RE: Shell Programming Was RE: Searching for blind programmer to start a school for blind programmers

  • From: "Homme, James" <james.homme@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 11:03:05 -0400

Hi,
You mean a piece of software, not a person, right? Or do you mean a person?

Jim

Jim Homme,
Usability Services,
Phone: 412-544-1810. Skype: jim.homme
Highmark recipients,  Read my accessibility blog. Discuss accessibility here. 
Accessibility Wiki: Breaking news and accessibility advice


-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DaShiell, Jude T. 
CIV NAVAIR 1490, 1, 26
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 10:45 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Shell Programming Was RE: Searching for blind programmer to start 
a school for blind programmers

Ouch!  Apparently the Vinux Project also needs a revision control manager too.  
I hope the project gets one in time to prevent the train wreck which is very 
probably fast approaching otherwise.



-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Littlefield, Tyler
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 10:07
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Shell Programming Was RE: Searching for blind programmer to start 
a school for blind programmers

Vinux needs people to work with the script, but right now development is really 
unorganized. There is a sort of to-do list which has a lot of invalid points, 
and apparently a "tutorial" has to be written for people to read the scripts 
taht are there. I'd love to contribute to that, but it seems a bit of a pain 
since no one knows what actually needs to be done.
On 4/8/2011 5:23 AM, Homme, James wrote: 

        Hay Storm, 

        I thought I read that the Blinux project needs shell programmers. Is 
that correct? 

          

        Jim 

          

        Jim Homme, 

        Usability Services, 

        Phone: 412-544-1810. Skype: jim.homme 

        Highmark recipients,  Read my accessibility blog 
<http://mysites.highmark.com/personal/lidikki/Blog/default.aspx> . Discuss 
accessibility here 
<http://collaborate.highmark.com/COP/technical/accessibility/default.aspx> . 
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        From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Storm Dragon
        Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 3:30 PM
        To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        Subject: Re: Searching for blind programmer to start a school for blind 
programmers 

          

        Hi,
        If this gets going I would like to teach. Maybe entry level shell 
programming (Bash). sounds like a great idea.
        Thanks
        Storm 

-- 

   
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        On Thu, 2011-04-07 at 12:02 -0400, Bill Cox wrote: 

           
        This is still in the dumb-idea phase, and I don't have any funding  
        lined up to get this started.  That said...  
           
        I have not been able to find any on-line school for teaching blind  
        people to become professional programmers.  I feel the world needs  
        such an organization.  I am not able to start such a school myself,  
        but I would be interested in assisting social entrepreneurs in  
        starting such a venture.  I it would best be implemented as a  
        for-profit social entrepreneurial venture.  You can read about social  
        entrepreneurs here:  
           
        http://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur  
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneurship  
           
        I'm thinking it could be a Low Profit Corporation (LPC) founded to run  
        the school for a profit.  Everyone hired in teaching or management  
        would be vision impaired or blind.  Students would attend classes  
        on-line, and could be anywhere in the world.  Classes would not be  
        free (maybe $1,000 per 1-semester course?).  Students who are too poor  
        to pay would be expected to do well in their courses and make up their  
        fees by assisting teaching of those courses in later semesters.  They  
        might also be required to work for an associated consulting company to  
        earn tuition.  Students would be encouraged to help mentor each other  
        in any case.  
           
        Associated with the school could be a software consulting services  
        company.  The company would only hire vision impaired programmers, and  
        students wanting to work for the company could take classes designed  
        to train them in the skills they'll need.  The company might encourage  
        it's employees to spend one day a week on FOSS projects of their  
        interest, which hopefully would include improving accessibility.  
           
        Rough numbers to back up the idea:  There are around 15 million people  
        with "severe" vision impairments in the US.  Roughly half of those  
        people are too old.  Half of the rest may have other impairments that  
        would prevent them from becoming programmers.  In the general  
        population, there are 1 programmer out of every 500 people in the US.  
        I would expect a ratio at least that high among the blind, or about  
        7,500 professional programmers in the US alone.  If we took 20 years  
        to train that many, it'd be 375 new students per year, and assuming a  
        two year program, we'd have 750 students.  If only half paid the class  
        fees, but took three classes at a time (a full load), that'd be  
        $3,000*750*2 = $4.5 million per year.  My kids go to a school which  
        happens to have about 750 students and a budget of just over $4  
        million per year, and that includes paying for a school.  So, that  
        math seems to work out, but we're not talking about anyone making a  
        billion dollars in this effort.  This is not a VC-fundable idea, but  
        it might attract funding from groups that invest in socially  
        beneficial startups.  
           
        I know a couple of good candidates to start this school, and one might  
        be interested in actually doing it.  Are there any good blind or  
        vision impaired people you guys could recommend for me to talk to?  I  
        think the key would be finding the right couple of guys.  
           
        Thanks,  
        Bill  
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-- 

Thanks,
Ty
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