VIBUG MEETING MINUTES

Date of Meeting: September 8, 2018

Where: MIT 77 Mass. Ave., Building 5, Room 134, Cambridge, Mass.

The meeting was called to order by Jerry Berrier, President at 1:15 p.m. Following introductions, the following announcements were made.

Jerry raffled off the Ipal rolwhich is a Stand-alone scanner which is the size and shape of a small boom-box. Cullen Gallagher won the raffle.

Jeanette read the minutes which were approved as written.

Frank reminded us that there are two membership lists, and stated we have a good number of members. Any paid members who are not on the support list should let Frank know and he will send out a link so anyone can re-subscribe.

The nominating committee consists of Jeff Thompson, Brian Switzer and John Smith. In order to vote you must have paid your dues by 4:00 on the day of the October meeting which will be October 13, 2018. Anyone wishing to run for an office should contact the nominating committee.

We discussed getting a VIBUG subscription to "the daily fibre". We will discuss more at a future meeting.

The following are technology updates from the August 30 and September 6 top tech tidbits.

  • There is a new audio file which describes a free OCR program for the mac, VOCR, in MP3 format.
  • WebAim has its second survey for low vision users, to be completed by Sept. 30, 2018.
  • Freedom Scientific held its first talk show which is available on FScast in MP3 format.
  • For $19.95, the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind offers a personalized tactile map of the surroundings of any address.
  • The current version of WCAG Web content accessibility guidelines is 2.1.
  • Brian Hartgen has updated his JAWS Scripts for the zoom platform.
  • Aimed at librarians in countries that have joined the Marrakesh Treaty, and where national implementation is completed or advanced, "Getting Started. Implementing the Marrakesh Treaty for Persons with Print Disabilities. A Practical Guide for Librarians", is available in four languages.
  • The National Federation of the Blind is adding a number of guides and articles to its Accessibility Switchboard site.
  • There's a FS tech support notice about both answering calls in skype and recording directly in skype 8.
  • The web-based google calendar is much more accessible and easier to use.
  • NASA has just released 19,000 hours of audio from the Apollo 11 mission, available to the public on the Internet Archive.
  • Version 3.1 of KnFB reader has improved file management, better handling of PDF documents and other fixes.
  • Mystic Access has six digital downloads and six live training modules for IOS training.
  • David Woodbridge demonstrates the Repeat Timer app for iPhone and Apple Watch, useful for radio production and doubtless other life activities [MP3].

    • People brought their latest gadgets

    Jerry Berrier brought a couple of cast metal puzzles he has been having fun with, and he will provide an Amazon link for those who may wish to purchase some for themselves.

    He demonstrated 1Password, a feature-rich, relatively accessible and very popular password manager for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

    Cheryl Cumings reported on a coding camp she recently conducted here in Boston.

    The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

    Respectfully submitted, Jeanette Kutash, Vibug Clerk