We are focusing on Kurzweil.

“Read any good books lately?”

“HMMM, Let me think — there is. … And you?”
“Absolutely! There is … and …”

In an article on The Barnes and Noble
web site Harold
Augenbraum gives a list providing literary bliss.

“44 Bookers in 25 Words (Each)” lists each of the winners of
the Mann Booker Prize over the last 40+ years. This award ” … for the best novel published in the past year by a citizen of a country in the British Commonwealth or the Republic of
Ireland, is one of the most prestigious literary accolades given
for a single work of fiction in the English-speaking world.”

I learned about the prize about 5 years ago and now eagerly
await each year’s announcement. Thus far the eight or 10
selections read have not failed to provide enjoyment and
food for contemplation. Some are just incredible stories.

Thanks to the review for bringing all these books into one
convenient list. Anyone want to share a read?

The bulletin board is a great place for faculty and staff to post announcements about up-coming activities. Unfortunately, with several of the postings, I had to ask my office manager to look over my shoulder at the monitor and read out the information.

Why? Because the announcements were images only. No alternative text, no content at all beyond the graphic.

See what I mean by turning off the display of images in your browser and going to the following examples. (Pages will load in their own windows.)

• Announcement about INL career opportunities
• This concert.

The first example clearly presents the date, time and location of the event. But what about the second posting? No information is available if one cannot see the image.

I’m all for the creative use of graphics, but please, please do not forget about those of us using screen readers or portable devices. Including an alt tag or inline text changes the entire picture for individuals who depend on textual content.

This internship opportunity offers paid summer internships at
many of America’s leading corporations. These companies are
members of the National Business & Disability Council
(www.nbdc.com) and are proactively in recruiting qualified people
with disabilities.

To be considered for an internship, a student must be enrolled in the
fall as an undergraduate or graduate student and have at least 60
credits. More information can be found on the web site at
The Emerging Leaders
site

*****Please note: the application deadline is December 31,
2011*******

This is an interesting idea. I think I’ll purchase a copy of the font and try it out with some of my communications.

**Update**

The price for the font is a bit much for my budget at present — about 70 EU, which equates to about $93 US.

ECD Volunteer

I wish to use this space to thank everyone involved in making
last Friday’s Experience College Day a success. We invited
students with disabilities from area high schools interested in
higher education to campus for a day of learning about what it
means to attend a university. Students participated in workshops
about becoming financially smart, being a successful learner and
accessing services when one has a disability. They took a tour
of campus, ate lunch in a cafeteria and held conversations with
currently enrolled ISU students. The goals for the day
were to encourage attendees to consider themselves as potential
participants in higher education, ask questions and think
positively about their own involvement.

It really does take a community of friends and colleagues to
make an event like this happen. All who helped bring this very
special day to reality deserve public recognition.

First, thank you to the volunteers, without whose work stuffing
bags, hanging decorations, guiding students, facilitating panels
and workshops, and cleaning up the mess afterward, the day could
not have taken place. Staff from the Department of Labor, ISU
admissions and College of Education, The national Society of
Collegian Scholars, and first year seminar classes, provided the
sweat, energy and creativity to make the day one to remember.

Second, thank you to the teachers at participating high schools.
Without you organizing and chaperoning the students, the day
would have been very lonely for all of our volunteers.

Third, thank you to the Bannock County Civitans. Without your
financial support and encouragement, Experience College Day might
not have come to pass.

Fourth, thank you to the staff of ISU’s Disability services. Without
your collaboration and attention to detail this event would never
be more than a concept. It is a privilege to work with such an
awesome team of dedicated individuals.

Lastly, thank you to the students. Without your energy,
enthusiasm and interested participation, our efforts would have
meant nothing. If only a few of you choose to pursue college who
otherwise would have gone another way, what we do is worth
the investment of time, energy, money and creativity.

More than 40 volunteers made it possible for 138 students to
experience college for a day. My thanks to every one of you.

Sincerely,

Todd DeVries

Director, Idaho State University Disability Services

Instapaper allows me to say to myself: “aha! This looks too
interesting to miss; let’s read it later.” Two keystroke presses
and the page gets saved. I can go back to my account and read the
page when time permits.

Perhaps the best part of the Instapaper service is its IPhone
app. Now, instead of wasting time tapping my foot while waiting
for my wife to pick me up from the barber shop, I can be catching
up on recent pieces of information.

One last goodness about the service is its ability to store
email. Assume someone sends me a longish email about their recent
trip to Hoboken. I simply forward the missive to Instapaper and
the email is stored for later review.

I find Instapaper a very valuable part of my web toolkit.
Catching hold of web pages and email for later reading both
saves me time and helps me stay organize.

Fortunately, the problem was relatively easy to diagnose. I had been playing around with a web site of my own making and had neglected to be very secure about monitoring who was uploading posts. Some very sleazy individual had exploited my stupidity and was using the site for his own devices. It was a bit like leaving a door unlocked while running to the store.

This experience causes me to reflect upon what seems to be a growing issue as the Internet ages; the forgotten or abandoned service. I’ve been poking around on the net since before web browsers and have absolutely no idea how many services out there have info about me in their databases. Just recently I’ve signed up for a Twitter feed account, a Diaspora email notification and an account with Faculty Focus. It’s pretty easy to keep all of those “Welcome to” emails in a Google archive, but just having a piece of information doesn’t make it immediately retrievable.

People who do a lot of web research, evaluate software and services, or who are web experimenters are most susceptible to the forgotten service problem.

So what to do about it?

My recent brush with web identity hijacking caused a rethink about how online services get tracked. A system needed to be created to easily locate and review these services. Here are the points to consider.

• Service name: What is the name of the company providing you the good or service?
• Web Address: What is the web address of the company?
• Date of sign up: When did you begin using the company’s services?
• Method of payment: Are you using a credit card or payment service like PayPal to fund the product?
• Description: What is the nature of the service you receive. Examples: social network, web host, email provider, ETC.
• Tags: A consistent memory-jogging word or group of words which makes pulling all of these records from a data repository easy.

Notice that username and password are not on this list. This is information which needs treatment in a different way.

Putting it together

Simply collecting this information does not mean it will be helpful, especially if it sits in a drawer or under one’s keyboard. A notebook is fine, unless you happen to be where the paper isn’t. I find online services like Microsoft OneNote or Evernote to be very helpful for this purpose. My data is only as far away from my fingertips as the nearest computer.

The key to making this work is consistency – no matter what the organizational system might be. So my new practice when signing up for a new Internet service is to complete the basic information about what it is and what purpose it fulfills. Information is accessible, if an unexpected problem arises. Look mom, no more forgotten services!

The purpose of this blog is to share information about the tools and technologies for surviving the modern college classroom. Technology relates not only to hardware and software, but also to advocacy techniques and the creative application of the rights and responsibilities of students who have disabilities.

My name is Todd DeVries. I currently work at Idaho State University in the Disability Services office.

Interest in this topic derives from both personal and professional experience as a student and employee within a university system. Very creative applications of technology exist which make access possible. Unfortunately, the other side of the scale is weighed down by institutional indifference and personal ignorance leading to unnecessary frustration and disillusionment. Too many students drop out of the system because they are either unaware of, or not provided with the tools they need.

My dream for this endeavor is that someone, somewhere will find what is written here useful.

Topics which will be discussed include

1. Alternate Media and formats
2. Hardware and software to enhance access to reading
3. Advocacy issues
4. Interesting books and articles
5. Random musings on almost anything else, just for fun.

Please drop me a line if you have thoughts about these topics, or anything related. Your participation and feedback are very much appreciated.

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