On 11/11/2011 08:34 AM, David Sexton wrote:
> Good morning

Hi David, comments inline.

>
> I am looking for information on what is most needed to improve gnome
> accessibility. More programmers? More funds? More user feedback? Etc.

All of that ;)

> I am blind and currently using orca and mac. I guess I would describe
> myself as someone who writes small scripts to get jobs done, but
> certainly not a software engineer. I generally prefer the command line
> over GUI, but GUI is really necessary for internet and word
> processing. Of course, I'd love it more if orca/gnome were as
> rock-solid as the command line.

If you are interested in orca, probably you would be also interested in
orca and orca-dev lists (although probably you already know about it):

https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-devel-list

>
> I am the IT manager at the International Institute for Social
> Entrepreneurs in Kerala, South India. www.bwb-iise.org
> <http://www.bwb-iise.org/> 
> We take motivated and talented individuals from all over the world,
> mainly developing countries, who become active to create positive
> social change in their communities. 
> About half of our participants are blind or have other disabilities.
> We use mainly Ubuntu.

FYI, although probably you already know, there is a ubuntu accessibility
list:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-accessibility


> We have a few things we can offer gnome accessibility:
>
> - User feedback. We could install latest builds and provide regular
> feedback.

Anyway, as this is a GNOME mailing lists, we would be more interested on
GNOME 3.X feedback. Take into account that some distros are still in the
process of moving to GNOME 3.

> - Fund raising. We are connected to quite a few donors who are
> generally interested in making a considerate impact in the developing
> world.
> Completely accessible gnome would enable many people to have access to
> computers.

In that case it would be good if you contact GNOME Foundation. The a11y
team is in the process of update the GNOME accessibility roadmap:
https://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/Roadmap

So any item listed there are suitable to be funded.

> - Since the next IISE course will only start in July 2012, our campus
> could be used during the period from mid december to mid June. 
> We are planning on hosting a few hackfests to improve accessibility of
> software and create new software. 
> We would love to work on anything gnome accessibility has for us.
> I can definitely get several college hackers together.

In that sense I can think on different ways to start to collaborate:

* Take a look to Orca "How Can I Help" page:
https://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp

* Other starting task could be "compile all the accessibility stack"
using jhbuild:
https://live.gnome.org/Jhbuild
In that sense the basic pieces for the stack are at-spi2-core,
at-spi2-atk, pyatspi2, orca, accerciser and then any application toolkit
compatible with that stack, for example gtk.

* Related with the feedback, and in order to get familiar with the code
and some of the present issues, you could also take a look to these links:
https://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/ThreePointFour/Regressions
https://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/ThreePointFour/Issues#Other_GNOME_Modules


> Maybe some programmers from the company "UST global" as well. 
> I guess what I need to know, is how to get them up to speed on gnome
> and gnome accessibility itself. 
> Myself, I know a bit of python, but nothing at all about how
> accessibility is structured...
>
> If there's not currently a way to employ people directly through gnome
> then It could be that we hire some programmers specifically to work on
> gnome accessibility... So if you're experienced in this area and want
> to work in India, let us know.
> From our viewpoint, we are annoyed that accessibility is almost there,
> but not quite good enough to prevent our participants from returning
> home and most likely be forced to use illegal copies of windows and
> accessibility software. So our thought is: what can we do to get gnome
> and gnome-orca to work as well as windows and mac solutions.
> On behalf of all of our visually impaired participants as well as all
> of them around the world I want to say THanks very much for your
> interest, ideas, suggestions and feedback!

Thanks for your interest, I hope you heard about you again soon.

Best regards.

-- 
Alejandro Piñeiro Iglesias

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