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Record of proceedings of the Annual General Meeting

Saturday May 26, 2001

Apologies

paul traynor, paul drummy, ronan mcguirk, noreen maher, noel redmond

Agenda

  1. Chairmans Report
  2. Treasurers Report
  3. Nominations and Election
  4. Motion - Set up sub-committee to administer VICS

Chairmans Report

The Chairman thanked the outgoing committee for their support and help during the year. The committee met on a regular monthly basis and kept different projects going. The members included: gus and paula Dorrington, Cearbhall O'Meadhra, Michael Lavin. Philip Doyle and Noel Redmond were co-opted during the term.

The membership of VICS has almost reached 70 and the membership fee is now due.

The Chairman noted that VICS had been very busy In the 13 months since the last AGM. The highlight of the year were two very successful open days which had been held in Dublin and Cork.

The VICS mailing list has been revived and is proving to be very popular. It is being moderated by Philip Doyle and Ronan McGuirk. Subscribers receive technical help, coaching and news of interesting items relating to the use of the computer.

The VICS tape magazine, Infovics, is going well thanks to Liam Dukes and the staff of NCBI.

The VICS web site needs to be reconstructed. Paul Traynor and Ronan McGuirk have helped out with the development of the site to date. The new committee of VICS will be asked to look at the accessibility of web sites, the possibility of setting up a fee-paying web maintenance service and a VICS course in web design.

Training

The Chairman noted that there is no point providing training without practice. During the past year VICS supplied approximately 12 people with equipment. The Chairman expressed his thanks to Jim Kinahan for providing PCs. This programme was so successful that he felt that VICS should expand that service.

The Chairman announced that colaiste Ide had opened a PC maintenance course that is ongoing. About 20 participants joined initially. Test PCS are provided by the college and a feature of the course is that sighted helpers learn along with the blind students. All who have joined the course have found it fascinating. Some blind people are building there own PCs from scratch.

Training and participation in ECDL

Gus and Paula Dorrington are doing Trojan work.

VICS held an Open-day in Colaiste Ide in November 2000. A second open-day was held in the Kingsley Hotel in Cork. Demonstrations were made of JAWS, supernova and braille n speak and the use of the Internet throughout both events. 39 visually impaired people attended. The Chairman thanked Gus, paula, philip and Stewart who organised these events.

As a result of the open-day, there are plans to set up a sub-group of VICS in Cork. Thanks to the sponsorship provided by Kinsale Ladies Golf Club and the Bank of Ireland VICS suffered no financial loss.

Liam curran mentioned the Aisling project tele-sales course which is taking place at the NCBI.

The Chairman praised all who have been involved in training people with a visual impairment. He particularly thank Gus and Paula Dorrington for their continuing pioneering work at Colaiste Ide. Toddy carey, mike meaney and bob murphy were also singled out for special thanks for their work training people in Kerry, Limerick and Sligo. He pointed out that there is a need for more classes. This is where FAS could come in.

The Chairman delivered an official vote of thanks to the following:

Summing up his report, the Chairman observed that, for the future, vics has to keep a close watch on things. Developments relating to mobile telephone technology, touch sensitive screens, access to web sites and opportunities for education have serious implications for people with a visual impairment. He stressed that we need to protect our rights under the law. The standardisation of file systems needs to be enforced. He urged that all members of VICS will have to look at these items.

Issues arising

The meeting learned that the NCBI is running a course to train tele-help-line technicians. Trainees work with an IT company on a help desk. The tutor is Liam Curran. The ECDL or another computer qualification would be taken on. This is a FIT course that gives unemployed people an opportunity to go back into employment. Top 14 IT companies in Ireland have put in 14,000 each and fas has put in the rest. An employed person can attend but has to pay for their own books etc. 26 hours training is provided. 95% success rate is expected in placement in jobs. There is an aptitude test at the beginning of the course.

A discussion on work-placements took place in which it was asserted that the VEC must take on open training. Gus Dorrington reported that the VEC is not closed any more. The need for the teacher to know the access software was debated. Arising from the discussion, it was proposed that the ECDL include non-mouse usage. It was propose that VICS offer training to staff in the VEC. The meeting was informed that the NCBI is appointing 6 regional trainers.

Treasurers Report

Paula Dorrington delivered her financial report. The Chairman thanked Paula for her work and her efficiency in keeping the VICS accounts.

Election of new Committee

The following were appointed to the new committee:

Motion - Set up sub-committee to administer VICS

The motion to set up a sub-committee that would review the running of VICS was discussed and adopted unanimously.

Closing the meeting, the Chairman thanked the members for their attendance and their contributions to the discussions.