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Visually impaired computer society - Annual General Meeting 2007

Draft Minutes

1 Date, Time and Location

Saturday, June 9th, 2007 at 2 PM

Irish Computer Society HQ, Mount Street Crescent, Dublin 4.

2 Present

  • Tony Murray, Chairperson
  • Tim Culhane, Deputy Chairperson
  • Gerry Ellis, Secretary
  • Joan Kearns, Treasurer
  • Brian Dalton, P.R.O.
  • Robbie Sandberg, Committee Member
  • Suzanne Dalton
  • Ulla Quayle
  • Albert Brown
  • Margaret Brown
  • Ciaran Ferry
  • Jenny O’Brien
  • Maureen Murray
  • Willie FitzGerald
  • Eamonn O’Connor
  • Anne Green
  • Martin Kelly
  • Anne Kelly
  • Joe Malone
  • Stuart Lawler
  • Laura Grehan

3 Apologies

  • Natasha Miskella, Committee Member
  • Michael Lavin
  • Noreen Meagher
  • Marian Nolan
  • Maureen Newall

4 Agenda and Minutes

The Chairperson, Mr. Tony Murray, read the Agenda. He welcomed members and noted apologies.

5 Minutes

The draft Minutes of the 2006 AGM were proposed by Tim Culhane and seconded by Brian Dalton. They were adopted unanimously.

6 Chairperson's report

Tony said that he intended to base the work of VICS for the next year on the outcomes from this AGM.

He listed several VICS successes during the year. These included:

  • Based on comments from Noreen Meagher and Marian Nolan at last year’s AGM that there was a lack of basic training, VICS put together a 3-point training plan, i.e.
    a) A Training page on the VICS web site
    b) Audio tutorials on various issues on the VICS eMagazine InfoVICS
    c) Training days aimed at basic computer users. These took place in Dublin, Galway and Cork.
  • Open Day in Galway with vendors from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and England present.
  • Took a stand at the “Seeing Better Ireland” exhibition in Drumcondra in June, 2006.
  • Attended and took a stand at an exhibition organised by the Design For All Network in DCU celebrating the U.N. International Disability Day, December 3rd, 2006.
  • VICS representatives were interviewed several times on AudioScope on RTE Radio One.
  • VICS has developed a good relationship with a shop call “Back to the Future” in Angiers Street, Dublin. They are now aware of the needs of people who are visually impaired and can provide and install various technologies that are suitable for our use.
  • VICS and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) have 20 phones which come with Talks software already installed. 18 of these will cost €150 each. The NCBI will give one away and another will be given away during the VICS AGM.
  • The VICS web site has continued to grow significantly during the year and further developments are planned including setting up a password-protected area containing premium content for members.
  • VICS developed a submission on the future of the Worldwide Web Consortium’s “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” which are currently being reviewed. This set out our priorities for what we feel should be in the revised guidelines.
  • The VICS email list continues to be an excellent resource for members. Particular thanks to the moderator, Paul Traynor.
  • Tony and Tim Culhane met Des Kenny of the NCBI around a month ago. They proposed that a fund be set up to partially fund the purchase of assistive technology. The NCBI has allocated €15,000 to the project and further announcements will follow shortly.

Tony thanked several people for their support of VICS during the year including the committee, trainees, Paul Traynor, trainers, Des Kenny and Stuart Lawler of NCBI, the Irish Computer Society, staff in “Back to the Future” and all members of VICS.

7 Treasurer’s Report

Joan said the dates covered by her report are April 1st, 2006 till March 31st, 2007.

She detailed the opening balance, incomes and outgoings. The closing balance is €1,581.16.

Martin Kelly asked if the cheques for €1,000 and €800 that were received from Microsoft and AIB respectively earlier this year were once-off. Tony explained that they were specifically to cover the 20th Anniversary event and thus were, indeed, once-off.

8 Reports from Working Groups

8.1 Lobbying Group

Tim Culhane reported.

He said that the actions of the group were based primarily on proposals at the 2006 AGM.

Tim outlined further details on the funding grant announced by Tony earlier. The person will have to purchase the required equipment and then claim back a percentage up to a maximum of 25%. The grant will only cover specialised assistive equipment, not mainstream technologies. Tim encouraged people to apply for this funding as it is most likely to be continued after its trial period if there is a clear need for it.

The group continue to promote talking ATMs. National Irish Bank has introduced a second one in Eyre Square, Galway. VICS is lobbying other organisations to do likewise.

Martin Kelly asked how much does it cost to add speech to an ATM. Tony said that the hardware is built into all new ATMs and the organisation just has to purchase the appropriate software.

Martin also asked if there would be a means test for people to test if they qualify for the grant scheme. Tony said that this is not decided, but Tim said that the aim is to have as little red tape as possible.

8.2 Research Group

Brian Dalton reported.

He said that the group investigates the accessibility of both hardware and software, be this assistive or mainstream technologies. The group communicate with each other using Skype which is PC-based software that allows calls be made for free.

The VICS web site has details on what the group has done during the year, including training materials and sets of tips and tricks to help use various softwares.

The group is actively promoting DAISY, which is an internationally recognised format for combining text, speech, pictures, video, etc into documents whilst ensuring that a user who is visually impaired can use the software.

The group contacted the developers of a free anti-virus package called AVAST. Because of this contact, the software is now accessible where it had not been up to this point.

Loretta Conaty wrote a document on using Dreamweaver, which is software used to develop web sites. This contains tips and tricks on how best it can be used by a person who is visually impaired.

The group produced a document on using the built-in voice software which comes with an Apple Mac. They note that the fact that the voice software comes as standard is in line with the VICS White Paper on the future of technology which seeks access right out of the box.

8.3 Awareness group

Robbie Sandberg reported.

This group started since the last AGM. It aims to raise awareness amongst employers of the abilities of people who are visually impaired and their suitability as employees. It also aims to inform employers on what grants are available to employ people with disabilities.

The group is developing a list of Frequently Asked Questions which will be put onto the VICS web site.

The group is planning to make contact with employment agencies to raise their awareness in this area. Anne Kelly suggested preparing a presentation and presenting it to the organisation that represents employment agencies.

Robbie encouraged anyone who is interested n this area to get involved with the group.

9 InfoVICS

Stuart Lawler reported.

Stuart said that the magazine has now moved from tape to CD. It is also available as a download from the VICS web site. He asked members to let him know if they would like to continue to receive their copy on CD or would they prefer to download it from the web site.

Stuart thanked Tim Culhane who has done several audio tutorials which were included on recent episodes of InfoVICS.

Stuart compiled reports for InfoVICS at the CSUN conference in California and Brian Dalton compiled some at the Sight Village conference in Birmingham.

Stuart said that he anticipates that when the members-only part of the VICS web site is set up InfoVICS will become only available to VICS members rather than open to anyone as is currently the case.

10 Motions

No motions were received the VICS Secretary, Gerry Ellis.

11 Elections

12.1 Chairperson

Tony Murray was proposed by Anne Kelly and seconded by Suzanne Dalton.

Elected unopposed.

12.2 Deputy Chairperson

Tim Culhane was proposed by Stuart Lawler and seconded by ???????? (seconder uncertain).

Elected unopposed.

12.3 Secretary

Gerry Ellis was proposed by Martin Kelly and seconded by Maureen Murray.

Elected unopposed.

12.4 Treasurer

Joan Kearns was proposed by Tony Murray and seconded by Jenny O’Brien.

Elected unopposed.

12.5 P R O

Brian Dalton was proposed by Anne Green and seconded by ulla Quayle.

Elected unopposed.

12.6 Ordinary Members

Robbie Sandberg stood down as an ordinary member.

Natasha Miskella was proposed by Gerry Ellis and seconded by Tony Murray.

Ciaran Ferry was proposed by martin Kelly and seconded by Gerry Ellis.

Both were elected unopposed.

12 Draw for Vodafone Phone

As explained by Tony earlier, a mobile phone was available to be raffled at the AGM. It did not cost anything to be considered for this, but the draw was only amongst those who attended the AGM. The winner was Anne Green.

13 Any Other Business

Anne Kelly said that many people put themselves forward as experts for assessing the accessibility of web sites. Some are good, others not so good. How can we be sure that the results of testing truly reflect our needs? Tony said that the Worldwide Web Consortium’s standards are the recognised ones in this area and anyone worth their salt would be using these as the basis of their testing. He mentioned the CFIT which is a part of the NCBI as doing excellent work. Gerry Ellis said that Centres of Excellence in Design for All were set up as part of a European initiative call eEurope. Also, a Centre for Excellence in Universal Design was set up in the National Disability Authority as a result of the 2005 Disability Act. There is also a grouping of organisations in Europe that have come together to establish an Excellence logo for web sites. In short, there are plenty of experts out there who know what they are talking about.

Jenny O’Brien asked if VICS could organise a training day in Port Laoise. Tony said that there are already plans to hold one in Kilkenny, but we are prepared to go anywhere. Maureen Murray asked if there would be more training in Dublin. Tony said that there probably would, but not in the immediate future.

Anne Kelly asked if there is software available to allow visually impaired people use digital cameras. Nobody knew of such software.

Gerry Ellis demonstrated a small device around the size of a television remote control. It indicates the level of light around it by altering pitch according to the amount of light present. It also speaks the colour of items. It is available from the NCBI shop for €50.

Willie FitzGerald asked if Braille stickers are available for a computer keyboard. Brian Dalton said they could be purchased in the NCBI shop.

Tony thanked several people who helped VICS during the year and to everyone who came along to the AGM.