Minnesota-based Serotek Corp. has a knack for capturing media attention in the access technology arena. Almost a decade ago, the company was in a metaphorical David and Goliath situation when one of the largest companies in the blindness technology field threatened a suit for name stealing. Serotek, aka Little David, didn't balk. Rather, the company simply changed the name of its then flagship product from FreedomBox to System Access.
Original CEO, Mike Calvo, featured in a 2007 AccessWorld interview, From Street Kid to CEO, is no shrinking violet himself. Smart, opinionated, and a born innovator, he stirred up the blind community with ideas like "Accessibility is a right," insisting that all people are entitled to "Accessibility Anywhere," the company's ongoing motto. Perhaps wildest of all was the idea that all information stored by individuals should and could be stored in "the cloud" to make that accessibility anywhere concept a more feasible reality.
When Apple took the blindness technology field by storm with its first out-of-the-box accessible iPhone in 2009, Serotek wasted no time developing an app called iBlink that brought together more content in one place than any person who is blind had previously imagined carrying in a pocket. Through this simple app, consumers could hear podcasts, radio reading service broadcasts, music, news, tutorials and more. The content that eventually garnered the most public attention was a host of offerings from the Serotek Podcast Network (SPN). Shows featuring hosts who are blind chatting about technology, themselves, blindness, and pop culture comprised SPN. People who are blind who have always loved radio now had programs by other people with blind interests in mind, and the growth of the listenership (around 60,000 of them according to Mike Calvo) was tremendous.
"But I read it on the Internet"
One problem with the instant communication we all know and love is that anyone can write anything and pass it off as "news" or "journalism." It's a kind of cyber sensationalism that can wreak all manner of havoc under certain circumstances.
On November 20, Serotek again took center stage on many a blindness-related e-mail list and Twitter feed.
"Serotek Fires Five Key People" ran the subject line of messages redistributed by countless individuals to a number of blindness-related e-mail lists.
Like faux journalism throughout the ages, this inappropriate blast was a bit of truth mixed with a bit more fabrication and speculation. When the original posters were called to accountability by Serotek representatives, the initial message on a popular site was removed, but by then, the rumors were flying and the frenzy of questions floating freely.
There are some changes taking place at Serotek for sure.
AccessWorld now brings you the real story—as well as the Serotek road map for its foreseeable future.
Serotek's Side of the Story
First, no one at Serotek was fired. Five people did leave the company, however, and most of those folks remain connected to Serotek activities.
The most "visible" aspect of Serotek for some time has been the SPN. A collection of podcasts and internet radio shows, SPN has been wildly popular among computer users who are blind and visually impaired. Programs like "Triple Click Home," "That Android Show," and "Serospectives" have brought information, speculation, and a lot of jovial chit-chat among show hosts about blindness and the tools used by people who are blind. Sometimes it has been enlightening, other times misleading, but mostly SPN has just been good old-fashioned entertainment.
But Mike Calvo and Michael Fox, Serotek's two co-founders, finally came to terms with the harsh reality that, as a business, Serotek Corp. needed to make money and the popular radio/podcast performances weren't generating an income stream.
The details of discussions that followed are only important to those who participated in them, but the general gist is that Calvo and Fox devised a plan for keeping the podcasts going and its performers on-air. The proposal involved putting the impetus for monetizing the broadcasts on the shoulders of the producers/show hosts and, in short, the proposal was declined.
There's more, as there is more to every corporate bit of messiness, but suffice to say that no one was fired. Some people were not happy with decisions of management and chose to leave, but to answer the question most of you are asking, yes, the show will go on.
Serotek Leadership Now and in the Future
Mike Calvo stepped down as CEO in 2012, and the leadership role was picked up at that point by Michael Fox. Calvo describes the two co-founders this way: Calvo is the visionary, Fox the businessman. When the company is facing challenge or in transition (both of which are currently the case), the two act jointly just as they did in the beginning. It was the vision of creating affordable screen access for people who are blind and of developing a community where people who are blind could share ideas, tips, techniques, entertainment combined with the necessary business savvy to make these ideas realities that has conjured the success Serotek has experienced over the past decade. Now, those same two partners are bringing their distinct talents to the brainstorm table for the road ahead.
I spoke with Mike Calvo and asked him the questions I figured most readers would ask; here are the most relevant answers.
Here to Stay or Going Away
iBlink
A popular app for iPhone and Android, iBlink brings together a variety of content of particular interest to listeners who are blind, including podcasts, tutorials, coverage of blindness-related events, and the broadcasts of those radio reading services that make content available on the web. Through the app, those who subscribe to SAMNet (System Access Mobile Network) can also access music, described TV and movies, e-mail accounts, and more.
iBlink will continue, Calvo says, but it is going through a re-branding process which will mean a new name and broader access on all platforms. While it is currently available for iOS and Android devices and Windows mobile phones, it will soon be available for Windows and Apple computers, as well as for set-top boxes and other devices.
Serotek Podcast Network
SPN, arguably the largest provider of social and technological content in the blindness community, is not going away either. Some programs will continue, and new programs will probably be created. One idea on the table is an intriguing platform for telling the countless stories of individuals throughout the blindness community through informal gatherings and chats.
Another vision is what Calvo dubs the "Uberization" of assistance. Like the popular ride-sharing model, Calvo muses, wouldn't it be nice to open an app on your mobile device and contract for a fee with a sighted person willing to walk with you to explore a new city, go shopping, or come over and read your mail?
Stay Tuned
Best of all news perhaps is that Matt Campbell, the brilliant programmer who has been the "man behind the curtain" for so much of the System Access ingenuity, is staying right where he has been for the company's lifespan, and he and Calvo have plenty of new tricks in process. Calvo and Campbell plan to be releasing in the near future some very cool and innovative products including one that, as Calvo puts it, "will revolutionize the ways in which people consume documents."
The instant communication delivered via the Internet, social networking, and podcasts brings people everywhere closer together with a real-time sense of familiarization. None of us enjoys hearing that another is out of a job or at the end of an era.
The Calvo-Fox formula for blending fantasy with reality has delivered a marvelous blend of new perspectives and services previously unknown to users of technology who are blind. Some of those innovations have perhaps run their course, while others are in transition or metamorphosis and still others still percolating in the think tank.
What we know for sure is that the show will go on and none of us will want to miss it.
