[laptop-accessibility] A possible solution?

[Jim Gettys]

On Sun, 2007-09-30 at 16:42 -0500, Aaron Cannon wrote:
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> Hi Jim.
> 
> I have no doubt that accessibility is important to the OLPC folks, and I
> completely understand that you are all busy.  My intent wasn't to criticize.
> I just wanted to make the point that it wasn't getting worked on.
> 
> Now that I know that folks are at least open to the idea, I will do a little
> research and get back to you with a more concrete proposal.

Thanks.  And I was also constrained as to hiring/contracting, but am no
longer as constrained now that production is imminent:  see
http://www.laptop.org/en/jobs.shtml for current openings.  Given the
right proposal, I can probably swing either OLPC helping fund work, or
work with governments to do so (or both, which is probably the ideal I'd
like to see).  What I have to focus on at the moment is filling the
above urgent openings and do not have time to do the legwork myself
right now.  We will certainly will be engaging with launch countries and
raise the topics of localization, accessibility, as well as
connectivity.

We've had enough to worry about with a novel dual mode, very high
resolution displays that makes most existing themes useless, and
building a GUI for young children (who, for example, need larger type
than older children; not to mention avoiding text based traps in the
UI).  That, for example, forced going with pre-release versions of Gecko
that support scaling.

Conventional desktops don't work for pre-literate children, whether they
have disabilities or not.  So that's where we had to focus initially.
                      Thanks for your interest and help,
                                - Jim


> 
> Aaron
> 
> - --
> Skype: cannona
> MSN/Windows Messenger: cannona at hotmail.com (don't send email to the hotmail
> address.)
> - ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Gettys" <jg at laptop.org>
> To: "Discussion of accessibility on the OLPC"
> <accessibility at lists.laptop.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 12:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [laptop-accessibility] A possible solution?
> 
> 
> > Don't take the lack of activity from OLPC's end as lack of interest...
> > About all we've had time to do is raise the topic of speech synthesis
> > technology for many languages when talking to people with such
> > technology.
> >
> > It's just it is *hard* to bring a laptop to production....
> >
> > A concrete proposal with legwork done of what to do, how, and by whom
> > would be very interesting...
> >                              - Jim
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 2007-09-30 at 10:19 -0500, Aaron Cannon wrote:
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> >> Hi all.
> >>
> >> I am a bit concerned by the seeming lack of progress being made in
> >> regards
> >> to getting a working screen reader for the XO.  Please don't get me
> >> wrong.
> >> I realize that there are a thousand and one projects that also need to
> >> get
> >> done, and that the stalling of this project is simply because folks are
> >> too
> >> busy.  That is why I believe that an alternative approach might be in
> >> order.
> >>
> >> There may be several reasons why this is infeasible, and I would
> >> appreciate
> >> hearing people's thoughts.
> >>
> >> I would like us to seek a grant for the purpose of hiring a developer or
> >> three to work on the coding of a screen reader, and possibly a
> >> magnification
> >> program.  I believe that by doing so, we could get this project off the
> >> ground a lot faster.  Also, we just might end up with a better product
> >> over
> >> all; not because people who aren't getting paid do shoddier work (I
> >> certainly don't believe that), but because it might cause this project to
> >> get a little more attention than it otherwise might.
> >>
> >> Of course, the persons hired would have to be vetted by the OLPC group,
> >> and
> >> they would have no greater status than any other contributor.  They would
> >> simply be getting paid to work on particular things.
> >>
> >> Any thoughts?
> >> Aaron
> >>
> >>
> >> - --
> >> Skype: cannona
> >> MSN/Windows Messenger: cannona at hotmail.com (don't send email to the
> >> hotmail
> >> address.)
> >>
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> >> _______________________________________________
> >> accessibility mailing list
> >> accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> > --
> > Jim Gettys
> > One Laptop Per Child
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > accessibility mailing list
> > accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> 
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-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child