Date: March 8, 2008
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM
Location: National Braille Press, 88 St. Stephen Street, Boston
Marcia Dresser, VIBUG Vice President, convened the meeting because Amy Ruell, the President, was en route to the meeting after presenting at a conference for parents of blind children. Amy did arrive for the business portion of the meeting later in the afternoon. February's minutes were accepted. There are currently 17 members and dues are still being accepted. Several members submitted dues after the meeting was adjourned.
Announcements from the President: While at the seminar for blind children, Amy gave a short presentation on technology. She also confirmed that we have wireless access in the conference room, which was actually used today for the System Access presentation.
CSUN: The CSUN conference would take place during the week of March 10th and VIBUG members John Oliveira and Mika Pyyhkala are going. AccessibleWorld, Main Menu and Blind Bargains will be broadcasting at CSUN, including presentations from vendors about new products and updates to the Braille Plus and the Victor Reader Stream.
VIBUG Emails: Anyone who is not receiving email announcements from VIBUG, go to the website and sign up to receive them. If you have difficulties withemail sign-up, call or email Steve Dresser, the webmaster, whose contact information is on the website.
Tutoring from VIBUG Members: Amy announced that we get calls from people who want one-on-one assistance. Please let Amy know privately if you want to help people on a volunteer basis, since officially VIBUG would not want to expend resources on training one-on-one unless people want to pay or become VIBUG members.
Upcoming Training on JAWS: Mika announced that there will be JAWS training at the state National Federation of the Blind convention in Worcester on Friday, April 25th by a trainer from Freedom Scientific.
Announcement from Marcia: Technology is part of the Expanded Core Curriculum for blind and visually impaired public school students. Also, rep Markee introduced a bill requiring accessible appliances(?). She will get the bill information and forward it to Amy, who will send it to the membership.
Announcements about Children and Education: National Braille Press will have a free web seminar for parents and teachers on tactile and Braille toys and games on March 26th from 6:00-7:30PM. Jen Bose announced a piano concert on March 22nd to fund the purchase of white canes for kids in Vietnam.
Computer Issues: Amy announced that we should contact Freedom Scientific to let them know about the language detection problem that occurs in JAWS 9.
Amy adjourned the meeting at 4:00.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Bose, VIBUG Clerk