Posts by riparian zone 64 posts • joined 10 Feb 2010
Indeed. Rather than do the difficult things like make buildings accessible for wheelchairs (and those with limited movement), consult with those with disabilities in terms of town/city planning or all of those things that are actually worthy - we get exoskeletons. TBH, I think the only people who may take up the idea are those that lost the use of their legs through spinal injury.
Seems to me that the USAians created a lot of the jargon used online, pretty much like the dot com badge of 'honor' for many websites. Also a lot of US language got into interfaces and systems anyway, with other languages have to conform...Geek is an insulting term derived from alcoholics at 1930's freak shows that would bite the heads off chickens. It got owned and repurposed, so no one will bat an eye there.
erm, geek was originally at term of abuse as it was the name of the alcoholic guy that would bite the head off chickens for booze, being part of the freak shows in 30's America. I think it was the 'Revenge of the Nerds' movies in the 80's that reclaimed some ground for nerds and others that were socially awkward /neurodiverse/super clever, etc. (not quite shure where that terms derives, it may be from knurd, or drunk backwards).
Being owned buy the target of abuse is always a sign that its potency is lost.
'What up, nerds?'
I find me@me.com can work quite readily with email based logins...ahyus, London wifi has moved along, sideways and slithered back from the days when this was a thing.
I'm more than a tad worried that my clients running win 10 and (expensive) screenreading/magnification software such as Dolphin Supernova will have to pay for another upgrade. This happens with depressing regularity. I'm not sure which upgrade it was, but one client having a longer-than-usual wait from a darkened screen switched the box off, from the mains. There were tears after the box was completely busted. Mind you, its the magnification that the dividend is for, there are suitable screen reading apps that read out perfectly well... and there I was reading the post from MS and their disability lead (who used to be my boss in another life) touting their accessibility credentials. Aye, if you can afford it....and why is MS making assistive apps for Apple?
It seems that every time WIn 10 gets a big update, the screen reader needs to be upgraded...at £300-£800 per desk, this is not a trivial matter, and can be another form of exclusion as machines become unusable...yes I know about network licences, but the little people get stung the most with this nonsense.
Are those the times that are filled with over stimulated young people locked into blue screens that don't help with sleep? When young'uns weren't to be running around enjoying the only portion of their life filled with the potential for no responsibilities, carefree climbing of trees and making camps? ah, right, just wondering. Where's the snorkel icon?
It touches on a lot of things wrong with consumer tech and the cult of youth that its seemingly engineered for. I write about some of my findings,this piece being a constant reminder that accessible tech can be reasonable in cost if a person is not completely blind. Win 8, NVDA can work reasonably well, but OSX has everything of a high standard built in...More older people should use Dolphin Guide, which is like a retro system in itself..shame it is so expensive. Tablets are okay for many, but need a stylus and a good chat about ipad neck.
climate change is a vague concept for the public as a whole that don't realise that the science has being going on since the 70's - good, bad or badly done, its there. Most people won't believe it until it directly affects them: modern distractions aside, our little mammalian brains need a jolt to engage thinking beyond the meat puppet level.
Just a thought, amidst the usual Linux vs Windoze debacle I thought I would mention that I utterly dislike W8, but its the most accessible Version yet produced by MS. Flat colours, large fonts, full screen magnification with high contrast colour schemes (a dismal failure in W7 as it couldn't do full screen without Aero which didn't *do* High contrast). Yes, I've looked at Vinux as I work with the Visually Impaired, but the synth voices and magnification are pretty poor - technical support is even more so. VIPs (Visually Impaired People) tend to be older as MD is part of many people's getting older...and yes, I had to install Classic shell because VIPs need a desktop too.
Now I'm wondering if there is a retrograde step and I have to start recommending W8 to clients..the pain.
I was wondering this myself..will these 'eagles' be versed in accessibility use? will they turn on zooming and/or voice over, and then understand that when that's done it is a different beast altogether to use? then there are those with cerebal palsy having problems using the bleeding things...Its the standard mainstream 'clicky clicky pinch here' attitude. Some elders will refuse to use iPads too, refusing to have no human contact - they have this outdated notion that jobs get lost through too much computering.
many moons ago when I was tech support for an ISP, starting yet another 12 hour shift on a sunny Saturday..punter calls:"I've lost my blue E on the desktop" Me: "Sorry, sir, you mean Internet explorer?"
"Yeah.want the blue E back"
"Sorry, but that is not what I can help with, your machine dials up (yes, a while ago) to the internet?"
"Yeah, but I give you good money, blah moan BLAH"
Hearing this general complaint in the offing, I forge ahead..."Ok, I will try to help, follow my instructions"
We start a search for iexplore. He manages that.
"Do you have a list of files? We are looking for iexplore.exe", I say.
"Yeah. But there's not iexplore.exe, there's an iexplore.cnt...what's a cnt?"
"I can only think of one thing, sir"
We didn't find the big blue E either, and I got a warning later...worth it.
Asbolutely. No typo.
Expectations need to be managed to engage students in the gritty realities before, during and after their learning. A Roman philosopher (Seneca) said that expectations caused anger and sadness; if a learning institution can't engage with the environment beyond its walls, then why are people paying..?
I'm more interested in the 8 identity providers...*why in all that is holy* why would the likes of Paypal get to manage the ID for Gov? what happened to the government gateway?National insurance numbers?
I was in the field for UK Online for 7 long years getting the message out that you can 'do stuff' on-line..I even managed a project whereby we tried to set it up as part of monitoring utilities, bus timetables, useful stuff. the ones that wanted to get it, got it, the others just not interested.
The mid west amerikans didn't want internet access because they didn't NEED IT, thanks..we get the same here..why would some old person that has given their best years through a proper world war or more, then be told, that they HAVE TO have access at home...there was a project in Hull promoting tele-healthcare using set top boxes and wireless keyboards...yes to that for the good it does, but then they want to force it on people? After making the UK Online project shrink, with the admin and return for centres pathetic and almost impractical?
grrr. All sounds like cost cutting, and will undoubtedly end in tears...the mixed approach is best.
oh dear...it seems that satire has a place here too; how else that can the hand be bitten? Or would you prefer another whingefest of how fecking bad it all seems. Bards in days gone by used to be the newsreaders, and when they did a satire 'on' you, your credibility left the building in tears...
...there are news pieces on the rest of the site, move along, move along...and try to change the batteries in your iphone, or find a forum for lovers of <unheard linux distro>.
yeehaw! I hear the sound of nails being banged head on...
very very true. Like standards compliance, us commentards like to flitter like flies to the next smelly turd...
or so we think. 'member the fondle slab introduction when all and sundry (admittedly myself included) slapped hands to head in complete bewilderment. Now, we realise that the End User is king, and us IT folks are the unwilling pawns, evangelists and harbringers of change for the sake of change - I have yet to find a good simple email client that works well for the visually impaired, yet a client of mine with a humble (and venerable) Acorn has a stunning client which colour codes a conversation thread AND will change between voices when the screenreader is initiated.
Change is inevitable. Change is not necessarily progress, either.
BTW, I hated my Android phone when I got it when i found it wanted to sync my contacts to google...benign or aggressive, the (robber) barons call the shots and all we can do is suck it up and relate the bad news.
Now here's a revenue opportunity. Seems to me that when out of the UK, if you want to watch iplayer other than the worldwide stuff, people should be able to pay for the privilege...register up as non UK watcher, pay a licence fee to watch abroad - make sure that the system uses the download app to ensure registration details. What could go wrong?
I've worked in day centres for people with learning disabilities, and they asbolutely couldn't get enough of Eastenders, especially when they could get to the iplayer/subsite, etc.
I reasoned exactly what you mentioned, and these people stuck in an institutional life, saw these horrible TV people having some vague, inferred 'life' and thought either they were better off than those poor souls they're watching or wanted to have some drama in their very very controlled lives. Sad on either counts.
And having a go at wimmin because they like it - I tend to prefer the Archers rationale (though I never listen to it) that people need to learn new agricultural stuff and story telling is a great way of doing that...I recall a Pakistani radio station using this model and putting in a story line about a farmer caught in a minefield; seemed the Taliban liked the show too...
Seems to me that the whole thing echoes of the groans that many have/had with the Umbongo unity interface - I won't use it myself, but its great for many end users.
Why is there no touch screen device connected to the machine to facilitate a metro interface for media and stuff, then we have working desktops for people who make documents and other stuff..touch screens can only be good hung on a wall or small programmable hand-helds that aren't phones too...the transition from office to mainstream consumer is not quite on track here.
Not forgetting the meedja industries that stuck their fingers in their ears and went 'lalalalala' as the interwebs grew. Seems that you have forgotten the fact that publishers take the lion's share of profits and are thus the injured parties - artists and creative types have always have had to fight for a living.
I did nearly 3 years in a front line support role which nearly broke my mind...I came to the conclusion (after getting it put right) that managers are generally managers through being good at their own jobs, not necessarily being a good manager (or having IT skills). The whole learning shebang, yup, I'd agree about the process of learning, but whilst adult learning is still about pedagogy (leading children) there will be an ongoing issue...and yes we are all getting older, and business is using IT to reduce people input, but people make decisions - I know why the Unabomber wanted to destroy all computers. So be nicer to your IT guys people who *believe* in gnomes in the box making it all happen, because they SHOULD get off their collective arses and join a union, get their rights collectively. You contractors have it sorted.
After training in the community for UK*nline for nearly 7 years, I think I've seen how the demographic lies. A lot of people are going to be screwed.
No one talks about being able to read, never mind using a freaking computer...?!
This is a situation I found as a community trainer all of the time - especially my generation ( who grew up in the 80's) with offspring. Computer in home, dominated by the tech savvy kids brought up on it, whilst the adults stumble around with a mouse, they were lucky to get a computer class, for the nerdy math kids like me.
I had to remind parents often that they PAID for the electronics, phone line and access, they have every right to impose sanctions and rules. Good relations with the kids was to be the starting point, and a shared/open approach to the internet with a good dose of sense and communication. It was always the the 'nagers downloading the ring tones and games which caused the problems. Kiddy catcher - because we're only kids once.
Kidzui/FF for the young ones, whilst I'm here.
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