[laptop-accessibility] Starting the ball rolling

Fri Mar 30 14:46:36 EDT 2007

Hello everyone, 

Thought I would take some time to introduce myself. 

I'm Amy Chen, and I am a usability engineer for accessibility at Oracle. I have been working in the field of accessibility on and off for the past 5 years. I came to Oracle from the PeopleSoft merger and started working in a position full-time in accessibility a little over a year ago. I have experience in conducting usability studies with users with disabilities. Currently, I am working on accessibility for Fusion, which is Oracle's next generation of enterprise application products. 

I am interested in One Laptop Per Child because I think the premise of increasing learning possibilities through technology is an interesting one. Also, I believe in making technology accessible to as many people as possible.

I need to apologize because I have not had the time to read up on the OLPC documents, but please let me know what the structure of this group will be and how I can help and contribute to this effort.

Looking forward to working with all of you. 

Thanks,
Amy

Amy S. Chen
Usability Engineer, Accessibility
amy.x.chen at oracle.com
925-694-4716

--- Original Message ---
> Greetings,
> 
> It has been a week since I started showing off the OLPC at
> CSUN, and a 
> few days since creation of this alias (and inviting folks to
> attend). 
> And we now have 9 folks on the alias, so perhaps we are large
> enough to 
> start OLPC accessibility discussions.
> 
> Perhaps the best place to start is with introductions.
> 
> I'm Peter Korn, Accessibility Architect for Sun Microsystems.
>  I've been 
> working in the field of accessibility for a bit over 15 years.
>  At Sun 
> my job is to look at all aspects of accessibility of our
> products and 
> technologies, with particular focus on developing infrastructures
> 
> (technical and corporate/structural) to support accessibility,
> and 
> outward in standards and policy forums (I'm a member of the
> U.S. Access 
> Board's advisory committee on the update/rewrite of Section
> 508/255 
> accessibility regulations).  Prior to Sun I held numerous
> positions at 
> Berkeley Systems/Berkeley Access, helping write one of the
> first screen 
> readers for Microsoft Windows (which we worked to make
> cross-platform, 
> and even had a prototype running on SunOS).
> 
> My interest in OLPC accessibility is a natural extension of
> my interest 
> in making as much technology accessible to as many people as
> possible. 
> I have long believed in "built in" instead of "bolted on", and
> in having 
> technology formally support accessibility from the start. 
> OLPC presents 
> a wonderful opportunity to build accessibility into a technology
> that 
> will hopefully reach many millions, if not billions, of people.
>  I have 
> also long felt that the prices of specialized AT solutions are
> 
> significant barriers to their use - all the more so because
> folks with 
> disabilities tend to have lower incomes than the general
> population. 
> Again, OLPC provides a venue to dramatically address affordability
> 
> issues for accessibility in particular, as part of addressing
> technology 
> affordability in general.  Finally, I'm a big believer in open
> source 
> accessibility, and I think there is tremendous opportunity for
> 
> cross-pollination between Sun's work in open source accessibility
> for 
> the Sun/UNIX desktop, and open source solutions for OLPC.  But
> while 
> there is a Sun connection, my involvement in OLPC is voluntary
> - 
> separate from Sun (who isn't paying me to work on OLPC
> accessibility).
> 
> Who are you, and why are you interested in OLPC accessibility?
> 
> 
> 
> I would like to invite everyone to review the material on the
> OLPC 
> Accessibility wiki at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Accessibility
> (if you 
> haven't already done so) One area that could definitely use
> improvement 
> is the skeletal Resources section at the end of the page
> (volunteer 
> editors sought!).  Also, you might find my OLPC-related
> accessibility 
> blog entry of yesterday thought-provoking (see 
> http://blogs.sun.com/korn/date/20070328).
> 
> But enough reading assignments!
> 
> There is a lot to think about in making the OLPC accessible.
>  I'd like 
> to suggest we start by sketching out the "thought space" (what
> are the 
> aspects to think about/evaluate - things like the Sugar user
> interface, 
> and hardware requirements for AT devices), and by taking aspects
> in turn 
> and doing a deeper dive/dissection (e.g. a careful look at the
> physical 
> hardware for things like tactile feedback for someone who can't
> see, 
> options for wheelchair mounting [and specifically for the sorts
> of 
> wheelchairs we might find in a poor country]).
> 
> Does this seem like a reasonable way to start?  This is our
> list, what 
> do you folks think?
> 
> 
> Also, to help focus our time, we should keep in mind the OLPC
> timetable, 
> so we can have our feedback ready.
> 
> The hardware many of you saw was a BTest-2 system, one of about
> 2,500 
> made last month (see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification).
> 
>    After this is the BTest-3 system to be made in May (upgrading
> to a 
> faster processor and memory clock, along with more memory and
> other 
> goodies).  Then BTest-4 in mid-summer, which is "the final
> chance to fix 
> hardware and mechanical problems that were detected in the
> Beta Test 3 
> build of the XO".  Jim, I haven't found date for final production,
> but 
> I'm guessing that's in the fall of this year (can you point
> us to that 
> schedule?).
> 
> With only a 2,500 systems, clearly not everyone who wants to
> play with a 
> machine will be able to have their own.  I'll let Jim talk
> about the 
> process for getting a machine and how one qualifies for that.
>  But 
> nearly anyone can get access to the software and start playing
> with it. 
>   Please see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_images_for_emulation
> for 
> information on getting an OS image to run on a UNIX, Mac, or
> Windows 
> box.  This is a great way to start evaluating the user interface
> for 
> accessibility.
> 
> For more information about OLPC software, please see 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Software_projects and 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines (and
> you will 
> note that 
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/Design_Fundamentals#Accessibility
> 
> is rather empty at the moment)
> 
> And speaking of software, Jim, can you tell us anything about
> the 
> software schedule?  From the main software page 
> (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Software) I see a schedule 
> (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Software_Schedules) that terminates
> two 
> months ago, but I know from the Sugar mailing list that there
> is still 
> active development there.
> 
> 
> Oh, and finally, as Jim Gettys (who I trust will introduce
> himself) 
> solicited our involvement, let me also ask Jim to talk about
> what he 
> would like from our group.  Jim?
> 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Peter
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