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Visual Verification: Zone BBS Begins Using Accessible Text Based Challenge / Response Test to Support Secure Registration

May 10, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

We are happy to report that Zone BBS, a popular text based bulletin board system in the blind community, has switched from an audio / visual CAPTCHA scheme to THaCAA – Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically to ensure the security of its account registration process. Whereas the previous scheme excludes users who happen to be deaf-blind, the new text based system includes everyone. Although no CAPTCHA test is perfectly accessible or secure, we hope the new implementation will prove to be sufficiently robust for the needs of the Zone BBS.

Coming up on Main Menu for the week of May 14 – GoldWave Enhancements, Handy Address Book and Our Panel of Experts

May 10, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
Hello Everyone, 
 
Coming up on this week’s Main Menu, our first hour is prerecorded and our second hour is live!  During the first hour, Rick Harmon tells us all about what is new in GoldWave 5.22 and the available updated JAWS scripts for that sound editing software.  Darrell Shandrow demonstrates the accessible Handy Address Book from Beiley Software.
 
In the second hour, it’s all wide open forum with our panel of experts: Darrell Shandrow, Jeff Bishop, Rick Harmon, Cory Martin and Kevin Jones.  Feel free to contact us using e-mail, MSN (Windows Live) Messenger or by phone with your burning technology questions from a blindness perspective.
 
Here is how to participate in the show:        
 
The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333.   
You may email your questions to: mainmenu@acbradio.org
You may also interact with the show via MSN (Windows Live) Messenger. The MSN Messenger ID to add is: mainmenu@acbradio.org        
 
Would you like to interact with a group of Main Menu listeners about the topics heard on Main Menu and Main Menu Live? You can do this by joining the Main Menu Friends email list. The address to subscribe is: main-menu-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Come join an already lively group of users.        
 
Would you like to subscribe to podcast feeds for Main Menu and Main Menu Live? The RSS feeds to add to your podcatching application are:        
 
 
Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, and at 1 universal (GMT) on Wednesday mornings on the ACB Radio Main Stream channel.        
 
Follow this link to listen to the show:        
 
 
Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team
Categories: Uncategorized

DVS Home Video® Sales Effort Comes to a Close

May 6, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

It seems the bad news on the accessibility front just keeps coming this
week.

DVS Home Video® Sales Effort Comes to a Close

Deep Discounts Offered for One Week on Remaining Inventory

Boston, MA. May 6. DVS Home Video, a project begun by Boston public
broadcaster WGBH in the early 90's to make movies on video accessible to the
nation's blind and visually impaired viewers, will end as of May 12. The
Hollywood studios have ceased manufacturing VHS or tape versions of films
for sale and rental.
WGBH's work to make media accessible via description goes on, with efforts
focused on television, feature films in theaters, DVDs and online video.

The DVS Home Video effort, started over a decade ago with funding from the
U.S. Department of Education, resulted in more than 300 videos made
accessible through narration of key visual elements inserted into natural
pauses in dialogue. From the very first DVS Video's debut, the reaction of
the community was immediate and actually profound. Films came alive in a
whole new way, and the eagerness for new titles only grew. Many of the
videos sold over the years were purchased by libraries and schools, which
multiplied the number of individuals and families who took such enjoyment in
described movies.

Films are now being distributed for sale and rental on DVD, BluRay DVD and
through video on demand (either rental or download to own) services via the
Internet. WGBH's Media Access Group, home to the Descriptive Video Service,
has been working to transition the home video efforts to DVD and to these
online movie delivery outlets. Lack of available memory space on DVDs has
been stated as the reason why more description tracks, created for
theatrical release in the over 300 movie theaters with WGBH's Motion Picture
Access® (MoPix®) systems, are not making the migration onto DVDs. WGBH
maintains a list of DVDs that have description tracks on them at the Web
page listed with other description-related links at the bottom of this post.

Advocacy is needed from the community of description fans to make this
transition happen. Please see the link below for a list of Hollywood
studios' home video/home entertainment divisions. Help show the providers
of video on these formats that there is a market and that you would be
willing to purchase movies with a description track included as an optional
feature.

For the next week (until May 12), DVS Home Video titles remaining in stock
will be sold at a deep discount. Videos that previously were available for
$15.01 and above will be sold for $10. Videos retailing for $15 and below
will be now be available for $5.

To access a list of available titles, please visit the Web site

http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/dvs-home-video-catalogue.html.

To hear a list of titles, and/or to place an order, please call:
317 579-0439 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

All of us at the Media Access Group appreciate the unyielding support our
efforts have generated over the years, and we are looking forward to the
next chapter. Here is a list of links to information about ongoing
description work from WGBH:

DVS on Television
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/description/ontv/

DVS in Movie Theaters
www.mopix.org

DVS on DVD
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/accessible-dvds.htm
l

Link to Contact List for Hollywood Studios
http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/studios.html
(please include "Home Entertainment Division" in the address)

Contact:
Mary Watkins
Media Access Group at WGBH
617 300-3700
mary_watkins@wgbh.org

Categories: Uncategorized

Visual Verification: Audio CAPTCHA Broken, How Will Web Site Operators Respond?

May 6, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In the article Google’s Audio CAPTCHA Cracked, PC Magazine is reporting impending security challenges for a technology on which we depend in order to reasonably accomodate our need for equal access and participation on the Internet. While companies obviously work to improve the security and usability of visual CAPTCHA, what action will they take toward the blind and visually impaired? Will they improve audio CAPTCHA or will they restore the dreaded “No Blind People Allowed” signs that still bar us from admission to many web sites? How much more difficult has it now become to convince others to unlock their doors to us? As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Reminder of Friends of Bookshare Town Meeting Tonight

May 6, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Responding to a number of inquiries, we are pleased to announce that next
Tuesday, May 6, we will hold a "Town Meeting" to discuss some programming
ideas for our Tuesday evening sessions. We encourage all of you to seriously
consider participating in the discussion.

We are especially interested in finding quality presenters of topics useful
to those interested in all aspects of reading. For example, do you know a
leader in the book publishing industry, an active author you've met on a
book signing tour or exchanged correspondence, a university or community
college teacher who would share his/her expertise and knowledge of the books
generally or specific genre, a career coach in creative writing , a product
vendor of technology of special use and interest to Bookshare members and
volunteers, or other similar professionals that share our love of books? We
promise all your ideas will be seriously considered.

We will meet in the Friends of Bookshare Community Room at 5:30 p.m.
Pacific, 6:30 p.m. Mountain, 7:30 p.m. Central, and 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Just
point your browser to:

http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs7867a2369e0e

Then, enter your name, and tab to the Log In button. No password required.

Thanks much for your willingness to improve the Friends of Bookshare
project.

Program Committee

Categories: Benetech, Bookshare

Bookshare Volunteer Coordinator Position: Putting the Rumor Mill to Rest

May 4, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

In January of this year, I learned of an opening at Benetech to fill a position as volunteer coordinator for the Bookshare project. Of course, since Bookshare is an initiative I strongly support and have featured several times in these pages over the past three and a half years, I immediately applied for consideration. Six weeks later, I was contacted, and a seven week hiring process ensued. There were ten telephone interviews with others on the Bookshare team who would have been my co-workers. On April 16, I was invited to the Benetech offices to meet everyone in person for further interviews as the next step in the process. All seemed to go very well and it was certainly an honor to meet and put faces to the names of all the staff behind my favorite blind community project. After my return home that night, it was simply a matter of waiting as feedback was collected from everyone who interviewed me, the hiring process moved forward and Jim Fruchterman made the final decision. Near the end of the process, several rumors started to be passed around Twitter and I received several e-mail and MSN (Windows Live) Messenger communications congratulating me for landing the job before I had heard any official word from Benetech!

Ever since Bookshare got started back in February of 2002, I had wondered how I could participate in a more official, paid capacity beyond my volunteer efforts as a book validator. This volunteer coordinator position was an excellent fit for my hard and soft skills, and I still believe it would have been the most compatible for the project as well. As an accessibility evangelist, I have always wanted to take a paying, action oriented position with an organization I felt was doing real work to fulfill our hopes and dreams for a brighter, more accessible future. This position represented for me and for Benetech a fantastic opportunity to reach even higher levels of book accessibility and an increased standing of the entire Bookshare.org project inside and outside the connected online community of people with print reading disabilities. My wish to be granted this opportunity to serve my blind brothers and sisters was second place in my life only to that April 1, 2005 date when I proposed marriage to Karen!

On Friday, May 2, I finally received the horribly disappointing telephone call from Lisa Friendly, Director of Bookshare Operations, telling me that I was not selected. I came in “second” to a sighted lady with more “volunteer management” experience. Obviously, I feel the decision against me is a huge let down not only for me but for the entire community served by Bookshare. Those of you who know me or have been readers of Blind Access Journal for awhile will be keenly aware of my position that any organization, or project within an organization, that serves the blind and visually impaired ought to be filled with qualified employees from our population at all levels of influence and leadership. Bringing me on board would have represented an excellent chance for Jim, Lisa and the rest of the Bookshare management team to have further demonstrated to the world the true innovation of the Bookshare project, that of the fully sighted working in concert with those with print disabilities to enhance our accessibility to the information around us, especially as compared with the institutional nature of most other organizations in our field. I was the right man for this job!

Despite everything written thus far, I continue to believe that Bookshare is one of the best initiatives currently going in the blind community. I urge anyone who is eligible to sign up for Bookshare, giving you access to more than 37,500 books in all genres. I also ask everyone, whether or not you have a print reading disability, to volunteer your effort and time to the cause. You may scan and submit new books to the collection, or validate (correct formatting and scanning errors) books already submitted as they are processed toward ultimate availability to Bookshare subscribers. Even in light of the hurt caused by this rejection, my own book validation efforts continue with gusto. Each newly scanned and validated addition to the Bookshare collection brings us one tiny step closer to the dream of full accessibility to all that is already made available to the sighted in the wonderful world of books.

I wish all the best to the newly appointed Bookshare volunteer coordinator. She has a lot of work on her plate right from the start. Expectations from this volunteer community are quite high to provide some much needed direction and fill some long-standing gaps. I trust that all of us in the Bookshare subscriber base and volunteer teams will do everything we can to ensure that our needs are met and that the project moves forward in an effective manner that works not only for the Department of Education grant but for the best interests of the entire community.

Categories: Benetech, Bookshare, opinion

Rite Aid’s Web Site and Point of Sale Improvements Praised

May 1, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
For immediate release.  Please distribute as appropriate.  

The press release below is the result of two agreements signed by Rite Aid and the American Council of the Blind (ACB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the California Council of the Blind (CCB) using Structured Negotiations.  The release and both agreements are available on line at  http://lflegal.com where you can also read last week’s release and agreement about accessible credit reports.  

Today’s agreements are the 29th and 30th agreements negotiated by ACB, AFB, CCB, and other ACB affiliates and members of the blind community on accessible information and technology.  A full list with links to all agreements can be found at http://lflegal.com/negotiations/#agreements .

Rite Aid’s Web Site and Point of Sale Improvements Praised

by Blind Community Leaders


 

Camp Hill, PA (May 1, 2008) — In a move praised by state and national blindness organizations, Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) today announced it has undertaken a nationwide initiative that will benefit Rite Aid customers with visual impairments and other disabilities.  As part of the program, Rite Aid has made enhancements to its Web site and has begun installing new point of sale equipment with tactile keypads to protect the privacy and security of all shoppers who have difficulty entering numbers on a flat screen.

Today’s announcement is the result of collaboration between Rite Aid and major organizations including the American Foundation for the Blind, American Council of the Blind and California Council of the Blind.

Web Site Access

Today’s initiative includes Rite Aid’s commitment to ensure that www.riteaid.com meets guidelines issued by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c) (www.w3.org/wai). The guidelines, which do not affect the content or look and feel of a Web site, ensure that Web sites are accessible to persons with a wide range of disabilities.  The guidelines are of particular benefit to blind computer users who use a screen reader or magnification technology on their computers and who rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse.

 “An accessible web site opens up unprecedented opportunities for people with vision loss to obtain goods, services and information on an equal footing,” said Paul Schroeder, vice president, programs and policy group of the American Foundation for the Blind.  “We applaud Rite Aid’s commitment to ensure that www.riteaid.com is usable by the broadest range of online consumers, including those who have disabilities.”

Point of Sale Improvements

Rite Aid’s point of sales improvements announced today are designed to assist customers who cannot read information on a flat screen point of sale device and therefore cannot privately enter their PIN or other confidential information.  Most point of sale devices in Rite Aid stores now have tactile keys to prevent this problem, and the company will be replacing remaining non-tactile devices by the end of 2009. Blind community representatives praised Rite Aid’s plan to install payment devices with keypads:  “Without tactile keys, blind people are forced to share their PINs with strangers,” explained Melanie Brunson, executive director of the American Council of the Blind.  “Today’s announcement, and the collaboration that led to it, demonstrates Rite Aid’s understanding of this fact and its ongoing commitment to its blind and visually impaired customers.”

“Our goal is to deliver a superior shopping experience to all of our customers, and with the initiative announced today, we can better serve our customers who are blind or visually impaired,” said Rob Easley, Rite Aid chief operating officer. “We thank the American Foundation for the Blind, American Council of the Blind and California Council of the Blind for their valuable assistance in making Rite Aid a better place for customers with disabilities to shop.”

About Rite Aid

Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains with more than 5,000 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia with fiscal 2008 annual revenues of more than $24.3 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company’s website at http://www.riteaid.com.

About American Council of the Blind (ACB) and California Council of the Blind (CCB)

American Council of the Blind is a national consumer-based advocacy organization working on behalf of blind and visually impaired Americans throughout the country with members organized through seventy state and special interest affiliates.  California Council of the Blind is the California affiliate of the ACB and is a statewide membership organization with 40 local chapters and statewide special interest associations.  ACB and CCB are dedicated to improving the quality of life, equality of opportunity and independence of all people who have visual impairments.  Their members and affiliated organizations have a long history of commitment to the advancement of policies and programs which will enhance independence for people who are blind and visually impaired.  More information about ACB and CCB can be found by visiting www.acb.org  and http://www.ccbnet.org

About American Foundation for the Blind

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is a national nonprofit that expands possibilities for people with vision loss. AFB’s priorities include broadening access to technology; elevating the quality of information and tools for the professionals who serve people with vision loss; and promoting independent and healthy living for people with vision loss by providing them and their families with relevant and timely resources. AFB is also proud to house the Helen Keller Archives and honor the over forty years that Helen Keller worked tirelessly with AFB. For more information visit us online at www.afb.org.                                

For More Information, Contact:

American Foundation for the Blind
Adrianna Montague-Gray
Tel. (212) 502-7675
 
American Council of the Blind
Melanie Brunson
Tel. (202) 467.5081
 
Rite-Aid
Karen Rugen
Tel. (717) 730.7766

 
 
Lainey Feingold
Law Office of Lainey Feingold
(510) 548.5062

Categories: Uncategorized

Coming up on Main Menu for the week of May 7 – J-Say Pro 6.1, J-Tunes 3.2 and Say-Magic from T&T Consultancy

May 1, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
Hello Everyone,
 
Coming up on this week’s Main Menu, we have a two hour recorded presentation from T&T Consultancy.  They will be giving Main Menu an exclusive first preview of the many new features within the upcoming release of J-Say Pro version 6.1.  While in many cases J-Say provides the ability to control a computer by voice, people who can use JAWS with the keyboard will also find the demonstration contains some innovative and exciting new ways in which a computer can be used in this release. The J-Say segment will form most of the presentation as there are so many new features to explain and demonstrate. They will also focus upon Say-MAGic, which is a product soon to be released enabling low vision users to work with the computer using the human voice. Finally, J-Tunes version 3.2 will be demonstrated, linking JAWS for Windows together with iTunes.
 
Here is how to participate in the show:       
 
The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333.   
You may email your questions to: mainmenu@acbradio.org
You may also interact with the show via MSN (Windows Live) Messenger. The MSN Messenger ID to add is: mainmenu@acbradio.org       
 
Would you like to interact with a group of Main Menu listeners about the topics heard on Main Menu and Main Menu Live? You can do this by joining the Main Menu Friends email list. The address to subscribe is: main-menu-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Come join an already lively group of users.       
 
Would you like to subscribe to podcast feeds for Main Menu and Main Menu Live? The RSS feeds to add to your podcatching application are:       
 
 
Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, and at 1 universal (GMT) on Wednesday mornings on the ACB Radio Main Stream channel.       
 
Follow this link to listen to the show:       
 
 
Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team
Categories: Uncategorized