Spam and the blind
Spam is a bad enough waster of time for the sighted. Now imagine the problems that spam creates for blind people who must listen to it with their speech synthesizers.

Related: FTC says no to anti-spam registry.

--Written and posted by David Rothman
- posted by David Rothman @ 11:05 AM  

 
Now on the Web: NLS-related chatcast and '70s' book discussion
You can now enjoy an online recording of an eBookWorm discussion with Michael Moodie, Deputy Director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the Library of Congress. Last Thursday he discussed the future of digital books for the blind and others with disabilities. The audio file is in WMA (Windows Media Audio) format.

Also online is an Audio Avenue Meeting of the Minds discussion about Bruce J. Schulman's book The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics. Here's the WMA audio link for discussion of the '70s book.

Due to a medical emergency--my mother broke her hip--I couldn't tune in real time but I look forward to hearing both recordings.

Coming up:

July 14, 7-9 p.m. Central Daylight Time: A Meeting of the Minds discussion will take place about The Collected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevic Singer, published in 1982 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

July 22 at 3 CDT: The featured guest on eBookWorm will be Geoff Freed, Project Manager of the Beyond the Text Project at the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM).

"The book discussions we will hold on Saturday, Sept. 11 should be interesting, too," says Tom Peters, the moderator for eBookWorm and Meeting of the Minds. "We'll get to discuss another of my favorite books, Huck Finn." Huck should be especiallly meaningful in a 9/11 context. What a contrast between him and the medieval mindsets of the terrorists.

All of the online programs are scheduled for the "OPAL Auditorium" which can be accessed through the following URL:

http://www.tcconference.com/lib/?auditorium&nopass_field=1

A small, safe chat program will end up on your computer if you haven't visited the site before. Just type in your name when asked, and you're all set as long as you have a sound card (and a mike if you want to speak out, not just type).

Questions? Contact Tom Peters (chatcast moderator) or Lori Bell for details on particpating in the discussions. While mainly for the blind, they're open to all and are free.
- posted by David Rothman @ 5:50 PM  

 
Fan in California
When I felt that I was reaching no one and that my blog didn't say anything fresh and original, I received an email from a fan in San Jose, CA. She was supportive and hoped I'd continue blogging, blogging about anything in my life--from the sublime to the ridiculous. I have excerpted some of her email nelow.

Like me. I guess what I am trying to say is thank you for letting me into a world I would otherwise never know and please never think that you have nothing to say or could run out of ideas. When you feel you have run out of ideas just talk to us. Tell people about your life. No matter how small you think a detail is it could be something wonderful to someone else.

You never know what talking about your life will do to change the world we live in, or just one person's life. Either way, it is worth it. Thank you. S.... C......

Click the audio link to hear my screen reader verbalize the excerpted portion and my thoughts that introduce the synthetic voice.

--Posted and written by David Faucheux
- posted by David Rothman @ 4:53 PM  

 
Audio: A fan in California

- posted by triviaguy @ 4:09 PM