I'm back, probably for the last time this year. Anyway, things are going pretty well. I found out yesterday I should have my new laptop next Tuesday, and I can't wait. Work is also going well. I'm working on outreach possibilities for the assistive technology workstation, training customers on some of the technology, and learning some new technology of my own.

One of my recent projects is to start learning the Pac Mate, which is kind of a cross between a laptop and PDA. It comes with either a standard keyboard or Braille keyboard format, and provides speech and optional Braille output. A customer of the library is interested in learning more of what the device can do, and how to interface it with a computer, so I'm starting to look into some of that. It's an interesting machine, but I still prefer a laptop, and a PDA for my portable computing needs.

Before Christmas break, I also attended a presentation on some screen reading software that can be installed onto off-the-shelf PDA's, and can work with many standard programs. I was actually quite impressed with the technology, and may look into getting it some time within the next couple of years. It's still rather early on in development, but it's already very powerful and works well. I'm waiting until the software is able to support all functions like PDA functionality, cell phone, and GPS. Then I'm really going to look into getting one of these setups. I really think this is the way to go in the future too. Right now there are many propriatary devices like the Pac Mate that do a lot of this functionality, but they're still limited in what they can do. I like the approach of a screen reader that can be installed on standard handheld devices. For one, it's a lot cheaper. These portable devices developed specifically for the Blind are generally over $2000 and that's being generous. A really good PDA, the software, and a Blue Tooth keyboard might run just over $1000.

Secondly, it's nicer to be able to buy or upgrade the PDA when a new model comes out and just install the screen reader software on the new device. It's also probably cheaper to pay for an upgrade to software than an entire hardware device.

Finally, the ability to use standard, off-the-shelf software is a huge plus. If this trend takes off, which I think it will, we could see a type of standard for accessibility on portable devices similar to Microsoft's Active Accessibility components for PC's, and that would be great. With a traditional note taker device, there's only so much software that's supported by the hardware.

Finally I have been doing a little reading for the Book Club. I have finished reading Bowling Alone, which is about how over the last couple of decades, people don't tend to socialize as much in group activities, like group get togethers, going bowling, etc. One possibility, which I tend to agree with, is work and socializing are really becoming integrated. We talk at work, work related events, etc. The book was rather interesting, but a bit repetitive. It covered many different topics, but generally restated the same trends for many of them. I think the book could have been shorter, and summarized in paragraphs rather than chapters some of the material.

I have also read a couple interesting books on Blindness. One was on Blind and low vision professionals in the work place, and the other was about general life experiences. I don't remember the titles of the books right now, and since this post is getting rather long, that will be next update. I'll probably give more background on my experiences and thoughts concerning the whole Blindness topic too, so check back soon.

I'm back for another update. A lot has been happening over the past couple of weeks, which is partly why I haven't gotten around to posting here much lately.

Work at the library is going quite well. I have a couple of people interested in the technology, and I have started some training. I have started training a user on Dragon Naturally Speaking. This is another piece of software on the AT Computer. This allows a user to speak to their computer to type text or issue keyboard or mouse commands. I haven't actually used it much yet either, so I'm learning right along with her. I've wanted to try it in the past, but there's a little hurtle I haven't figured out how to effectively jump yet. Before really using Dragon, you have to train it to recognize your voice and how you talk. You do this by reading a few paragraphs of text. The problem is, it's rather interesting to try and hear some text from Jaws reading it to you, memorizing it quick, and trying to clearly speak it back to Dragon. I haven't found the best way to do this yet. There are some programs that help with this, but they're quite expensive.

I also attended the Digital Junction conference that covered various Digital Divide issues. It was rather interesting, and some of the topics were pretty cool. I was hoping there would have been a little more focus on addressing problems instead of just saying they exist. I don't know really if there is a right or wrong answer to solve some of these problems, but it's still good to get some ideas instead of just acknowledging they exist.

I also found out my new laptop has been ordered, along with some assistive software. I should be receiving it some time in January. I was secretly hoping I'd have it to play with over the Christmas break, but I'm still very excited about it. It will be something cool to look forward to next month. I also just picked up a USB 2.0 Thumb Drive, which is really coming in handy already. Thank God, no more using floppies...

Oh, and the accessibility presentation last Corps day went really well. The Pacer Center was very nice. The only bad thing is, since its main focus is accessibility, it's unfortunate it's not public transportation accessible. The day went well though, and our presentation did too. I think having our session interactive really helped because it was later in the afternoon, and it's hard to stay focused on a Friday afternoon. We had another meeting after the presentation, and the good news is we definitely won't run out of things to cover on future presentations. We have all sorts of ideas, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final resource CD's at the end of the year.

Finally I've been working on outreach for the library. We have a flier we're giving out now, and I've started working on a more formal letter to start contacts. I'm also getting a lot of good ideas from library staff, my SSB counselor, and friends. After the first of the year, when things get back to normal, I'll be able to get a lot more going. Still things are going pretty well.