[nabs-l] Bookshare is Looking for a Blind Student for their Advisory Board

[Terri Rupp]

Hi Terri,
Thanks for getting back to me. Here's a brief description of what we're
doing and how I hope you or someone from NABS can help.  I'm also copying
Donna McNear, the chair of the Board.
As part of the Bookshare for Education award, we are in the process of
constituting an Advisory Board. The Board is intended to represent a variety
of constituencies including post-secondary students with print disabilities.
I know that representation from NFB/NABS would be a major asset to the
Board. NFB was a major supporter of B4E and our NFB-Newsline(R) Partnership is
incredibly valuable to all Bookshare users.
We are also very interested in identifying candidates with diverse
backgrounds.
Here is the specific charter of the Advisory Board, as proposed to OSEP:
* In order to ensure a high level of feedback moving forward, we will
establish a formal education advisory group that will play an active role in
supporting the project leadership.
* We will solicit involvement from SEA and LEA representatives, parents of
individuals with print disabilities, Bookshare.org consumers with visual
impairments and those with other print disabilities, policy makers,
teachers, and technology vendors.
* We expect this group to meet virtually on a quarterly basis, and to
support accessible participation by all members.
* Group members will review metrics, provide personal feedback and suggest
specific enhancements to our ongoing operations to maximize the value of
Bookshare.org to their constituents.
I am hoping that you might be able to suggest some candidates that could
well represent the parent community. Here's what we would be asking of the
Advisory Panel members:
The length of a member's tenure on the panel would be 2 years with a
possible extension by mutual agreement of 2 more years. All travel expenses
for participation would be paid by the project. Meetings would be held
quarterly by phone with one in-person meeting per year at the most
convenient location possible for all members.
I don't know if you would be interesting in serving yourself or whether you
would rather identify another student that might be willing to serve on the
panel. If you could get back to me soon and let me know your reactions, I
would be very appreciative. We'd plan on choosing one candidate to represent
the students with vision impairments. We expect to have our next meeting in
the late September/October timeframe if possible so we would like to get
invitations out very soon. Please let me know if you have any additional
questions.
Thanks!
Jim