[Mt-blind] NFB Convention Reports

[Beth Underwood]

Thanks for your report, Jim.  That's fantastic news about Dan and Cody.  
Congratulations to you both!

Beth Underwood

Jim Marks wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>Thought it would be good to report on the NFB Convention that occurred last
>week.  It was quite the convention, not the least of which was the fact that
>it was cooler in Atlanta than it was back home.  Who would have thought
>Montanans would have to go to Atlanta in July just to cool off?
>
>Highlights included the March for Independence, Cody Greiser's scholarship,
>new technologies, and changes in NFB leadership.  
>
>The March was a lot of fun.  Seems like we do not often get the opportunity
>to do something pro-active that's physical these days.  The March was loaded
>with civil rights fervor, and we all felt stronger through the collective
>action on changing what it means to be blind.
>
>Cody Greiser won a scholarship for educators for $3,000 plus $1,000 from Ray
>Kurzweil, Kurzweil 1000 software, and a K-NFB Reader.  That's quite a haul,
>and all should know that Cody did us proud.
>
>Two new technologies really caught my attention.  One is the new device
>called the Stream.  The Stream is a digital book reader much like the
>Book-Port.  The Stream plays MP3 files and several talking book and computer
>file formats, including books from Bookshare, the Montana Talking Books
>Library, and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.  It is a device jointly
>produced by Humanware and the NFB.  The really nifty thing about the Stream
>is that it uses high quality Eloquence and Real Speak voices for reading
>computer files.  This one piece of technology to watch closely as I think it
>will become a vital tool for anyone who likes to read books.  The other
>interesting technology that came out was the proposed screen reader for
>Blackberries.  Blackberries are cell phones and PDA devices that are often
>used by government for its employees.  Previously, this common device was
>inaccessible.  Now it looks as though Humanware will be working with the
>maker of the Blackberry to make it work for blind people.  And there were
>many other technological items to discover, too many to describe here.
>
>Last thing to mention is leadership changes.  Dan Burke was elected to a 2
>year term on the NFB Board.  Congrats, Dan, for this well deserved election
>to a very important leadership position.  You are doing us proud!  Another
>leadership change is that Peggy Elliott will be replaced by Anneal Lewis as
>chairman of the NFB Scholarship Committee.  I am sad for this change, but
>I'm sure Anneal will do fine.
>
>It would be great if others would post their observations on the Convention
>just past so that others can get a more rounded perspective of what the
>Convention was like.  I sure had a great time, learned a lot, and came away
>stronger as a result of my participation.  Bet others did as well.
>
>Thanks much!
>
>
>
>
>Jim Marks
>blind.grizzly at GMail.com 
>
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>  
>