[nfb-talk] Braille Monitor

Thu Aug 4 14:04:20 UTC 2011

Hi all!

Once people enter the "blindness system", they will be issued an
NLS player.  Perhaps volunteers could get the cartridges or any number of 
them in bulk and have a few mailers on hand.  These monitors which would 
need to be returned, could be available in this way!  Perhaps some libraries 
would be willing to circulate our publication or have on hand the recent two 
years of it for loan.  Some magazines are on the Bard site but then it 
probably would be best to have it on our own site.  Not perfect solutions 
but hopefully a few thoughts which could go into a good solution.

Jim

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 10:15 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Braille Monitor

> Dear All,
>
> I can understand the national's reasoning in stopping the audio tape 
> version of the Braille Monitor.
>
> They are likely looking at the replacement of the duplication equipment 
> for doing the Monitor and the issue of a fading technology and the 
> emergence of newer technologies that will replace the former.
> I have produced audio tape newsletters for my chapter since 1989 and also 
> for the Florida State Affiliate.
> It is about time for us to move on to the next technology for use as our 
> Mass Media for communicating to our membership and friends.
> Audio tapes are on the way out and that is just the way it is.  The 
> question is, what will best replace them and how soon.
> It has been said that most of our members have and can access the Monitor 
> by e-mail or on-line.  It is possible to read the monitor using NFB 
> NEWSLINE for the Blind using a computer or telephone.
> This still leaves out some elderly members  who do not have a computer or 
> do not have NFB NEWSLINE in their areas but still use the Talking Book 
> Library audio tape machines and understand the technology.
> Doctor Mauer spoke about this all at the convention and that they were 
> looking at several possibilities including USB drives that could just be 
> plugged into the USB port on the new digital Talking Book Machines or any 
> USB port on a computer or other device.
> The problem is that these USB thumb drives cost about $6.00  each and that 
> is too much.
>
>
> Another media that might be used is a CD Rom disc or one that is modified. 
> These could be as little as 3 cents each and could be played on many CD 
> players, computers and such.  The file formats could be recorded in a 
> variety of file types that would make this media easy to copy and use.  As 
> CD players are very common now, even most of the elderly have access to 
> them and even those who do not yet have a new Talking Book player can 
> likely find a CD player they can use.
> We must find a way to reduce the cost of the production of the Braille 
> Monitor, but at the same time extend its availability to as many as 
> possible.  Even this technology will have a short life span, but It might 
> get the Monitor through to the point that our membership population 
> catches up to newer technology or dies off.
> These are just my thoughts on the subject and I would like to hear what 
> others have to say on the matter.
>
> David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "T. Joseph Carter" <carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 9:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Braille Monitor
>
>
>> For what a CD costs anymore, someone in the chapter can produce half a 
>> dozen of them for those members for the cost of one cassette.
>>
>> Joseph - kf7qzc
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 03, 2011 at 05:51:57AM -0700, ckrugman at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>>>This is unfortunate as we have many elderly members of our chapter who 
>>>are not computer users or Braille readers. I would think that the 
>>>cassette version would continue to be a good outreach tool to get new 
>>>federationsits.
>>>Chuck
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Meskys" <edmeskys at roadrunner.com>
>>>To: "nfb-talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>>>Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 4:56 PM
>>>Subject: [nfb-talk] Braille Monitor
>>>
>>>
>>>>I am surprised that no one has referred to Dr. Maurer's announcement of 
>>>>the end of the cassette edition of the Braille Monitor after the 
>>>>December issue. Computer users will be encouraged to download it, but no 
>>>>decision has yet been made as to what will be done for non-computer 
>>>>users. A possibility is thumb drives, which can be cheaper than the 
>>>>cartridges. We are supposed to get a full announcement in September. In 
>>>>answer to a question, we were told that it cannot be placed on BARD, but 
>>>>downloads will have to be from an NFB site.
>>>>_______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
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