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+++E-ACCESS BULLETIN.
- ISSUE 6, DECEMBER 2004.

Technology news for people with vision impairment
(http://www.headstar.com/eab).
Sponsored by RNIB (http://www.rnib.org.uk).

NOTE: Please forward this free bulletin to others (subscription details
at the end). We conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter
(TEN) Standard:
http://www.headstar.com/ten .

++Issue 60 Contents.

Section One: News.

01: Adobe moves to tackle pdf access problems
- but concerns remain over screen reader blocks.

02: Call for national taskforce to boost access to reading
- report finds 96 per cent of books are never made accessible.

03: Management tool for disability practice is 'world's first'
- organisations can measure progress and plan improvements.

04: Winter glut of web access awards
- three types of accolade bestowed on public and private sector bodies.

News in brief: 05: Naturally Speaking - Dragon integrates with
Dolphin; 06: New Dolphin - version 6.03; 07: Asian Fund - cash for 13
projects; 08: Portable Access - accessible PDA; 09: MaX Benefits -
web sites for kids.

Section Two: 'The inbox' - Readers' forum.
10: Content Question - query on content management systems; 11: TV
Guide - set-top box research.

Section Three: Interview - Judy Brewer.
12: Guardian of the Global Access Standard: Mel Poluck talks to Judy
Brewer, director of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web
Accessibility Initiative, about the first major overhaul of international
web content accessibility guidelines.

Section Four: Techshare Conference Report - Low-Cost Accessible
Computing.
13: Funding the Basics of Modern Life: Many blind people do not have
high incomes, but even the most basic of properly accessible home
computing systems can cost a small fortune. Dan Jellinek reports on
how these costs can be slashed.

Section Five: Focus - Future technologies.
14: Too Much Information: Kevin Carey contemplates a world of
information overload, an increasingly graphical environment, and an
educational revolution.

[Contents ends].


++Sponsored Notice: J-Say Standard from T and T Consultancy Ltd.

J-Say Standard combines the unparalleled flexibility of JAWS for
Windows with the outstanding voice recognition capabilities of Dragon
Naturally Speaking Preferred.

Imagine being able to:
- Create word processor documents using natural speech;
- Create and process email using your voice;
- Browse the internet using a combination of voice input and keyboard;
- Rapidly move to specific cells within an Excel worksheet;
- Access an interactive help system, manuals and a tutorial;
- Train the speech recognition software to understand your voice, as
well as having speech-based access to all the features of Dragon
software.

J-Say Standard is ideal for any JAWS user wishing to use voice input
as an additional means of computer input. For more information please
contact T&T Consultancy Ltd by telephone on 08452 303015 or email
on:
enquiries@tandt-consultancy.com .

[Sponsored notice ends].

++Section One: News.

+01: Adobe Moves to Tackle PDF Access Problems.

Adobe Systems has moved to address severe accessibility problems
posed by its 'portable document format' (pdf) files, with the release
this month of a new version of software to create and read the files.

The pdf system is a largely graphical way of exchanging and printing
files, which has often rendered plain text information inaccessible.

The new version of Adobe's Acrobat software which creates pdf files
and Reader software which reads them - version 7.0 - contains several
new access features. File publishers will find it easier to add 'tags' to
text, tables and graphical objects, to establish a reading order for files
in complex layouts. And even if the publishers do not create tags, the
new version of Reader will try to determine a logical reading order and
reflow the text into a single block.

The new version of Reader also contains an accessibility set-up
assistant, which detects if a screen-reader being used and asks how the
user would like to view the files. Other features include better tagging
of the software's own graphical buttons; and improved help and search
functions.

"In the past, pdf was deemed to be inherently inaccessible," says Greg
Pisocky, accessibility outreach manager at Adobe Systems. "Now
we've introduced something that at least makes it easier to modify how
information is presented. Things are not perfect in Adobe 7.0. Tables
continue to be the bane of our lives. But we've moved forward."

Pisocky unveiled the new features at last month's Techshare
conference hosted by RNIB (http://www.techshare.org.uk). However,
some delegates voiced ongoing concerns about certain security features
of pdf files, which in the process of preventing unauthorised copying
of files, may lock out some screen-reader users.

Steve Tyler, Policy and ICT Access Manager at the RNIB, told
delegates the existence of a feature which can exclude some screen-
readers could contravene European copyright law which champions
accessibility.

However, Pisocky said the new software did allow 'trusted agent'
software to access files whatever the security settings. To date, the
JAWS and WINDOW-EYES screen-readers were the only two to have
been granted trusted status, but Adobe was open to approaches from
other providers, he said.


+02: Call For National Taskforce to Boost Access to Reading.

The RNIB (http://www.rnib.org.uk) is urging the UK government to
set up a taskforce with blindness charities and publishers to develop a
national plan for making more ordinary books and reading materials
accessible to those with sight problems. The government also needs to
fund new research into the field, the institute says.

A recent RNIB report, 'Written Off!', found that some 96 per cent of
books are never published in formats that people with sight problems
can read, such as large print, audio or Braille, and that as a result some
three million people in the UK are being denied the right to read.

Digital methods have a lot of potential for integrating mainstream
publishing with formats that are accessible to blind and visually
impaired people, the report says.

"In the past, organisations such as the RNIB worked from a paper copy
of a book to make a voice recording or to scan or key in text to a PC,"
says David Mann, author of the report and RNIB spokesperson for the
institute's ongoing 'Right to Read' campaign
(http://www.rnib.org.uk/righttoread). "This was very time-consuming
and didn't start until after publication. If publishers could provide us
with content prior to publication and in digital form, it would cut out
this process. Digital technology also allows different outputs from the
same 'master', and for the user, formats such as DAISY offer much
more flexibility to index and bookmark content, for example."

The report criticises the UK government for "side-stepping" the issue
of funding for accessible format production and says that it is
unreasonable to expect charities to continue to take responsibility for
producing the bulk of audio and Braille titles.

"Charities should not have to subsidise reading for blind people, nor
can they hope to meet all reading needs from their current resources,"
says Mann. "Publishers can't be expected to operate at a loss. So we
need substantial and reliable streams of public money to increase our
storage and production capacity and to set up new working
arrangements with publishers."

The report found that just 2.8 per cent of books are currently made
available on standard audio cassette, with even fewer in other audio
formats; 1.5 per cent of titles were available in large print; and 1.9 per
cent of publications were available in Braille. Such alternative formats
were also often considerably more expensive than traditional books.
For example, a full-length audio book might cost over 50 pounds,
while the equivalent paperback would cost less than 10 pounds.


+03: Management Tool for Disability Practice is 'World's First.'

What is claimed to be the world's first management tool for assessing
organisations' performance on disability has been launched by a UK
business body, the Employers' Forum on Disability
(http://www.employers-forum.co.uk/).

The Disability Standard allows private and public sector organisations
to measure their progress on disability across all areas of their business
and put in place plans for improvement. Its main component is a 100-
question benchmark survey, covering a whole range of areas such as
employment, e-commerce, customer care, IT systems and buildings.

The service will cost organisations from 2,000 to 8,900 pounds,
depending on number of employees. Once the benchmark survey is
completed, it is then scored by the University of Brighton and
submitted to an independent panel of disability experts, which
produces a report outlining current risks, areas for improvement and
required actions.

Some 15 questions relate to the accessibility of IT systems to staff and
customers. For example, there are questions about whether
organisations devote money and resources to making their internal IT
systems accessible to staff and their web sites accessible to disabled
customers; and whether reports and accounts are available in accessible
electronic formats. The survey is supported by an accompanying guide
which sets out relevant legislation and codes of practice, and
organisations are required to submit evidence to support their answers.

"Information technology is an important part of the Disability
Standard, because it is so embedded in the way organisations are run
and is crucial to how they perform on disability," says Aletheia Gentle,
project manager for the Disability Standard at the Employers' Forum
on Disability. "It fundamentally affects how they reach customers, staff
members and other stakeholders."

The Disability Standard was researched and piloted by 15 members of
the forum, including the bank Abbey, telecoms company Cable &
Wireless, Royal Mail, the Department for Work and Pensions and the
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Twenty-two organisations have
signed up to the service and have eight weeks from the beginning of
February to the end of March 2005 to complete the benchmarking
exercise.


+04: Winter Glut of Web Access Awards.

Three sets of major awards for accessible web sites were bestowed last
week.

The annual Visionary Design Awards from the National Library for the
Blind (NLB - www.nlb-online.org), supported by Barclays Bank,
recognised eight sites out of 100 nominees. They were AbilityNet
(http://www.abilitynet.org.uk), charity technology supplier for disabled
people for the voluntary sector; the web site of children's writer Anne
Fine (http://www.annefine.co.uk); global insurer Aviva
(http://www.aviva.com); the Disability Rights Commission
(http://www.drc.org.uk); Henshaws Society for Blind People
(http://www.henshaws.org.uk), a charity from the North of England;
Motability (http://www.motability.co.uk), a car scheme for people with
a disability; Philip Murphy and Associates
(http://www.philipmurphyassociates.com), a family dental practice;
and the Transport Archive (http://www.transportarchive.org.uk), a site
covering British transport history.

Meanwhile, Haringey council's web site (http://www.haringey.gov.uk)
has been picked as November's accessible site of the month - the first
in a new series of awards by the Guild of Accessible Web Designers
(GAWD - http://www.gawds.org).

"Because we worked with a specialist web accessibility agency, it
helped us ensure the site was technically structured to work with a
range of assistive devices," said Maria Stewart, web development
manager at Haringey. Residents, including those with a vision
impairment, were asked to test the site and submit their ideas.

GAWD is now taking nominations for December's site of the month -
anyone can register a vote (see
http://www.gawds.org/poll/index.php?poll=4).

Finally, the Cancer Research web site
(http://www.cancerresearchuk.org) came first in the accessibility and
usability category of last month's British Interactive Media Awards
(BIMA - http://www.bima.co.uk). Second and third places went to the
business support group Business Link
(http://www.businesslink.gov.uk) and Imperial Tobacco
(http://www.imperial-tobacco.com/).


++News in Brief:

+05: Naturally Speaking: A software package has been launched that
integrates the voice recognition solution Dragon Naturally Speaking
with Dolphin's Supernova screen magnifier and Hal screen reader.
'Nova-Link,' was developed by T and T Consultancy in association
with UK technology company Dolphin Computer Access, who claim it
has an accuracy rate of over 90 per cent:
http://www.tandt-consultancy.com .

+06: New Dolphin: Meanwhile version 6.03 of the Dolphin Computer
Access software suite including Supernova, Hal and the Lunar and
LunarPlus screen magnifiers has been released. New features will
allow users to enter details on forms more easily and to make
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software easier to handle:
http://www.dolphinuk.co.uk/news/2004/603_release.htm .

+07: Asian Fund: Some 550,000 dollars of funding has been awarded
to 13 local organisations in south-east Asia, for projects that use
technology to improve the lives of people with a disability. Recipients
of cash from the 'DigitAll Hope' scheme funded by electronics giant
Samsung Asia include a 'Picture-to-speech communicator' from
Singapore Polytechnic:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/asia2 .

+08: Portable Access: A fully accessible Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA), which can be used with a wireless Braille or standard
keyboard, has been developed by Canadian assistive technology
company VisuAide. The company aims to integrate Global Positioning
Satellite technology with the 'Maestro' device in a future version:
http://www.visuaide.com/news_maestro2_en.html .

+09: MaX Benefits: A new version of the online web-site-building
software 'MaX' allows both sighted and vision-impaired children and
adults to create their own accessible site for free. The sites are created
live online, and hosted by the software's creator, Danish company the
Sonokids Foundation. The system is compatible with Braille keyboards
and screen readers and available in English, Dutch and Danish. A
version for blind schools is available. For a MaX account email:
max@sonokids.com .

[Section One ends].


++Special Notice: Register now for Vision 2005 London
- the world's premier event on low vision and sight loss.

Vision 2005 London will be the most wide-ranging conference and
exhibition ever held on low vision and sight loss.

The programme will cover six themes, including 'Advances in
technology: designing and constructing for an inclusive environment'.
Presentations, posters and round table discussions will explore new
legislation and its impact on inclusive design, web accessibility,
technology specifications, DAISY and high-tech devices.

Register before 6 January to obtain an early-bird discount for the full
four-day conference. Day delegates will still obtain a discount if they
register before 17 February.

To register and find our more, visit:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/vision2005 .

[Special Notice ends].


++Section Two: 'The Inbox'
- Readers' Forum.

Please email all contributions or responses to
inbox@headstar.com .

+10: Content Question: E-Access Bulletin's own technician Nick
Apostolidis would be interested in hearing from any reader with
knowledge of a content management system that produces content
accessible to the JAWS screen reader. "I also want the administration
of the system to be easy to use and to provide good accessibility. I
would be grateful if someone that worked with one and is happy with
the way it works could let me know about it," he says.

"I have had two systems recommended to me and I would like to hear
from anyone who knows how accessible they are or if you know of one
that is better.

"The first is called Plone (http://www.plone.org). It is built using
another tool called Zope (http://www.zope.org). Plone claims to create
pages that follow the WAI guidelines and it seems to be accessible.
The second one is called Mambo (http://www.mamboserver.com). this
seems OK but I have found its admin pages to be a bit unfriendly.
Thanks for any information provided." Responses please to
inbox@headstar.com.


+11: TV Guide: A team of researchers at Bournemouth University is
looking to find out about vision-impaired people's television-watching
behaviour, to inform the development of an accessible digital
television set-top box. They aim to have the prototype built by June
2005. Readers are invited to take part in a survey by calling 0845 22 60
228 (charged at local rates) or by completing an online questionnaire
at:
http://www.atv-survey.org.uk .

[Section Two ends].


++Special Notice: Web Accessibility Forum.

Accessify Forum is a discussion forum devoted to all topics relating to
web accessibility. Topics cover everything from 'Beginners' and 'Site
building and testing' through to projects such as the new accessibility
testing tool WaiZilla and the accessibility of the open source forum
software itself.

All you need to register is a working email address, so come along and
join in the fun at:
http://www.accessifyforum.com .

[Special notice ends].


++Section Three: Interview
- Judy Brewer.

+12: Guardian of the Global Access Standard
by Mel Poluck.

"In an area where the pace of technology is so rapid, lost ground is not
easily made up. We need a continuation of the good work of
organisations involved in developing web solutions, so that the web
can move forward as a technology that serves all."

These were the words of web accessibility pioneer Judy Brewer, as she
presented the case for increasing the accessibility of all web sites to a
US House of Representatives' sub-committee on the Constitution.

That was back in 2000, but her words are just as relevant today.
Brewer is director of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI -
http://www.w3.org/WAI), one of four main work areas of the global
World Wide Web Consortium, a grouping of several hundred
organisations across the world which upholds the standards of the web.

At WAI, Brewer's remit includes ensuring technologies support
accessibility; developing accessibility guidelines; improving tools for
evaluation and repair of web sites; conducting education and outreach
on web accessibility; and monitoring research and development which
may impact future accessibility of the web. But she also oversees
development of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG -
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT), the benchmarks used
to measure the accessibility of web sites against a series of checkpoints
grouped in three priority levels: 'A,' 'AA' and 'AAA'
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#Conformance).

The guidelines were first released in 1999. Now, web developers and
disability organisations are waiting with bated breath for the release of
WCAG version 2.0 - the first ever major overhaul of the guidelines - a
draft of which is currently under development for release during 2005
(for a current working draft, see http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20).

What will the major changes be compared with WCAG 1.0? "One of
the biggest changes is to ensure more precise testing criteria," said
Brewer, speaking to E-Access Bulletin after delivering the keynote
address to the RNIB's Techshare conference in Birmingham last
month. "The question of evaluation is interesting from many
perspectives. When WCAG 1.0 came out we had less robust testing
requirements for the guidelines. In some cases it's not clear how to test
for a given checkpoint," she said.

However, she warned against over-reliance on automated software
checks for accessibility, either now or in the future. . "Most people will
say 'I passed the majority of tests - I'm going to slap a logo on my
site.' That doesn't reflect how well it will work for people with a
disability," Brewer said. "By and large automated testing tools can
help with the evaluation of large web sites but they may miss an
accessibility barrier. Experts use multiple tools," she said. "With
WCAG 2.0 we're expecting that more precise testing criteria will fuel
development of a more precise set of tools."

She also said that the working group is focusing more on access issues
for people with cognitive difficulties. "Cognitive difficulties have been
important to home in on - we expect that support for these will
improve," Brewer said.

Brewer says that there are advantages in using a common set of
W3C/WAI guidelines in any country that is developing a web
accessibility policy. "There is still a tendency in some countries to say
'web accessibility is great, let's develop our own guidelines.'
Disabilities are similar in different countries so you need the same
functionality - standards harmonisation benefits everybody," Brewer
said.

The WCAG system has been at the centre of controversy in the UK
recently after this year's on the findings of what was claimed to be the
largest ever investigation into web site accessibility by the Disability
Rights Commission (DRC - http://www.drc-gb.org). The survey
involved the testing of 1,000 UK sites by researchers at City
University, London.

While the report found that WCAG improved usability, it said the
guidelines were overly complex, and suggested that there were many
barriers to accessibility which were not yet covered by WAI
guidelines. "We've gone backwards and forwards through the available
data for that survey," Brewer said. "We found that almost all (95 per
cent) of barriers noted in the survey were covered by WAI guidelines -
- the great majority by WCAG, and the rest by the User Agent
Accessibility Guidelines, which address browser accessibility."

Brewer also noted that only a very small number of sites in the survey
actually conformed to WCAG, so it is difficult to draw conclusions
about the usability of WCAG-conformant sites for people with
disabilities from this survey. "This raises another interesting policy
question - why are so few sites in the UK accessible for people with
disabilities, and what would change that?"

[Section Three ends].


++Section Four: Techshare Conference Report
- Low-Cost Accessible Computing.

+13: Funding the Basics of Modern Life
by Dan Jellinek.

Many ordinary people with sight problems do not have high incomes,
and lack access to grants for computer equipment and special access
technologies such as screen readers that might enhance their lives in
many ways.

If someone needs to use technology for their work, there are usually
ways of funding it. And if someone has a particular interest in
computers, they usually find a way too. But for people with no special
interest or knowledge, and no pressing need to access computers for
work or other reasons, it can be hard to fund access to what for most
people is nevertheless a basic part of modern life: a simple home
computer, with access to email, the web, and word processing.

A typical cost for a standard accessible home computing set-up for a
blind person is in the region of some 2,600 pounds, according to a
detailed estimate presented by RNIB officers to last month's Techshare
conference (http://www.techshare.org.uk).

Mary Steiner, RNIB Technology Officer, said this cost includes a PC
(personal computer); a printer; Microsoft Officer software for word
processing and other basic tasks; special access software such as a
screen reader to convert text into speech or Braille; and a scanner with
scanning software to allow users to scan and digitise text using 'optical
character recognition' (OCR).

For low vision users the cost is lower, as they may simply need screen
magnifying software instead of a screen reader and scanning
equipment, but will still end up in the region of 1,325 pounds, Steiner
said.

But need costs really be this high? Over the course of the session,
Steiner and her colleague Richard Orme, RNIB Assistant Director for
ICT Services, looked at each component of these accessible systems in
turn to see how costs could be minimised or even driven out
completely, resulting in alternative systems that offered similar
functionality for far lower prices.

For example, many blind or vision-impaired people pay 1,000 pounds
or more for computers bought through specialist firms that also supply
them with access technology, since these arrive with access technology
conveniently installed, and they can often receive specialist post-sales
support as well.

But a basic home computer with a good enough specification for
normal activities such as web browsing and word processing, and
enough power to run access technology as well, can cost a lot less than
this if it is bought from a mainstream supplier such as Dell. These
suppliers are usually running a special offer of the month at any given
time that can be around half the cost of a specialist supplier: for
example, Dell has a current offer of a PC with an acceptable
specification at less than 500 pounds, Orme said.

Of course, a PC bought this way will not come with access software
already loaded onto it for you, or with ongoing support for access
technologies. But this need not be a problem, as many specialist
suppliers of screen readers and other access software will offer you
installation support by telephone and ongoing help even if all you are
buying from them is the software, Orme said.

As far as word processing software is concerned, most people do not
need all parts of the suites of Microsoft Office software that they are
sold, Orme said. 'Office Basic' - which offers Word, Excel (for
spreadsheets) and Outlook - was good enough for most people, and is
cheaper than other editions of Office such as the commonly pre-
installed 'Small Business' version.

But if people want to cut costs even further, they could simply use the
'WordPad' text editor software that comes free with every version of
Windows, he said. This does not have most of the sophisticated
interactive functions of Word, but has enough to handle most simple
word processing tasks like writing letters. You can also find free
software additions to WordPad such as spellcheckers which add in
some of the missing functions. "So the cost is reduced to zero!" Orme
said.

For screen reader software, there are various products out there that are
far cheaper than the market-leading products such as JAWS. Connect
Outloud from Freedom Scientific is a pared-down version of JAWS, at
around a quarter of the price; LookOut from Choice costs 105 pounds;
and Narrator comes free with Windows.

For screen magnifiers, BigShot from AI Squared and Magnice from
Choice (packaged with LookOut as 'Dual') are low-cost; and Lunar
Lite from Dolphin and Magnifier which comes with Windows are free
solutions.

There are also cheaper scanning software products, he said, which do
not have as many features as the commonly purchased high-end
products like Kurzweil 1000 but are good enough for most purposes.
For example Cicero from Dolphin is several hundred pounds cheaper.
As for optical character recognition software, which converts scanned
images to digital text, you can use software that comes in free trial
versions on many computer magazine coverdisks such as FineReader.

Taking all these money-saving options together, it is possible to reduce
the cost of an accessible home computer system to as little as 695
pounds for a blind person and 640 pounds for someone with impaired
vision, savings of almost 2,000 pounds and 700 pounds respectively on
a typical 'state of the art' specification.

Furthermore, the use of cheaper products did not necessarily mean a
poorer user experience, Orme said. "Many of the low cost products do
have sophisticated functionality."

It may be possible to make even greater savings by buying a second-
hand or recycled PC, he said, although there was no evidence that it
was cheaper to build your own PC. "I build my own so I can use the
components I want, to customise, but it is not cheaper."

It was also not yet the case that using the free operating system Linux
was a viable option to Windows if one wants to create an accessible
environment, Orme said. It was simply too complex a task. "I have
tried four times to install Linux and create an accessible system, but
have failed every time, and I have worked for 15 years in the access
technology industry and build my own PCs," he said. "It may be an
option one day - but not this year."

[Section Four ends].

++Section Five: Focus
- Future technologies.

+14: Too Much Information
by Kevin Carey.

Up until the end of the seventeenth century, 250 years after the
invention of the printing press, a truly learned man could read in his
lifetime everything written that was worth reading. Now information is
being created and aggregated in such large amounts that it is
sometimes referred to in units designated as LOCs, or Libraries of
Congress - the equivalent of the entire contents of the US Library of
Congress, or 20 million megabytes each. Until quite recently, that
accumulation was accounted for by text, hypertext and low resolution
graphics. That is now expanding still further with the explosion of high
resolution graphics and DVD.

At the same time the graphic environment, once limited to engraving
and painting, expanded into cinema and television, and is on the verge
of becoming ubiquitous. Soon our environment will, literally, be
plastered with pictures: short movies and adverts on the walls of
underground train tunnels; audio visual messages in shop windows
triggered by the footfall of passers-by; laser graffiti on every flat
architectural surface. This massive visual assault may drive our sighted
brothers and sisters mad with over-stimulation, but it might also drive
us blind people mad with frustration.

We already know how mobile phones have changed our lives but
enhanced wireless connectivity will mean that the norm will be for our
personal devices to be always switched on; indeed, if we're switched
off people will automatically assume that we are committing adultery.
This means that the pressure on our time will increase, that decisions
will have to be taken more quickly and the line between work and
leisure will be even further eroded.

On the other hand, the environment we live in will be much easier:
every building and even every door handle will have a device that can
talk to our personal navigating receiver; doors will recognise us,
encourage us to enter and open themselves; robotic devices will be
safer, cleaner and more flexible than guide dogs. Flexible technology
will also mean that almost any object can become a flat screen so that
people with limited vision can use their personal device for receiving
data which can then be projected onto a wall or table top in their
preferred colour and size.

Perhaps it will be some compensation for the lack of visual information
that 3D printers will produce much cheaper and much more accurate
models of anything we want to touch. Indeed, I sometimes imagine a
world where 3D printers will make the parts for 3D printers!

By this time, the whole structure of formal education is likely to have
broken down and vision-impaired children will be freed from the
straitjacket of a rigid curriculum; anything digital, including letters in
graphics file, will be available in any kind of print and every kind of
Braille. The internet and broadcasting will merge and the key skill will
be defining a search for massive search engines. Except for the
pictures, we will be able to have any information we want.

The key cultural question we cannot yet answer for the future is what
role the picture will play in our overall lives; how much will society be
able to take? In the meantime, however, the steady expansion of radio,
the growth of broadband and the natural fit between the information
needs of blind people and motorists and the explosion of weblogs all
point in the direction of a healthy market for interesting audio data.

Finally, here is an interesting thought; in an era of massive data
overload there might just be an advantage in being information-
rationed, leaving space for reflection and the opportunity for
perspective. We might yet realise society's stereotype of blind people
as prophets with a sixth sense.

[Section Five ends].

++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

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+Personnel:
Editor - Dan Jellinek
Deputy editor - Derek Parkinson
Senior reporter - Mel Poluck
News reporter - Julie Hill
Technician - Nick Apostolidis
Marketing Director - Claire Clinton
Marketing Assistant - Katie Wilkinson
Editorial advisor - Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337 .

[Issue ends.]