Hi, Kelsey.
I love Zoom and it would definitely improve on the sound quality of our
meetings. For those unfamiliar with this program it is a program to
facilitate meetings. People have the option of using their computer,
smartphone or tablet to participate, meaning that the quality of the
audio would be tremendously improved, assuming that the participant is
using a halfway decent microphone. However, people still have the option
of participating by phone without the need to use a PC, smartphone, etc.
The reason why I haven't pursued it is because the cost of the service
is $14.99 per month. It's true that I could charge users a small
membership fee to cover the cost but that would mean accounting for and
managing money and this is something I absolutely did not want to do
when I decided to revive this group. I hope you understand but I do like
Zoom.
As for changing the day we could certainly talk about it. There was some
discussion about which day and time would work for most people when this
group first started. At that time, I was not working on Fridays and,
since Friday night worked well for most people most of the time we went
with Fridays. If there was enough interest we could try another evening.
However, Saturday night is not an option as I like to keep those nights
open for the BITS chats, BITS being the technology affiliate of the
American Council of the Blind. Again, if there's sufficient interest I'd
be open to discussion about it. As for special presentations, we might
do it if there's interest. However, BITS already does this using the
Zoom platform and this makes the quality of the presentations much better.
On 7/4/2018 1:12 PM, Kelsey Nicolay wrote:
Hello,
I have never been to a phode meeting, but if a lot of people are calling in, I would contin*e with it. Along that same kine, I would be curious if anyone would be open to changing the day of the week when we meet. I know for myself and possibly others, Friday evenings are sometimes difficult because I have other things going on. David, have you considered using Zoom for the phone meetings? This would give users better audio cbarity if someone is doing a phoduct demonstration. Zoom does still give you the ability to call in from a landline phone if necessary. In addition to our phone meetings, perhaps having special presentations devoted to specific topips might be a good idea. These are just some thoughts to consider.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 4, 2018, at 1:01 PM, pegkane52@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:pegkane52@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi David and all.
If you get many callings when you have your phone meetings then I would keep them going since they are valuable source for people, of course that will be for you to decide.
Thank you very much for all your service and I do remember you from when you worked for the lazy or rather I should say Braelin speak
Peggy Sent from my IPhone.
On Jul 4, 2018, at 12:40 PM, David Goldfield <david.goldfield@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:david.goldfield@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Thanks, Peggy.
I really should have mentioned the phone meetings in my original message and I appreciate you reminding me about them. Initially, I had hoped that the meetings could be held at a physical location. This would give people the opportunity to not only demonstrate products but it would allow others to try them out as well. I had difficulty in finding a location and someone suggested that we meet via phone conference, which I hadn't considered up to that point. I am also wondering if the phone meetings continue to be of value or if we should dispense with them and just keep the list as our way of communicating. Now that I'm working fulltime securing a location within Philly on a weekend, while I won't say it's impossible, is, honestly, not desirable, for a few reasons.
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist WWW.David-Goldfield.Com
On 7/4/2018 12:35 PM, pegkane52@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi David, your list is very informative I really enjoy it and I will try to make the next calling if possible. I also like anything that you tell us that even gives us information that we wouldn’t otherwise no or else helps us in someway.
Peggy Kane
Peggy Sent from my IPhone.
On Jul 4, 2018, at 12:26 PM, <martinelson1@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:martinelson1@xxxxxxxxxxx>> <martinelson1@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:martinelson1@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi, David: your articles are very interesting. Keep them coming!
*From:* David Goldfield
*Sent:* Wednesday, July 04, 2018 12:21 PM
*To:* blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [blind-philly-comp] Quick Updates
1. I wanted to wish all of you a happy and blessed Independence Day.
2. I have not forgotten about our phone meetings. Our next meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 27 at 8:00 PM and is open to any questions or comments relating to technology.
3. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have comments or questions regarding our group. If you have ideas for guest presenters or if you feel you might want to present a particular product or service please let me know about it. I would respectfully ask that any questions of a technical nature about technology be directed publicly to the list at blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and not to me privately. If your question goes to the list other people can respond, especially since I often don't have the time that I'd like to personally respond to emails. Also, the fact is that I simply don't know everything and there are many on this list with expertise on products or apps that I just don't have.
4. I'd be curious to know if this mailing list is meeting your needs and, if not, what could be done to have it do so? As an example, are the articles that I send out of value or would you prefer the list to just be dedicated to discussion without the articles? If you do like reading articles, are there topics you'd like to see more of or less of?
5. Depending on which email program you use you may have to perform a "reply all" if you want your replies to a message to be sent to the list. A few months back Thunderbird made an annoying change which meant that pressing ctrl+R to reply to a list message would send your reply to just the original sender and not to the list. One workaround for this is to press ctrl+shift+R (for Reply All) which should guarantee that you reply will go to the list. There is a slightly more technical workaround which can force Thunderbird to revert to the older and, in my opinion, more preferred way where just pressing ctrl+R sends a reply from a mailing list to the entire list, which is, I think, what most people expect. Off the top of my head I don't remember the exact set of steps I used to adjust this setting but, if you run into this issue, let me know and I'll try and post them. I think users of Outlook should be OK but I can't speak for other email programs.
6. As always, if you know someone who could benefit from this list don't hesitate to provide them with the information on how to join the list. To subscribe, the email address is
blind-philly-comp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the subject type
subscribe
and then send the message.
There are just so many mailing lists out there dealing with various types of assistive technology and, to be frank, I'm wondering if this list is still relevant. Initially, I started this as a group for people in or near the Philly area because it was my assumption that a city as big as Philly needed a support group for visually impaired computer users. That still may be the case but I'm just trying to ascertain this. You can be as honest as you want to about this as I don't have an ego when it comes to this group. If it's meeting people's needs then it will continue. If it isn't I have no problem in seeing it go away because, as I said, there are many discussion groups dealing with technology both in general and lists dedicated to a specific product.
Take care.
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist WWW.David-Goldfield.Com
