[nfbcs] Intro, CSUN and Project

[John J. Boyer]

Some of you know me already. I'll be at the CSUN conferenc e on the 
FLOSS panel to talk about liblouis, liblouisxmsl, liblouisutdml and 
BrailleBlaster. I hope to meet some of you there. Below is an 
announcement on the BrailleBlaster project which you may find 
intereesting.

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This is an announcement of an exciting new software development project 
that will greatly increase the availability and usability of Braille. 
For full details go to http://code.google.com/p/brailleblaster Since 
this is an open source project, you are invited to participate. We need 
transcribers and technical writers as well as programmers.

BrailleBlaster will be excellent for translating and formatting braille 
and inserting tactile graphics and hence release a blast of braille.

It will be very user-friendly for non-technical users but also powerful 
enough for experts.

Naive users will be able easily to compose simple documents and then 
translate and emboss them in braille or read them on a braille display.

Advanced users will be able to divide books into multiple braille 
volumes, with title pages, tables of contents, and end-notes for each 
volume.

The BrailleBlaster project should be completed within less than two 
years.

BrailleBlaster will be fully usable in speech or braille by people who 
are blind.

It will be designed for Windows, MacIntosh, and Linux operating systems 
and common screenreaders

It will have visual display controls that make it maximally accessible 
for users with low vision and other visual disabilities.

It will be localized into most major languages.

BrailleBlaster will be developed under the Apache 2.0 license, which 
permits broad use, including use in commercial software.

BrailleBlaster's sponsors are ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. and 
Abilitiessoft, Inc. They will hold the license copyright.

-- 
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities