[laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology

[ashettle at patriot.net]

Thank you for your response.

I agree that your general responses so far seem relevant to a broader
audience.  The part in my email regarding taking discussion off the list
was more specific to any discussion we might have regarding putting up an
announcement at We Can Do, which would not be of wider interest.

I understand that no results can ever be guaranteed (you can lead a horse
to water but not make him/her drink).  Mostly I was checking for my own
benefit because, at least as far as my own blog is concerned, I would not
want to ask people to set aside several hours of their time to write a
response only to find that, as far as the wider world is concerned (and
the contributers), the information goes into a black hole.

I'm being careful because sometimes some small organizations, anxious to
learn from the experience of others, ask for all and sundry to devote
their time to sharing information-- but then the contributers never hear
from them again, even to learn how the information was used, or to learn
from the information shared by other contributers.  I wanted to make sure
there was a plan in place for assembling, organizing, and disseminating
the resulting information to a wider audience of interested parties.

Your clarification that the resulting information is meant to go into a UN
publication helps answer that question.  Do you have more details on the
specifics of that intended publication to share? Or what their submission
deadline is?  And, do you know if contributers would be entitled to
receive a free copy of the final publication?  (This would obviously be
one incentive for people to participate.)

I hope this follow-up email clarifies better the intent and purpose behind
my questions.  I apologize if my earlier email was not clear.

Thanks,
Andrea
ashettle at patriot.net
http://wecando.wordpress.com

> Hi Andrea,
>
> I will respond on-list in case others have the same questions and then we
> can take this off the list so it does not become annoying to anyone not
> interested.
>
> I work as a consultant and the organizations for which this topic is most
> relevant among my clients are Literacy Bridge (USA) and Mais Diferenças
> (Brazil).  They are both relatively small organizations that are primarily
> focused on the educational and social needs of developing countries.
> Based
> on that, judging whether responding to my inquiry will eventually impact
> the
> lives of millions or just a handful of children, depends very much on your
> own assumptions regarding what type of organizations, large or small,
> actually make a difference and drive change in this world.  I believe that
> the answer to this question is not obvious by any means.
>
> The same applies with regard to the fact that it will be used in a
> publication of the International Telecommunications Union.  The extent to
> which anything published or disseminated by UN organizations is adopted by
> any given country depends to a great extent on each individual country.
> So
> as usual in matters of political institutions, no guarantees can be
> offered.
> Having said that, so little is known outside of highly technical groups
> about FOSS assistive technologies, that any exposure is bound to be quite
> helpful.
>
> My own personal take on this is that there is so much need out there, and
> so
> little understanding on the potential of FOSS assistive technologies to
> help, that it pays to think big and be as thorough as possible in
> presenting
> cases to readers.
>
> Thank you for the address to your blog.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Fernando
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessibility-bounces at lists.laptop.org
> [mailto:accessibility-bounces at lists.laptop.org] On Behalf Of Andrea
> Shettle
> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 12:43 PM
> To: accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> Cc: ashettle at patriot.net
> Subject: [laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology
>
> Regarding the recent question on low cost assistive technology: I think
> before any of us can advise intelligently, it might help to understand who
> wants to know (what organization they're working for), what context
> they're
> working in (in a developing country? Which one?) and what they plan to do
> with the information (eg, will it influence budgeting and practices in a
> large scale project in a developing country? Where?
>
> If you're looking for organizationsthat might be able to advise, or more
> mailing lists to join, and if the focus is on developing countries, then
> try
> browsing the many links from my blog site
> (http://wecando.wordpress.com) at the very bottom of each page.
>
> If this information gathering process is meant to be ambitious with far
> reaching implications for many children in various developing countries,
> and/or the information would be widely disseminated afterwards, then
> Fernando please contact me off the list (at ashettle at patriot.net) so we
> can
> discuss whether it would make sense for me to post something about it at
> my
> blog. That could potentially drive a handful of comments in your
> direction.
> Andrea Shettle, MSW
> ashettle at patriot.net
> http://wecando.wordpress.com
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