[Nfbf-l] Preserving Our History by Chris Hofstader - the history of assistive technology

[Jorge Paez]

The museum is a brilliant idea.
I also remember reading about some museum in California that was
collecting old software--like DOS and Windows 3.0 and stuff like that.
I don't remember the name of it,
but if some of us could look it up and contact them, maybe they'd be
interested in creating an AT section as well.

Jorge

On 12/14/14, Alan Dicey via Nfbf-l <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Dear Friends,
> I wanted to share this message a long time ago, but I filed it in one of my
>
> Things to do later folders, and just came across it while working on
> cleaning up that folder.
> I think what the message says is very important!
> If you can assist, it will be greatly appreciated, not only to Blind People
>
> today, but to Blind People in the future.
> With Best Regards,
> God Bless,
> Alan
> Plantation, Florida
>
> Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2014 6:28 AM
> Preserving Our History by Chris Hofstader
> From: David Goldfield
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 9:19 AM
> Subject: Preserving Our History by Chris Hofstader
> Chris Hofstader is an excellent writer who used to work for Henter-Joyce,
> which is now Freedom Scientific.  He worked on key features of JAWS until
> 2004 but has since left to pursue other things, including a new career at a
>
> brand new assistive tech firm.  Chris recently posted an article where he
> talked about the importance of blind people doing more to preserve the
> history of assistive technology.  I think this is an excellent idea.  Please
>
> feel free to pass this on to anyone who would like to write their memories
> of early devices such as the Optacon, VersaBraille and other early products
>
> that came on the scene.  Here is Chris's post, along with my comment which I
>
> posted publicly to his blog during my lunch hour.
>
> Preserving Our History
> Introduction
> Recently, I wrote an article called "Job Access With Bugs?," in which I
> explore some of the generally accepted notions around access technology for
>
> PWVI. That article came as part of my ongoing attempt to record the history
>
> of the screen reader in the years following 1998, when I joined Henter-Joyce
>
> as Director of Software Engineering. These articles have been popular with
> our readers and I'm happy that some of our history is preserved in them even
>
> if my work tends to be loaded with opinion, conjecture and is based largely
>
> in anecdote rather than serious historical inquiry.
> In these articles, I try to include a link to every proper noun when it
> first appears in the pieces and I try to include links to concepts that may
>
> be unfamiliar to our readers. when doing so, as I wrote in the conclusion of
>
> "Job Access," I try to find links to objective materials, mostly Wikipedia,
>
> rather than personal blogs or marketing oriented company web sites. While
> writing "Job Access," however, I realized that little of our history, the
> history of technology for PWVI, has been recorded in the public record.
> This piece intends to encourage people to write and edit Wikipedia pages
> about the technology we use and have been using for a few decades now, it
> proposes an idea for gathering an oral history describing our use cases and
>
> how such technology has effected our lives over the years and, lastly, about
>
> a computer museum interested in curating a collection of AT hardware.
> The Blazie Engineering Braille 'N Speak
> Arguably, the Braille 'N Speak (BNS) from Blazie Engineering may be the
> single most important bit of access technology for PWVI in history. I know
> literally hundreds of blind people for whom the BNS was their first piece of
>
> access technology who, using this once remarkable device, were able to
> attend school, go to university and perform a lot of professional functions
>
> using their BNS. I also know dozens of blind software professionals who got
>
> their start programming by first learning BNS Basic. This device is
> certainly an important part of our history but it has no Wikipedia entry nor
>
> is there an entry for Dean Blazie, the inventor of the BNS or for Blazie
> Engineering, the very important AT company that built the product.
> In my mind, this should be the first item corrected on Wikipedia. Someone
> who knows a lot more about the BNS than I do (I never owned or used one
> myself) should write up an article about it. It would also be important to
> add entries for Dean the man (again, he's someone I've met a few times so
> someone with a greater level of familiarity with Dean should write such) and
>
> for Blazie Engineering, a very important manufacturer of braille devices as
>
> well.
> Henter-Joyce, GW Micro and Window-Eyes
> While JAWS and Ted Henter have token Wikipedia articles about them
> (something that we really must improve and something I might edit myself),
> companies important to our history, Henter-Joyce and GW Micro do not.
> Window-Eyes, for many years the second most popular screen reader and the
> first to embrace an API based strategy for gathering data, regrettably also
>
> have no Wikipedia entries. Doug Geoffray, the most visible member of the GW
>
> Micro team, is also without a Wikipedia entry.
> I can probably write an article about Henter-Joyce as I can call Ted to get
>
> the story right, but someone other than me would need to write up articles
> about GW Micro, Window-Eyes, Doug Geoffray and the others there who helped
> invent our future.
> Less Prominent Technology
> I know a real lot about a few things but virtually nothing about many of the
>
> other technologies that PWVI have used over the years. My own braille skills
>
> are horrible so I've never actually used a braille display nor have I done
> much with a braille keyboard. While I had managed MAGic and WYNN (a product
>
> for users with learning disabilities), I've never used them myself and,
> beyond the theoretical side of this sort of technology, I can't really speak
>
> to such.
> It's important that our history is preserved so, please, if you're so
> inclined, make yourself a Wikipedia account and start documenting our
> history.
> An AT Oral History
> If our readers think it's a good idea, I will set up a wiki on this site
> where PWVI can write up their stories about how they use access technology
> and how it has effected their lives. Here, in an informal way, individuals
> can tell the stories that I hear daily from people orally. That an
> individual got themselves a copy of JAWS, spent time learning it and was
> able to use these skills to advance their career, further their education or
>
> do something else productive with such is a major part of our history that
> remains unrecorded. An "accessibility stories" collection would provide a
> single place on the Internet where these stories could be collected and made
>
> available to others.
> Personal stories are a major aspect of history and, if we launch such a
> wiki, we'd have a place where such stories could be found, studied and
> organized in a manner that doesn't exist today. Of course, such a wiki would
>
> be useless if no one is willing to write stories for it. So, if you think
> this is a good idea and are willing to post at least one story about how
> you've
> used AT, please tell me so and, if I hear from enough people, I'll add the
> functionality to this web site.
> What About the Hardware?
> While the BNS may be the most important piece of hardware this community has
>
> ever enjoyed using, it is certainly not the only one with great importance.
>
> At the same time, as far as my research could tell, the only museum on Earth
>
> that has a BNS in its collection is the Smithsonian where, along with JAWS
> for Windows 3.20, it is the only piece of access technology in the
> collection.
> Recently, I attended the HopeX conference in New York City. There, I had the
>
> opportunity to have a meeting with a bunch of guys involved with a vintage
> computer museum. I'm currently in negotiations with them about their
> launching an access technology area in their collection. To this end, if you
>
> have old access technology hardware around that you would like to donate to
>
> the museum, please connect with me through the contact form on this site and
>
> we can make arrangements to have your old hardware shipped to their museum.
>
> I will be writing up stories about each device and will, of course, require
>
> your input to ensure the accuracy of them so people visiting the museum will
>
> have something that they can understand about why the device was important
> to our community when it was current.
> Conclusions
> I personally feel that it is a tragedy that our history has not been
> properly preserved. Our heroes, people like Ted Henter, Dean Blazie, Glenn
> Gordon and others are simply not remembered online the way that those who
> had made far less important mainstream technology are. The devices that our
>
> community used to get our education, to work in industry and elsewhere are
> not remembered either. Adding and improving Wikipedia entries is easy and,
> if you have old hardware, I seem to have found a home for it as well. I'd
> like having the oral history wiki as well but I'm uncertain that we'll get
> enough volunteers writing up their stories to make it worthwhile.
> So, please help our community preserve its history. We're at an interesting
>
> time when we can write our own history and, in my opinion, we really should
>
> be doing so.
> This entry was posted in Personal Essay, Technology Review and tagged a11y,
>
> Accessibility, Blazie Engineering, BNS, Dean Blazie, GW Micro, Henter-Joyce,
>
> History, JAWS, Ted Henter, Window-Eyes on July 29, 2014 by Chris Hofstader.
>
> About Chris Hofstader
> I'm an accessibility advocate working on issues involving technology and
> people with print impairment. I'm a stoner, crackpot, hacker and all around
>
> decent fellow. I podcast for Pod Delusion, , blog at this site and
> occasionally contribute to Skepchick. I'm a skeptic, atheist, humanist and
> all around left wing sort.
> One thought on "Preserving Our History"
> David Goldfield
> July 29, 2014 at 12:17 pm
> Chris,
> I am way overdue in contacting you, as I have enjoyed your many blog posts
> regarding not only the access technology field but your contributions to it,
>
> for which I would like to thank you. I support your idea in setting up an
> a.t. wiki and would be both happy and honored to contribute to it. I was
> particularly pleased to have read your last post, as I had the privilege of
>
> working for Blazie Engineering for seven years in the 1990's and was a
> Braille 'n Speak user since February of 1989, just around a year and a half
>
> after its launch. While I can't take credit for its overall development, I
> had a small hand or at least a few tiny fingerprints in its updates over the
>
> years and it was an exciting time in my life. My time is a bit limited but,
>
> when I can, I'll see what I can do about those Wikipedia entries. thanks for
>
> all of your service to this industry.
> David Goldfield
> Computer Technology Instructor
> 919 Walnut Street
> 4th Floor
> Philadelphia, PA  19107
> 215-627-0600 ext 3277
> FAX:  215-922-0692
> dgoldfie at asb.org
> www.asb.org
>
> Serving Philadelphia's and the nation's blind and visually impaired
> population since 1874.
>
>
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-- 
Just as a  bird cannot fly if it has stones tied to its legs, so we
cannot make progress on the spiritual path  if we are tightly tied
down by the chains of attachment.
--Venerable Geshe Kelsang