Bill Holton
Until recently, my wife hosted monthly dinners for the half of her large family that resides here in Florida—the other half is spread throughout New England—but when the world shut down and began social distancing, the dinners had to stop. Texts and phone calls began to fly, but they were no substitute for actually gathering together.
That’s when my wife decided to throw a virtual Easter dinner. Everyone cooked their specialties, then nearly 20 of us gathered at the appointed time to enjoy them together via a video meeting. We could have used FaceTime, but not everyone owns an iPhone. Even fewer had Google accounts, so Hangouts was not an option. Skype can be more than a bit confusing for novice users, and tends toward unreliability. So we settled on the choice more and more people seem to be making these days: Zoom.
In case you’ve been social distancing in a cave, Zoom is one of the more popular of the growing number of teleconferencing platforms. It’s launch-and-run simple to use, and the free version has helped the app's phenomenal growth over these past few months.
With so many companies allowing their employees to work from home, so many schools relying on teleconferenced classrooms, and so many grandparents missing their weekly hugs, Zoom has turned out to be the perfect platform for these terrible times. Which is why my reviewer’s ear perked up when I caught the release of a new title from the Carroll Center for the Blind, Getting Started with Zoom Meetings: A Guide for JAWS, NVDA, and iPhone VoiceOver Users, written by Accessibility Associate Heather Thomas. The book is available from the Carroll Center in downloadable PDF and MS Word formats for $18. As is usually the case with titles directed toward users with visual impairments, the nearly 30,000-word text is well-formatted with short-cut heading and list navigation. The author assumes a working knowledge of Windows using a screen reader and/or a VoiceOver accessible iPhone, though she does pause to describe the screen reader commands needed to accomplish many specific Zoom tasks.
Not covered in the book are the Mac, Chromebook, and Android Zoom apps. Windows Narrator is also omitted.
Zooming Along
After some preliminary remarks on the book’s structure and comments about Zoom itself, the text is divided roughly into two sections. The first covers using the Zoom Windows desktop app. (Note: the browser plugin is not described.) The second section deals with using Zoom on the iPhone/iPad.
There are three levels of Zoom participation: you can attend meetings via the Zoom app without registration. You can host a meeting with up to 100 participants with a free registered account, though meetings of three people or more are limited to 40 minutes. Meeting length is up to 24 hours with a Pro account ($14.95 per month). Pro accounts also offer increased technical support and other enhanced features, which Thomas does an excellent job annotating throughout the text.
Computer and iPhone novices will appreciate the author’s detailed, step-by-step tutorial on downloading and installing the desktop and/or iOS app, setting up your video camera and microphone, and connecting to your first Zoom meeting. If you have already successfully accomplished these tasks, you may wish to use your screen reader’s navigation keys to skim through these sections. Or perhaps not, as I discovered several buried nuggets that answered questions I had, such as why I am unable to record an iPhone meeting, or the reason some Zoom invitations come with a dial-in phone number and others do not. Did you know you can share your iPhone screen, VoiceOver and all, during a Zoom meeting while attending the same meeting on your PC? Or that even though we may be working from home these days, it doesn’t mean we’ve escaped the dreaded PowerPoint slide deck, and that sharing PowerPoint slides through Zoom is just as inaccessible as the office wall projection?
Zoom offers keyboard shortcuts for most of its desktop functions. Thomas notes each as appropriate, and lists them all in one of the book’s appendices. About the only meeting feature she does not describe in detail is setting a background image. She explains the omission this way: “…if you move around [when you have a background image set], your own image may appear blacked out or blocky to viewers.” She considers them unprofessional, but what about the stacked dirty dishes in the kitchen sink behind you? Or the family photograph you didn’t realize was hanging askew and that distracts everyone in the meeting? It seems to me that a simple, green-screen type background image would be a vast improvement. I suggest the author should have included a more complete description of image backgrounds and how best to acquire and use them. And not just for a more professional look. Using backgrounds is a popular Zoom meme. There’s no reason people with visual impairments shouldn't be able to participate.
And speaking of imagery, the author limits “low vision” guidance to a discussion on how to increase the font size on the chat window. Most low vision users would expect more. How can I test my settings to make sure I am, as they say, “ready for my close up?” Or the fact that the best way to tell who’s speaking is to look for the video image the software has brought front and center. My wife used our Apple TV to mirror the Zoom image onto our 48” TV. We could also have chosen to use our Chromecast. Low vision users could benefit from discussions of these magnification options.
I have never hosted a Zoom meeting, but after reading the appropriate chapters I feel confident I could do so, either on a PC or my iPhone. Perhaps both. As mentioned, when my wife hosted the family dinner she hosted the meeting on her laptop, muted the sound, then logged in on her iPhone and used our Apple TV and screen mirroring to port both image and sound to our TV. She had a better view of the family, and I didn’t have to log in and run a second audio stream or huddle close to her laptop to hear hers.
Near the end of this book Thomas offers up some “Tips for Successful Meetings.” For example, if you plan to host Zoom meetings, consider investing in some good headphones. Otherwise it’s likely participants will become distracted by your screen reader. There’s another reason to consider headphones. When things get boring you can always switch over and check your email or Twitter feed. (Not that I would ever engage in such behavior during an AccessWorld Zoom meeting.)
Thomas concludes her book with several useful appendices listing Zoom keyboard commands, a mini guide on installing the free JAWS scripts for Zoom using older versions of JAWS--they come preinstalled in newer versions, some additional resources and a listing of referenced URLs.
As the author states, “If Zoom meetings were not a regular part of your life prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a good chance that you have been exposed now—to Zoom, that is.” Even post-pandemic, it looks like Zoom and other remote presence technologies are here to stay. And unlike previous societal paradigm shifts, this is one we can access and embrace from the start. As its title clearly states, Getting Started with Zoom Meetings is an excellent place to begin.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
Related articles:
- A Review of Format Your Word Documents with JAWS and NVDA: A Guide for Students and Professionals, by David Kingsbury by Bill Holton
- Full Speed Ahead with Modern Communication: A Review of the Zoom Conferencing System by J.J. Meddaugh
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