Date of Meeting: ?September 9, 2000
The meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM by President Amy ruell. Following introductions, the minutes were read and approved as submitted.
Amy informed all present that she had not sent out the document "games.doc" which lists accessible games, and vendors selling them as she had recently been informed that one vendor was closing his site, and another vendor was currently developing another accessible game. Amy will modify the list to reflect these changes and will then send it to all on the e-mail List.
Amy reminded people that Al Sten-Clanton would be running a class on writing Jaws Scripts at 11:00 a.m. prior to the October meeting. She told all present that Jerry Barrier would be demonstrating Excel during our Annual Meeting after elections and general business were conducted.
Amy reminded people that if they wished to become members of VIBUG they should give their dues to Jim Roberts. She told all present that only those with current memberships for the year 2000 would be eligible to vote in next months elections.
Stosh announced that the Nominating Committee met and recommended the current slate of officers be placed under consideration for serving in the positions they now hold. Thus, Amy ruell was recommended for President, Jeff Turner was recommended for Vice president; Tim Cumings was recommended for webmaster, and Jim Roberts and Jeanette Kutash were recommended for Treasurer and Clerk, respectively. Following this announcement, Amy reminded people that anyone else who was interested in running for any of these positions should speak to the nominating committee. She further stated that she wanted the elections to remain open to all who were interested in pursuing offices, and that nominations could still be accepted from the floor at the time the elections are held.
Jim Roberts stated that we started out the year with $1700.00. We currently have as of the time of his report, 53 members. After taking in the memberships for these 53 people, and also some gifts and donations we received, our total money taken in this year so far has been $1220.00. We spent $380.00; We have $2540 in the bank. Amy stated that she knew that as of this meeting there were a few more new memberships which had just come in, and thus the monetary gains would be greater than those reflected in this report. She also pointed out that VIBUG had not yet reimbursed her for the costs incurred in mailing out the notices for last month's meeting, and that that receipt would soon be submitted. People were reminded that the money spent covered the speakers, sound card, other items needed to upgrade the computer, and our charge for our internet provider and e-mail Account.
Amy told all present that Vibug Members were being offered a special discount for purchasing the eight-Pack of games made by Robert Betts; the price would be $84 instead of $97. The price includes shipping and handling. This offer is good through the end of September. If at least six people order, we will get the discount. Amy stated that people wishing to get the eight-pack should contact her; she would be putting in the order at the end of this week. There is also a $10.00 price break for people wishing to download the program, and there are no shipping and handling charges associated with doing this.
Amy announced that GWMicro has a Beta 4 of Window-Eyes now available. She also told us that there is a Beta of Open Book 5.0 on Freedom Scientific's Website. She also announced that Jaws 37. Has officially been released.
John Oliveira announced that the Association of Blind Citizens is holding a trip to Sturbridge Village, and additionally there would be an option for stopping to see a brewery and taste some beer, and that an apple picking option would be available. The price is $45 for nonmembers, and $30 for members; people interested in this trip can contact the Association of Blind Citizens for further details
Amy reminded people that members are allowed three free tapes of meetings or classes; people wishing to have tapes should let Tim or Amy know.
Kobena announced that he had made some changes in the Newsline options menu. he encouraged people to check those out and to provide him with feedback about these most recent offerings in that Menu.
John Mattioli announced that people might find the L&H Website worth exploring. There is some literature written in text format that we can read, and there are some other informational files, including one that allows more accurate identification of paper currency. To explore the site go to
ftp.lhsl.com/education
Finally, in our question and answer period we talked briefly about deleting temporary files, making shortcut keys to open up programs more efficiently, some appropriate settings in control panel (under display) which would maximize the efficiency with which speech works with windows, and the advantages of using Disk Clean-up to delete some temporary files.
Following this, Marty McCuller demonstrated Seti-Search, and showed all who were interested the new mouse she was testing for possible future use by disabled persons, thus potentially eliminating the need to learn keyboard commands. Marty also told people that she was interested in finding both beginners and advanced users who would be interested in checking out different search engines and providing Marty with feedback on their accessibility.
Following the demonstration, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jeanette Kutash
Clerk