Supporting Print Accessibility Through Audio Technology
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Dear IAAIS Members and Friends,
If conference attendees came looking for ways to innovate their stations and take them to the next level, they were satisfied. Those who were looking for ways to strengthen what they already had got what they were looking for too.
Thank you so much to the conference committee for another wonderful conference that will truly take this industry to the future. The entire committee, Lori Kesinger, Sharon Linde, Steve Cummings, Linda Ornt, Gail Starkey, Patsy Baughn, Mark DeWitt, and Sandy Turner all did an amazing job of making this happen for the IAAIS. I'm sure that they will pass their wealth of knowledge on to the great group planning our 2010 Conference June 3-6 in Dallas!
Tonight is the IAAIS Awards Banquet. Please look for a list of all the outstanding winners tomorrow morning.
Envisioning a Brighter Tomorrow,
Kim Walsh
IAAIS President |
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| General Session |
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PAIS Project
Rich Rarey from NPR Labs gave a update regarding the collaborative grant project. The Personal Audio Information Service will allow listeners to time shift programs to listen at their own pace, similar to a DVR. Rich showed off a computerized model that conference goers discussed and gave suggestions about. The hope is that once the PAIS Project is finished, it will be available for use on all digital platforms, not just the HD radios as originally envisioned.
Currently, the project is still in development, but moving closer and closer to actual implementation. IAAIS President Kim Walsh stated that they would soon be looking for stations to assist in trials.
Though the project will follow IAAIS StAR Guidelines, Rich encouraged people with ideas about the technical structure and accessibility to email him at rrarey@npr.org. |
| Lunch Speaker |
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Thane Maynard Takes Attendees to the Wild Side
The Director of the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden stopped by at lunch to share a piece of his life with conference goers today. |
| General Sessions |
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Self-Improvement through Visualization and Self-Hypnosis
Dr. Paula DiFlora, PhD gave audio information professionals a new way to be their best today. Giving insight on how to self-hypnotize, she certainly relaxed and rejuvenated many! One of the key tricks the attendees worked on was visualizing a better you by creating a 20 minute positive affirmation about being your best to be played each night for one month.
DAISY Recording and Reading Services
Deborah Kendrick and Stuart Holland led a session on the DAISY (Digital Accessible Information SYstem) method of embedding tags into audio to make the work searchable. Minnesota Radio Talking Book has recently implemented the international standard, and while it can take more time to set up than a typical reading, their listeners have responded in an overwhelmingly positive manner. Deborah showed off several DAISY formatted works which can be played through the new NLS Talking Book Machine, the Victor Reader, and many commercial mP3 players.
Social Media/ Networking
Kendra Ramirez of Social Konnect stressed the importance of identifying your goal, target market, and what you are trying to accomplish when using the various online social media as a marketing tool. We discussed Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. Kendra runs a very successful business and, using only social media, she spends zero dollars on marketing. It's all free folks! She showed audio information professionals how to maintain your entire social networking scheme in just 30 minutes per week.
Volunteer Management- How to Train and Evaluate Volunteers
Jennifer Nigro of Audio Reader came to share the tips and tricks of getting your volunteers to do exactly what you need them to do to put out the best product possible for your listeners.
So You Want To Host an IAAIS Conference
IAAIS Administrative Assistant and Audio Reader Program Manager, Lori Kesigner sat down with stations interested in hosting an IAAIS Conference. She gave out pointers about preferred locations and costs and discussed several successful conferences.
If you missed any of today's conferences, be sure to check the IAAIS Program Share soon for complete audio from all of the workshop. Special thanks to Mike Duke of Radio Reading Service of Mississippi and Jay Doudna from the Oklahoma Library for the Blind for recording the sessions. |
| Business Meeting |
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Brainstorming a Stronger Industry- Continued!
For the last session of the successful conference, audio information professionals gathered once again to continue to develop a vision for the future.
The delegation met to discuss what to do next.
The discussion began with talk of the many new platforms. Ruth Phinney of WXXI Reachout Radio in Rochester, NY shared her station's philosophy, COPE which stands for Create Once Play Everywhere. Many attendees mentioned that while current, simple methods of end user distribution were still going to be important for many, many years, there is a huge opportunity to distribute programming in many ways through emerging technology. There are even ways now to distribute programming to donors and supporters to sample the seeds of their work.
Over and over, members suggested a great need to advocate and teach people about the role that audio information services provide nationally and in their community. Members reiterated that stations locally needed to go to their local affiliates of the ACB, NFB, Blinded Veterans Association, Paralyzed Veteran Associations, AARP and any group that represented or worked with an audio information service's POTENTIAL audience. Heather Lusignan of VoicePrint in Canada reminded the group to talk about the potential for audience, not only the current audience that they are serving because many stations have the potential to serve so many more with the proper marketing.
Nationally, members felt the greatest need was to start to work with the groups mentioned above to forward the IAAIS mission. Members also expressed a need for successful stations to support the success of smaller or less successful stations so that the industry can thrive. Marjorie Williams of Minds Eye Information Service in Belleville, IL is working on a Talking Points document to compile the many sources of information regarding the aspects of our industry so that stations and the national organization can be on the same page and have easy access to the pertinent stats. It will be available soon.
Many additional groups, such as American Foundation for the Blind, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and others were mentioned as potential partners.
Rich Rarey of NPR Labs questioned why there could not be a national station that would fill the void for stations that had gone dark. Much discussion ensued around this specifically regarding the closing of the Philadelphia station.
The session ended with a lot of questions unanswered, but on a hopeful note for the future. Many stations offered to help continue the discussion at a later date. For those who were not at the meeting and would like to be involved please contact IAAIS President, Kim Walsh. | |
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