[laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology

[Fernando]

Thanks Andrea for the clarification.  I am sorry my initial inquiry did not
offer more details.

I do not know if a paper version of the publication will be made available
but do know that the final product will be primarily web-based and will be
live in the first half of 2009.  My own contribution needs to be submitted
by the end of October.

I will certainly share the final version of my own portion of the
publication with everyone that contributes to it as well as the web address
of the complete text and other important facts such as launch date and so
forth as soon as I myself know the details.

Best wishes,

Fernando

-----Original Message-----
From: ashettle at patriot.net [mailto:ashettle at patriot.net] 
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 3:09 PM
To: Fernando
Cc: 'Andrea Shettle'; 'Discussion of accessibility on the OLPC'
Subject: RE: [laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology

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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