Hi VICS Members, It's time for an update, or is it long overdue? Anyway, here goes. We've been busy with our current projects over the past number of months. Interestingly, most of our projects now are directly based on VICS Member's feedback. When I took the position of chairperson, part of my plan was to make VICS work for it's members, and operate based on what the members wanted. Tim, our trusty Deputy Chairperson is currently working with me on developing a document which outlines an idea which was raised at the last AGM. This is to try and put in place a grant scheme, which visually impaired and Blind people who are not in full time employment could avail of to help them to purchase Access Technology. We are still in draft phase on this, and when it is ready it will be published to the website for your opinions. The VICS Day of Training was very well received. It took place in the NCBI's headquarters here in Dublin. Everything went so smoothly, and a big thanks is due to all those who took part - the trainers and trainees. We are now planning the second training day, and again based on your feedback, it looks like we might be taking this one outside of Dublin. I hope to have this set up for Q1 of next year, it's high on our list of priorities. Our Open Day in Galway took place in the past couple of weeks. Again, this day went very smoothly, and we were privileged to have the guys from Humanware and Dolphin over to demonstrate their technology. It was a real treat getting to meet those VICS members who I only know through their mails here on the list etc - the social aspect is always important at these events as you all know! I still can't believe Brian got out of Galway with his MP3 player, I was sure that would, urh, go missing at some point... Know what I mean? Encouragingly, Alan Davis from Humanware, and the guys from Dolphin want to come back next year to the Open Day 2007, so we must be doing something right. For your information, next year it's Dublin's turn! The new version of the VICS website (www.vicsireland.org) is up and running. It is growing and growing, and we're all very proud of it! Our presence on the Internet is a vital aspect to our daily operation, and this corner of cyber space where we reside is just wonderful. I would encourage you all to check it out, and if you've anything you'd like to submit e.g. feedback, articles, links, tutorials for our training section etc, send me an email (tony.murray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx). Brian is going to present DAISY technology at an IRLDEAN seminar in DCU this week on behalf of VICS. Those of you who visited Galway will have seen some of this stuff in action; it's all very exciting and innovative! VICS are firmly behind the DAISY format. We have worked hard over the past number of years to bring organisations around to the idea of using DAISY for their publications.. and it certainly is catching on. Gerry is now in contact with one of our associate members Sorcha, who is directly involved with the drafting of the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (v2.0). VICS are hoping to make a submission, to outline our concerns about the upkeep of 'accessible websites'. This is an exciting area, especially now as the long awaited release of the WCAG v2.0 seems imminent. Stand by for more details on this project. VICS has agreed to work closely with Audioscope in the future. Dave McHugh, who incidentally is a wonderful guitarist, asked us to do a show every two months or so to talk about VICS, our projects, and to demonstrate relevant technology. Given that we Love the sound of our own voices, and are always looking for opportunities to spread the good word of VICS, naturally we jumped at the chance. This is an excellent way of getting our message out there, and we are really grateful to Bethan and Dave for affording us this wonderful and exciting opportunity. They are very tolerant people; the shows need to be heavily edited as Brian our P.R.O., just never gives up a chance to sing in public... and the lovely studio microphone is just like a red rag to a bull. For those of you who haven't heard Brian sing, let me explain. He has the deepest most resonant voice I've ever heard - he always sings way down in the basement. It's truly a beautiful voice, dripping with toneful mastery and rich poise and power. So, as you can see, we're still ploughing ahead and doing our 'VICS thing'! Christmas is coming fast, and it doesn't look like we're going to slow down that much in December. The first thing to do in 2007 is to set up the next VICS day of training, which will keep us all flat out while we recover from turkey overload, and mince pie meltdown! How us committee members love our mince pies. So there you have it. That's what VICS is up to at the moment, and long may it continue. The list is really busy lately, which is absolutely fantastic. Keep posting, and keep getting results. Cheers, Tony Murray VICS Chairperson