Archives for 2008
Translation STC’s Technical Communication Summit 2009 will be held 3-6 May 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA. See the Call for Proposals for STC’s 56th Annual Conference: Technical Summit 2009. You may submit more than one proposal, but each must be submitted separately. Proposals may be submitted and updated online until 10:00 a.m. [...]
TranslationWe encourage members and friends of the AccessAbility SIG to consider submitting a paper for Include 2009. This call for papers in the Caring Technology Research Announcement List was brought to our attention by member Lisa Pappas. Include 2009, Royal College of Art, London 5-8 April 2009 Submission deadline: deadline October 1, 2008 The RCA [...]
Translation“Think Positive” is the theme for World Arthritis Day 2008. This theme acknowledges that the challenges associated with arthritis/rheumatism can also get you down emotionally, but that there are a number of positive things you can do to help you feel better in yourself and get more from your life. Our campaign for this year [...]
TranslationSome attendees at the June 2008 STC conference may recall the session about “Communicating and Creating Training for Disasters and Emergencies” presented by members of the Environmental, Safety, and Health SIG. “How do you write emergency training that will engage people to become prepared when they are apprehensive about their safety?” At the other end [...]
TranslationAs Opera puts it, “Learning Web Standards just got easier.” Indeed it has! Opera has released “a complete course to teach you standards-based web development, including HTML, CSS, design principles and background theory, and JavaScript basics”. It is called the Web Standards Curriculum. This curriculum was released in association with the Yahoo! Developer Network and [...]
TranslationI was asked to prepare a persona on what users over the age of 50 may need to maximize their use of the STC Body of Knowledge portal. The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is currently developing a Body of Knowledge (BoK) portal where Technical Communicators can share their areas of expertise with each other. [...]
TranslationWhether you are familiar with the animated film/series “Creature Comforts”, you can quickly grasp the concept of “Creature Discomforts”. These are short television commercials, aired in the UK, which were prepared by Aardman Animation for Leonard Cheshire Disability. These commercials show animals, well, creatures, with disabilities, telling their story to an unseen interviewer. You can [...]
TranslationAre you interested in testing a new portal in the UK for disability related information? A trial one-stop-shop for disability related information and advice on the web has been created by Leonard Cheshire Disability, the largest voluntary sector provider of services to disabled people in the UK. The Disability Information Portal (DIP) is set to [...]
TranslationThis should be an interesting series to follow. Matthew Paul Thomas will be posting updates in the coming months to his identification of 15 usability problems with free (open source) software "Why Free Software has poor usability, and how to improve it" that he posted on August 1. He plans to present an example for [...]
TranslationAn example of free association is finding an unexpected gem while searching the Web for something else. While searching for photos of Washington, DC, I discovered a very interesting blog about psychology, neuroscience, vintage photos, Web-based testing, and lots more. The blog is called Dr. X’s Free Associations. Dr. X is a clinical psychologist who [...]
TranslationThe following announcement was sent to us by Rachel Houghton. Renowned typographical foundry Fontsmith have teamed up with Mencap, the UK’s leading charity for people with learning disability, their families and supporters, to create a new corporate typeface as part of a complete rebranding exercise: “FS Me”. See the accessible PDF showing examples of the [...]
Translation(This is an article reprinted here by kind permission from its author, Becky Morris.) Disabled student service providers and vocational rehabilitation counselors are on the ‘front line’ addressing the needs of hard of hearing individuals. You are the professionals who need to understand the communication obstacles, introduce technical solutions and other support services to hard [...]
TranslationThe department of Personnel at the State of New Jersey provides a text-based mode to their Web content using Usablenet Assistive as part of their efforts to comply with the ADA and Section 504. Usablenet Assistive converts a web page into its text-only version on-the-fly by eliminating all page layout that is present in the [...]
TranslationWashington, DC, 20 June 2008—American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Press Release The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) is delighted that Representatives Edward Markey (D-MA) and Heather Wilson (R-NM) have introduced “The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008″ (H.R. 6320). The bill would amend the Communications Act to ensure that [...]
Translation21 June 2007—(Womenshealth.gov HealthDay News) – Lyrica (pregabalin) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat fibromyalgia. It’s the first drug approved in the United States to treat the condition that affects up to 6 million Americans, the agency said Thursday. People with fibromyalgia usually have chronic pain, muscle stiffness, fatigue, [...]
TranslationTechnical Summit tweets are aggregated at Twemes. About Twemes: Twemes.com follows public Twitter.com tweets (messages) that have embedded tags that start with a # character. These are sometimes called hashtags but we like to use the term “twemes”. Through the use of twemes, we can all view what people are talking about across the whole [...]
TranslationThe schedule for STC annual conferences was announced at the 2008 Technical Summit: 2009 Atlanta, GA 3-6 May 2010 Dallas, TX 2011 Sacramento, CA 2012 Rosemont, IL 2013 Atlanta, GA A call for proposals for the Atlanta conference will be issued in September.
TranslationMy new mantra is “It’s not just the volume. It’s the clarity.” This was my biggest “Ah HA” moment regarding my ability to hear and enjoy the Technical Communication Summit in Philadelphia last week. I realized that I was hearing the speakers’ voices just fine but I was still not discerning each and every word [...]
TranslationAs of 1 February 2008, technical support ended for the Netscape browsers. For more information, read the 28 Dec 2007 announcement posted on the Netscape blog at http://blog.netscape.com/2007/12/28/end-of-support-for-netscape-web-browsers. AOL’s focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many [...]
TranslationBy Kath Moonan, AbilityNet In this article Kath Moonan examines what Web 2.0 is and what implications it might have for disabled people who use the Web, particularly the use of Ajax for interactive web pages. Read the full article at http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/web20andaccessibility
Translation“Puppies Behind Bars” trains inmates to raise puppies to become service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement. Another program “Paws & Reflect Friendly Visiting Program” trains the dogs with homebound elderly in New York City to get used to oxygen machines, walkers, and more. Watch the full video for examples [...]
TranslationPreparing for School and Community Sports Events by James M. Daniels, MD, MPH; Joel Kary, MD, ATC; Joseph A. Lane, MD The Physician and Sportsmedicine – Vol. 33 – No. 12 – December 2005 This is an informative and helpful article for all physicians who are asked to provide sideline medical coverage at school athletic [...]
TranslationVIA Rail in Canada and Amtrak in the U.S. have excellent services for special needs. To be sure you receive the service you need, purchase your tickets over the telephone and let them know what you need. Services vary from train to train and station to station but if they know in advance what you [...]
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