[nfbcs] Future goals for the division

[Cricket Bidleman]

Hi Ms. Armstrong,

I think that is a brilliant idea! If we in the CS division could get a
site of our own, this would be very simple. The problem, then, would
be spreading the word. Therefore, I would suggest starting off with a
blog or Facebook page, since those are more wcdespread. Perhaps the
solution is to have both, since some people only use blogs, and some
only Facebook. It would just be a matter of copying and pasting text
from one to the other. What do you think of that?

I think some outreach would be good too, to spread the word. Maybe we
could get something put together for the Braille Monitor or Future
Reflections—preferably both, since they kind of cater to different
audiences. If nobody is into the Facebook and or blog thing, we may be
able to get a section of our own in one or both of the NFB
publications. That way, we'd have a month between usdates, so
everything could be nice and thorough.

I also think that it would be good to rotate authors so that whoever
our audience turns out to be can get a taste of different points of
view. This would also give people a break, so that not any one person
would be responsible for the entire division's work. If any of those
ideas is appealing to the group as a whole, I'd be happy to help in
any way I can. Thanks!

Your embosser idea is awesome. I have experience with the Tiger
Embosser, and it works very well for printing out graphics. Yes, that
could be a definite possibility with embossers like the Tiger. Great
idea!

Hope this is %helpful ...

Best,
Cricket Bidleman

On 7/20/16, Deborah Armstrong via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>I'm interested in hearing from folks on this list about things they'd like
>> to see the NFB in Computer Science do in the future
> I'm changing the subject line so people won't skip over it.
>
> I think one of the most crucial things is to put together an online paper,
> that is updated regularly, that spells out what one needs to know to get
> started in any computer science related field. This would be different from
> what sighted people need to know; it would focus on which current tools are
> accessible, which aren't, and include the resources such as books or online
> training that were discussed over in the other thread.
>
> I work at a college, and I know new blind students get stymied by the
> simplest things because they lack experience and so do their sighted
> helpers. For example, I heard of a student who dropped a Linux class which
> was all command-line based, because the rest of the class was using telnet
> built in to Windows to log in to the class server. Not sure why they used
> anything this insecure, but I wasn't administering that system and heard
> about it third-hand. And JAWS was not accurately reading what appeared
> onscreen, nor was it tracking the cursor when the student tried to use
> Emacs. As a Linux-head I had to laugh a bit about the ignorance that lead
> the student and his professor to conclude the coursework was inaccessible,
> but it's not a laughing matter, when a beginner doesn't know where to turn.
>
>
> The document could have sections: What you need to know to Learn C++" or
> "What you need to know in your first Visual Basic Class" etc.
>
> I also think we need to nail down and possibly explain the reasons behind
> the inaccessibility of many current tools. For example, if the QT4 library
> is used in creating interfaces, screen readers only partially identify or
> even recognize the existence of controls. If in learning SQL the difference
> between inner joins and outer joins is explained through the use of diagrams
> only, then it's not going to make sense to any blind student. That caused
> me, an experience programmer to drop a course just last year. I would have
> loved to be able to find a paper that outlined where I could go to locate a
> book that explained these concepts in plain English.
>
> Another thought about UML: wild idea here, but how about digital tactile
> diagrams of the symbols that could be embossed? I know different embossers
> have different codes for doing graphics, but someone who knows more about
> this than I could perhaps take the lead here. A student could simply emboss
> the shapes, or get their school to do it, and then using post-it note glue
> which comes in sticks, post their charts on a classroom wall, doing homework
> along with a sighted class.
>
> One way in which I can contribute is writing, and I'd be happy to take the
> lead on that part.
>
> --Debee
>
>
>
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