GTT Beginners National Conference Call Meeting Agenda, NVDA Add-ons and Settings, February 26, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT)

Beginners National Teleconference Call

Sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind

And

iHabilitation Canada

You’re invited to the CCB’s GTT National conference call meeting for Beginners, where we will focus on the needs of computer, smart phone and tablet users who are just starting out and who want to know only the basics of accessible technology. This call will be one hour in duration and will take place during the day at 2:00 PM EST on the forth Tuesday of each month. Also, this call will take place over the accessible Zoom Conference system, which allows participants to dial in using their landline phones, smart phones or computer. See the details below. Contact Albert Ruel, Kim Kilpatrick or Brian Bibeault if you have any questions.

Theme: NVDA Screen Reader Add-ons and Settings

Brian Bibeault will demonstrate some of the settings most useful to Screen Reader users, as well as to lead a discussion on the Add-ons available for NVDA that are essential for effective and productive computing.
If time allows we will discuss anything else technology related that participants may wish to raise, so bring your ideas, concerns and nuggets of brilliance to share with us.

You can participate by phone or through a link from your smart phone, computer or landline from wherever you are.

Date: February 26, 2019

Time: 2:00 PM EST or 11:00 AM PST

The call-in info is:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/7063640257

One tap for mobile phones

+16475580588,,7063640257#

Dial by your location

+1-647-558-0588 Canada
Meeting ID: 706 364 0257

For more information, contact:

Kim Kilpatrick, GTT East Coordinator

GTTProgram@Gmail.com

1-877-304-0968 Ext 513

Albert Ruel, GTT West Coordinator

albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

1-877-304-0968 Ext 550

Brian Bibeault, Volunteer Coordinator:

gtt.northbay@gmail.com

CCB Backgrounder:

The CCB was founded in 1944 by a coalition of blind war veterans, schools of the blind and local chapters to create a national self-governing organization. The CCB was incorporated by Letters Patent on May 10, 1950 and is a registered charity under the provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada).

The purpose of the CCB is to give people with vision loss a distinctive and unique perspective before governments. CCB deals with the ongoing effects of vision loss by encouraging active living and rehabilitation through peer support and social and recreational activities.

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

The CCB understands in many instances vision loss is preventable and sometimes is symptomatic of other health issues. For the 21st century, the CCB is committed to an integrated proactive health approach for early detection to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: http://www.ccbnational.net

GTT/NOVI Nanaimo Meeting Invitation, General Accessible Technology Discussion, February 23, 2019

Get Together with Technology (GTT) Nanaimo

Sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind

Vancouver Island Regional Library, and

No Obstacles for the Vision Impaired (NOVI)

Please share this announcement widely to anyone you think will benefit from our collective knowledge.

Theme: General Accessible Tech Discussion

Where:

VIRL Downtown Branch, 90 Commercial St Nanaimo

Date:

February 23, 2019

Time:

10:00 AM until 12:00 Noon

First Hour:

Albert Ruel will lead the group in a general discussion of accessible and assistive technology for accessing print information, independent navigation and the pursuit of entertainment.

Second Hour:

During the second hour we will discuss anything else the participants want to bring up in the area of assistive technology.

To RSVP, or for more information:

Contact Albert Ruel at 250-240-2343, or Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net.

Check for other meetings on the GTTProgram Blog:

www.GTTProgram.Blog

Backgrounder

NOVI Social and Recreational Organization, and the Get Together with Technology group come together to serve the peer mentoring, assistive technology and daily living skills development needs of Nanaimo and area residents.

Since 2001 the Nanaimo Organization of the Vision Impaired (NOVI) has served the social and recreational needs of Nanaimo residents, and recently this group altered its name to better reflect the dynamic nature of their brand of mutual support and forward thinking ideas and activities. It is now known as “No Obstacles for the Vision Impaired” (NOVI), and meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the 710 Club from 1:30 until 3:30 PM.

Since 2013 Get Together with Technology (GTT), a program of the Canadian Council of the Blind, has been meeting monthly in Nanaimo to provide opportunities for blind and partially sighted residents to learn more about the assistive technology so prevalent in our lives as we attempt to level the playing field in education, social interaction, recreation and independent living.

These two groups have embarked on an amalgamation of their efforts while expanding their support to the blind, deaf-blind and partially sighted residents of the Nanaimo and Parksville areas. In order to facilitate this collaboration GTT has moved its meetings to align with the Tuesday NOVI gatherings so the two organizations can consolidate their human resources that more and better support may be delivered.

1st Tuesday from 1:30 until 3:30 PM, NOVI Social/recreational gathering in Nanaimo lead by Henk Pauelsen.

Forth Saturday from 10:00 AM until 12 Noon, GTT Nanaimo and NOVI members will meet at the Vancouver Island Regional Library, Nanaimo Downtown Branch, 90 Commercial Street to discuss access to information issues, assistive technology and anything pertaining to living with, and adjusting to vision loss. VIRL staff also participate in these Saturday morning meetings to provide information about services and supports available through the Public Library system.

NOVI and GTT will retain their independent organizational structures and membership dues, however will work in collaboration on local social activities, learning independence skills and peer mentoring endeavours.

For more information please contact:

NOVI:

Henk Pauelsen at 250-586-6285 or NOVI-Group@Shaw.ca

Living Without Looking/Independent Living Skills:

Donna Hudon at 250-618-0010 or IAmDonnaHudon@Gmail.com

GTT:

Albert Ruel at 250-240-2343 or GTTWest@CCBNational.nett

GTT Duncan Meeting Invitation, February meeting cancelled due to snow, Back To Basics, Low Tech Devices, February 14, 2019

We are cancelling today’s meeting due to the impending snowfall this afternoon. We will be back with the same subject matter on March 14 from 4 PM until 6 PM at the same place.

Get Together with Technology (GTT) Duncan

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind,

in Partnership with the

Vancouver Island Regional Library, N. Cowichan Branch

Theme: Low Tech Devices at Home, Back to Basics

Date: February 14, 2019

Time: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Where: Vancouver Island Regional Library, N. Cowichan Branch

2687 James Street Duncan BC

Note: If the weather doesn’t cooperate and it becomes Impossible for Michelle to get to the Library she will notify the Library’s front desk. Stay safe out there.

First Hour:

Michelle Creedy will lead a discussion of, and will demonstrate those basic non-adapted home devices and items that make living independently possible, enjoyable and efficient. Michelle will bring to the meeting some of her non-adapted items from home, and all of you should bring your questions and concerns for discussion and resolution.

Second Hour:

Bring those assistive gadgets you’re having trouble with and we’ll see if others in the group can assist in learning how to best use them.

For More Information:

Contact Albert Ruel at 250-240-2343, or by email at Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

CCB Backgrounder:

CCB promotes measures to conserve sight, create a close relationship with the sighted community and provide employment opportunities.

The CCB recognizes that vision loss has no boundaries with respect to gender, income, ethnicity, culture, other disabilities or age.

As the largest membership organization of the blind and partially sighted in Canada the CCB is the “Voice of the Blind™”.

CCB National Office

100-20 James Street Ottawa ON K2P 0T6

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Email: info@ccbnational.net URL: http://www.ccbnational.net

GTT Beginners National Conference Call Summary Notes, NVDA Session One, January 22, 2019

GTT Beginners National Conference Call

The NVDA Screen Reader, Session One

Summary Notes

January 22, 2019

What is NVDA,

NVDA is a screen reader.

What does NVDA stand for.

Non visual desktop access.

Where do i get NVDA.

You can do a google search for NVDA free download or you can go to NVaccess.org and hit enter on the download which will take you to a donate page and if you hit the up arrow on the thirty dollar field you will see it change to not this time, now tab twice to download now.

Remember that NVDA relies on donations so if you can afford it send a donation to support and they also have a tutorial and language pack you can purchase.

During the install process you will get the option to select capslock as the NVDA modifier key; by default the insert key is the modifier key.

To get into the menu after completing the instal press the NVDA key and the letter n at the same time then down arrow which will be preference, then right arrow to settings and hit enter. You are now into a tree view of all your NVDA settings.

In the tree view the first item is general, use the tab key to go through the items for your general settings.

To move to different settings, ie from general to speech, use the down arrow.

Now lets talk a little about addons. An addon allows you to enhance NVDA. You can get add ons at the following link,

https://addons.nvda-project.org/index.en.html

The first add on you should install is the windows 10 essential, after you have downloaded the add on just go to your download folder and install it as you would any program or app.

Now lets go back to the NVDA settings,

Below preferences

You will have tools and right arrow and up arrow to addons. There you will see all the addons you have installed and there you can uninstall or disable the ones you wish. We will expand on our next call.

Ok if you are not bored to death yet lets talk about shortcut keys, don’t run away just yet i will only give you a few and you can go to the user guide for specific ones.

To start NVDA, control+alt+N

To close NVDA, NVDA+Q

To learn what keys do what and learn your keyboard layout, NVDA+1.

To put NVDA in sleep mode, handy for applications with built inreaders, NVDA+S.

To wake up NVDA, NVDA+S twice.

To check battery level, NVDA+shift+B.

To check the time and date, NVDA+F12 will give you the time, press twice for the date.

I hope this was helpfull and join us February 26^th for our NVDA beginners session part 2.

GTT WordPress Blog, Facebook and Twitter Feeds:

If you wish to follow the CCB-GTT Groups now starting to gather all over Canada, you can do so by registering your email address as follows. Registering will have you receiving each announcement in your email inbox without any effort on your part.

Here’s how to register:

Point your Web Browser to,

www.GTTProgram.Blog

Find the link near the bottom of the Web Page called “Follow” and press the Enter Key.
This will take you to a page where you may type in your email address.
Tab to the “Sign Me Up” Button and Press the Space Bar or Enter Key. This will prompt the sending of a message to the email address provided.
Launch your Email Program and find an email message from the GTT Program Blog and open it.
Scroll through the message to find the Confirm Link and Press the Enter Key.
This will take you to the GTT Program Blog and should display a message confirming that you have been successfully registered to receive ongoing Blog Posts.

Congratulations! You’re part of the GTT Team. Welcome aboard.

To stay in touch with the CCB and GTT on Twitter please follow the three Twitter Feeds listed below:

@GTTWest @GTTProgram @CCBNational

To see what GTT is up to across Canada, and to ask your burning questions you can become a member of the Facebook Group at:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/414313508657159?refid=27

For more information please contact:

Albert Ruel on the West Coast: or Kim Kilpatrick in Ottawa

Email: Albert.GTT@CCBNational.net Email: gttprogram@gmail.com

Or Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968

GTT Toronto Summary Notes, Seeing AI, TapTapSee, Be My Eyes and Aira, January 17, 2019

Summary Notes

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group

January 17, 2019

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind

In Partnership with the CNIB Foundation

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Toronto Group was held on Thursday, January 17 at the CNIB Community Hub.

*Note: Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

Theme: Seeing AI, TapTapSee, BeMyEyes and Aira

GTT Toronto Meeting Summary Notes can be found at this link:

Ian White (Facilatator, GTT)

Chelsy Moller Presenter, Balance For Blind Adults

Ian opened the meeting. Chelsy Moller will be presenting on recognition aps.

General Discussion:

We began with a general discussion. OrCam will be presenting at the White Cane Expo. AIRA will not. We’re still in negotiation to see if they will open up the event as a free AIRA event space. Apple will also not be there. They make it a corporate policy not to present at generalized disability events.
Ian raised the issue of getting a media error 7 when he’s recording on his Victor Stream. Is there a list of errors somewhere? Jason answered that perhaps it’s a corrupted SD card. A member said that there’s a list of errors in an appendix to the manual, which can be accessed by holding down the 1 key.
Michael asked if there’s a way to add personal notes in BlindSquare, such as, 25 steps. One recommendation was a document that you could access through the cloud. Another recommendation was to mark a “point of interest” in BlindSquare. When you do this, you can name it, so you could call it, Shoppers 25, to indicate 25 steps. Another recommendation was to make notes using the iPhone notes ap. Another recommendation was to set up geo-dependent iPhone reminders. Within a radius of the spot you want, your phone would just tell you whatever information you put in.
A member raised the problem of using Windows 10 and Jaws, trying to synchronize contacts email with Apple, and having duplicate folders in his Outlook email. Microsoft exchange might help.
Jason told the group that he has an Instant Pot smart available for sale. This is a pressure cooker that works with the iPhone, and it’s no longer available as an iPhone connectable device. He’s thinking $100, talk to him privately if interested.
Then he described a new keyboard he got. It’s a Bluetooth called REVO2, which he received as a demo unit. It’s got 24 keys. You can type on your phone with it, or control your phone with it. Its most useful use is when you need to key in numbers after having made a call, such as keying in bank passwords etc. Alphabetic entry works the way old cell phones did, press 2 twice for B. It has actual physical buttons. It can control every aspect of VoiceOver. You can also route your phone audio to it, so you’re essentially using it as a phone. It’s about $300. It can be paired to iPhone and Android. Here’s a link to the David Woodbridge podcast demonstrating the Rivo Keyboard:
A member asked if Phone it Forward is up and running. This is a program in which CNIB takes old phones, refurbishes them, then redistributes them to CNIB clients. Phone It Forward information can be found at this link.

Seeing AI, TapTapSee, Be My Eyes, and AIRA Presentation:

Ian introduced Chelsie, who is an Adaptive Technology Trainer, and Engagement Specialist. She’s here tonight to talk about recognition aps.

We’re going to focus on 4 aps, Seeing AI, TapTapSee, Be My Eyes, and AIRA.

Seeing AI is an ap that allows the user to do a variety of visual tasks, scene description, text recognition, vague descriptions of people, light levels, currency recognition, and colour preview. Each of these functions is called a channel. As a side note, Chelsie said that her iPhone10 uses facial recognition as your password. A store employee told her it wouldn’t work because it needs to see your retina, but this isn’t true; it works from facial contours.

Chelsie opened the ap. There’s a menu, quick help, then channel chooser. To get from channel to channel, flick up. She did a demonstration of short text with a book. It’s helpful for reading labels and packaging. Try to keep the camera about a foot above the text, and centred. This requires some trial and error. The document channel takes a picture of the text. It’s better for scanning a larger surface. Short text is also very useful for your computer screen if your voice software is unresponsive. Short text will not recognize columns, but document mode usually will. The product channel is for recognizing bar codes. This is a bit challenging because you have to find the bar code first. Jason said that it’s possible to learn where the codes typically appear, near the label seem on a can, or on the bottom edge of a cereal box. The person channel tells you when the face is in focus, then you take a picture. You get a response that gives age, gender, physical features, and expression. Chelsie demonstrated these, as well as currency identifier. It’s very quick. The scene preview also takes a picture, and gives you a very general description. The colour identification channel is also very quick. There’s also a hand writing channel, that has mixed results. The light detector uses a series of ascending and descending tones. Beside the obvious use of detecting your house lights, it’s also useful in diagnosing electronics. If you turn all other lights off, you can use it to see if an indicator light on a device is on.

Seeing AI is free. It’s made by Microsoft, who has many other ways of generating revenue.

TapTapSee is a very good ap for colour identification. This is always a tricky thing, because colour is often subjective, and is affected by light levels. TapTapSee takes a picture, and gives a general description including colour. For more accurate colour description, Be My Eyes and AIRA are better. TapTapSee is free.
Be My Eyes is a service in which a blind person contacts volunteers who help with quick identification or short tasks. Because they’re volunteers, the quality of help varies. You may have to wait for a volunteer. There’s a specialized help button. You can use Be My Eyes to call the disability help desk. This is useful if you need technical help from Microsoft, and they need to see your screen. This ap is also free.
AIRA is a paid service. Chelsie has been using it for a month. She’s very happy with it. It connects a blind user with a trained, sighted agent. This could be anything from “what is this product?” “I need to find this address,” I need to navigate through a hospital or airport. When you set up your profile, you can specify how much information you want in a given situation, and how you like to receive directions. They can access your location via GPS, in order to help navigate. They will not say things like “it’s safe to cross,” but they will say things like, “You have a walk signal with 10 seconds to go.” They’re seeing through either your phone camera, or through a camera mounted on glasses you can ware.

They have 3 plans, introductory, 30 minutes. You cannot buy more minutes in a month on this plan. You can upgrade though. The standard plan is 120 minutes at $100, or the $125 plan, that gives you 100 minutes plus the glasses. The advantage of this is that you can be hands-free when travelling. The glasses have a cord connecting them to an Android phone that has been dedicated to the AIRA function. Otherwise, you simply use your own phone with its built-in camera. This happens via an ap that you install.

The question was raised about whether the glasses could be Bluetooth, but the feedback was that there’s too much data being transmitted for Bluetooth to work.

On the personal phone ap, you open the ap and tap on the “call” button. With the glasses, there’s a dedicated button to press to initiate the call.

Chelsie spoke about how powerfully liberating it is to have this kind of independence and information. You can, read her blog post about her experience here

The third plan is 300 minutes and $190. All these prices are U.S.

Jason added that, in the U.S. many stores are becoming Sight Access Locations. This means that if you already have an AIRA subscription, use at these locations won’t count against your minutes. The stores pay AIRA for this. This will likely begin to roll out in Canada. Many airports are also Sight Access Locations. You can’t get assigned agents, but you may get the same agent more than once. If you lose your connection, the agent will be on hold for about 90 seconds so that you can get the same agent again if you call back immediately. For head phones, you can use ear buds or Aftershocks.

Upcoming Meetings:

Next Meeting: Thursday, February 21 at 6pm
Location: CNIB Community Hub space at 1525 Yonge Street, just 1 block north of St Clair on the east side of Yonge, just south of Heath.
Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 6pm.

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group Overview:

GTT Toronto is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
GTT Toronto promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.GTTProgram.Blog/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, AIRA and Library Services, January 14, 2019

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting January 14, 2019

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held January 14, at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

28 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

January Topics – AIRA and Library Services

AIRA

Carrie introduced Ashley, a CNIB staff member and independent blind person, who lives in Saskatchewan. Ashley joined us remotely and presented her experience

With AIRA, a paid subscription service where blind or vision impaired people make an audio and video connection through a smartphone to trained sighted agents who can help them with virtually any task.

The AIRA user, referred to as an Explorer, uses their smartphone with an AIRA app or an optional set of smart eyeglasses called Horizon. The Horizon kit provides eyeglasses with built-in camera and audio connected to a dedicated Samsung smartphone that enables contact with the AIRA agents. The Samsung phone cannot be used for any other purpose other than to connect to the AIRA agent. The agent can see whatever the explorer points their phone camera at or, in the case of wearing the optional Horizon eyeglasses there is a camera that transmits video of whatever the explorer is looking at.
The agent becomes a sighted assistant talking to the explorer in real time and helping them navigate or perform other tasks at home or away.
Ashley emphasized that AIRA does not replace your mobility device. The agents will not assist you outside your home if you are not using a white cane or guide dog.
The agents will also not talk to you while you cross the street.
The AIRA subscription fee ranges from $29 USD per month for 30 minutes assistance up to $199 per month for 300 minutes of assistance.
The optional Horizon kit is $600 USD or can be purchased over time at $25 per month.
With Horizon your network data is covered in the AIRA fee. If you use your own smartphone then you must pay the cost of data through your own phone plan. It’s estimated that 1 hour of AIRA costs about 1GB of data.
There are now many sponsors of AIRA such as airports, retail stores, college campuses where your time on AIRA is free. However, Ashley was not aware of any sponsors in Canada yet.
Complete information about AIRA is available at http://www.aira.io/ or you can call them at 1-800-835-1934.

If you want to know more about Ashley, visit her blog at http://www.blindmovingon.com/

Edmonton Public Library and CELA and NNELS

We were treated to a presentation on Edmonton Public Library services by Cassidy Munro, the community librarian at the Strathcona library branch.
Cassidy can be reached at 780.975.8102- or by email at: Cassidy.Munro@epl.ca
Cassidy described the CELA accessible library service for print disabled Canadians which provides many services including: downloadable recorded DAISY books, downloadable DAISY eBooks, downloadable Bookshare DAISY eBooks, DAISY books on CD mailed to your home, braille books mailed to your home, print-brailled books for kids, over 150 downloadable DAISY e-text magazines, recorded DAISY magazines by download or mail, and over 40 daily newspapers that can be read online.
Many will recognize these CELA services to be the same as those previously provided by the CNIB Library. CELA took over the CNIB Library
- In 2014 and now serves all print-disabled Canadians not just those who are blind or vision impaired.
- Edmonton Public Library (EPL) also has 100 or so DAISY CD books that can be borrowed for those who want to experience a DAISY book prior to registering for CELA service.
- EPL also has a few Victor Reader Stratus DAISY CD players that can be borrowed to test the service. Customers must purchase their own book player or CNIB clients can approach
CNIB who may be able to subsidize 75% of the cost of a player.
In addition to playing CD books the Victor Reader Stratus can also receive direct to player DAISY books over the Internet. The user chooses their book by logging into CELA online and once a book is chosen it is sent directly to the player. For non-computer users, CELA customer service
or Cassidy can set up a reader profile for you and then the CELA computer will choose your books and send them directly to the player or on CD mailed to your home.
Cassidy also suggested some may prefer the pocket sized Victor Reader Stream which can accept the direct to player books and perform other online functions Such as getting Bookshare books and listening to podcasts and radio stations.
- CELA books can also be played on your iPhone or Android phone using the free Dolphin EasyReader app.
Visit the CELA web site for information on all their services or call their customer service at 1-855-655-2273.
Cassidy can register you for CELA service.
Cassidy can also register you for NNELS another library service for print-disabled Canadians that offers downloadable DAISY or e-text books. Cassidy highlighted that NNELS is a good source for local content and First Nations content.
EPL also has non CELA materials you may be interested in such as CD books, Overdrive downloadable recorded books, Music recordings, large print books and more.
Cassidy was asked about fees. There is no fee for an EPL card, CELA service, Bookshare service or NNELS service.

Next Meeting (Monday February 11, 2019 at 7pm)

Cassidy from Edmonton Public Library plans to come to the February meeting. She can answer your library questions and register clients for CELA and NNELS that were unable to come in January.
As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

Meeting Location and Logistics

Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back.
Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Overview

GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the more talent and experience we will have to help each other.
There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

To subscribe, activate the “Follow “link at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians. To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

[End of Document]

Resource: Audible App, Deleting books on iPhone 6 Running iOS 11-4-1

Deleting books in the Audible App on iPhone 6 in iOS 11-4-1

With the My Library Tab at the bottom left corner of the main Audible Player screen selected, and Device selected near the top of the screen the iPhone will list the books on the device.
2. Flick right several times from the top of the page to find the Delete Button icon and one-finger double tap it. Now, each book in the list will have something appear just before the title labelled, Delete from Device.
3. Flick with one finger through the list to find the book title to be deleted and flick once to the left to access the Delete From Device Button pertaining to that book. One-finger double tap that button to start the deletion process.
4. Focus will remain on the Delete From Device icon just activated, and above it will be found another button with the same label. Flick once to the left to locate that one and one-finger double tap it to finalize the deletion of the book.
5. If there are multiple books to delete repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. To turn off the Deletion process go back to the top of the page then flick right to locate the Delete Button and one-finger double tap it. The list of books wil return to its original state.

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, Technology Exhibit, December 10, 2018

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting December 10, 2018

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held December 10, at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

22 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

December Topic – Technology Exhibit

We were treated to a technology exhibit from Canadian Assistive Technologies, a company with over 30 years’ experience providing assistive technology to blind and low vision Canadians. Company owner, Steve Barclay, exhibited some of the latest tech available including:

Jordi head worn color Video magnifier with adjustable magnification, auto focus, HDMI input.
IrisVision is another head worn video magnifier with industry leading 70-degree field of view and OCR capability to come soon.
DaVinci Pro desktop high definition video magnifier with OCR and text-to-speech.
Acrobat HD Mini Ultra is a desktop video magnifier that is highly portable and computer compatible with up to 65x magnification.
Pebble Mini pocket-size low-cost video magnifier with magnification from 2x to 10x.
Eschenbach Visolux Digital XL FHD is a portable video magnifier with 12 inch touch screen with scrolling capability and desktop stand.
HIMS Braillesense Polaris 32 cell touch enabled braille display with Perkins style keyboard plus Control, ALT, and 4 Function keys to enable use of Google apps. 18-hour battery with wireless charging.
QBraille XL 40 cell braille display with Perkins style keypad as well as QWERTY function keys.
HumanWare Brailliant 32, 40, or 80 cell braille display.

Steve also has some good deals at the Canadian Assistive Technologies gently used marketplace which is worth checking out.

For more information on these or any other Canadian Assistive Technologies products, you may contact Steve at:

(844) 795-8324

Or sales@canasstech.com

Steve’s team also produces a weekly assistive technology podcast which is called AT Banter.

Next Meeting (Monday January 14, 2019 at 7pm)

First hour topic is to be announced.

In the second hour we will do side sessions on the iPhone and Victor Reader Stream

As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

Meeting Location and Logistics

Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back.
Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Overview

GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the more talent and experience we will have to help each other.
There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

To subscribe, activate the “Follow “link at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians. To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

[End of Document]

GTT Toronto Summary Notes, NVDA Session One, November 15, 2018

Summary Notes

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group

November 15, 2018

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind

In Partnership with the CNIB

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Toronto Group was held on Thursday, November 15 at the CNIB Community Hub.

November Topic: NVDA Session One

GTT Toronto Meeting Summary Notes can be found at this link:

Ian White (Facilatator, GTT)

Jason Fayre (Presenter, CNIB)

Chris Malec (Note taker)

Ian opened the meeting:

The meeting began with a roundtable discussion. A member is getting a new computer soon, and asked about what software is compatible with what. Jason answered that Jaws 2018 and Office 365 work well together, as do Office and NVDA. For browsers, Microsoft Edge isn’t quite there yet in terms of accessibility. Chrome is quite reliable, and Internet Explorer is increasingly not useful. It’s not being updated, so it can’t support new web technologies. It’s really important, if you can, to keep your screen reader up-to-date, because browsers and websites are constantly being updated. Office 365 updates monthly for example. The latest version of Jaws is 2019, which came out two weeks ago. Jaws has always done the typical upgrade system, where you can purchase a maintenance agreement that gives you the next two upgrades. In the U.S. they’re going to an annual subscription fee around $60, which gives you regular upgrades. This plan isn’t in Canada yet.

Jason then demonstrated the small speaker he will be using for his presentation. It’s called an Anker SoundCore Mini. It’s about the size of a tennis ball, and they’re quite cheap, $30 on Amazon. Anker makes iPhone chargers and speakers. It’s Bluetooth enabled, has an audio jack, an FM radio built in, and a micro SD slot. It has a really good battery life too.

Jason also demonstrated a new type of Bluetooth keyboard available for the iPhone, called a Tap keyboard. You wear it on your hand. It looks like five rings connected by a cable, and goes on your thumb and each finger. You type by using defined gestures, tapping on a hard surface. For example, each finger is a vowel, and other letters are made by various finger combinations. It’s possible to get quite fast with it. It’s fully accessible. It’s useful for typing on the go. It’s about $200 off Amazon. The company is called Tap Systems. There were some blind people involved in designing it. It allows you to type with one hand. It has a VoiceOver mode, so that you can control your phone with it. It’s gotten a lot of mainstream press related to virtual reality systems. A member asked about the best browser to use with Jaws. Jason said Chrome is the safest, but that FireFox works well too. There was an issue with FireFox for a couple of weeks, but it’s resolved now. Compatibility can be a problem; FireFox won’t work with Jaws16 for example.

Primary Presentation, NVDA:

Ian introduced the topic. NVDA is an acronym for Non-Visual Desktop Access. According to their website, it was the idea of a couple of Australian developers who have vision loss. They wanted to design a free screen reader as a social justice cause; many people in the developing world need screen readers, but can’t afford what was available. Whole sectors of the populations were cut off from computer technology. They decided to build an open-source screen reader, so that anyone who wants to, can add content. It’s available as a free download. They now occupy about 31% of the screen reader market globally.. Jaws has about 48%. This trend has been steady. It’s been translated into 43 languages, and is being used in 128 countries world wide, by millions of users. They do ask for donations if you’re able, because that helps keep it going. The updates come automatically, and are free as well.

Jason discussed making the topic of NVDA a multi-evening topic, in order to focus on different aspects of using it.

You can find NVDA at NVAccess.com or dot org. From the site, there’s a download link. When you do this, the first screen asks for donations, either one-time, or on-going. The default is a one-time $30 donation, so you need to find the button on the page that says “I don’t want to donate at this time.” You have to have Windows7 or better to run it. NVDA is labelled by year, then by version, so that NVDA 2018.3 is the third release for this year. There are usually four releases per year.

Jason then demonstrated the installation process. In response to a member question, Jason said that you can also download it to something like a Microsoft Surface. It does have limited touch control. It works on Windows only, not Apple or Linyx. The installation process is a series of simple steps, and then a very short installation time compared to Jaws. Jaws typically takes 5-10 minutes, and NVDA took less than a minute. Once you start the installer, NVDA will talk to you in its own voice during the install.

A dialogue comes up inviting you to configure. You’ll be asked which keyboard layout you want to use: laptop or desktop. The desktop layout uses a numeric keypad for many functions. Laptop mode uses other key combinations, assuming you don’t have a numeric keypad. If you’re installing it as your primary screen reader, check the box that says to load automatically when starting your system.

You are then asked about whether you will allow data collection about your use of NVDA, for development purposes.

The voice that came up in Jason’s demo was the default Microsoft voice. This is new. E-Speak, the voice that used to come up had a well-earned reputation for being intolerable. Though unpleasant to some, E-Speak has lightning-fast response times and speech rate compared to the Microsoft voice.

There are other options for voices. You can buy add-ons for around $100, that will allow you to use Eloquence or Vocalizer voices, some of the voices you might be used to from Jaws or on your iPhone. You could have Apple Samantha as your default NVDA voice. Even within Microsoft there are a few passable voice options.

Many navigation functions will remain the same, because they’re Windows hotkeys with no relationship to the screen reader. You can adjust the speech rate from within NVDA preferences, or there’s a shortcut keystroke.

There’s a quick-help mode that you can activate with insert1. The help mode is a toggle, and it’s the same keystroke as Jaws. NVDA has tried to reproduce as many of the same keystrokes as they could.

If you go to the NVDA menu under help, there’s a quick reference section. This brings up a webpage with all NVDA commands. All of the commands are reassignable. There’s also a “what’s new” section, and a user guide.

NVDA works with a good range of braille displays.

It will work with all the major applications that you’re likely to use. In terms of browsers, you’re still better off with Chrome or FireFox.

There are built-in sound effects to indicate actions like pop-up windows. The level of announcements you get is configurable. Navigation commands within documents are the same as Jaws. Just as with Jaws, insert F gives information about the font.

Because NVDA is a free product, it doesn’t have free tech support. You can, however, purchase hourly tech support, in blocks of hours, at around $13, and the block will last a year. There’s also a very high-traffic mailing list to ask questions of other users. There’s also a training guide which you can purchase. It’s more structured, and has a series of tutorials. It’s $30 Australian, and is quite good. There are three different courses, basic, Excel, and Word. Each are $30, and worth it. You can get them in audio for a bit more money, or as braille, which is also more expensive.

Ian contributed that you can ask an NVDA question in a Google search, and will most likely find an answer.

Excel, Word, Outlook, Thunderbird, and the major browsers work well. Occasionally you’ll find an application where NVDA works better than Jaws, perhaps because the developers wanted to use it.

Because of licensing, you can’t use your Jaws Eloquence voice in NVDA. To compare, the NVDA installer is 21 meg, and the Jaws installer is well over 100. NVDA also works faster. There’s an NVDA pronunciation dictionary.

As Jaws does, opening Google lands you in the search field. NVDA has the same concept of forms mode. The home and arrow keys work the same as Jaws when navigating webpages. There’s a current Chrome bug in which entering text into the search field causes the phrase to be spoken repeatedly as you enter each keystroke.

You can use H and numbers one, two and three to move through headings. Insert F7 brings up an elements list. It defaults to a links list, but if you hit shift tab, you have the choice to switch between which elements you want a list of, headings, buttons, landmarks etc. You can use insert Q to quickly turn off NVDA, and control alt N, to start it. Entering and exiting will give you a four-note tone to let you know it’s doing it.

Add-ons for NVDA are what Jaws calls Jaws scripts. These are little bits of code that people have designed to do specific tasks, remoting into a machine for example.

A member asked if it can be used on a Chrome book. Jason answered no, because Chrome books run Chrome OS, which is a totally different operating system.

NVDA does have a built-in OCR function.

Upcoming Meetings:

Next Meeting: Thursday, December 20 at 6pm
Location: CNIB Community Hub space at 1525 Yonge Street, just 1 block north of St Clair on the east side of Yonge, just south of Heath.
Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 6pm.

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group Overview:

GTT Toronto is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
GTT Toronto promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.GTTProgram.Blog/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, VR Stream and General Discussion, November 12, 2018

Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting November 12, 2018

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held November 12at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

20 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

November Topics –VR Stream and General Discussion

Victor Reader Stream Online Functions

Gerry provided a demonstration of the Online functions of the Victor Reader Stream including Podcasts, Bookshare, Internet Radio, Wikipedia and Wiktionary References, and CELA Direct to Player.

Summary:

It is not possible to describe these features in length in these notes but here is a brief summary. Refer to the HumanWare resources below for more detailed instructions.

Online Button: You move back and forth between the SD card bookshelves and the online bookshelves by pressing the online button in the centre of the top row just above key #2. You press and hold this online button to turn airplane mode on or off. Airplane mode must be off to enable a wi-fi connection to the Internet which is required to access the online content.
You move between the online bookshelves by pressing key 1 multiple times.
Podcast Bookshelf. When you are on the podcast bookshelf you move back and forth between its books (podcast feeds) by pressing keys 4 and 6. You may add a new podcast feed by pressing the GoTo key multiple times to find the option to add a new feed. You open the list of episodes in a feed by pressing the Confirm key. You then move back and forth between the episodes by pressing keys 4 and 6. Prior to the first episode is the option to get more episodes.
Bookshare Bookshelf: You must contact the CELA Library to request that Bookshare access be added to your account and then add the Bookshare username and password to your Stream using menu key #7. You may search for new Bookshare books and download them. Bookshare books are DAISY text only meaning they are read by the Stream’s built-in speech. You navigate the list of books on this bookshelf with keys 4 and 6 and open any book by pressing the Play or Confirm key.
Internet Radio Bookshelf: You Press keys 4 and 6 to move back and forth between the Radio books (playlists). Press the Go To key multiple times to find the search option where you can type keywords to find new radio stations. Press the Bookmark key to add a radio station from the search results list to your Favorites playlist. Press Play key to play any station.
References bookshelf: You press keys 4 or 6 to move between the 2 books (Wikipedia or Wiktionary) on this bookshelf. In either case you use the GoTo key to search for a word in Wiktionary or an article in Wikipedia. A preview of the word definition or article will be heard. You press the Play key to listen and navigate the full article. You may save the article by pressing key 3.
CELA Direct to Player Bookshelf: You register for CELA service online or through your local library. You must then add the assigned user account number to your Stream using menu key #7. You navigate the books on this bookshelf with keys 4 or 6. You open a book by pressing Play or Confirm key. These are DAISY books, so you navigate them with keys 2 or 8 to select the level of navigation and keys 4 or 6 to move back and forth at the chosen level. You return a book to CELA with key 3 followed by confirm. Unlike Bookshare books, you cannot search for CELA books using the Stream. You must search the CELA library with your computer and when you find your book select its Direct to Player link to cause the book to download to your Stream. You may also ask CELA customer support (1-855-655-2273) to automatically select your books based on your reading interests. You may also ask customer support to subscribe you to magazines which will download to the Stream automatically when issued. There are 150 magazines to choose from.

Resources

The HumanWare training web page for the Victor Reader Stream has information on using the Stream online features including:

Connecting to a wireless network.
Using the multi-tap text entry method to enter text on the keypad.
Adding Bookshare accounts.
Searching for Bookshare books.
Searching for Internet Radio stations.
Playing Internet Radio stations.
Searching for and adding Podcast feeds.
Managing Podcast feeds and playing Podcast episodes.
Also, refer to the built-in User guide which can be accessed any time by pressing and holding key #1. To exit the User Guide press and hold key #1 again. While in the User Guide, you may navigate by chapter and section as it is a DAISY book. You may also search the User Guide. Press the Goto key at the top left until you hear, Search. Then type in your search keywords on the number pad and press the Confirm or Pound key. You will be positioned in the User Guide at the first occurrence of your search text. Press key #6 to find the next occurrence or key 4 to find the previous. Instructions on typing text on the number pad can be found at the same HumanWare training web page.

General Discussion

The second hour comprised a very good general discussion on many

technology topics. Here is a summary:

Screen Reader: JAWS remains as the most prevalent screen reader program but for those transitioning to a screen reader the free NVDA screen reader should be quite adequate especially if the environment is not work or school.
Touch Typing: It is important if you are losing your vision and cannot touch type that you
learn this skill as the screen reader will not type for you.
Braille: There are some who think braille is old fashioned in our modern high tech world, but the reality is that braille is more available than ever through the use of electronic braille keyboards and refreshable displays to access computers and smartphones. Also, braille remains the only way to read and maintain your literacy skills as a blind person.
Android vs. iPhone: The choice of which type of phone to purchase is always a personal choice as both have screen magnification and screen reader accessibility features. Advantages of Android include a wider variety of phone devices that are less expensive than iPhones. Advantages of iPhones are that they are thought to be less problematic with the access features and as there are many more iPhone users than Android, your chances to get iPhone support are better.
Retail Advice re: Smartphones: Generally, sales people in retail stores don’t understand accessibility. For example, if you are blind, they often show you the Siri voice assistant whereas they do not understand that VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader, is the essential tool. Be cautious with advice from retail people. They mean well but are not typically well informed on accessibility.

Next Meeting (Monday December 10 at 7pm)

As usual for our December meeting, we will be joined by Steve Barclay, owner of Canadian Assistive Technology. Steve will demonstrate and talk about blind and low vision assistive technology products that may be purchased from his company. Bring your questions! This is a terrific opportunity to meet Steve and benefit from his many years in the assistive technology business.
As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

Meeting Location and Logistics

Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Overview

GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

To subscribe, activate the “Follow”link at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians. To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

[End of Document]