INTERNET
Site Has the Vision-impaired in Mind
TELEVISION
Commentary: Finally, Something Good on German TV
TECHNOLOGY
Technology Opens Books for Teenager
PRIVACY
Smile, You're on Candid Cellphone Camera
EVENTS
First FCC Localism Task Force Hearing to Be Held Next Week
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INTERNET
SITE HAS THE VISION-IMPAIRED IN MIND
Lighthouse International has launched VisionConnection.org, a Yahoo
alternative for the 40 million blind people worldwide and 140 million who
have only partial sight. The site, specifically designed so screen readers
and magnification software work well with it, features large type, legible
fonts, reverse contrast and text-only pages for people with partial sight.
It also provides links to many sites that are accessible to the
vision-impaired and resources for those with vision problems. Although the
Internet has been around more than 10 years, some websites are still not
accessible for different groups of people, especially for those with
impaired vision. Many sites claim to be accessible because they allow
screen-reader software to be used with them, but they really aren't, says
Patrick Benson of Lighthouse International. He says without accompanying
pictures, the words are often "completely unintelligible." According to the
Pew Internet & American Life Project, although 63 percent of American adults
are online overall, only 38 percent of disabled adults were online in 2002.
Critics say the Internet is too visual, and responsibility lies in the hands
of designers and those in authority to make sure websites are accessible.
SOURCE: USA TODAY; AUTHOR: Janet Kornblum
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-10-13-vision-usat_x.htm
TELEVISION
FINALLY, SOMETHING GOOD ON GERMAN TV
[Commentary] Thomas W. Hazlett, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for
Policy Research, sees lessons for the United States in Germany's move to
all-digital TV. The lessons for American policymakers, he writes, are that
the paralysis that grips the digital TV transition can be overcome, and that
taking away analog TV is not political suicide. Hazlett argues that the
United States should make a clean switch to digital as Berlin did.
Ninety-four million US TV households, which subscribe to cable or satellite,
wouldn't even notice the difference. The remaining 13 million households
would have a choice to begin subscribing to cable or satellite, buy a
digital converter box, or use the TV set as a DVD display monitor. Digital
converters for low-income households could be subsidized. As it is, the US
transition to digital television is nowhere in sight, writes Hazlett. Analog
TV broadcasts will be turned off on Dec. 31, 2006, but only in markets where
more than 85 percent of households can receive digital broadcasting over the
air. The FCC's digital-TV-tuner mandate amounts to a hefty tax on TV sets
for the majority of Americans, who don't need a digital tuner, he argues.
SOURCE: Slate; AUTHOR: Thomas Hazlett
http://slate.msn.com/id/2089424
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY OPENS BOOKS FOR TEENAGER
The East Tennessee Technology Access Center (ETTAC) is making reading easier
for Maria Creswell and other people with disabilities. In the past, reading
was challenging for 14-year-old Creswell. She has cerebral palsy, a disorder
that affects movement control and makes holding a book difficult. Through
ETTAC, Maria has the opportunity to read books that have been adapted to a
computer program. She can click a button with her right hand and flip
through an on-screen list of actions such as read out loud, turn the page
and start over. ETTAC helps people with disabilities by loaning them
expensive assistive technology devices to use while they are saving to buy
one. This allows people to test devices before purchasing them. "We use
technology to help people with disabilities do things they may not otherwise
be able to do," says Lois Symington, ETTAC's executive director. ETTAC also
provides programs and technologies that help children with disabilities
learn to read and improve their communication skills. Moreover, the center
helps teachers adapt classrooms and teaching techniques to better help
disabled children.
SOURCE: Knox News; AUTHOR: Beth Rucker
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_2336261,00...
l
PRIVACY
SMILE YOU'RE ON CANDID CELLPHONE CAMERA
The audience for cellphone cameras and Internet phonecam sites is rapidly
increasing as privacy becomes a matter of ethics more than legality. Last
week, Philadelphia resident Gary Dann flipped open his palm-sized camera
phone and pretended to look up a number while taking a picture of a man in a
grocery store who was yelling at the cashier because his credit card did not
go through. Moments later the picture appeared on Dann's website with a less
than flattering caption. This is just one example of the millions of
surreptitious snapshots phoned into cyberspace as a result of cellphone
cameras. Some of Dann's other subjects include a drunken man on the street,
an obese woman buying Weight Watchers meals and a psychic who was not
psychic enough to know she was being photographed. Recently, these devices
have been banned from some federal buildings, movie screenings, health club
locker rooms and corporate offices. Legally, self-made candid camera
photographers are in the clear, but ethically privacy issues are debatable.
Cameras will soon be able to capture everything, which has dramatic
implications for how people choose to live their public lives, says James
Katz, a professor of communication at Rutgers.
SOURCE: New York Times; AUTHOR: Amy Harmon
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/weekinreview/12HARM.html?ex=1067141009...
1&en=8956a82d5de94eac
EVENTS
FIRST FCC LOCALISM TASK FORCE HEARING TO BE HELD NEXT WEEK
The FCC's Localism Task Force has announced the schedule of six public
hearings it will hold to solicit input from consumers, industry, civic
organizations and others regarding broadcast localism. The first of these
town meetings is to be held October 22, 2003, at 6 pm. It will take place at
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth Street,
Charlotte, North Carolina. One or more Commissioners will chair each
meeting, with an important focus being to gather information and to conduct
outreach for the nationwide round of broadcast station license renewals that
is just beginning.
SOURCE: FCC; CONTACT: Michelle Russo
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-239578A2.doc
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