Dear all,
I hope you are all keeping well and that you have managed to enjoy the occasional warm and sunny day as Spring battles with the wind and rain!
This newsletter covers a number of exciting webinars and events which are coming up over the next few months, and also some new volunteering opportunities at TAVIP which will help us to offer more support to individuals and to highlight on our website the best resources around assistive technology.
As always we love to hear your views and suggestions for the newsletter, and for our services more generally, so do drop us an email with any ideas.
Best wishes,
Clare.
Clare Burgess, Chair of Trustees.
TAVIP Masterclass: Accessible Podcast Production, 15 May 2024.
Being presented by Dave Williams
Podcasting can be a tremendous tool for individuals and organisations to build communities, connect with audiences, share expertise, or simply have a bit of audio fun. But how do you get started with making your own podcast? And what are some of the particular challenges we face as blind or partially sighted podcast producers?
You are invited to join me on 15 May, at 7:30PM UK, for a masterclass on accessible podcast production. We will be exploring tried and tested processes, accessible tools and techniques we blind people use to plan, prepare, produce and promote our own podcasts.
I have been producing and publishing audio online for 25 years. For the last 2 years I have hosted the UK’s leading technology podcast and radio show for blind and partially sighted people, RNIB Tech Talk.
I am a former director of ACB Radio, a service of the American Council of the Blind. I developed BrailleCast, the official podcast of the Braillists Foundation. I have a background in marketing, have worked as a voice over artist, and ran my own accessible technology training business before joining RNIB in 2019. I am also honoured to sit on the steering committee for Sound Without Sight, an RNIB backed community hub for blind and partially sighted musicians and audio producers.
In March 2024 I had the privilege of recording an interview with iconic musician Stevie Wonder. You can find that recording and others from the CSUN assistive technology conference on this page:
https://audioboom.com/playlists/4635413-csun-assistive-technology-conference-2024
In this session I will take you through the steps I use to plan, prepare, record, edit, publish and promote my various podcasts. I will also be glad to facilitate discussion, take your questions, and help you develop your own podcast ideas. Finally I will signpost to further resources including hardware and software tools and services that I trust to get my podcasts out there.
I hope you can join me.
An audio recording of our last Masterclass on Magnification is now available on YouTube.
VICTA Tech Week
Many of you will have heard of VICTA, a national charity that provides support to children and young adults from 0 to 29 who are blind or partially sighted, and their families.
Ensuring that young visually impaired people have the right technology to support their development at home and at school can be a real challenge. Parents can find it hard to know which devices, software or apps will be most effective in supporting their young person’s education, where to go for advice and support on new products, and what to do when things go wrong. Therefore TAVIP have been working with VICTA to organise three webinars on the 14th, 16th and 17th May, to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024.
TAVIP have brought together a range of experts from across the sector who are involved in supporting 11 to 18 year olds with technology. The sessions will set out the context for technology, explain funding and support at home and in school, discuss some of the most common assistive technology devices, software and apps, and we’ll look at issues around transitions and equipping young people with the technology skills they will need in later life. We will be providing parents with a resource pack with information and contact details for organisations involved with VICTA Tech Week, and we will also be providing 10 free 1 hour tech support sessions to help parents tackle tech issues which are getting in the way of their young person’s learning.
If you know a parent who might be interested in joining these sessions please ask them to contact TAVIP on info@tavip.org.uk.
Sight Village
A reminder that ‘Team TAVIP’ will be attending Sight Village Central in Birmingham which runs from Monday 8th to Tuesday 9th July link to Sight Village Central. If you are attending and would like to meet up for a drink and a chat on the Monday evening, email Jeff Bashton who will be our main contact at the event (jbashton@tavip.org.uk).
TechABreak
It’s not too late to book into TechABreak, which will be taking place from Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October 2024 at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate.
Our ever popular presentations will focus on the themes of Artificial Intelligence, Navigation Apps and Tools, and products that don’t require the use of a touchscreen and we’ll be giving you, our members, the opportunity to get hands on with audio and video recording.
Here is a link for TechABreak information and bookings.
Volunteering Opportunities
TAVIP has always run on people power, whether that has been through people serving as trustees, helping at TechABreak and Sight Village, or by actively contributing to the Discussion List.
Over the last 18 months we have been increasing our profile within the sector by working collaboratively with organisations in the V.I. Charity Sector Partnership (Guide Dogs, RNIB, TPT, Visionary and others) and we have also started to offer advice and training to younger people by working in partnership with LOOK UK, VICTA and Blind in Business.
As a result, TAVIP is receiving more enquiries for support, and we thought we would reach out to members to see if any of you might be able to offer a few hours a month to help in some new volunteer roles.
1) Helpline Support Volunteer
You will help to follow up on the enquiries which we receive via email or answerphone. You won’t need to know all the answers on tech, but you might follow up an enquiry with a quick call or email to check what advice or support people need, what the best way to contact them is, and then arrange for one of our experts to get in touch.
2) Technology Research Volunteer
One of our aims at TAVIP is to help keep members abreast of the latest developments in assistive and accessible tech. If you already track some of the latest developments in tech by following podcasts, websites, videos and email lists, then we would love you to share your insights by writing some regular tech articles for the TAVIP newsletter and website.
The roles can be very flexible, and needn’t be a big commitment, so if you would like to have a chat and find out more please do get in touch at info@tavip.org.uk, and if there is another way you would like to volunteer do let us know 🙂
UKAAF representative
I’m sure that many of you will be aware of the UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF) and the important work they do in setting standards and promoting best practice for accessible documents in the UK. They help businesses and organisations understand how to meet the needs of customers and clients with print impairments, and how to source and provide quality accessible documents including braille, large print and music.
TAVIP is an affiliate member and as such has two membership places. Richard West is one our representatives and has been involved with UKAAF for many years, but we have a vacancy for the second post. If you are interested in this area of work and would like to find out more about what would be involved, then get in touch at info@tavip.org.uk and we will link you up with Richard.
Visual Impairment and Accessibility research
Tilly Sessions is studying Media Production at De Montfort University and is working on a final year project for the module TECH3010 Technology project. As part of this module, Tilly is researching website accessibility, particularly in relation to users who have a visual impairment but also exploring other impairments and disabilities. Visionary asked us to share the survey with our members, so if you have time please support Tilly by completing the survey by following this link Technology project website accessibility feedback (opens Google Form).
TPT Technology Resources
Thomas Pocklington Trust have just launched five exciting new resources, all about empowering blind and partially sighted students to use technology to thrive in their education.
The new resources walk students through the different tools, with tips and hacks about how to super-charge their studies with tech. They include advice about using smartphones to access printed text, audio and digital notetaking, touch typing and using AI to support studies.
The resources are aimed at students, but will also be useful for parents/carers and education professionals supporting blind and partially sighted students. https://www.pocklington.org.uk/education/technology-education/.
Sharon’s Shortcuts – How to Use a PC without the Mouse
A TAVIP member thought the website Sharon’s Shortcuts might be a useful resource for others to be aware of. The site is a free educational resource for anyone who loves to use keyboard shortcuts, whether out of choice or necessity.
The Website is designed as a handy reference and a step by step guide to using a PC without a mouse. It covers general tasks for File Management, Outlook Emails, Excel Spreadsheets and Word Documents and is suitable for any level of computer knowledge. You can sign up for a free list of the most commonly used shortcuts, and to get a Shortcut of the week.
Living Blindfully – Latest Episode
The Living Blindfully website and podcast series, produced by Jonathan Mosen, is as an excellent source of information and advice on tech and other issues. To give it a try, here is a link to the latest Episode 279 of Living Blindfully which reviews the Seleste Smart Glasses, an accessible LG washing machine and Microsoft Copilot. Enjoy.
Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses
At this week’s Visionary Tech Forum there was a discussion about the latest updates to the Ray-Ban smart glasses from Meta, which promise to be an affordable and powerful aid for navigation and as an AI interface. Mention was made of a review of the Ray-Ban glasses by the team at Double Tap which gives a great insight into its capabilities. If you are part of the Visionary Network, here is a link to further information about the Tech Forum.
Would you like to support TAVIP’s work with young people?
As part of our commitment to supporting visually impaired young people with technology, we have set up the Technology for Learning Programme which provides up to five hours of free one-to-one support. We do this by commissioning training from a number of visually impaired technology experts. We have set up a designated fund to enable us to continue offering this support to young people, so if you would like to make a donation to support this work you can do so on our donation page. Thank you 🙂
So that’s it for this Newsletter. Do contact us on info@tavip.org.uk with suggestions for future editions.
Best wishes from all at the TAVIP Team, and have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend 🙂