Accommodating Technology Committee
Minutes of 19 January 2000 Meeting
Present: G. Allen, M. Belsky, S. Blosser, J. Eulenberg, M. Hestenes, M. Hudson, D. Kleinhardt, J. Pedraza, J. Renuk.
1. The meeting was called to order by Eulenberg at 1:42 pm.
2. Sweets were distributed in honor and celebration of Dr. Hestenes's retirement.
3. Eulenberg proposed that the committee meet at 2:30 p.m. next week, and thereafter, to accommodate the schedules of real-time recorders. Meeting room remains 215CC.
4. Libraries APP&R. Last year's Libraries' APP&R requests were distributed. Although Forro was not able to be present, Eulenberg advised the committee that none of these items has been funded. These should therefore receive our highest priority among this year's requests.
5. Allen announced two new technologies of interest to the committee. The first, seen in the December, 1999, issue of "Wired" magazine, is a set of accelerometers which attach to one's fingernails and which, when wirelessly connected to a PC with the necessary software, allow a touch typist to input text without a keyboard. This system has been developed by a laboratory at UC Berkeley. The second, seen in a recent Sunday newspaper magazine section, is a robot that assists elderly individuals living at home with activities of daily living. Appropriately named "Flo" (after Florence Nightingale), this robot was developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
6. Eulenberg announced that he had recently attended the funeral of Prof. Gerald Faverman, a long-time activist for disabled individuals at the university, community, state and national levels.
7.
Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) APP&R. Blosser noted that two workstations are aging and their network is overloaded. Besides two new workstations and a dedicated network line, they will request some new furnishings. Hudson added new software licenses, plus a new in-class, real-time, writing station for use by those who assist hearing-impaired students. Eulenberg asked Hudson to bring a list of these items to our next meeting.8. Hestenes raised the issue of real-time captioning, reminding the committee that Dr. Hunt had asked us to make a request for these resources. Among the factors to be addressed are: (a) CDs, in addition to videos; (b) transcripts of streaming audio; and (c) matching funds from the academic units involved. Blosser noted that we can now get a relatively inexpensive captioning system, consisting of 2 VCRs and a PC. Currently the VCRs can be analog, but systems will soon (ostensibly by 2006) have to be all-digital.
9. The meeting was adjourned (Hestenes; Blosser) at 2:32 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
George D. Allen, Recording Secretary