Prolific blogger explores the world of vision impairment and audiobooks

My favorite blogger Ethan Zuckerman is getting retinal surgery and exploring options for books on tape the entertain him while undertaking carpentry projects around the house during recover. Since Ethan is very well connected into the tech geek world, I thought our readers would be interested in some of the options he is considering. He invites you to share your comments and suggestions, as long as he realize that he won't be able to read them on a computer screen until September.

April 11: Robert Haig Weitbrecht (1920-1983)

[Image description: black-and-white photo of Robert Weitbrecht, seated, pointing to his TTY and showing it to a man leaning in to see.]

The inventor of the TTY modem (telephone typewriter, now known as TDD), Robert Weitbrecht, was born on this date in 1920, in Orange, California. Weitbrecht, deaf from birth and an astronomer by training, was a ham radio operator in the 1940s--so he had the personal interest and technical expertise to devise alternative ways to communicate electronically, long before texting or twitter or anysuch.

In his memory, TDI has a biennial Robert H. Weitbrecht Telecommunications Access Award to "the indivudual who has made outstanding contributions by any means to improve accessibility to telecommunications and media in the United States."

A Milestone for Tar Heel Reader

It's not the biggest library in the world, but it's one of the very coolest. Tar Heel Reader is

a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces (i.e. switches, alternative keyboards, touch screens, and dedicated AAC devices). The books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format.

according to the welcome page. The idea is to provide new readers of all ages with appropriate, interesting, accessible content--because new readers who are 12, 17, 23, or 41 don't necessarily want to read about puppies and kitties, right? Students and teachers and parents can also create books for the site, using the wealth of Flickr images or their own uploads. Tar Heel Reader is a collaborative creation of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies and the Department of Computer Science at UNC-Chapel Hill (thus the name).

Recently, Tar Heel Reader passed 1000 books in its ever-growing archive. About 5% of those, I wrote. I was never able to track back and figure out where I first heard of Tar Heel Reader--on a blog or news feed, no doubt, but which? But I remembered Karen Erickson from my own UNC days (we were doctoral students at the same time in the School of Education), and I knew that she did cool work, so I joined the effort very early on. I wrote several of the first twenty books in June, and I keep adding one or two a week. They're a joy to construct, an excellent challenge, to make interesting books within the limits of the form. My topics have ranged around, from food and clothing and color themes, to books about voting, the first amendment, gargoyles, calligraphy, Shakespeare, the solar system, mirrors, and drag racing. I'm still working on making a story--I've made a few attempts so far, but I'm not a fiction writer and it shows.

If you know a beginning reader who would enjoy accessible picture books on such a range of subjects, send them to Tar Heel Reader. In just their first twenty weeks they've had visits from over 12,000 computers worldwide. It's that cool, and it's getting better every day.

Wireless Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC)

From time to time we will offer this space to organizations working in partnership with the disability community to address issues of widespread interest. The Wireless RERC in Atlanta has developed a new web portal that shows great potential. We wish them well in fostering cross-disability conversations (in English at first, but one hopes in additional languages as the utility of the portal is demonstrated), as we all grapple with a democratizing communication platform -- the cell phone. See Horst and Miller (2006) for an anthropological view of how this emergent technology is incorporated into particular communication cultures.

Reference: Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller (2006) The Cell Phone: An anthropology of communication (Oxford and New York: Berg).

Dear readers and members of Disability Studies, Temple U.:

Congratulations on a great website/blog. It is clear that you have put in a lot of skill, effort and commitment into developing such extensive, useful and compelling content.

I just wanted to introduce the readers at Disability Studies to our organization, the Wireless RERC, based in Atlanta.

We are a research and engineering group funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education. NIDRR funds a number of other RERCs dedicated to research and engineering for people with disabilities [list]. Our group includes faculty and staff from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Shepherd Center, a critical care facility dedicated to spinal cord injury.

We obtained our original funding in 2001, and were renewed for a second five-year cycle in 2006. The mission of the Wireless RERC is to: “to promote universal access to and use of mobile wireless technologies and explore their innovative applications for people with disabilities.”

We are engaged in three main areas of activity:

1. Conducting research on the wireless needs of people with all types of disability.

We do this by:

• Inviting people with disabilities to participate in our ongoing Survey of User Needs and join the Consumer Advisory Network


• Assessing the usability of wireless products by representative users with disabilities, usually through focus groups


• Promoting awareness among consumers of accessible wireless options


• Promoting awareness among providers about the needs of customers with limitations due to age or disability

Additionally, we have just launched MyWirelessReview.com with the hope of creating a space where people of all abilities can share opinions, information, tips, news items about wireless technology as it relates to people with disabilities.

As we have just launched the site, we are eager to invite participation from the readership of DS, TU. While we ramp up, I have been posting some news items that have implications for wireless users with disabilities, and some comments from participants in some of our recent focus groups.
Also, I just posted an audio file from a recent brown bag luncheon at the Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI) here in Atlanta, in which the presented compares the features and functionality of Windows Mobile and Symbian (used on Nokia’s) operating systems. The presenter, who is blind, is a technology instructor at CVI, and consequently offers an important perspective on such technology. [Check it out]

I have another audio clip from a different technology instructor at CVI detailing her experiences downloading and installing Mobile Speak software onto her mobile phone. Great stuff! Very informative. I’m still waiting on final approval from the presenter.

2. Developing technology, including:

• Prototype systems for location-based services in public places


• Next-generation, digital emergency alerts that ensure equitable access to emergency information by people with disabilities over wireless networks and devices


• Prototypes of universal interfaces that accommodate diverse user abilities


• Guidelines and tools for the design of wireless interfaces that accommodate users with visual limitations

3. Conducting Policy and Regulatory Activities

The Wireless RERC examines and analyzes accessibility policy issues related to the use of wireless communications and other information technologies. Key activities include regulatory filings, policy briefs and timely advisories to stakeholders on municipal wireless networks, emergency communications and related issues. The RERC has developed a “Collaborative Policy Network” to bring together experts in various aspects of the policy process in the telecommunications and information technology-related fields. This Network will provide support internally to the Wireless RERC and to other RERCs in telecommunications and information technology-related fields.

Wireless RERC Members
The RERC is guided by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Shepherd Center. The Georgia Tech team includes the Center for Advanced Communications Policy, the Interactive Media Technology Center, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the College of Computing, and the School of Psychology.

Check us out at: http://www.wirelessrerc.org.

John Morris
Research Project Coordinator
Wireless RERC