Archives for January, 2009
TranslationThe Amazing Stories magazine of the last century was devoted to science fiction stories of all kinds. In other words, stories of the future, and to some, the impossible. Research is making some amazing stories possible and bringing them into the present. We want to present two tales that we consider amazing. Helping the blind [...]
TranslationSTC’s official hotel for the 2009 Technical Communication Summit is the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. The Hyatt Regency is the location for all the activities associated with the Summit and the only hotel with which STC has a block of rooms. STC’s negotiated room rate is $174.00 (plus 15 percent tax) for either a single or [...]
Translation Being in two places at one time may not be a problem much longer, thanks to an innovative program beginning during the Technical Communication Summit, 3-6 May, in Atlanta, GA. For years, attendees have struggled with choosing which of the concurrent sessions presented in the Final Program to attend. With six or more sessions [...]
TranslationSTC’s Conference Program Committee is pleased to announce the debut of STC’s Live Learning Center, a convenient way to review the details of the Technical Communication Summit presentations before the meeting. “This is a live database of information on session titles, descriptions, tracks, institutes, speakers, and more,” explains Phylise Banner, conference chair. “It puts up-to-date [...]
TranslationRegister by 18 February 21 April 2009 to receive the early bird rates for the 2009 Technical Communication Summit. Registration is available online at the STC website at http://conference.stc.org/register/, as well as by fax and mail. This site also has a sample letter to your boss that makes a case for you to attend the [...]
TranslationJared Smith has provided a new tool based on many color checkers available that offers the ability to lighten and darken your color combinations slightly to find acceptable contrast levels. This new tool is at http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
TranslationThe JuicyStudio Colour Contrast Analyser now redirects to the Luminosity Colour Contrast Ratio Analyser. The old Accessibility Evaluation and Repair Tools (AERT) suggested algorithm for determining colour contrast was replaced with the WCAG 2.0′s luminosity contrast algorithm. Success Criterion 1.4.3 of WCAG 2.0 requires that the visual presentation of text and images of text has [...]
TranslationFor an informative article about phantom vision, which affects between 10 and 40 percent of people with low vision, read the article on Lighthouse International, “I See Purple Flowers Everywhere: The Many Visions of Charles Bonnet Syndrome” by Lylas G.Mogk,MD, and Marja Mogk, PhD; with Carol J. Sussman-Skalka,CSW, MBA. Do you ever see things you [...]
TranslationIn this BBC documentary, Peter White explores the history of Braille – from its revolutionary invention to its current decline in the face of modern digital technology. For information and Web service providers, what are the design and testing implications going forward? See http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2008/12/081230_doc_braille.shtml?s .
TranslationSee the The 56th Presidential Inaugural Schedule at http://www.pic2009.org/page/content/weekendschedule/ for today’s events and maps for how to get downtown. Be part of history and upload your photos to the Official Inaugural Book at http://photobucket.com/obamaphotobook (a selection of photos will be included in the Official Inaugural Book). Another site with great photos is at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/inaugural_preparations.html. Be [...]
TranslationThe November 4th 2008 US election is considered historical, but do you know what else made history that day? New technology that can be used for captioned radio broadcasts. From the press release sent out on that occasion: While millions of U.S. citizens voted in national and local elections last week, some of the nation’s [...]
TranslationThis is a terrific open source tool for Web designers. Browsershots at http://browsershots.org/ Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will [...]
TranslationI will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire but only if 1,000 other people will do the same. - Suw Charman-Anderson And Ada Lovelace Day was born. (More about what we expect from you, dear reader, but first, a little background.) Suw Charman-Anderson set up [...]
TranslationDiscussions about banning the incandescent light bulb have existed for some time. The incandescent light bulb is already phased out in some countries. The concept is to save energy and the environment, which is very praiseworthy. Why is this news on a blog about accessibility and technical communication? We technical communicators who are not blind [...]
TranslationDo you find usability concepts outside your work? Oh, we who work with these topics probably run into situations concerning usability and accessibility on a regular basis. Examples are everywhere as shown by the “broken” category over at Mark Hurst’s Good Experience. But what about this ad? AccessAbility SIG member (and usability professional) Whitney Quesenbery [...]
TranslationCats remember where their paws have been. Researchers from the Department of Physiology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, report that cats can create memories of their environment without having to rely on vision. Stepping over and touching a physical obstacle with their forelegs creates a memory of the obstacle that persists for [...]
TranslationCode-it Software has been a player in the development of Assistive Technology (A-Tech) software since 1997. They were the first to release “talking” web browsers (named ‘Web Talkster’ & ‘Web Speakster’) to aid children with ADD, or folks with poor eye sight, to enjoy the web. They are presently offering their array of ATECH Solutions [...]
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