No Comment

For almost a year now, I’ve been engaged in a digital dialogue with a gentleman who goes by the initials “GM.” We began our conversation around the time I started to write this blog. He once commented, early on, in the “Comment” field, but generally he likes to comment via email.

GM was not pleased with my post last week titled, “The Easy Button,” in which I ask why the majority of comments about topics discussed on this blog come to me via email, instead of using the comment field (accessed right under the post being commented on).

Here is what he wrote…

“Dorrie, you blew it big time.

First, there is no obvious way to respond via comments. You have to mouse over the quote zero comments unquote link before it reveals itself as a link. Click on it and you are taken to the box.

Second, who wants to put up with all that registration business. I have a Google account but it never works the first time. An email is far easier than commenting to get through to you. It’s only disadvantage is not knowing that you read it.”

My reply to GM…

“This is why comments are so important…I learn something from you…and get to share with others.

Now that you mention it, the steps to submit a comment on my blog are not very clear. The first couple of times I tried it, it was rather confusing. Once I figured it out and posted a few times, I lost touch with the fact that everyone else may experience the same difficulty. And, come to think of it, I often have trouble myself, when I attempt to comment on another blog.

I’m going to see what I can do to improve this, but meanwhile let me give you the steps, below, to posting a comment. There is no registration necessary, you can comment as Anonymous, or simply put your name (or an alias) in the Name/URL box (No URL is necessary, just a name, any name will suffice).

To post comment:

1. Below blog post click “Comments”

2. Type message into comment box

3. Go to “Comment as” and select “Name/URL” from drop down box.

4. Enter name (real or nickname), click continue. Your email address will not publish.

5. Click “Post Comment.”

It’s really easier than it looks.

Thanks GM, I learned something – perhaps you did too!

The ongoing conversation with GM is exactly the conversation I hoped to have established by now on this blog. It just wound up happening mostly in my inbox.

When we use email to comment on a blog, it’s like whispering in someone’s ear. No more secrets --- let’s tell everyone the good (and not so good) stuff we know about accessible technology.

Many of you, like my friend GM, have great questions and thought-provoking comments. Why would we want to keep it to ourselves?

Go ahead --- put it in the comment box. No need to whisper in my ear.

App Happy

App Happy

As if Tap Happiness was not enough, my iPhone provides another seemingly endless stream of satisfaction – the App. At first, I’ll admit, all the icons on my iPhone were of little interest to me. The whole app conversation elevated my anxiety. I wanted to keep it simple, so I began by learning one application at a time.

No, I did not read the manual, in fact, it doesn’t come with one. I did it the easy way – One-to-One Training at the Apple store (on Fifth Avenue). They make the learning as good as the knowing. This is real empowerment!

App by app I began to see that making calls was just the tip of the iceberg. There are over 100,000 optional apps available for the iPhone, but much of my happiness, so far, has derived from the standard apps that Apple loads on every iPhone.

Contacts: The perpetual home for all of my contacts. It all goes into the iPhone: names, multiple phones and emails, addresses; and it’s synched to my computer, so I won’t ever have to start up a new phone book again.

Messages: For text messaging. Yes, I am a texter – did not even think it would appeal to me – but it does.

Camera: I can – take a picture, email, text it, or save it to my photos.

Weather: Love having the current weather and the forecast for home, and as many other cities as I wish.

Voice Memo: This is my big bonus, a voice recorder for reminders, instructions, meetings, interviews. I have recorded One-to-One Training and travel directions. It is both usable and useful.

Notes: This I totally love too. It’s simply a yellow-lined pad that you type notes into. I am a compulsive list maker (who was having a hell of a hard time reading her own scribble). Now I have all my multiple lists stored in the phone. At this moment, there is a list for Whole Foods, Target, Things to Discuss with My Sister, Books to Read, and naturally, the general To Do List. Notes can be emailed and are simple to create or delete. Editing I have not completely figured out, but I will.

Clock: World clock is the best reference – no more counting on fingers what time it is in Rome. There is an alarm clock with snooze, and a timer--all things I use.

Calculator: A fabulous, simple to use, talking calculator built right into my phone. I can figure 40% off at Bloomingdales, or divvy up a restaurant check among friends, in a matter of seconds. It’s one of those apps I use every single day.

iPod: The iPhone battery seems to have a life of its own and there is often no telling how long the charge will last, so I tend not to listen to music or read books on my phone. A One-to-One Trainer suggested creating a playlist of my favorite tunes, and I do use it from time to time on the treadmill, when I can plug into a charger.

Compass: I was in Chinatown shopping the produce markets, when I realized I was completely lost…no idea how to get back to Canal Street. I had ventured into unknown territory and could not read the street signs to get myself out. Then I remembered the compass and pulled out the iPhone and clicked on the compass and kept moving in the direction most north. I found my way back to Canal, got my bearings, and felt a little like Dora the Explorer.

All of these apps will talk to me with Voice Over, or they can be magnified with zoom. They can be used, equally as well, with whatever vision you have, or don’t have. Everybody gets these apps. Anybody can use them. That’s what I call Happy!

If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It

Things get messed up, accidentally, all the time. It’s like going from good to worse. Sometimes, the updated version just does not live up to its predecessor. I wonder how this happens, did the designers get too cocky, did they pay no attention to the detail in the follow-up version, and did they fail to test it on actual users?

In the case of accessible technology, it constantly amazes me how rarely it is tested on the end user. I believed that there was some sort of protocol that requires testing your product before releasing it to market. I have been told by a software designer that he tested a program for people with low vision --- on himself and on his wife. The fact that neither is visually impaired, a minor technicality.

It surprised me to learn that a large manufacturer of elevators for skyscrapers had tested the accessibility of their newest product on only one person with low vision, and one person with no vision. Now this is an elevator that can easily transport thousands of people each day only tested on two for impaired vision…is that enough?

This morning I encountered, yet another, obvious testing faux pas. It’s disappointing, to say the least, that my favorite talking ATM’s at Bank of America, have been updated, but not for the better.

At first, as is typical, I blamed myself. In Donald Norman’s “The Psychology of Every Day Things”, he confirms that most of us think it is our fault when things don’t function properly. Our automatic assumption is that we are the problem, not that bad design is the culprit.

After a number of months, I was just not adjusting to the new audio prompts. They didn’t flow, seemed like too many steps, and literally got frozen after getting a balance, or a transfer between accounts. The point of an ATM is to get money quick, right? Well, the new talking ATM gets stuck and beeps 53 times, while you are waiting for it to end the transaction. During the prolonged beeping, you can push Cancel, Clear, and every other button on the keypad, and it just keeps beeping and won’t stop until it has beeped 53 times.

I must ask Bank of America, how many people with impaired vision tested this baby?

Google Made Even Easier

“Accessible” means: “easy to deal with.” As if Google was not already easy, Google’s Accessible Search (I kid you not) is even easier.

Before I discovered “Google Accessible Web Search, web searching was an activity I seriously considered giving up altogether because I seemed to often end up in a mess of links that led to pages I had tremendous difficulty reading.

Google Labs Accessible Web Search for the Visually Impaired (to some degree, that’s about half the US population, isn’t it?) delivers clean, uncluttered search results that are easy to read, no sponsored links, and pages are ordered by site accessibility (easiest to deal with first).

I know it’s great for me, and having converted many to Google Accessible Search users, I think it could be better for everyone.

Giving Credit To The Bank

Giving Credit to the Bank

On my way to work this morning, I stopped at the ATM machine and checked my balance, moved money between accounts, and got cash. So, what’s the big deal, millions of people do this every day; it’s just that I was not one of them, until I discovered Talking ATM’s at Bank of America.

I’d been dreaming of ATM’s that talked, because banking on the fly was out of the question. I could go, only, to the ATM at my (former) bank, push the buttons (as committed to memory), and pray that the machine would spit my requested currency out. Success was like hitting the jackpot!

Then, my dream came true. I learned that most ATM’s today are built to speak, some just are never given a voice. I was shown to the precious earphone jack, at the right of the keypad. Plugged my iPod earphones into the ATM and experienced euphoria!

It was so good, I couldn’t stop. Some mornings, I’d drop in at four or five banks on my way to work…looking for the earphone jack, seeing if they all would talk to me. I was rolling in cash, and racking up the ATM fees (a small price for freedom!).

The conclusion of my ATM Listening Tour: Bank of America, hands down the best in accessibility. (You know, accessibility is one of my favorite words, meaning easy to deal with.) ‘B of A’ definitely does that, and they even call it “Accessible Banking.” Their ATM’s were so consistently good, and their “red” Banking Centers, so easy to find; I, without hesitation, became a Bank of America customer.

I am, certainly, no Talking ATM expert, but an enthusiastic advocate, who recommends everyone give it a whirl. I think you’ll like it. I’ve heard Wells Fargo (now also Wachovia) does a good job. HSBC has the jacks, but, so far, no freedom of speech. People have told me that Chase has talkers, but they, for some reason, will not speak to me.

Go, take your ear buds, and try it. If it’s not available at your bank, ask why? By now they should all have voice, don’t you agree?