, by all means ignore the follow request.


• Consider taking a look at the Web site linked in the user's profile. Exercise caution, though, as this link might point to a malicious page or an attempted social engineering attack. Do not trust the page's content and avoid entering any personal data.


• Review the updates the user has posted. You can quickly see the 20 most recent tweets on the user's Twitter home page. Red flags include a large number of links without context, little or no conversation with other users and a lack of information you deem interesting.


• If you believe the user is malicious, press the Block button. If you just find the user's content uninteresting, simply ignore the follow request but do not block. Blocking can have a negative impact on a user's reputation and may potentially limit their future ability to use Twitter.

We can ask Twitter to develop an easy solution that would allow us to strike a balance between the limitations inherent in a protected account and the anything-goes nature of a public account. The solution is moderated following. In a moderated following scenario, anyone making a follow request would be asked to explain why they should be granted that honor. The proposed feature would work like this:

• A user wishes to follow someone on Twitter.


• She visits the person's Twitter home page and presses the Follow button.


• She is asked to provide the reason she wishes to follow the other person.


• Twitter notifies the recipient of the follow request, including the stated reason.


• The recipient is given a chance to accept or reject the request.


• If it is accepted, the requester receives appropriate notification. If denied, the requester receives nothing.

Let's all think about how a moderated follow scenario might work and, if it's something worth pursuing, ask Twitter to consider putting it in place as a new feature. All comments are appreciated as always.

FeedBlitz Adds Audio CAPTCHA, Tears Down "No Blind People Allowed" Sign

In a Sept. 24 post on the company's news blog, the self-proclaimed "Email Marketing Service for Blogs, Social Media and RSS" announced it has added an audio CAPTCHA. This facility delivers an audio alternative to the distorted text sighted users are asked to enter during registration or subscription, permitting access for blind and visually impaired users to the same resources available to the sighted.

"FeedBlitz has added an audio version of the visual CAPTCHA (which has also been slightly updated) used on all FeedBlitz subscription forms," according to the statement.

The new audio verification system can be heard on the company's registration page. A clear voice is used to announce the letters and numbers to be entered. No background distortion is heard. Audio playback is delivered in the form of a standard MP3 file that can be opened and played according to the user's needs and preferences.

FeedBurner, a Google property competing with FeedBlitz in the RSS space, continues to lack audio playback functionality, thus barring access to blind people.

Opportunity to Ask Google for More Blogger Accessibility

Though Blogger already has a lot to offer blind and visually impaired audiences and content creators, there continue to be some nagging unresolved accessibility issues, including missing alt tags and unlabeled Flash controls. All blind and visually impaired readers, and those who care about us, are asked to take the Blogger user feedback survey and use the comment fields to ask Google to improve the accessibility of the service for blind and visually impaired people.

Should Focus be Placed on Concrete Accessibility Issues or on an Abstract Fight Against Blindness Stereotypes?

Many in the blind community are enraged after discovering an article entitled How to Care for a Blind Person on a popular how-to Web site, but are the misconceptions and stereotypes found in such content the most important issues we should be addressing? Several blind people have spoken out on Twitter.

"We all have to set our priorities, we think that people need to know that blind people are not retarted invalids," said Bat. "You can have access to every bit of tech, if people think you are an idiot how much luck do you think you will have?"

Bat continued: "Both (accessibility and perception) are equally important and must be addressed at the same time. Progress in one makes progress in the other easier."

Ricky Enger said: "The concrete and the abstract are both important. But with concrete battles, seems you always have to start from the ground up. By addressing the underlying abstract concept, which is that we should truly be viewed as equals, the concrete issues take care of themselves. People then address accessibility issues because it makes sense, not because it's been mandated. Example: we could advocate for access to Kindle all we want. But if people consciously or unconsciously believe that we are all low income and have caregivers, as portrayed in the eHow article, we'll be perceived as an unimportant share of the market and not worth satisfying until failure to do so brings about legal action."

"A great mentor of mine always taught me that perception was stronger than reality," Ranger said. "Swinging at every pitch results in a lower batting average instead of waiting for the right pitch to hit."

"I think the two are very different issues," said Steve Sawczyn. "Why choose one or the other? Why not work on both fronts?"

Shannon C. said "Well, the stereotypes should be combatted before accessibility will become a greater issue."

"No more jobs if the employers think we aren't competent to hold them, no matter what the accessibility is," said Buddy Brannan.

Chris Meredith said "I think the stereotypes should be fought concurrent with the concrete issues, because I think they feed on each other."

"I think they (inaccessibility and stereotypes) are both important and need to be fought equally," Amber W. said.

Let your voice be heard. Should we focus on combatting inaccessibility, battling stereotypes or both? We await your comments.

Tempe City Council Keeps Manager, Improves Disabled Parking Access

The Tempe City Council voted in its Tuesday evening meeting to improve the accessibility of parking for people with disabilities and keep City Manager Charlie Meyer on the job.

Rosa Inchausti, Diversity Manager with the city of Tempe's Diversity Department, said before the meeting that the city recognizes people with disabilities need access to the parking spot, the sidewalk and the building's entrance.

She said the city has always complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but this new ordinance goes "a few notches" beyond the legal requirements.

"We're just looking to make quality of life easier for people with disabilities," Inchausti said.

Ed Mitchell, Tempe resident and member of the city's Mayor's Commission on Disability Concerns, said ahead of the Council vote that the ordinance makes it against the law to block accessible parking spaces, the isles around those spaces and the curb ramps leading to sidewalks.

"Armored cars would block accessible spaces because they're closest to the door," Mitchell said. "Hopefully, On Oct. 10, they'll get cited if they do that."

He said the time allowed to assist a person with a disability at alleys and loading curbs, which are typically restricted to delivery trucks, has been extended from five to 15 minutes.

Breaking the new law comes at a steep price.

"The fine is minimally $250 for any of the parking, curb ramps or access isles," Mitchell said. "For forgery, (of the disabled parking placards) it's $300."

"What we want people to know is that we're serious about having accessible parking areas for people and protecting them," said Mitchell.

Council members approved the ordinance by a unanimous vote.

In other action, City Manager Charlie Meyer hung onto his job by a narrow margin as the Council voted on the continuance of his employment agreement.

"I don't think Charlie recognizes in his actions the importance of diversity in Tempe. In my opinion, Charlie has not disciplined department heads who did not meet job expectations," Councilmember Ben Arredondo said in the debate leading up to the vote. "Charlie does not communicate with the council very well. And, finally, Charlie does not value his Tempe employees."

Councilmember Onnie Shekerjian said in support of Meyer: "Mr. Meyer came at a time when there was a lot of change about to take place and the economy took a huge dip. Because of his financial expertise and because of the quiet leadership he does show, we have been able to fare far better than other cities in terms of making sure that people are not laid off."

"He has asked some city staff members to think outside the box and to question the way they do things. That makes some people a little uncomfortable at times," Shekerjian said.

Shekerjian said: "I've found Mr. Meyer to be someone who rolls up his sleeves and gets involved and quietly does the heavy lifting. And, many times, those types of people who don't go out and do a lot of politicking, we don't see the good work they do."

She does not buy arguments claiming any lack of diversity on Meyer's part.

"I have never found that he has not supported diversity as a woman and a minority," Shekerjian said. "He treats all of us with the same level of respect that we all should be afforded."

Meyer's job was saved by a four to three Council vote.

WordPress Asked to Make Adding and Moving Widgets Accessible to the Blind Once Again

An accessibility advocate has asked WordPress to restore the ability for blind users to add and move widgets. Fellow blind and sighted WordPress users are urged to add their support to this effort.

Once upon a time, blind WordPress users enjoyed the ability to add and move widgets at will using the keyboard, but this accessibility vanished somewhere along the WordPress development cycle.

"I'm disappointed that WordPress has removed accessibility for widgets. Dragging widgets is the only way to add or rearrange them," said Monica Willyard, a freelance writer and publisher of The Scanners Guild blog, in a post on Twitter. "They fixed it in version 2.5, and they seem to have broken it again."

Willyard, like many other blind Internet users, is frustrated when keyboard navigation alternatives and other reasonable accessibility accommodations are not provided.

"At the moment, I'm having very angry and unprintable thoughts about the enventor of the mouse and the drag and drop process," she said. "I have had four completely unrelated projects today where I can't do what I need to do because the programmers relied on drag and drop."

Washington D.C.: Radio Silence on the Subway

Seems there's virtually no connectivity available while riding the Metro subway. Verizon is the only cellular carrier with cell towers in the subway, so those of us who rely on alternate carriers like AT&T are just out of luck while underground. In addition, the Metro system does not offer Wi-Fi, so there's no Internet access. Since all mobile cell and Internet communications involve the good old air waves, I say there's virtual radio silence while riding the D.C. area subway. Oh, well, maybe there are actually times when it's good to disconnect and get away from it all...

Washington D.C.: Let the Adventure Begin!

Early in the morning of Sunday, August 9, I departed Phoenix for Washington D.C. on a week-long trip visiting my friend Milica (Mimi).

Flying the Relatively Friendly Skies

I left home at 4:30 AM for a 6:00 flight to New York City. Delta Airlines charges $15 for the first checked bag, which is unfortunately rather typical of today's market. The security check-in process was no worse than the usual hassle. Everyone involved was very helpful. I got a window seat with noone sitting immediately to my left. Audrey, one of the flight attendants, was especially accommodating. I enjoyed good conversation with an American Airlines pilot completing the last leg of his flight home to New York from Thailand, slept intermittently and read for an hour or so. I'm reading There's No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark.

The three-hour layover at New York's JFK airport was certainly not the most exciting portion of the day's travels. The terminal had no free Wi-Fi, and I could not get my MSI Wind netbook to synchronize with my Motorola Q9H phone, so accessing the Internet was completely out of the question. I spent over an hour troubleshooting the problem, all to no avail. Finally, I gave up and finished some additional reading.

Finally, the flight from New York to Reagan National was pretty bad, featuring a crowded plane, isle seat, two big guys sitting in the middle and window seats next to me and a rough takeoff capped by a rougher landing. Bernadette, one of the flight attendants, was very accommodating, doing her best to smooth some of the roughest edges.
Though the flight got off the ground late due to heavy traffic and a stalled tractor used to push the plane from the gate, we made up most of the time in the air and I was on the ground by 7:05.

Reunion and End of the Day's Journey

Milica met me at the baggage claim section of the airport. As expected, it was very nice to see her again. As we walked outside, I was stunned by the hot, humid weather conditions. Reading a weather forecast is nothing like actually experiencing the weather firsthand. I had forgotten exactly how it felt to be outside in 90 plus degree heat with humidity percentages in the double digits. We rode the Metro subway, ate dinner at a nice little Chinese restaurant called Mr. Chang's (where all the staff were Chinese who spoke minimal English) and connected with Mimi's friends where I would be staying.

First Full Day

Monday's activities began with breakfast followed by a tour of the Newseum, a museum covering the past five centuries of journalism. Our tour guide, Ryan, did a great job, making this an enjoyable, mostly accessible experience. While there were many disappointing exhibits behind cases and walls we could not touch, we were able to experience several exhibits, including touching a piece of the Berlin Wall, a guard tower from the wall, a piece of a damaged wall from the Pentagon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the journalist's memorial wall and several more. We were even able to tour George Stephanopoulos' broadcast studio!

In the evening, we went to the M&S Grill to hang out with Jamal Mazrui, Mikah Pyyhkala, Mark, Anne, Sam, Sarah and many others from the DC Night Out gang, a group of blind people who live in the Washington D.C. area and meet on a regular basis. Mimi and I had a great time with this wonderful group of folks! We're even hoping to arrange a going-away party for Saturday night!

I know I've barely touched the surface, but I hope all of you have at least gotten a flavor of what I've been up to here in Washington D.C. Stay tuned for more as the week speeds along. If you're in the D.C. area and you would like to arrange a meeting with us, please e-mail editor@blindaccessjournal.com or dial my cell phone at 480-652-3813.

First Impressions: A New BookSense Owner Compares the New Audio Player and Book Reader to HumanWare's VictorReader Stream

This article compares the new BookSense product sold by GW Micro and manufactured by Hims Co, LTD." with the well-established VictorReader Stream manufactured and sold by HumanWare. Both products are ultra-portable devices that enable the blind to read audio books, access books in several electronic text formats and listen to music. I have presented this information in a way that expresses what I believe, in my personal and professional opinion, to be the pros and cons of the new BookSense as compared with the VictorReader Stream from the perspective of an advanced blind technology user who has owned the Stream for almost two years and has just started using the BookSense two days ago.

BookSense Pros

The BookSense sports a plethora of new features and enhancements over the VictorReader Stream which are the basis for the vast majority of its strengths.

BookSense has a text-to-speech synthesizer that seems far superior than that in the VR Stream. It uses the Kate and Paul voices at, I believe, 22 KHz. The vastly improved TTS engine is the primary reason I decided to purchase the BookSense despite my already owning a Stream. I read lots of electronic books during the fall and spring semesters in journalism school, and I was finding the TTS on the Stream slightly hard to handle for that purpose at times. In contrast, I have been reading a book I downloaded from Bookshare yesterday morning and have been enjoying it on the BookSense reading with the Kate voice. Kate and Paul are terrible when used as speech synthesizers for computers, in my opinion, but they're quite appropriate for use on a book reading device like the BookSense. I heard these voices during the BookSense presentation, and I was sold after doing a bit more research.

BookSense is significantly smaller in size and lighter in weight as compared to the Stream. It is supplied with a lanyard that enables wearing the unit around the neck. The BookSense appears to be well-constructed with tough plastic and flatter buttons that seem to be less susceptible to wear and tear as compared to some of the controls found on the Stream.

BookSense enables charging of its battery through the USB connection while the Stream does not. This offers an obvious practical enhancement over the Stream, where only its proprietary charger may be used. Although charging through the USB connection requires a little more than twice the time (5 versus 2 hours) to complete, the increased flexibility more than makes up for that minor disadvantage.

BookSense supports many formats not available on the Stream, including Audible Enhanced (high quality stereo books from Audible.com), iTunes, MP4 and others. Support for WMA protected files, such as the Overdrive books you can acquire through public libraries, is promised in a future firmware upgrade.

BookSense has a clock! That's right. The device can act as a talking clock and you can hear the time even when it is otherwise powered off. Hardware limitations mean that the Stream will never provide this unless a revision is made requiring owners to purchase new units or spend a significant amount of additional funds on an upgrade. Lack of a clock on the Stream means that formats like protected WMA will never be supported because they require adherence to expiration dates and similar licensing rules. Besides, I find it annoying that something as simple as a clock was left out of the design of the Stream.

BookSense incorporates a pair of internal stereo speakers that's actually loud enough to be useful!

BookSense records in honest-to-goodness stereo MP3 or wave formats at sampling rates high enough to be useful for podcasting, sound seeing tours and other situations outside the traditional classroom scenario imagined by the designers of the Stream.

BookSense XT sports an FM radio that allows blind users to finally enjoy some of the basics the sighted have always had, including verbal frequency read-out and station presets. I know this is rather silly, but I've always wanted a radio that would tell me the frequency and allow me to store presets in a way that's fully accessible. Of course, some ham radio gear has contained this level of accessibility for years, but it's nice to finally see it on a broadcast receiver.

BookSense XT has 4 GB of internal Flash storage, where the Stream has none at all. The BookSense is supplied with a 2 GB SD card and the BookSense XT is supplied with an 8 GB SD card. You're completely on your own to purchase an SD card for the Stream, which requires one to operate since it sports no internal storage.

The BookSense XT features Bluetooth for connection to a wireless headset. While this feature currently appears to be unreliable, I am confident the issues will be resolved in short order and the use of a wireless headset will be an enjoyable experience for BookSense XT owners.

Finally, but certainly no less important, the BookSense is sold in the United States by GW Micro, developers of the popular Window-Eyes screen reader and a company known for its high touch and attention to customer service and support.

BookSense Cons

Despite the arrival of this new book reader and player on the market, there is no combination of hardware and firmware that is 100 percent perfect. This couldn't be more true in the case of the BookSense. It is quite likely, however, that many if not all the disadvantages of the BookSense will be addressed in the near future by GW Micro and Hims, its South Korean manufacturer.

HumanWare has done an excellent job with the controls on the VR Stream, making it, perhaps, one of the easiest blindness technology products to use in the field as of this writing in mid-2009. All controls on the Stream feature good spacing and tactile features making them easy to identify and locate from a blind perspective. Although it is obvious that efforts were made to ensure a similarly easy experience with BookSense, its flatter, smoother controls may put off some users who might find them difficult to manage due to other conditions such as nerve damage in the fingers from diabetes.

On a similar note, HumanWare does a good job of packaging the Stream. The accompanying CD-ROM containing companion software, documentation and the tutorial is supplied in a case that is labeled in Braille for easy identification. The power supply has a rather unique rectangular shape and features several smoothed edges that make it easy to identify and set it apart from other adapters. In comparison, the BookSense CD-ROM, which contains no audio tutorial or companion software, is supplied in a basic paper sleeve with no Braille label, making it just another CD among many in one's collection. The power supply for the BookSense does feature a nice Braille label, but a switch found next to the plug provides no Braille or tactile indicator. Presuming this switch controls the AC input voltage, one might wonder how long it will take for GW Micro technical support to start dealing with burned up adapters and related hardware problems.

Documentation is another strong point in favor of the Stream. The CD-ROM accompanying the Stream features documentation in several text formats and an excellent audio tutorial created by Jeff Bishop, a broadcaster, Window-Eyes script developer and well-recognized participant in the connected online blind community. If you purchase your Stream from a dealer along with an SD card, it may contain some of this documentation in a form that is ready to read right on the Stream out of the box. In contrast, the CD-ROM accompanying the BookSense contains only the user's manual in four text formats: rich-text format (RTF), plain text (TXT) and two Microsoft Word documents (the older DOC and the newer DOCX). There is no audio tutorial or other content. Despite the fact that both the BookSense and BookSense XT are supplied with SD cards and the BookSense XT sports internal storage, the manual is not available on the BookSense until the user copies it to the appropriate folder.

Full text navigation is available on the Stream starting at the character level and moving all the way through paragraphs, pages and headings according to the format being read. In comparison, BookSense does not currently allow character-level navigation in text DAISY files such as those supplied by Bookshare. It is hoped this serious oversight will be corrected very soon. It is important to note that the Stream experienced similar challenges in version 1.0 of its firmware.

Overall simplicity and usability are solidly in the Stream's favor. Each button on the Stream has a well-defined function, menus are simple in nature and it is not necessary to understand Windows or other GUI concepts in order to become an expert user of the Stream. In comparison, the BookSense is a complex device. The manual describes the use of controls including combo boxes, dialogue boxes, edit boxes and menus. Each primary feature (Book Reader, DAISY Player, Media Player, Radio) is considered an application. It may be presumed that the extensive feature set found on the BookSense makes the complexity a necessary evil.

Though the BookSense XT features Bluetooth for connecting to a wireless headset, this functionality currently contains a serious bug making it unreliable. Several new BookSense owners have reported that, after reading for a short time, all audio goes silent and the BookSense completely locks up. GW Micro and the product's manufacturer are aware of this concern and are working to remedy the issue as soon as possible.

Finally, the BookSense is a new, version 1.0 product. There are bugs, oversights and unforeseen challenges that the Stream has already surpassed during its two years in the marketplace. As the BookSense matures, bugs will be squashed and exciting new features will be added. At the same time, HumanWare representatives have assured the blind community that the Stream will continue to prosper.

Thanks go to several Twitter followers for clarifications and updates.

Guide Dog Users Group Features Inaccessible Convention Streaming

Investigating a report late Sunday evening, we confirmed that GUIDE DOG USERS, INC., an affiliate of the American Council of the Blind is broadcasting its convention using an inaccessible embedded Flash media player. Blind users can listen to the broadcasts but unlabeled buttons provide an inferior experience for the blind as compared to that enjoyed by the sighted.

"We will make efforts to make our site more accessible," said Bill Clanton, founder and producer of All Pets Radio, the company through which GDUI outsourced the streaming. "Some of the changes you've suggested will take some time to redesign, but we want to make All Pets Radio available to all audiences, so we will make the necessary changes."

"I wonder why they didn't use ACB Radio for this?" asked Karen Shandrow, a guide dog owner and potential target audience for the broadcasts.

GDUI's webmaster, Earlene Hughes, was not available for comment.

Newegg Adds Audio CAPTCHA, Demonstrates Ongoing Accessibility Commitment

Newegg announced Tuesday that it has implemented audio CAPTCHA on its login page as part of its ongoing commitment to accessibility. The audio playback features an easy-to-understand foreground voice reciting the alphanumeric code to be entered with a background sporting an outdoor sound scheme.

"We at Newegg want to make our website accessible for everyone, including our visually challenged visitors. To demonstrate our commitment, just recently Newegg was awarded the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification for implementing Deque System’s Worldspace product," said an unnamed Newegg representative. "Newegg voluntarily implemented the CAPTCHA on our website. We always appreciate suggestions that make our site more user-friendly and since becoming aware of your comments we have installed the audio CAPTCHA for your use."

Blind customers appreciate this positive move. "The NewEgg audio CAPTCHA works great, simple, fairly straight forward, and not a million characters to remember!" said Tina Ektermanis, a blind college student who experienced difficulties making a purchase on the site in June.

NFB's Accessible Convention Broadcasts Highlight the Organization's Responsiveness

On Sunday, we reported the inaccessibility of the live convention broadcasts of the National Federation of the Blind. A new, accessible streaming option was released by the organization Monday morning.

"You're 100 percent correct about the inaccessibility of Silverlight. The first time we realized the company who donated the streaming to us used Silverlight was when we saw your blog post," said Chris Danielsen, NFB's Director of Public Relations. "The NFB will never purposely launch an inaccessible technology. We make every effort to make sure we're practicing what we preach. In this situation, we screwed up. But we rectified it immediately."

We jumped the gun by writing the story without giving NFB officials a chance to remedy the issue.

"You could argue we should have been aware of it, but we weren't. As soon as we found out about it from you, we rectified it. I wish an e-mail had come to us before the blog post. I wish you would've confirmed this before blogging," Danielsen said. "In the future, please talk to us before calling us out."

"The fact that the organization was able to remedy the situation very early on when few staff are in their offices is promising," said Angie Matney, a blind law school graduate and NFB member. "It demonstrates that NFB is committed to ensuring the best possible convention listening experience for all who were unable to attend."

Good ASU Coverage of Kindle Case in Conjunction with Previous Channel 15 Story

This ABC News On Campus story by Toby Phillips, a senior Cronkite School student who accompanied me on last week's Channel 15 appearance, is accurate and detailed. It mentioned ACB and NFB and featured some of the best quotes from everything I said that morning. Great job Toby! Thanks!

Thought Provoker: Accessibility Evangelism or Something Else?

A reader shared with me her thoughts on the term "accessibility evangelism" as a description of the work I do to promote equal opportunity for the blind through access to information and technology. I have honored her request to remain anonymous.

I don't like the term evangelism because of the connotation. By definition, evangelism is associated with zealots and fanatics. In my mind, evangelism, zealotry and fanaticism are things you want to stay away from because the connotation is that you will do anything to achieve your goals. The impression the term gives is of a group of people that are willing to go to any lengths to promote accessibility and I think that is a little scary or fanatical. I definitely think that the phrase accessibility evangelism is off putting.   Instead of evangelism, I would suggest champion, proponent, advocate, or campaign.

Another reader, Amber, weighed in with her own thoughts:

Well, in general, evangelism makes me think of those preacher guys on TV, you know the ones who are very powerful preachers and generally I get turned off by that. But I think it's the term evangelism that makes me think of that.



I guess the term to me would mean someone who works tirelessly to get equal access to services and goods. And that's not a bad thing, just tireless and thankless.



For example, I wonder if we see the similar thing with African Americans. So many people fought tirelessly for civil rights, but do African Americans think of these things when they vote, sit anywhere in a bus, or run for political office or is it something they take for granted? I'm not saying people need to be overly thankful just remember. This goes for many groups.

Steve asked "are you going to sell me an accessible bible?"

Karen has expressed similar thoughts about associating the term"evangelism" with fallen televangelists like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.

On the other hand, an evangelist can be a positive supporter of an operating system or particular technology in the computer industry. There are evangelists for the Apple Macintosh computer, the Linux operating system and the open source software movement. Oracle even has an "accessibility evangelist" on staff who works to ensure the company's products meet established guidelines and rules like Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Now it's your turn. What comes to mind when you hear the term "accessibility evangelist"? Do you find this term confusing? Why do you think this term should or should not be used to describe efforts to increase accessibility for the blind? I welcome your comments to this thought provoker.