Hi Harrie,<br><br>Adding Peter Korn, Accessibility Expert at Sun Microsystems, on CC and Eben Eliason, Lead UI, OLPC.<br><br>I think it is definitely worth it to explore all possibilities and options that we have for improving the accessibility of the laptop. However at this stage I think what is required is a focus on elaborating requirements of the laptop from the accessibility point of view. For this, we will have to involve many experts and get their views on how (existing) accessibility tools can be adapted for the Sugar environment.<br>
<br>So I think, our line of action should be first to elicit all our requirements for accessibility in a structured manner for the OLPC and then move forward by looking for solutions that can be used to implement what we need. <br>
<br>I am also CCing this to the accessibility list, to initiate some kind of discussion that can help start off this process of listing some definitive (both short and long term) goals wrt accessibility.<br><br>Best,<br>Hemant<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 12:23 PM, Harrie V. <<a href="mailto:harrievo@chello.nl">harrievo@chello.nl</a>> wrote:<br>
> Hi guys,<br>
><br>
> I recently talked to IBM and one of the subjects they are working on is<br>
> accessibility for elderly people, disabled and visual impaired people.<br>
> Because of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) statement they pay a<br>
> lot of attention to this subject here in the Netherlands, but I noticed also<br>
> in other countries:<br>
> <a href="http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives/grant/helping/seniornet.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives/grant/helping/seniornet.shtml</a> E.g. they work<br>
> together with the National Center for Learning Disabilities in NY.<br>
><br>
> What I downloaded from the IBM website is a screen magnifier only focusing<br>
> on web-browsing. But it seems there are also other possibilities to work on<br>
> this subject together with IBM. The Dutch CSR director of IBM told me they<br>
> can deliver hard-/software, expertise and grants in exchange for an<br>
> evaluation report and knowledge. I asked if they are also willing to spend<br>
> time on Orca on Sugar etc. No response yet. Wouldn't it be an idea to see if<br>
> we can use the expertise of IBM to speed up the process and combine the<br>
> efforts we do?<br>
><br>
> For me it's hard to determine from here the value of their solution, their<br>
> expertise and the possibilities of combining these two because I noticed<br>
> most of the work is done in the US and the communication line between IBM<br>
> The Netherlands and IBM US is long….<br>
><br>
> But I'm very curious what your opinion is. Is this a way we need to explore<br>
> further or not?<br>
<br>
</div></div>Hi Harrie,<br>
<br>
I certainly think that much more should be happening in OLPC related<br>
to accessibility and everybody is welcome to join and use OLPC as a<br>
mean for improving access to education regardless of any disability.<br>
You will find more people with the same interest in the accessibility<br>
mailing list.<br>
<br>
Myself will try to answer any technical questions about Sugar in the<br>
corresponding ml.<br>
<br>
Good luck,<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Tomeu<br>
</font></blockquote></div>