Hi All,
This is something I received on another list serve, it is from the guy
who will be doing the demo.
Best,
Ellen
Sep 2011 21:34:27 -0000
From: Timothy Emmons <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
I know it's (Kindle) not perfect as of right now but I do know for a standing fact that the Kindle 3 which is now the Kindle keyboard is the most accessible out of all of them, and they are taking feedback on accessibility. I've been eamiling them and getting responses back off and on about different things with feedback. You can get a ton more books with the text to speech feature enabled now, and your newspapers magazines and such are accessible now. You just can't shop in the kindle store and do a few other things on the device itself, but the majority of what used to not be done can be done now and they're constantly seeking improvement. they tend to do more when they know teir market base is interested in their development, and there are a few folks who have Kindles who are suggesting and adding and mentioning different things to be done with the software. The suit earlier may have had something to do with that portion, but don't throw in the towel completely yet and say it's impossible, they are talking and want to hear, and tend to do a lot better in getting a situation fixed when they're not being slammed on all sides, but getting helpful suggestions to improve the product. I called customer service probably about two months ago when I ran into an issue and had a long discussion with one of the gentlemen about feedback accessibility and such and he told me that Amazon US at least is open to suggestion and their development team does at any rate. But, seriously, I agree with what everybody's doing about the Fire and the new kindles,but we're not completely shut out since the Kindle Keyboard is at least somewhat accessible. The rest will happen but we'v egot to give critical feedback instead of constantly slamming them on xomething that feedback would help improve a lot better than just not touching it. At any rate, if you have quesitons take a listen to my thing Monday night. I'll answer what I can and If I can't I'll get answers, but saying we can't is not entirely true anymore. Take care guys, I'm headed home see you later this weekend.
On Sep 30, 2011, at 2:48 PM, Marilyn Walker wrote:
Greg, thanks for the info, painful as it is to hear it. Those people do not understand that they are about two seconds away from become print disabled themselves and then they would understand. Sure, we have nls and Bard and such, but your point about the education market whould be taken seriously. I can foresee every child in America owning one of those $79. Kindel readers for textbooks, newspapers and on and on. As a retired high school and then community college English instructor, I would have been in heaven if an entire class could have read assigned articles, etc. in class from a Kindel. But with universities dropping requirements that students get texts on Kindel because Amazon violates the ADA, so many opportunities will be lost. Marilyn
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: Greg Kearney
- To: Kathy Blackburn
- Cc: bardtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx talk
- Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 9:30 PM
- Subject: Re: [bardtalk] New Kindle
- No it is not accessible. It is as it Amazon has go out of it's way to make their products inaccessible. In the case of Mac and the iOS it is quite literally true that you have to say to yourself as a developer, "how do I deactivate the built in accessibility".
- I spoke with an Amazon employee who told me there is no interest in accessibility at Amazon as the market is seen as too small and not worth the trouble they encountered with the Author's Guild in the United States. We should not expect any effort by Amazon in the future to address the issue of accessibility. So unless someone in the U.S can figure out how to make devices and services fall under the ADA my guess would be that they will never address this issue. Even if that mean walking away from the U.S. education market.
- If you want an accessible book reader your best be is an iPad, iPhone or a dedicated DAISY device it would seem.
- Gregory Kearney | Manager Accessible Media
- Association for the Blind of WA - Guide Dogs WA
- PO Box 101, Victoria Park WA 6979 | 61 Kitchener Ave, Victoria Park WA 6100
- Tel: 08 9311 8246 | Fax: 08 9361 8696 | www.guidedogswa.com.au
- Tel: 307-224-4022 (North America)
- Email: greg.kearney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Email: gkearney@xxxxxxxxx
- On 30/09/2011, at 10:15 AM, Kathy Blackburn wrote:
- > The Kindle app for iPhone isn't accessible either, I've heard.
- >
- > Kathy Blackburn
- >
- > --
- > Email services provided by the System Access Mobile Network. Visit www.serotek.com to learn more about accessibility anywhere.
- >
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