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Supporting Print Accessibility Through Audio Technology
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Dear IAAIS Members and Friends,
IAAIS members have been keeping busy on many fronts over the last several months. There are new devlopments daily in the fight over federal funding for public broadcasting. Our member services are seeking out new and innovative ways to reach out to more people. And every day we are celebrating successes large and small.
You'll find this issue of the IAAIS Report chock full of news you can use, information about your fellow members and ideas to inspire you as you continue about the very important work of making the printed word accessible.
Enjoy!
Kim Walsh
IAAIS President |
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PTFP CPB MPR NPR and YOU | | |
by David Noble, Director of Development, Sun Sounds of Arizona
Interesting mix of alphabet soup there isn't it? If you're a veteran member of IAAIS (more letters!) you might recognize these as the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Minnesota Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. The reason I put them all in the title is that all of them (and you) have a stake in what happens in Congress right now. IAAIS is a member in the fight to save funding for the CPB and PTFP programs.
Congress and the Administration are cutting out all funding for public broadcasting. Congress has already passed a budget bill which zeros out funding for us. Our next chance to stop this is to educate our Senators about how dire a cut this really is. If you have not joined 170millionamericans.org, please do. IAAIS and our friends in public broadcasting are focusing our efforts through that coalition. In fact, things are moving along so fast that one of the best ways to stay on top of this news is to join 170millionamericans.org.
Think about this... CPB is a large part of main channel funding. If your service is attached to a public broadcaster, their health should be your concern too. Historically, when they lose funding, they cut reading service staff or entire services. While CPB may not directly fund a reading service, they DO fund the main channels which carry us. This battle is ours.
The Government Affairs team of IAAIS is trying to keep you informed through things like this newsletter, the list-serve, etc. but in the end, its going to come down to how many of us act and motivate others to action as well. |
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Conditional Access HD Radio Study Complete | | |
Feasibility studied for use by radio reading services
by Jennifer Nigro, Coordinator of Volunteers, Audio-Reader
The PTFP Cooperative Project for Radio Reading Services studied the feasibility of the HD Radio multicast transmission as a new platform for radio reading services carried by local FM stations. The study involved field trials with operating radio reading services in three cities: Kansas Audio-Reader, WXXI Reachout Radio in Rochester, NY and the Washington Ear. Transmissions were made available to a select group of listener participants who were furnished with conditional access HD Radio receivers.
According to the Executive Summary, Conditional Access on an HD RAdio multicast channel holds the promise of using future consumer receivers for reception of radio reading services. According to the report, the following issues need to be addressed in order to employ conditional access:
- Complexity of the overall technology: The study showed host stations/Radio Reading Services needed require technical expertise and support to implement the Conditional Access system with HD Radio.
- Improvements in radio interface: Participating listeners liked the sound quality of the test receivers used in the field trial, but many thought the push-button controls needed improvement and the commands required to operate the radio were cumbersome.
- Poor coverage with many current-generation HD Radio receivers: The field trial found that indoor reception with tested radios was very limited in geographic range compared to the stations' FM and SCA coverage.
- Costs of implementation: The cost of CA hardware and software is a significant drawback, with the cost for the field trial estimated at $10,000 per station not including installation and set-up.
- HD Radio receiver cost: HD Radio receivers remain significantly more expensive than FM SCA receivers. The radio used in the study was $250.
- Potential data capacity issues with some stations: A multicast channel uses part of the digital "payload" of HD Radio, which can only support a limited number of streams. Some FM stations have already used up their payload.
- Digital Audio Coders yield even higher quality: The study tested several new coders and found that even lower bit rates are possible with high quality. This may relieve the HD Radio capacity problem but would require a new generation of HD Radio receivers.
"This was quite a lesson," says Janet Campbell, Audio-Reader Director. "I think most of the listeners enjoyed the challenge." |
| There's an app for that | | |
by Heidi Capriotti, Development Director, Sun Sounds of Arizona
 | | To go to the download page for the iBlink app click on the icon. |
Sun Sounds of Arizona has joined the ranks of radio reading services using the iBlink Radio application to make its broadcasts available on Apple mobile devices. The app was created by Serotek Corporation. iBlink Radio, touted as the first app for visually impaired people, makes it easy to find current streaming and archived print information read aloud.
Sun Sounds started using the app earlier this year as an added service to its listeners. "We are constantly exploring new ways to offer information access," said Bill Pasco, Director of Sun Sounds of Arizona, "and certainly technology is opening doors at an amazing pace. We are excited to be able to reach a mobile, technology-savvy audience with apps like Serotek's iBlink Radio."
Nearly 30 radio reading services are now using the iBlink app to broadcast. To download the free app visit the App Store on any Apple mobile device and search for iBlink Radio. |
| NFB-NEWSLINE partners with NLS to provide downloadable publications | | |
by Jennifer Nigro, Coordinator of Volunteers, Audio-Reader
Subscribers to NFB-NEWSLINE can now download their favorite publications to book cartridges provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Subscribers download content in a DAISY III file format to cartridges that are inserted into the new NLS digital talking-book player. NFB-NEWSLINE hopes the downloadable material will make the NLS even more valuable to patrons. |
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| VOICEcorps joins Community Shares | | |
by Shari Veleba, Marketing/Media-PR Coordinator, VOICEcorps
VOICEcorps reading service in Columbus, Ohio is now a member agency of Community Shares of Mid-Ohio, a coalition of locally-based, nonprofit organizations that collaboratively participate in workplace giving campaigns.
VOICEcorps was recently elected to the fundraising federation by the Community Shares Board.
"We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity, through Community Shares membership, to reach a wider donor audience," said Sandy Turner, VOICEcorps Executive Director. "More people throughout central Ohio who can make use of our services will learn about us, and we hope may then choose to financially support us as well."
With more than 60 agencies, Community Shares organizations address a wide range of social and environmental services and issues, and focus on long-term prevention-oriented solutions and social justice.
Community Shares was established in 1993 as a coalition of locally-based, non-profit organizations collaboratively participating in workplace giving campaigns. These campaigns provide vital and stable financial support for non-profit, social advocacy member organizations.As a member agency, VOICEcorps will participate in monthly board meetings, and have a voice in Community Shares decisions and projects. VOICEcorps will be eligible to receive funds through Community Shares membership in 2012 as a part of the campaign that begins in this fall.
Individuals can donate to Community Shares and designate that their gift be given specifically to VOICEcorps, or make a general donation to Community Shares that is divided by all member agencies.
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| VOICEcorps celebrates 35 years | | |
by Jennifer Nigro, Coordinator of Volunteers, Audio-Reader
Congratulations to VOICEcorps on 35 years of service to the visually impaired! The Columbus, OH reading service marked its 35th anniversary on November 17th. The service reaches an audience of 2,500 people in 21 counties. The service started in 1975 when three visually-impaired men introduced the Central Ohio Radio Reading Service. |
| IRIS partners with IPTV to provide statewide coverage | | |
by Jennifer Nigro, Coordinator of Volunteers, Audio-Reader
The Iowa Reading Information Service (IRIS) is expanding its coverage statewide thanks to a new partnership with Iowa Public Television. IRIS will be able to use IPTV's digital television frequency to expand coverage. IRIS currently has about 3,000 listeners who tune in via SCA receiver. Fundraising is underway to purchase more digital receivers to give to listeners to tune in via public television. |
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Radio Eye expands service | | |
by Alanna Hultz, Development Coordinator, Central KY Radio Eye
 | | Radio Eye staff and volunteers with Louisville Public Media(LPM) Executive director Donovan Reynolds and Promotions Coordinator Charles Spivey. |
Central KY Radio Eye (Radio Eye) has been providing a radio reading service for people who are visually impaired or physically disabled since 1990. In 2009 Radio Eye reached a milestone agreement with LouisvillePublic Media in which they donate their sub carrier frequency (WUOL) to Radio Eye. In February 2010 broadcasting equipment was installed and tested and in the summer of 2010 pre-tuned radios were distributed to test listeners. Radio Eye successfully began broadcasting in the Greater Louisville Area (GLA) in November 2010. Radio Eye, executive director said, "I always wanted to expand our service beyond central Kentucky and with support from the Good Samaritan Foundation we can claim great success and have expanded our service to an additional 500 new listeners in GLA." Since expanding to the GLA Radio Eye has added some new programs to its schedule such as the readings of The Kentucky Standard, The Sentinel News and Louisville Business First. A listener in Louisville, KY tells us, "I am very pleased with the service and enjoy listening to the Courier Journal." Another Louisville listener said, "I am thrilled to death with my new radio, it's much better than recorded books and novels because the information is up to date." Radio Eye has been interviewed by FOX and the Louisville Courier Journal. For more information on Radio Eye please visit www.radioeye.org. |
Member Station Profile or, Getting To Know You | | |
Oklahoma Talking Information Service
by Linda Hynson, General Manager, MARRS
What can you do with two good recording booths, a rack, a board, three computers and a stream? If you're Jay Doudna, you can use your job at the Oklahoma Library for the Blind recording studios to visualize and create OTIS, the Oklahoma Talking Information Service. Jay's goal of meeting the audio information needs of the people of Oklahoma is helped by the fact that the director of the library is also OTIS's audio engineer.
OTIS uses Sound Forge to record and transfer files to WireReady. Volunteers read information from newspapers all over Oklahoma, accessed on the Internet. Additional programming comes from Kansas Audio-Reader and MindsEye, as well as The People's Pharmacy. Programs in development include one for rehab teachers and another for employment counselors. There are eight hours of programming, repeated three times daily.
OTIS is streamed from studios at the Oklahoma Library for the Blind which is a service of the state agency. It is not affiliated with a public radio station. Jay envisions this service as a work in progress and speaks to local groups to build support for the service. His efforts, he says, are limited only by time and money.
"Local, local, local is the name of the game," says Jay, and with his years of experience, determination and persistence, OTIS is building its way to being a great success.
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| A Master Class | | |
What is it? Why do it?
by Stuart Holland, Manager, Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network
On January 15, I conducted a Master Class for the volunteers of Radio Talking Books. Though the practice of doing master classes is not common for oral readers, it is very common with other form
s of the performing arts. Actors, musicians and dancers flock to master classes, often paying good money to do so, taking advantage of experts in the field willing to share their advice.
The form of a master class is that it is like a public lesson. The person leading the class takes a small number of students - and in many areas of the arts there is an audition or competition for those spots - and works with them publicly to improve their performance. When done for volunteers at the RTB, the six student slots were filled on a first-come basis.
The class lasted two-and-a-half hours with each volunteer getting approximately 25 minutes of time. Each person had previously supplied a CD of his or her reading along with the print copy of the material. The group listened to the CD, I made constructive comments about the reading and then the volunteer read the same material trying to incorporate the suggestions.
Sometimes oral reading can be improved with a variety of techniques - better breath control can be helped with posture or exercise; controlling raspiness or phlegm can be helped with drinking water; tension can be affected with relaxation techniques; and speed can be slowed with the realization that a conversational rate is the ideal. But often an undesirable characteristic has nothing to do with techniques.
My belief is that each of us is the result of all our experiences leading up to the present. Sometimes experiences from our family of origin, or family system, will have an effect on our speech as adults and we will be unaware of it.
As an example, often adult women who have high squeaky voices are people who suffered a sexual trauma as children. When they work through that trauma, their larynx relaxes and their voice drops in pitch.
Several of the students in the Minnesota class showed evidence of reading patterns that may have been affected by a family system. Two of the readers had a delivery that dropped the volume at the end of the sentence so that it was difficult to hear. I suggested that it was possible that these people grew up in a system that did not value their speaking. The end result is that they sound apologetic for having anything to say. For people who manifest this, it is important for them to realize their voices ARE important. What they are reading is very useful for many people and these messages from the past are not at all helpful.
Another volunteer presented a forceful reading that was staccato - there were many phrases that were broken up with words being emphasized by slight pauses within the phrase and not in logical locations. Though this is a dynamic way of delivering the reading, some of the content is lost in the mesmerizing pattern.
I posited that this person may have developed this approach to ensure that others would listen to him. When phrases are interrupted, it secures the listener's attention because they are puzzled and want to know what happens next. It's a form of control. In context of recording material it is really counterproductive. No one need be forced to listen to the volunteer's voice, and listeners will understand it much better if the natural phraseology of the language is followed. In well-written English, this is aided by observing and using the commas in the text.
The attendees at the class in Minnesota expressed great appreciation for what they learned, both as observers and as the students getting public lessons. But there were only one tenth of the potential attendees present. Hopefully, as more of these classes happen, more people will take advantage of them.
If other services wish to hold master classes, what would be the important things to remember?
1. Begin with people in attendance introducing themselves. Most of our volunteers ge
t too few opportunities to meet each other.
2. Your comments may bring up emotion. Stay away from criticism but couch language so that people are encouraged. Have tissues available.
3. Though audience comments can be useful, keep them to a minimum - maybe six at a time. This needs to be about how you will help a person improve their delivery, not about what everyone else thinks.
4. If you have been in this field for a while, you really do have the necessary skills to give feedback. What it takes is a good ear and a kind heart.
5. Have fun.
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| Volunteer Letter | |
Minnesota Radio Talking Book Volunteer opens up to fellow readers
submitted by Stuart Holland, Manager, Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network
Dear Fellow Readers,
I am writing you to tell you, you are appreciated! We all realize that if we are in this 'gig' for the praise and affirmation we receive for our efforts, we should be looking for other volunteer work. But every now and then something happens to let us know that we are doing something pretty special. I am writing to tell you a story that I experienced that really applies to all of you.
I have a soon-to-be ninety-six-year-old mother whom we recently had to move to a convalescent home, as the responsibility for her care exceeded our capabilities. Most of us can realize the emotional difficulties of that situation without further description by me. She has been legally blind for about fifteen years due to age-related macular degeneration. When this first became an issue for her, we obtained the usual visual assist equipment to allow her to continue her connection to the world of fiction, the local, and international news. Eventually, those options slowly slipped out of her grasp. During this time, I had also obtained the 'famous SSB radio.' It became an aural lifeline that could still give her access to fiction, the local, and world news. It also gave her an opportunity to critique her son's efforts reading the New York Times. That means you, too, other readers. Well, actually, she was never critical, just very appreciative that the service was available.
Late one Sunday afternoon recently, I went to visit her, and found her cured up in her bed apparently sleeping. And then I realized that she was wearing earphones? I followed their connecting wires to our 'magic radio.' If you haven't had a loved one in a convalescent center, you wouldn't understand the paucity of intellectual stimulation that exists there. There is a reasonable explanation for that. But that can't ease the sense of isolation that one must suffer from, if your intellectual abilities are still fully functional. Our radio is like a psychic balm when one is thirsting for replacement of lost visual skill and lack of stimulating conversation. And that's where we make our contribution. And all you good folks need to know the good you are doing. And that's why I'm writing, to let you know even when you don't get a lot of feedback, that you are performing a great service. And to say thank you for my mother, who so appreciates your efforts.
Respectfully,
John M. de Rosier, Minnesota Radio Talking Book volunteer
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Upcoming Events and Announcements |
| Meet us in St. Louie, Louie! | | |
by Marjorie Williams, Executive Director, Minds Eye Information Service
If you've been an audio information professional for 30 years or 30 days, make sure your schedule is cleared for the 2011 IAAIS Conference, May 12-14 in St. Louis.
This year's conference has something for everyone... managers, volunteer directors, fundraisers, programmers, engineers, AND the people that wear every hat. Learn how to save your troubled station, build a sustaining program and create the audio information service that is the best for your listeners.
Here's a sampling of what you'll learn:
FCC Updates
Volunteers, Fundraising and Programs for Engineers and Tech People Signal Delivery and Equipment for Management and Development People History of Audio Information Services Creating a Fundraising Program that Supports Your Mission How the Internet is Changing Access to Information Social Networking for Beginners Capturing Listeners Ideas Audio Description Internet Resources to Enhance Your Service Overcoming Volunteer's Objections to Technology Making Social Networking Work for Your Station Overview of New and Emerging Technologies
And much, much more!
Download a conference brochure and registration form at www.iaais.org/conference.html Reserve your room at the Sheraton City Center Hotel and Suites under the IAAIS block by April 20, 2011 by calling (314) 231-5007. Room rates start at $120 a night.
See you in St. Louis!
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