Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I'm not sure what may be wrong. The current issue is still showing July 2013 on the AccessWorld app, even though I received the announcement that the August issue is available. The online issue has changed to August, but it appears the app has not. Can you please explain?
Thanks,
Kenneth Rodgers
Response from AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief, Lee Huffman:
Hello Kenneth,
Thanks for your question.
Technically, the online version of AccessWorld is controlled separately from the app version. Once the online version has updated to the new issue, the app must then be updated. Sometimes it takes a bit of time for the app to be manually updated by AFB staff. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause readers. Rest assured, once the online version is updated, it is only a matter of a short time before we have the app version updated as well.
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
Demonstrating her usual insight, Deborah Kendrick provides an excellent summary of what went on at the Braille Summit in her July 2013 article, First Ever Braille Summit: Review of an Extraordinary Conference from the National Library Service and Perkins School. She also does an excellent job of outlining the importance of braille literacy and the sad decline in the use of braille. From the time I graduated from high school, through college and graduate school and a 39-year teaching career, I had to depend too much on audio sources for material. For the last 15 years I worked (I retired in 2002), when digital technology made braille more accessible, I scanned my textbooks and turned the scanned files into braille documents. Now that I own a refreshable-braille device, I'm using braille even more without the inconvenience of carrying around those bulky, braille volumes.
Thanks, Deborah, for a marvelous article.
Virgil A. Cook
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I am with an organization that offers online courses as well as training in other formats. We've used Blackboard and Canvas and have, from time to time, surveyed the field in an attempt to find the most accessible platform, but have come away from those surveys generally dissatisfied with the state of accessibility. The same is true for the applications often used in association with courseware—video conferencing, audio conferencing, white boarding, document sharing, etc. (The issue of texts provided to students on mobile devices is a separate and important one.) Of the nine to ten online courses we offer each year, I will occasionally teach one of those courses myself. I use a screen reader. As an instructor, I face the same frustrations as students, along with an entire separate set of issues related to managing the courses themselves.
There might be value in offering an Access World article or series of articles on access to web-based courseware and related applications. Do you have anything such as that under consideration or in preparation?
From my experience to date, it seems little progress has been made in making online learning readily usable and accessible to those who use access technology. A more in-depth survey might prove that wrong, and I hope it would. I could envision addressing the accessibility and usability of a few leading courseware platforms, video conferencing platforms, and other ancillary web-based technology used in online learning. At the very least, there is need for a review of how well pages conform to Web accessibility standards. Just as important, it would be important to address the usability and convenience of the platforms. That's a very sketchy outline, but perhaps enough of one to give you an idea of possible direction and scope.
Please let me know if this is an area AccessWorld may explore.
Best regards,
Richard Petty
Response from AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief, Lee Huffman:
Hello Richard,
Thank you for reading AccessWorld and writing in with your observations and questions. I completely agree the areas of online learning and professional training would be excellent topics for AccessWorld authors to investigate and report on. As you stated in your letter, these are areas which historically have not had much accessibility. In addition to AccessWorld readers, this reporting would also be of interest to the AFB CareerConnect audience of students and professionals.
Thank you for bringing your interest in these areas to my attention. I will discuss the possibilities of pursuing work in the areas of learning and training with the AccessWorld team of authors.
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
My hat's off to Deborah Kendrick for her July 2013 article, First Ever Braille Summit: Review of an Extraordinary Conference from the National Library Service and Perkins School. The topic is, as she said, "critical for all service providers to address as an essential literacy tool for blind individuals of all ages."
Her synthesis of the three-day conference was enlightening. I look forward to more work on the project, especially finding ways to lower the cost of refreshable braille and publicizing that "Braille is COOL!"
John DeWitt
