[nfb-talk] Matilda Ziegler magazine transition

[Sherri]

The following is the letter from the editor that appears in this month's Matilda Ziegler magazine. The magazine is no longer produced in Braille or cassette due to expense, but is going to be available in a wide range of formats. Hopefully, it will be on Newsline ®soon. The letter from the editor is below. He also talks about a free e-mail service which allows you access to your existing e-mail accounts by phone. I thought this would be of interest. I have been a Ziegler reader for years. It is a very enjoyable magazine. 

Sherri

A Letter from the Editor

New York, Sept. 16,
Dear Readers: I began working at the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind in 1991, a few years before the rise of personal computers and the internet. During that time, I have had a front-row seat for technology's dramatic effects in two areas: publishing and blindness. 

People with visual impairments especially have benefitted from technological progress--and the good news seems to be coming rapidly these days. Since I began posting blindness-related articles to our new website, MatildaZiegler.com, I have been reading daily of the many accomplishments of blind and visually impaired individuals, some of whom are featured in this issue.

It will be a preview of the Ziegler's new weekly email edition, which will contain all articles posted to the website as well as Readers' Forum letters and Special Notices. Of course, you can visit MatildaZiegler.com any time, or get up-to-the-minute postings via our RSS feeds, on Twitter (matildaziegler) and on Facebook (Matilda Ziegler).

I hope to make the Ziegler's weekly email edition available on the NFB-NEWSLINE by early December. This free and simple telephone service has expanded, and now callers can listen to more than 300 newspapers and magazines. Learn more about this wonderful technology at 866-504-7300.

I also want to inform you of another great free service, mailspeaking.com, which lets you use any phone to access up to four previously established email accounts, including Gmail, Yahoo, MSN and AOL. After establishing an email account online, you may then use any telephone to read and send messages independently through mailspeaking.com. 

Although our October braille and cassette issues have not yet been mailed, the production schedule requires me to finish our November issue today, which is Sept. 16. Any Readers Forum letters or Special Notices not published in this issue will appear online and in our first weekly email edition, which will be available by Monday, Dec. 7.

Our transition to the internet "cloud" is occurring just after Thanksgiving, so this November issue is an appropriate time to thank the many people who played a role in the production of our braille and cassette formats. Thank you to the employees of our braille manufacturer, The Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, to the staff and narrators at Talking Book Productions, and to the folks at National Audio Company, our cassette duplicator. I am also very grateful for the help and support of my co-workers Susan Leung and Romeo Edmead. 

It feels good to express these thank-yous publicly. Would you like to thank a sighted individual through the Ziegler for his or her contributions to people who are blind or visually impaired? If so, please nominate that person for our annual James H. Veale Humanitarian Award. Describe his or her virtues in a letter of nomination that includes contact information for you and your nominee. The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1. Please note our new email address: editor at matildaziegler.com.

During my 18 years at the Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind, I have been thankful for many things. But I am most grateful for you readers. A magazine editor could not work for a more attentive or appreciative group of people.

Since 1907, this publication has existed to serve its readers--but you also help us to exist by providing such interesting and unique content. I look forward to expanding our mutually beneficial arrangement as technology continues to improve publishing and the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired.

Thank you so much for your interest in the Ziegler, and Happy Holidays.
Yours truly,
Gregory Evanina, editor

Sherri Brun
flmom2006 at gmail.com
There is a Braille literacy crisis in America.
You can be part of the solution.

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