The iPad has arrived, but where is it headed?

Apple iPad image 1

I remember this once, we were a big group coming back from a trip and everybody was waiting for an already late aircraft. I was sorting my music folder on my laptop when a friend, poked me and asked if I had iTunes. Usually, I would have a rather snide remark for that kind of question. However, my friend, was not very much into tech and them latest trends, she owned a mac (not that all mac owners are tech impaired) and she was in her late fifties (I guess). I said no. Then I asked her if she wanted to listen to any particular song, I said I could download it for her. She smiled and said, ‘don’t waste money, I can listen to what you have’!

iPad Image 2

This got me thinking and ladies and gentlemen, here’s my train of thought… All my friends have some kind of collection of .mp3 files. Most of these files are the ones they borrowed from their friends. They all also know where to download these files from online… iTunes! Ask them for another such site and they draw a blank… some say napster, rhapsody and then move on to music streaming sites like pandora, 8 track, grooveshark, last.fm, raaga etc. Few knew that you can download tracks from the Windows Media Player, for example.

iPad Image 3

Point. iTunes is where one can buy music online, not .mp3 or ogg vorbis or .wma or .flv file. Music, you are sure will play on your expensive hardware, whose workings you have no clue about or care about. For every geek out there who swears by 320kbps encoded .mp3s, there are hundreds of normal people, who just want to listen to good music and would like a music service that is compatible, virus free and extremely easy to understand and navigate. This was how iPod ‘destroyed’ companies like creative, archos and philips in the late 90s. It wasn’t talking to the guys who were already salivating in on the kind of files or bit-rates the archos media player could handle, It talked to those who wanted to listen to more songs on their CD player. In fact it talked to one’s who liked music. Period.

The First iPod

iPad is talking to people who like portability. Period. It was a deja vu moment for me when I was reading about the press trying to figure out the whole point behind this device, and then comparing it to the Kindle, Nook and some other e-book readers. It was like reading the press clip on the iPod launch all over again. iPad my friends, does not even support the .epub format!

Here’s what I would put next to the iPad.  Your college textbook, your office notepad, your netbook (is the cheapest Apple mobile computing device if you discount the iPhone, same netbook processing power too), your laptop, your phone to an extent. Sony PSP, Nintendo gameboy, the entertainment console on the economy class, your next expensive christmas gift, the Robert Ludlum you were thinking of picking up at the airport bookstore, even the Xboxes and the PS3s!

iPad Image 4

iPad is catering to a generation of people who are either tech averse or are just getting to understand tech, and are looking for an idiot proof device that is light, legible, feature rich and easy to use. They don’t care about the e-ink and 40 day battery lives. They don’t care if they can lend a book for ten days and about the millions of books available for download. They don’t care if it can cut, copy, paste or whether it has a 12 megapixel camera. Runs on linux (most are afraid of it if you ask me, ‘where are my documents?’, ‘this has no start button?’), Windows, Ubuntu, Moblin, Android….

They do care however, if the device lets you send text messages to friends, play high quality movies for ten hours straight and a bigger screen to watch them in, stream from youtube and update you about what’s happening on your social network, edit notes, play a game with friends wirelessly, store and play their favorite music, look lot, lot nicer than the cheap netbook bound in cheap plastic, lot more real estate on your economy class tray table and no more crazy ways of holding the laptop to watch a movie, have ‘turn by turn’ GPS assisted navigation, make calls, browse blazingly fast on the internet, have apps that tell them about juicy celebrity scandals, paint, draw, make presentations and best of all, have the same aspirational values as that of the iPhone, not to mention the user interface. This device is for people who don’t know or care about the options already available in the market. Estimates put the Kindle sales at about a couple of million devices, iPad is looking at a market atleast ten times that, in my opinion.

iPad Image 5

iPad is a much bigger problem for the visually impaired than the Kindle. The latter at least has a physical keypad. I see the iPad replacing a lot of mobile computing devices, primarily the ones we use for leisure. iPad will have a far greater acceptance in the student community than any other e-reader, might soon replace bulky textbooks with the kind of rich interactive content, the Kindle can only dream of. Unlike the Kindle which had to pitch to the universities, I see students opting in for an iPad, and making it ubiquitous enough for universities to look at a default formats for iPad consumption and participation in classrooms. Unlike the bulky tablet PCs we have, I see people using this device on their shop floors. Unlike the tiny gameboys kids play with during lunchtime, I see a more immersive team based social network games happening in the cafeteria on them spanking new iPads.

Jobs doing the iPad Demo

iPad is Apple’s answer to the netbook and more. It now is, in all probability, the default christmas gift for your loved one. Hope it does not become synonymous with e-book readers and netbooks, the way iPod is to portable media players.

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When The Blind Meet The Sighted…

“Humour is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost.” -Joel Goodman

Through The Lighter Side of Disability, a channel on Inclusive Planet, we are doing our bit to preserve humour! This channel has become very popular with our members! I must admit that I go there for my daily dose of laughter too.
One of our users, Deon posted this article this morning, and we thought this was perfect to post here – what a blind person should be doing when they meet a sighted person.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

Generally speaking: What a blind person should do when you meet a sighted person

People who use their eyes to acquire information about the world are called sighted people or “people who are sighted”. Legal sight means any visual acuity greater than 20/200 in the better eye without correction or an angle of vision wider than 20 degrees.

Sighted people enjoy rich, full lives working, playing and raising families. They run businesses, hold public offices, get arrested and teach your children!

How do Sighted People get Around?
People who are sighted may walk or ride public transportation but most choose to travel long distances by operating their own motor vehicles, usually one passenger to a car. They have gone through many hours of extensive training to learn the rules of the road in order to further their independence. Once that road to freedom has been mastered, sighted people earn a legal classification and a driver’s license which allows them to operate a private vehicle relatively safely and independently.

How do you assist a sighted person?
Sighted people are accustomed to viewing the world in visual terms. This means that in many situations they will not be able to communicate orally and may resort to stammering, pointing, hand waving or other gesturing. Subtle facial expressions may also be used to convey feelings in social situations. Calmly alert the sighted person to his or her surroundings by speaking slowly in a normal tone of voice. Questions directed at the sighted person help focus attention back on the verbal rather than the merely visual.

How do sighted people remember things?
Often they don’t remember things. In fact this is one of the most painful aspects of the visual affliction, the degree to which sight inhibits detailed memory. Often, the sighted person must reacquire the same information each time it is needed. You can help by being sensitive to their struggle by learning to anticipate their need and providing them with the information they need when it is necessary. Don’t tell them too much too quickly. Be sensitive to the capacities of the individual with whom you are dealing. These limitations vary from person to person and it is deeply upsetting to a sighted person to realize that you recognize their mental short comings.

At times sighted people may need help finding things, especially when operating a motor vehicle. Your advance knowledge of routs and landmarks, bumps in the road, traffic lights will assist the sighted person in finding their way quickly and easily. Your knowledge of building layouts can also assist the sighted person in navigating complex shopping malls and office buildings. Sighted people tend to be very proud and are reluctant to ask for assistance. Be gentle yet firm.

How do sighted people use computers?
The sighted person relies exclusively on visual information. His or her attention span fades quickly when reading long texts so it is best to write in bulleted lists of very brief items. The use of bright colors will help the sighted person stay focused. Computer information is presented to the sighted in a graphical manner to assist them in comprehending their world. Coordination of hands and eyes is often a preoccupation with sighted people so the computer mouse, a handy device that slides along the desk top, saves confusing keystrokes. With one button the sighted person can move around his or her computer screen quickly and easily, if not necessarily efficiently. People who are sighted are not accustomed to synthetic speech and may have great difficulty understanding even the clearest synthesizer, falling asleep between syllables or becoming distracted by a spot on the carpet. Be patient and prepared to explain many times how your computer works.

How do sighted people read?
Reading is accomplished by the sighted person through a system called “print,” which is a series of images drawn in a two dimensional plain. People who are sighted generally have a poorly developed sense of touch. Braille is completely foreign to them and severe bouts of disorientation can sometimes result from over exposure to the use of the higher senses.

Sighted people cannot function well in low lighting conditions and are generally completely helpless and often devastatingly frightened in total darkness. Their homes are usually very brightly lit at great expense as are businesses that cater to the sighted. Naturally these costs are passed on to the consumer.

How can I support the sighted person?
People who are sighted do not want your charity. They want to live, work, and play alongside you on as equal a basis as possible. You must ignore their tendency to display feelings that they are superior to you. Failing to allow them this delusion may promote aberrant and antisocial behavior. The best thing you can do to support sighted people in your community is to simply open yourself to their world and help open their limited world to the bounty of your experience. These citizens are vital contributing members of the community, real people with thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams and a story to tell. Take a sighted person to lunch today and make them feel like you truly care.

Author Unknown

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Accessible Class Notes Project

Looking for Accessible Class Notes?

Log on to http://www.inclusiveplanet.com

Through the Accessible Class Notes Project, visually impaired students across the world are sharing their class notes with each other. Now you won’t have to scan something which somebody else already has!

It’s all here on Inclusive Planet!

Please share this link with all the students, teachers and parents you know!

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Blind skier Brian McKeever to compete in Olympics and Paralympics

CALGARY — Brian McKeever’s date with the Olympic history books is scheduled to become official Friday at the Canmore Nordic Centre.

The 30-year-old Calgary native will be unveiled as a member of the 2010 Olympic cross-country ski team. Next month in Whistler, B.C., — barring injury — McKeever will become the first winter athlete to ever compete in both the Olympics and Paralympics and the first Canadian to ever accomplish the double.  Legally blind, McKeever has won seven Paralympic medals with brother Robin serving as his guide.

“I understand,” he said. “People hear some blind guy is trying to make it to the Olympics, and they think that’s crazy.”

Check out the full story http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/2010wintergames/Blind+skier+Brian+McKeever+compete+Olympics+Paralympics/2469554/story.html

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study LAST minute!

Looking for Accessible Class Notes?

Log on to http://www.inclusiveplanet.com

Through the Accessible Class Notes Project, visually impaired students across the world are sharing their class notes with each other. Now you won’t have to scan something which somebody else already has!

It’s all here on Inclusive Planet!

Please share this link with all the students, teachers and parents you know!

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Inclusive Planet ahora es disponible en Español!

Hola,

We are excited to announce that we have launched Inclusive Planet in Spanish!

Within a month of the launch of our english site, we received requests from members of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, that they wanted our planet to be accessible to all their country members. Ramy sent us this message ““Really the site is ausom, but please, can u add the arabic language in books, so i can spread it in the arab community?” Thats when we realized that language was becoming a barrier for people to access Inclusive Planet!

Of course we were open to the idea of launching the site in other languages, but the question was who would manage language localisations, and more importantly was there a population to justify the language localisations.

So as a pilot we decided to translate the site into Spanish, as the entire Latin American continent would benefit from the same. A big thank you to Anna Eggemeyer, Carlos and Oriol for making the language localisation possible!

In the coming weeks, thanks to Soner, Mustafa, Omer & Wael, we would be launching the site in Turkish and Arabic as well. If you want us to localize our site in your language do let us know, and we would be glad to work closely with you to make it possible.

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We need you – help us achieve Project 10k!

Over the last few weeks member activity on inclusiveplanet.com has grown by leaps and bounds! More planeteers are sharing files, adding friends, subscribing to channels, and having conversations, than ever!

We’re thrilled but we have our eyes set on the goal that will determine whether the Inclusive Planet project succeeds on not – reaching a critical mass of users soon! We need to get 10,000 more members by March 31, 2010 to be able to raise further funding for the project and realize the vision to make Inclusive Planet into a scalable platform for learning, entertainment, employment, policy change and business for not just thousands but millions of print-impaired people. The survival of our vision depends on this.

The world is a big place and we’re having a hard time getting the word about us out to different countries. We’ve never needed you more.

10 things you can do to help us achieve Project 10k!

1. Invite your friends with visual impairment to be a part of Inclusive Planet
2. Mailing Lists: Write about us on the various mailing lists you are part of.
3. Share leads of organizations, and persons with whom we could collaborate and spread the word about our service.
4. Become a country evangelist: Soner from Turkey and Wael from Egypt are Inclusive Planet evangelists. They have helped us translate the site into their local language, and spread the word about us in their countries. Contact us if you feel you can become a country evangelist.
5. Follow us on twitter, and tweet about us
6. Fan us on Facebook, as more fans on means the greater is the probability of a person with visual impairment discovering us.
7. Blog about our work to spread the word
8. Press Coverage: Each press coverage has helped us reach out to more users, so do write to us if you have some contacts in the press who can spread the word by writing about us.
9. If you run your own radio shows and podcasts, then interview our planeteers and get them to share the Inclusive Planet experience
10. Last but not the least, send us your ideas on how we could achieve Project 10k. You can write to us at contact@inclusiveplanet.com

This is incidentally our 100^th blog post, and with your support and blessings, we will make it a memorable one by achieving Project 10k.

Together, there are no barriers

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Jacob the Blind Biker from South Africa

Jacob is a member of Inclusive Planet.  This article is a must read for everyone who wants inspiration!

I pondered for a long time on how I could capture the essence of an interesting, multi-facetted man that I was introduced to. Which box could I put him in for a clearer description? I soon realised though that 36 year old Jacob Kruger does not fit into any box. In fact, Jacob casually sums up his whole existence in four words: “I am just me.” He has been blind for just over four years now, but losing his sight never changed who he was. This is Jacob Kruger…

Getting Back on the Bike:
Let me start here…the accident. Jacob is a motorbike enthusiast and loves to drive around on his bike. In November 2005 he had a major accident with his bike when a motorist in the lane next to him, swerved into him. Jacob and his wife, who were both on the bike, were thrown off. He sustained serious injuries and was in a coma for almost a month, taking just over three months to become lucid again. The serious physical injuries resulted in his loss of sight. Sadly, Jacob’s wife was killed in the accident.

Doctors told Jacob that his brain moved around so much inside his skull during the accident that his optical nerve tore where it was attached to his brain – this caused his blindness.

He eventually left the hospital in March 2006, and started orientation and mobility training, which included getting used to walking around with a white cane, doing some cooking and so forth. The orientation and mobility training helped Jacob, however, the greatest enlightenment for him was finding out how to make use of technology without his sight, and getting back to using a computer. Since Jacob is a web developer and had basically lived on the internet since it became available in South Africa around 1996, re-learning how to use a computer was very important to him.

Raising Hell with the Hellrazors:
After his accident, Jacob did a Google search for ‘blind motorcyclist’ and came across a write-up about Billy Baxter, who was part of the UK army’s motorcycle stunt team before he became blind. Billy is now in the Guiness Book of Records for doing 180mph on a bike after losing his sight. Jacob found Billy to be very inspiring and wanted to get back on a bike himself, but just sitting at the back was never an option for him.

When Jacob recovered, he was back at work and back in the biking scene. He is a member of a bike club called the Hellrazors (named after the Ozzy Osbourne song). The club members support Jacob in many ways, including guiding him when he rides his bike.

Once a year, normally in November, the Hellrazors organise their own track day at the Phakisa raceway in Welkom, and this is where Jacob gets on his favourite motorbike (a Suzuki Bandit 1200 Streetfighter), puts on a radio headset, full leathers and a good helmet, and rides up and down the main straight with his friend giving him instructions via a cellular phone.

Jacob enjoys this so much that he says: “Although I have a dark visor on my helmet since I don’t need to let the light in, I reckon the 50 or so people watching me, cheering, shouting and taking photos must have known that I was smiling so broadly inside my helmet that it almost hurt my face.”

IT Enthusiasm:
Jacob, who is an IT-fundi, designed the Hellrazors’ website (www.hellrazors.co.za), his own website (www.blindza.co.za) as well as some interesting pieces of programming for and about blind people.

Although he knows only basic braille (he only uses it for labelling things like pills, spices and food), Jacob has written his own talking computer software, including a braille reference feature which gives instructions on how to write letters in basic braille as you type them on the keyboard. He has also invented his own talking version of snakes and ladders for the computer – using the original board, along with sound effects and speech output. The idea behind the game, as explained by Jacob, is for it to be used even by sighted kids so that they can form an idea of how visually impaired people use computers.

Jacob started the first e-mail mailing list for ‘bikers’ in South Africa in 1997, called BikerZA. He has now also started such a list for visually impaired persons and anyone interested in supporting them, or even just for people who are interested in learning about their lifestyle. The link to the page for that mailing list is: www.freelists.org/list/blindza

Dog Tags and Tattoos:
Above all, Jacob is an excellent advocate for blind people. He is very approachable and carries the ‘signs of blindness’ with pride. As he puts it: “I wear leathers and have tattoos, so people are not afraid to ask me questions”.

True to his style, Jacob sports braille tattoos on his forearms, which consist of black raised ink dots. He is a firm believer in balance and therefore he has two words of equal length – one positive and one negative- on his arms. The left arm’s tattoo spells out the word “depression” and the right one balances it with “positivity”. He also wears a silver dog tag plate around his neck with his name brailed on it. Jacob uses his dog tag and tattoos to show people what braille looks like. I must say this is definitely more interesting than having braille explained on an alphabet card!

Jacob is also working on a set of instructions for newly blinded people. This will include who to contact, where to go for assistance and so forth. On this he added: “I refer people to Council as some people do not know about its existence.”

Motorcycle Gloves and a Dog called Inzamam:
Jacob, who lives in Kempton Park, is still designing websites, but also started a new job in October 2008, programming in a Windows environment. He adjusted to his new world quite fast. Jacob also told me that he uses his motorcycle gloves for cooking, since they’re thin enough to still be able to feel what he’s doing without really having to worry about getting burnt. Although this is very ingenious of him, I wouldn’t advise trying this at home!

A big black Labrador guide dog named after the great Pakistani cricket player – Inzimam ul Haq, joined Jacob in February 2009. Jacob and Inzamam are already getting along nicely.

On Playing ‘Happy Birthday’:
In his already busy life, Jacob still has time for hobbies! He says that he plays drums as a form of exercise as well as a way to vent his frustrations. Well, at least he’s thought of a melodious way to vent… Jacob also recently acquired a mouth organ which he carries around in his bike jacket. He feels that this is one instrument where being able to see or not, has no impact on your playing of the instrument. He is practising whenever he has time, and has already mastered playing Happy Birthday, although I’m sure a few more interesting songs will be added to his repertoire very soon!

Author: Lindie van Zyl

Originally published in Imfama Magazine. The official magazine of the South African National Council for the Blind PO Box 11149, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028
Web: http://www.sancb.org.za

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Braille Without Borders

Braille without borders

Khaleej Times Wknd. – Cover Story
15 January 2010

Jethu Abraham reports on how a young team of like-minded individuals got together to address a problem the whole world was blind to.

For Gidi Ahronovich, his visual impairment is not the only thing he has to battle. From social discrimination to dealing with curious queries on how his ‘love life’ would end up, to drawing swords up against the telephone giant Orange in his country, for only having a “drawing of an envelope on the phone screen” to announce the arrival of a new message instead of the usual voice alerts, Ahronovich’s story is not a blind man’s sob story but that of a winner in life.His tone is cynical and touches a strong chord that is both raw and real, making him a perfect voice to be featured in the day’s choice of blog posts under the heading ‘What you see is what you get’ on inclusiveplanet.com.

It is voices such as these that the founders of inclusiveplanet.com hope will resonate globally, strong enough to send the message across: the visually impaired can neither be ignored nor their prowess undermined.

For the rest of us, the sequence is quite simple. Boot the computer, log onto the net, google a while, silence a doubt, answer a query, chat with a friend, send a tweet and so on. Imagine the same scenario with all the same facilities, the know-how and the yearning — but no vision. Presently, the online world can be likened to pushing a blind person into another dark world, when he wants to know and learn, but does not have accessible content online to get “information at his fingertips” like all of us do.

Here begins the story of inclusiveplanet.com.

Rahul Cherian and Reuben Jacob from India identified an online content deficiency for the blind, and were toying with idea of a website dedicated to the blind — where the visually impaired around the world would be able to sharing accessible content as well as be part of a social networking platform. They were soon joined by like-minded members Sachin Malhan, Simon Jacob, 
Janani Barath, Kumar Ray, Sridhar Rajagopalan, Anant Gopal and Ujjvala Ballal joined the duo and inclusiveplanet.com was born.

The team had four sub-purposes in mind. “We wanted to make the site readable (by sharing content), visitable (by ensuring that it was user-friendly), matchable (by turning it into a dating or a matrimonial platform for visually impaired people globally) and a carer’s platform (that would pertain to the caretakers or parents of these people),” says Simon Jacob, head of marketing, Inclusive Planet.

The overall idea was “to have a website designed exclusively for the 300 million-strong global print-impaired community, so as to enable them to connect with each other and share accessible content, including books, notes, articles, blogs, audio recordings and so on, and furthermore, to build conversations around this content.”

They had to create a site which would be user-friendly for a blind person sans the frills that are normally part of other websites. The blind use a screen reading software called Jaws which enables them to read through content. Once the computer boots, a blind person can use the Windows key on the keyboard and select the Jaws software which would in turn, start reading out (in a text-to-speech style) the different folders in the computer. What we see, they would hear. Those using the software would be able to use the up and down keys to scroll content. If the page has lots of links, then different shortcuts can be used to access those links.

Jacob describes the core difference between accessible websites for the blind and other websites, in terms of the appropriation of content with the logical headers. Usual websites would boast flashy headers and other site designs which are of no use to a blind person, since he hears the text and does not see it — a signal reason why most websites are not accessible for the blind. While advanced blind web users would probably know their way around, for the new user, he says, there aren’t a lot of sites that function according to the web accessibility guidelines of having to be made, keeping the visually impaired in mind as well.

Inclusive Planet launched on August 24 last year. A month before that, a test launch was done with students from two blind institutions — from who the team got a lot of feedback. Earlier, the team had also consulted prominent personalities, senior technologists and bankers in India for their advice. “Everyone liked the concept and we, in turn, wrote to the younger people we knew, and started spreading awareness about the site,” remembers Jacob.

The mailing list from Access India, a community site for the blind, was used to get in touch with other mailing groups, communities and, finally, users across the globe.

Within a matter of months, Inclusive Planet was ready to go. In the first week of the launch, there were around 200 members. Towards the end of October, options such as adding friends, status messages, requesting a friend were all incorporated into the site. The concept of feeds were also enabled which became a hit almost instantly.

Companies such as Yahoo and IBM have already laid the foundation towards this initiative, and more companies are waking up to the need of making their websites user-friendly for the blind as well.

It was through one of these web communities in Yahoo called Blind City that the moderator for the group, Wael Zakereya from Egypt, got to hear about Inclusive Planet. “I found the concept to be quite amazing and I immediately corresponded with Reuben, Simon and Rahul,” says Zakereya.

Zakereya, who was born blind, had a penchant for all computer related studies from a very young age and his interests soon led him to develop his programming skills and carve a career in web development in the year 2003.

“In 1998, I had already started training blind people and soon became a member of the faculty of computer science in Cairo University. Later on, I joined CAPMAS — which is the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, where I started developing ideas and also trained people to access content in the English language, Braille and via the screen reader,” he adds.

For the Inclusive Planet team, Zakereya was, as Jacob puts it, “an evangelist” as he proposed an idea that was not thought of by the team before — translate the website content into Arabic.

“Even while training blind people in the Arab world, I realised the significance of having websites that catered specifically to those individuals who would only speak Arabic. Besides, we don’t translate, we localise, which means that we translate keeping the cultural perspective in mind,” adds Zakereya.

Zakereya’s wife, also visually impaired, was working alongside him at the Cairo University, where they met. Today, the couple, who have a young son, are well-updated on all web facilities available for the blind.

Another user, Parham Doustdar, a visually-impaired computer programming student from Iran, got an email informing him about Inclusive Planet. “It was thrilling, to say the least, as I now had the chance to share the books I had found, and ask for those I haven’t. When I discovered the beta features and design, I was impressed. I am a web-developer myself, and I know how much dedication needs to be put into something like this, to get it to take root and grow,” he says. “None of the websites I have ever visited lets you share fictional books, study books and university texts, let alone in an accessible form, for free. This is a huge help for my fictional spare-time 
reading, and a huge help for my studies, because here in the university, I have no books available, I have no texts available, and the problems the blind are facing in their universities or even in their high schools (when they decide to study something that is not human science like me — I studied math) are terrible.”

Doustdar also identifies the core reason as to why there is little or no content available online for the visually impaired. “In my opinion, our problems are not because there is a dearth of websites designed for the blind by the blind; our problems are those websites designed by the sighted, who usually look for an easy way out and use Flash for their applications, or want to use a flashy HTML element (checkbox, button, etc) instead of the standard HTML element. So, when we happen to visit their website, there is but one solution left for us — press the ‘Back’ button. Of course, I am not saying all websites are like that. In fact, many websites are more or less accessible. However, the more unique a website is, in terms of interface, and the less the person designing it knows about these designing guidelines, the more problems it will pose for the visually impaired,” he states.

Doustdar soon made it a point to spread the word about the existence of the website to all those people he knew, who could speak English and wanted to share content.

Back in India, the Inclusive Planet team started expanding the website and a new section called Channels was launched recently which enables sighted as well as blind people to post content — free of cost.

Hungarian-born, US-based student Thomas Geczy, feels that that Channels “has really expanded my bandwidth as I can now collaborate with like-minded individuals on various topics, such as computers and culture. It has allowed the creation of a new initiative which I’m working on with the website called ‘The Accessible Class Notes Project’, where students can upload their class notes and resources to assist others in getting the right notes for their classes, as well as talk with other students around the world and discuss class-related issues and topics.”The fact that the site is “almost completely a community-driven initiative” is not what excites Geczy the most; it’s the countless number of thank-you notes that he receives when people download his notes that make him “very, very happy”.

Meanwhile, the Inclusive Planet team also conducted a ‘Right to Read’ campaign in Loyola College in Chennai, India, in a bid to reach out to more visually impaired people and was what attracted Abdul, a young management student from Pune, to the website. Abdul, who lost his sight when a basketball hit him in the eyes, now has a channel of his own on the site called ‘Budding Managers’. He uses the site extensively “for its social networking opportunities.”

“A lot of users stumbled upon our website and posted messages like “I had no idea the website existed”. For anyone who wishes to help us, our message is: spread the word,” says Jacob. Today, the website boasts of around 2,200 members from 77 countries. Immediate plans include rolling out the website in other languages such as Arabic, which Jacob hopes should happen “later on in the month”. The site already offers a translation in the Spanish and Turkish languages.

What about long-term plans? “The vision for us is clear,” points out Jacob. “To make the site a viable model for visually impaired people. We want Inclusive Planet to become a platform where visually impaired people can earn money on their own and sustain themselves.”

jethu@khaleejtimes.com

Voices:

Stefan Slucki: Hullo, I am 52 years old and totally blind since I was 18— Glaucoma and two detached retinas. I am a Minister of the Gospel and a part- time Braille teacher. My wife is fully sighted and and presently we live in Adelaide, South Australia. I am involved in various blindness issues via Blind Citizens, Australia. I enjoy viewing sport — cricket and Australian-Rules football; I like to listen to the radio and enjoy soul music from the 60s and 70s ;I like reading both Braille and audio books.

Gopalakrishnan:I am Gopalakrishnan, working in the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped Regional Centre, Chennai, India. I have completed M.A., M.Ed., M.Phil. in Education and have a Postgraduation Diploma in Special Education, a Postgraduation Diploma in Public Relations, a Postgraduation Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations and a Diploma in Telephone Operation. I believe that sky is the limit for every visually impaired achiever. I am very much interested in the use of the latest technological devices. I am a member of various organisations for the visually impaired and my other interests are: reading Braille books and magazines, listening to audio books, music, and radio, surfing the internet, attending conferences/workshops on education, technology, disability and so on.

Xolisa:Hi, I’m Xolisa Yekani and I have a BA degree in Media studies from the University of Limpopo in South Africa. I’m temporarily working for SABC as a Current affairs producer/News researcher. I’m a simple person who likes music and sharing divergent constructive ideas with others. I’m also very keen to learn more on computer stuff as it is one of the best methods for blind people to access information.

Huong:My full name is Dao Thu Huong. I’m a Vietnamese blind student majoring in English. I wish to become an English teacher in the future. At the moment, I’m so worried about my graduation paper because I will graduate soon next June. I’m very happy to keep in touch with you on this forum. I hope to talk to you all! If you have any experience of doing research and writing graduation paper, could you please share with me! May you have good health, good luck, happiness and success in your life!

Yoshi: I am Yoshi from Japan. To me, Inclusive Planet is this cosy gathering spot for bookworms, a table for the hottest discussions around the globe, or a coffee-house to meet a new friend and has immense potential. Thank you, team, for sowing a wonderful seed in the soil of the Internet world.

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Feast on Channels!

As promised, we do have a New Year surprise! A brand new feature called ‘Channels’!

Channels give members an opportunity to showcase themselves to the community and interact at a whole new level! Channels could be created around shared content, activities, common interests or anything you like!

Check out the channels created by some of the planeteers! Wael’s Online Class, Soner’s channel on Cultural Studies, Rahul’s Channel on the lighter side of disability, Omer’s Channel on Accessible Phones, Drew’s Audiography channel, and Robert’s weird writings for starters. We are also excited to feature an author on Inclusive Planet! Dhimant Parekh the author of Neumonia and other sketch stories has shared his book and created a channel!

Institutions have also created channels; you can request for DAISY books from the Association of the Blind of Western Australia, you can get the latest audio book releases from the Librivox’s channel, get updates from the Inclusive Planet channel and stay positive by reading positive stories on The Better India. The Action for the Blind UK, Matilda Zeigler, Listener’s Club and Beyond Profit Magazine are going to open their channels very soon!

And finally we have the king of all channels! The accessible class notes project started by eight students from different parts of the world. We wish them luck, and hope that students, teachers, and parents across the globe, will come together and make study material accessible!

So what are you waiting for? Start subscribing to channels, read the posts, download files, share files and of course join conversations by adding your comments to the posts!

You can also create your own channel and share your experiences with the community. If you are a blogger, then you can use the RSS Import feature in a channel to get your blog posts as part of the channel.

We at Inclusive Planet, feel that this is our biggest feature release till date and are really excited about it! We hope you liked our New Year surprise, do send us your bouquets and brickbats!

The Inclusive Planet Team

www.inclusiveplanet.com

Together, there are no barriers!

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