From kline at thought.org  Wed Jan 13 01:42:33 2010
From: kline at thought.org (Gary Kline)
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:42:33 -0800
Subject: [laptop-accessibility] I have a number of ideas.....
Message-ID: <20100113064232.GA507@thought.org>


	Folks,

	It looks like I was right on the money when I said it would be around five
	years before the OLPC project really got launched.  Now there are
	viable notebook computers in the $200-450 range, most running a
	form of Linux.  I'll spare the list my ideas about helping the disabled 
	because of my basic question:  What, exactly, is a child as far as the 
	OLPC project is concerned?

	I think of school "formally" beginning around age three in pre-school, and
	that computer use could be taught from ages three to five or six which
	would include grade school.   But classes and learning can be developed
	for children well into their teens.  This presents the issue of whether
	having one keyboard size for all ages needs some rethinking.  A student
	may be happy when she is seven or eight; another may find using the
	same keyboard more difficult when he has grown to age 15.

	I have begun work on a program that may wind up as a patch to the Linux
	kernel; it may be a stand-alone daemon.  There are many possibilities
	of my program turning slightly hard-to-press keys from dull to having
	some audio feedback.  This may be helpful for some students with some
	kinds of disabilities.  Thus, my interest in keyboard sizes.

	gary kline



-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
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