[gui-talk] A glitch in the righteous posture? (was Reading RightsCoalition Denounces Random House)

[Doug Lee]

I have not pursued better knowledge of this situation I admit, but
just on a moment's reflection, it makes sense to me to try first to
get the contents accessible, then the device itself.  The reason is
that the content is managed by a whole lot more people, and ignoring
the problems caused by allowing speech to be disabled would cause the
rapid propagation of inaccessible content, so even if the device
became accessible, it wouldn't help.  Going at it content-first means
all the content could become available very quickly if we get the
device's physical accessibility concerns worked out.

On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 11:17:10AM -0700, Baracco, Andrew W wrote:
HURRAH!  HURRAH!  HURRAH!

Finally, the voice of reason.  Here, the blind are leading the charge.
The charge to nowhere, because the blind can't use the device anyway. I
began to think that I was somehow teleported to another planet, or had
lost my mind.

Andy
 

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:00 AM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: [gui-talk] A glitch in the righteous posture? (was Reading
RightsCoalition Denounces Random House)

I have seen a lot of discussion on this issue about the Amazon Kindle
and the juggling of copyright law in regard to speech output. I don't
wish to address the legal issues, either from the copyright side or the
ADA side. 
But what I do wonder, repeatedly, is what all this can matter,
practically speaking, for someone like me lacking central (macular)
vision or totally blind, as the controls that allow use of this device
are said to be inaccessible, I believe because they're touch-screen
controls and not mechanical buttons whose use can be memorized by an
enterprising person with a little help from a sighted tutor, meaning a
friend who will patiently teach the skill.

For whose benefit is protest being made at this point? The partially
sighted who can read visually given enough text size and contrast, but
who for some reason can't locate and identify the control buttons? if
so, I can say fine, no problem. But If the stated objection is without
regard to the possible ironies and contradictions and, as such, is
actually just a first step in an anticipated battle to inspire yet a
further upgrade to the Kindle that will, this time, include
blind-operable controls, that too I could understand. 
Hassle them about the copyright thing first, then, while they're busy
fighting the NFB over that, hit them with the control inaccessibility
thing. 
Never having been entirely serious about the copyright issue while it
was still moot for practical reasons to do with nonoperability.

Personally, if I were to purchase a Kindle, I'd have to do all my
reading on it aided by a sighted person who could change the page
display for me, like the page turner who stands beside the bench of a
concert pianist as the pianist plays from his or her score. This isn't
practical for me, as I have neither a slave or a paid assistant. So I
continue to buy my commercial recorded books from audible. com and play
the files either on my computer with the Jaws-friendly Audible Manager
software or on my .mp3 player, which required two people, one blind via
email and a second sighted and here with me, to teach me how to use well
enough despite the unit's reliance on a menu window.

I hope I've posed this seeming contradiction clearly enough.

thanks.


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-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"Sometimes I think my learning curve is a circle." -- David Andrews