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It’s in the air - cell phone accessibility for the visually impaired

2008-02-14T22:28:03+00:00

Cell phones are the rage. Everybody has or expects to have one. Not a day goes by when some new feature, enhancement or alteration isn’t previewed. Talking, texting, emailing, web-surfing, taking pictures, listening to books and music, keeping lists, and writing are examples of functions people depend on cell phones for. What works for us? What can we afford? How do we acquire an accessible functional possibly free cell phone? On Saturday February 16 at blind service association 17 n state street room 1050 Chicago Illinois, join us from 9-30 until noon central standard time for a comprehensive discussion of the types, accessibility, practicality and affordability of this ever-evolving tool. If you can’t attend in person you can participate in this seminar online, At http://www.comp-unique.com Arrow down to the webinar-room link and press enter. If you’re a first time user, download the simple applet, Then, Arrow down to the enter into the room link and type your name, tab to the login section and press enter. You will not need a password. Be sure to have a working microphone to interact with us as we will not be able to efficiently respond to text messages sent online.

How to Use a Virtual Whiteboard

2007-12-09T15:29:23+00:00

Talking Communities Demonstrates How to Use a Virtual Whiteboard One of the basic parts of any web conferencing software is the ability to improvise in real-time. Whether it is a virtual meeting, an online course, or a webcast presentation, not everything can always be prepared and created in advanced. That is where the whiteboard comes in handy. On December 12 at 10:00 am Central (11 am Eastern), Talking Communities will be providing a free training workshop on the use of the whiteboard in an online web conference room. In this workshop, you will learn how to capture your screen and instantly display it to others in the room, or display an image from your desktop or the Internet. You will learn the various methods of highlighting, including color highlight, drawing boxes, or zooming. You will also learn how you can display an uploaded PowerPoint presentation from the Document Center into the whiteboard for highlighting slides, or even display a PowerPoint presentation dynamically right from your desktop. This avoids the need to first upload the presentation to the Document center and assures security of the presentation files. “The whiteboard has a little bit of a learning curve”, explains Steven Hoffmann, president of Talking Communities. “But once you learn the techniques, it can be a very powerful tool for distance education or document collaboration”, he adds. In one case study of the power of the whiteboard, Digital Workforce Education Society (http://www.digibridge.org) used the whiteboard to allow participants on older computers and slower, dial-up Internet connections, to participate in an on-line event held in Second Life (a 3-D virtual world system). By capturing and displaying screenshots of Second Life and displaying them in the whiteboard while allowing the participants to text chat and speak to each other using the built-in VOIP architecture and instant messaging, DWES opened the doors for participation by many individuals that otherwise would have been excluded in the “digital divide”. The whiteboard workshop is open to the public and can be accessed at http://www.talkingcommunities.com/moodle. To participate, you will need a PC connected to the Internet. If you have a microphone, you will be able to speak in the workshop using the VOIP voice conferencing, but those without a microphone may still participate by typing their questions.

The eLearning Community is being upgraded

2007-04-14T01:23:22+00:00

P, UL, OL, DL, DIR, MENU, PRE { margin: 0 auto;} Dear , I am contacting you because you have shown an interest or participated in a previous eLearning Community event. The eLearning Community is being upgraded to the newest conferencing software from Talking Communities. To participate in any of the learning sessions you will be required to register in our new system. After you register you will find using the community even easier than ever. As long as your cookies are enabled and working, you will get one click entry into all of the events. We appologize for any inconvenience this causes but are sure you will enjoy the new technology and it’s ease of use. You may register by clicking http://tinyurl.com/2lz97r Members enjoy * Voice Web conference rooms that are open 24/7 * Windows media recording of sessions * Recording studios to make your own educational rich media presentations * Member Forum * Seminars and Workshops Our Rules: 1. Our services are not to be used for commercial gain. 2. All events are open to the public educational community 3. Non-Members always welcome at public events 4. Courtesy and politeness will always be shown Please accept a standing invitation to be a featured guest speaker, to share your educational projects or products in the form of an interview or webcast presentation. To schedule you event please use the Contact link on the site. I earnestly respect your right to email privacy. If you wish to be removed from this mailing list simply reply and I’ll make sure your wishes are adhered to. Bob Zwick http://RobertZwick.com The eLearning Community http://tinyurl.com/2p7sz4

An encyclopedia for the world by the world

2007-02-01T02:49:36+00:00

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org is an Internet collection of documents that is quickly becoming the first place people look for descriptive information on any subject. Door to door encyclopedia salesmen are extinct as are many other traditional product sales. Whether you are looking for technical information or non-technical it most likely you can find the information you are looking for and more. What I like about t Wikipedia is the extra information available. You can find links to external resources. I have come to use Wikipedia as a glossary type link to keywords in documents that I write. It�s a simple as plugging in a little simple HTML code around a word to alow people to open a detailed definition or description. Using code like < a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/xxx" target="_blank">xxx and replacing the xxx with the word you want to refer to will open Wikipedia with that word. Ted Wales is the creator of Wikipedia. In this interview, he tells how it was conceived and maintained. THis recording was made at TED Talks http://www.ted.com/tedtalks Time: 11:04

Adaptive technology 2007

2007-01-17T01:33:07+00:00

A lot has changed in the last year on the Adaptive technology front. What’s coming up this year. On Saturday January 20, we’ll hold our annual What’s up with new technology seminar at Blind service association and online. We’ll be looking at Jaws Window-eyes and zoomtext updates, Cellphone access, Theater caption news, updates on ATM and Kiosk access, Microsoft Vista, The update for Mac Voice over technology, Notetakers, and a host of other tools and services that will come on board this year. Join us at 9-30 a.m until noon either at Blind Service association 16 N. walbash rm 1050 or online at http://www.talkingcommunity.com/edu. Type your name and tab to the log-in have your microphone, note takers, and questions ready and participate with us.

Open Webinar about online gaming

2006-12-08T20:29:02+00:00

Dave Porter, a long time ELearning Community member will host another online webinar about games on the Internet. Online Gaming Time: 1:43 Size: 6 MB Right click to Download MP3 Are you game? On Saturday December 16 at 9-30 a.m. we’ll be convening to play some games. Recently many games formerly not accessible have become easier to play and more fun to use. Come on down to Blind service association 17 N. state street swt 1050 or join us on line at http://www.talkingcommunities.com/edu tab down to Chicago hall hit enter, type your name or something like it in the edit field and tab to the log-in prompt and join us virtually. We’ll tackle some games and test our skills, endurance, wit and what ever else they bid us to do. Let’s play. Bob Zwick 214-556-6274 Contact Information: http://snipurl.com/BobZwick

Global Learn Day 10 October 7-8, 2006

2006-09-21T18:11:15+00:00

Global Learn Day 10 archived recordings Ten years ago imagineer, John Hibbs of the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education put his dream of sharing the state of education in every corner of the world into an online broadcast using state-of-the-art technology paired with the reliability of the plain old telephone. He produced a twenty four hour long telecast/webcast with speakers from every time zone in the world talking about education in their area of the world. I have been lucky to have assisted in the production of five of these grand events. Dignitaries, educators, government officials and school children around the world have participated. Join us on October 7-8 2006 for an incredible voyage of exploration of education under the helm of skipper John Hibbs. You can watch in an online conference room, listen to an audio stream on the Internet or call in to our telephone conference call. Links to all operations can be found here. Attendance is free. Everyone involved in education is invited to submit a request to speak about their education projects. Creators of educational tools and services are invited to present their products in our multimedia exhibitor voice conference rooms.

There�s music on the net - Saturday, 16 September (09:30 AM � 12:00 PM) CDT

2006-09-12T19:43:12+00:00

In the ever-widening world of the internet text is now being augmented by audio and video clips. Music, short stories, narratives, plays, lectures are now becoming the order of the day. How do we listen to these files? How do they interact with speech and large print apparatus? How do we find the selections we�re looking for? How or why should we download these files? What is an mp3 file What is an mp3 player? What are the best mp3players for accessibility? What is an rss feed, On September 16 at 9-30 a.m until noon, at Blind Service Association 17 N. States street swt1050 and online at http://www.talkingcommunities.com/edu go to Chicago hall and sign in, we�ll be exploring the widening world of audio and video files on the internet. Come join us for this adventure.

Exploring Craig's List

2006-04-11T02:35:07+00:00

Spring is in the air. That means cleaning, sorting and clearing out old things. Enter Craig�s List. It�s a convenient way to shop, and swap, what we have in lieu of what we�d like to have. On Saturday April 22, we�ll be looking at Craig�s list and see how easy and practical an online garage sale can be. Come join us at Blind service association 17 N. State St., from 9-30 until noon or online at http://www.talkingcommunities.com/edu go to the Chicago hall, type your name and press enter. And we�ll sort through the maize.

Exploration of Firefox with a Focus on Accessibility

2006-03-29T17:13:36+00:00

Join me Saturday, April 1 from 2:00-4:00 PM Pacific for an exploration of Firefox. Whether you use Window-Eyes or Jaws for Windows, this seminar will give you a thorough understanding of the unique interface and the tools of this powerful browser. The cost of this seminar is $50.00 and will be held from 2:00-4:00 PM Pacific on Saturday April 1. For more information and to enroll, please visit: http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com/catalog/courses/firefox.html --- CathyAnne Murtha Online Access Technology Trainer Access Technology Institute cathy@accesstechnologyinstitute.com http://www.accesstechnologyinstitute.com FAX: 916.679.4198