July 11th JUGS DC meeting
The 7th DC JAWS User Group and Support (JUGS) meeting was held on July 11th, 2006 in room 215 Adaptive Services at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.
The items on the agenda were a petition for added hours of access at the DCPL, and a special presentation by an expert on assistive technology from the Maryland Technology Assistance Program. The presentation was on the Apple Macintosh and Accessibility.
The petition, which has now been signed by 25 people, will be presented to the new Director of the Library when she steps up in August. The items on the petition include the following:
Added hours of access for the Adaptive Services Division
Upgrading and reconfiguration of the JAWS computer in the Science and Technology Division at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
A definition of an acceptable Adaptive Workstation
The installation of Adaptive Workstations at the Branch Libraries.
An Advisory Committee on Accessibility to the director of the library to meet four times a year.
An expert from MDTAP spoke to the JUGS DC group about the Apple Macintosh and Accessibility. “Voice Over” is the Macintosh screen reader which is built into the OSX Tiger operating system. Microsoft Windows XP also has a built in screen reader, Narrator, but it is not as powerful as VoiceOver.
The following are some of the issues covered in the presentation and discussion.
Buying JAWS and a computer with Microsoft Windows costs about $300 more than buying an Apple with VoiceOver.
VoiceOver has magnification options, keyboard control and spoken English descriptions of what’s happening on screen.
VoiceOver is powerful, although it is not as developed as JAWS, and many more softwares are developed for PC than for Mac.
Kepstrel and Acapella are two human-sounding voices that can be bought to use with VoiceOver. They sound great but use more memory than the default Mac voices, which are harder to understand, especially at first.
The Kurzweil 3000 and ReadIris Pro are both scanning and reading systems that work with Macs, although the Kurzweil 3000 is expensive since it includes features for learning disabilities and ReadIris Pro does not have a synthesized voice embedded in it, but can be used with VoiceOver.
An inquiry was made as to whether it would be possible to get a Mac set up in the DCPL Adaptive Services Division so that Assistive Technology customers could work with VoiceOver and learn Apple on a regular basis.
There is not an accessible GPS system for Mac.
The Small Talk Ultra is an accessible, handheld, full-featured computer that runs Windows XP and works with Window Eyes. It sells for about $2,600.
Other JUGS information follows:
If anyone needs after hours access or would like to set up a tutoring session on the JAWS enabled computer in the Science and Technology Division at MLK, please contact the Assistive Technology Coordinator in the Adaptive Services Division.
Volunteer tutors from the JUGS DC group have recently tutored customers in the use of JAWS, Kurzweil, Web-Based Email, Google, Microsoft Word, Windows Media Player, MSN Instant Messaging, NLS Web Braille, and other technologies.
If anyone would like to learn JAWS from a volunteer, or to volunteer to be a tutor, or to join the telephone share list to be able to call others on the list for JAWS help at any time of the week, contact the Assistive Technology Coordinator in the Adaptive Services Division.
The next JUGS DC meeting will be held on the first Tuesday of August, August 1st from 4:15 to 5:15 in room 215 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G Street, NW, Washington DC. The Library is located right across the street from the West exit of the Gallery Place Metro Stop, at 9th and G.
The items on the agenda were a petition for added hours of access at the DCPL, and a special presentation by an expert on assistive technology from the Maryland Technology Assistance Program. The presentation was on the Apple Macintosh and Accessibility.
The petition, which has now been signed by 25 people, will be presented to the new Director of the Library when she steps up in August. The items on the petition include the following:
Added hours of access for the Adaptive Services Division
Upgrading and reconfiguration of the JAWS computer in the Science and Technology Division at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
A definition of an acceptable Adaptive Workstation
The installation of Adaptive Workstations at the Branch Libraries.
An Advisory Committee on Accessibility to the director of the library to meet four times a year.
An expert from MDTAP spoke to the JUGS DC group about the Apple Macintosh and Accessibility. “Voice Over” is the Macintosh screen reader which is built into the OSX Tiger operating system. Microsoft Windows XP also has a built in screen reader, Narrator, but it is not as powerful as VoiceOver.
The following are some of the issues covered in the presentation and discussion.
Buying JAWS and a computer with Microsoft Windows costs about $300 more than buying an Apple with VoiceOver.
VoiceOver has magnification options, keyboard control and spoken English descriptions of what’s happening on screen.
VoiceOver is powerful, although it is not as developed as JAWS, and many more softwares are developed for PC than for Mac.
Kepstrel and Acapella are two human-sounding voices that can be bought to use with VoiceOver. They sound great but use more memory than the default Mac voices, which are harder to understand, especially at first.
The Kurzweil 3000 and ReadIris Pro are both scanning and reading systems that work with Macs, although the Kurzweil 3000 is expensive since it includes features for learning disabilities and ReadIris Pro does not have a synthesized voice embedded in it, but can be used with VoiceOver.
An inquiry was made as to whether it would be possible to get a Mac set up in the DCPL Adaptive Services Division so that Assistive Technology customers could work with VoiceOver and learn Apple on a regular basis.
There is not an accessible GPS system for Mac.
The Small Talk Ultra is an accessible, handheld, full-featured computer that runs Windows XP and works with Window Eyes. It sells for about $2,600.
Other JUGS information follows:
If anyone needs after hours access or would like to set up a tutoring session on the JAWS enabled computer in the Science and Technology Division at MLK, please contact the Assistive Technology Coordinator in the Adaptive Services Division.
Volunteer tutors from the JUGS DC group have recently tutored customers in the use of JAWS, Kurzweil, Web-Based Email, Google, Microsoft Word, Windows Media Player, MSN Instant Messaging, NLS Web Braille, and other technologies.
If anyone would like to learn JAWS from a volunteer, or to volunteer to be a tutor, or to join the telephone share list to be able to call others on the list for JAWS help at any time of the week, contact the Assistive Technology Coordinator in the Adaptive Services Division.
The next JUGS DC meeting will be held on the first Tuesday of August, August 1st from 4:15 to 5:15 in room 215 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G Street, NW, Washington DC. The Library is located right across the street from the West exit of the Gallery Place Metro Stop, at 9th and G.
posted by Saturday Technology Training Sessions at 1:42 PM
0 comments
