[Nfbf-l] NFB-Newsliner

[Lappland]

NFB-Newsliner
The Newsletter for Subscribers

All aboard the Newsliner!

Welcome to the maiden voyage of NFB-Newsliner,
the newsletter for NFB-NEWSLINE®
subscribers.  The intent of this newsletter is to
inform you of important news and updates
regarding this unique and empowering service, and
to help maximize your enjoyment as a user.  You
are receiving this newsletter because you are one
of the individuals for whom we have an e-mail
address (perhaps you are one of the ever-growing
number who receives their news via e-mail?) and
because we feel the time has come to open up a
line of communication with you.  We understand
that you don't want your email inbox overwhelmed,
so we plan to only send you information we think
you can really use; you can expect an email from
us two to three times per month.  In addition to
our desire to ensure that this service is
everything that it can be for you, and to alert
you to improvements and expansions, we also want
to hear from you!  Please write to Scott White at
swhite at nfb.org
 with your suggestions and as
always, you can call our helpline at (866)
504-7300 with any questions you may have.  If you
have forgotten your login codes, or if you wish
to receive a tutorial tape or print User's Guide,
please contact Carylin Walton at
cwalton at nfb.org
.  For a wealth of information on
NFB-NEWSLINE®, please visit our website at 
www.nfbnewsline.org.

Portholes

Do you have a certain columnist who you never
miss?  Is there a certain section of your local
paper that you look forward to each week?  If so,
please pass along your preference so that it can
be included in this subscriber's
newsletter.  Whether it is sports commentator's
enthusiastic review of baseball statistics or a
food writer's unique take on tofu, your favorite
part of the paper could also be somebody else's
must-read article too!  Contact Renée West,
Marketing and Outreach Manager, at 
rwest at nfb.org
or (410) 659-9314, extension 2411, so that she
can feature your favorite(s) in the next issue of NFB-Newsliner!

What's Current?

Since July of 1995, blind people have been using
their telephone to sail into the sea of
information.  With the advent of the
NFB-NEWSLINE® service, members of the
print-disabled community could be as thoroughly
informed of election results, edamame recipes,
and economic reports as the next (sighted)
guy.  While phone calls and e-mails function as
the anchor of our service, we continue to build
on our (and your) prior efforts­and now we're
exploring new and exciting ways blind folks can
get the news they need, when they need it.  Two
initiatives are making headway:

News via the Victor Reader Stream
A companion software program for the PC will be
crafted in conjunction with a Web site where
subscribers can select daily newspapers to be
directly delivered to their computer each
morning.  The software will then automatically
transfer the selected daily newspapers to the
Humanware Victor Reader Stream.  The user can
then take this portable, pocket-sized device and
read the selected material at their convenience.
Currently, some subscribers who lack technical
experience may find tackling the process of
transferring content from their email to their
Victor Reader Stream a bit
inconvenient.  However, when the automated
process is rolled out, getting your daily news
will be as simple as plugging your VR Stream into your computer.

News on the Net
A secure Web site will be developed where
subscribers can login to view their daily
newspaper or magazine of choice.  This Web site
is to be optimized for ease of use by persons
using adaptive technology such as screen readers
and enlargement software programs.  Additionally,
this Web site will be designed to be efficiently
used by persons of all levels of technical
expertise.  One really excellent feature of the
newspapers-by-website experience is that, in
addition to featuring full content, subscribers
can do an allover search for a key term.  This
means that one can find every instance of the
term "pirate" within all sections of a newspaper,
whether it is within the technology or
entertainment pages.  This amazing functionality
puts on board a new ability for members of the
print-disabled community to do research for
homework or career, and makes getting informed a ballast, er, blast!

(Broad)casting Off

Do you love having free access day or night to
over 260 newspapers and magazines on the
NFB-NEWSLINE® service?  Do you enjoy the
unprecedented ability to become informed through
the availability of seven excellent magazines,
local and national Associated Press releases, and
six Spanish-language offerings?  Can you not
fathom how you ever got along without this
service?  Do you know another print-disabled
individual who would benefit from using
NFB-NEWSLINE®?  We want to help you in telling
others about this special service.  If you have a
blind friend or are a member of a support group
for blind people, or if you live near a
retirement community, or know someone who is
incapable of reading the newspaper for any
reason, you can serve as an integral element in
our efforts to promote NFB-NEWSLINE®.  We can
provide you with help in targeting and talking to
a group of one or a hundred about the service,
and can help you receive marketing materials to
aid in your presentation.  Please call Renée West
to discuss how you can reel in new subscribers!

Scott A. White
Director of Sponsored Technology Programs
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland  21230
Telephone:  (410) 659-9314, ext. 2231
Fax:  (410) 685-5653
Email: <
mailto:swhite at nfb.org>swhite at nfb.org


Please remember to support the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind by donating a dollar or more to help fund our worthy programs. Send your tax deductible
gift to:
Florida Outreach Center for the Blind
1280 N. Congress Ave., Ste-108
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
Or use the Pay Pal link on our web site at:
www.flblindcenter.org
Thank you!