<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------
<table class="moz-email-headers-table" border="0" cellpadding="0"
cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject: </th>
<td>Raising the Floor Newsletter - Issue 1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:50:33 -0500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Contact Manager <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:info@raisingthefloor.org"><info@raisingthefloor.org></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Reply-To:
</th>
<td>Contact Manager <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:info@raisingthefloor.org"><info@raisingthefloor.org></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td>Stewart Dickson <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sdickson@uiuc.edu"><sdickson@uiuc.edu></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<br>
<p>
<style type="text/css">
h1 {width: 600px; color: #841F1F; font-size: 135%; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } h2 { width: 600px; color: #4f81bd; font-size: 125%; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} p { width: 600px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} p.head1 {text-align: right; width: 600px; font-size: 10pt; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} p.head2 {text-align: center; width: 600px; margin-bottom: 0.5in; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} p.footer1 { margin-top: 0.4in; width: 600px; font-size: 10pt; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} p.footer2 { width: 600px; font-size: 10pt; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;} hr { width: 600px;} </style>
</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: rgb(235, 235, 235);"
bgcolor="#ebebeb"> </td>
<td style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding:
25px; border: 2px solid rgb(216, 216, 216);"
bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top" width="600">
<p class="head1"> Raising the Floor Newsletter<br>
Issue 1 - June 2011</p>
<p class="head2"> <img moz-do-not-send="true" alt="Raising
the Floor logo"
src="http://raisingthefloor.org/sites/default/files/images/newsletter/RtF_letterhead_header_0.jpg"></p>
<p> Welcome to the inaugural issue of a new monthly
newsletter highlighting participants, accomplishments,
upcoming events and activities and other news related to
Raising the Floor. If you do not want to receive this
newsletter use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the
page.</p>
<p> Raising the Floor (RtF) is an international coalition of
individuals and organizations working to ensure that the
Internet, and everything available through it, is
accessible to people experiencing accessibility barriers
due to disability, literacy, or age. Of particular concern
are people who are underserved or unserved due to the type
or combination of disabilities they have, the part of the
world they live in, or the limited resources (financial or
program) available to them. A central activity of Raising
the Floor – International is coordination of an emerging
consortium to build a Global Public Inclusive
Infrastructure (GPII). For more information see <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://raisingthefloor.org">http://raisingthefloor.org</a>.</p>
<h1> RtF Updates</h1>
<h2> RtF at World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
Forum</h2>
<p> Axel Leblois, Jutta Treviranus, and Gregg Vanderheiden
represented RtF at the World Summit on the Information
Society Forum (WSIS.ORG/forum) May 16-18 as part of the
UNESCO sponsored session. Raising the Floor also had an
exhibit there to promote links with other international
programs. A number of new alliances were formed,
especially related to and involving developing countries.
WSIS is a U.N.-organized body whose goal is “to achieve a
common vision, desire and commitment to build a
people-centric, inclusive and development-oriented
Information Society where everyone can create, access,
utilize and share information.” Organizers of the Forum
include ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD, and UNDP.</p>
<h2> Brian Behlendorf Joins Raising the Floor’s
Technological Advisory Board</h2>
<p> Brian Behlendorf, best known for his lead role in
developing the Apache web server software, has joined
RtF’s Technological Advisory Board. Other members are
David Boloker (IBM), Vint Cerf (Google), Bill Coleman
(Alsop Louie Partners, former Sun VP), and Dale Hatfield
(former Chief Technologist for the FCC). Brian brings his
considerable expertise in web services and security to the
Board along with his special interest in privacy and
security. Read about all of the Board members at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://raisingthefloor.org/about/who">http://raisingthefloor.org/about/who</a>.</p>
<h2> New RtF Headquarters</h2>
<p> <b>Raising the Floor – International</b> has moved into
its new headquarters in Geneva’s WCC Complex, 150 route de
Ferney, between the airport and the UN Palace of Nations.
The RtF-International headquarters is fully accessible,
directly on public transportation routes, and has
wonderful meeting and support facilities. The
International Disability Alliance is also conveniently
located in this complex.</p>
<hr>
<h1> Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII)</h1>
<h2> CLOUD4All Proposal Selected in the Seventh Framework
Programme (FP7) Competition</h2>
<p> The CLOUD4All proposal submitted by a 31-member
consortium of industry, academia, and consumer groups was
selected by the European Commission as part of the latest
call under FP7 and is now in the final negotiation stage.
CLOUD4All, led by Technosite (Project Coordinator) and
RtF-International (Technical Coordinator), is focused on
developing key components in the GPII. The proposal, which
received the highest score in its division, is currently
in the budget negotiation phase, but funding is expected
to be in the 7+ million Euro range plus matching. More
details will be provided when the budget and work scope
are finalized.</p>
<h2> UCP Endorses GPII</h2>
<p> United Cerebral Palsy joins those endorsing the GPII
initiative. Stephen Bennett, UCP’s President and CEO,
said, “The GPII offers the promise of an interconnected
device and application landscape that has accessibility
within its very bedrock.” We welcome the support of this
national advocacy group that has achieved so much. We will
be working on GPII together with UCP, whose <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ucp.org/about/programs-initiatives/life-labs">Life
Labs</a> center and other technology initiatives offer a
new way forward to technological inclusion.</p>
<hr>
<h1> Gathering Needs And Numbers</h1>
<h2> GPII at the TDI Conference</h2>
<p> Jim Tobias gave an invited plenary presentation on GPII
at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://tdiforaccess.org/about_tdi.aspx?key=About%20TDI%28Biennial%20Conference-General%20Announcement%29&select=AboutTDI">TDI’s
biennial conference</a> in Austin, Texas June 2-4, 2011.
The Conference Planning Committee was excited about GPII’s
potential, and asked RtF to provide highlights of it to
their members at this year’s conference. Of particular
interest to conference attendees was the role GPII might
play in enhancing employment of people who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing, and for its potential for automatic
adjustment of audio to match users and environments.
Consumers also expressed an interest in being able to rate
people providing
interpretation and to express preferences for interpreters
by name or technical language expertise. There was also a
request to find ways for RtF to reach those who do not
attend conferences, and are not connected to most
information sources. For those who are not already aware,
TDI “is an active national advocacy organization focusing
its energies and resources to address equal access issues
in telecommunications and media for four constituencies in
deafness and hearing loss, specifically people who are
deaf, hard-of-hearing, late-deafened, or deaf-blind.”</p>
<h2> GPII at the American Library Association (ALA)
Conference</h2>
<p> RtF has been accepted to present on GPII at June’s <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://ala.org/">American
Library Association</a> annual conference. We will be
meeting with librarians there to get a better picture of
the challenges they face in making their facilities and
resources more accessible. What we learn from them, we
will apply to GPII and other RtF programs. For example,
one issue we’ve heard about is that librarians cannot
install assistive technology software on their public
access computers because their IT departments place
security restrictions on all machines on the network. How
can we work with the IT departments and the network
security software companies to resolve this problem? Are
there network or cloud solutions? Will
they work with library systems and software?</p>
<h2> Assistive Technology Funding Study</h2>
<p> RtF has commissioned a study of US funding sources for
assistive technology, to understand whether and how those
sources could pay for network-based assistive technologies
supported by GPII. This information is important to
assistive technology vendors, who need accurate funding
policy guidance in order to develop their business plans.
A researcher will be selected this month; the study will
begin immediately, and results will be published on our
website and elsewhere.</p>
<hr>
<h1> Spotlight</h1>
<h2> Apple Support Communities</h2>
<p> Apple has introduced a peer support system called <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa">Apple
Support Communities</a>. You can join a community for
any product you have, in any use environment (e.g., “iPad
in the Enterprise”), and ask and answer questions there.
This approach harvests information from millions of users,
evaluates it for accuracy, indexes it so it can be found
by other users, and offers a friendly, clean, accessible
interface. Peer support like this is what we have in mind
for many GPII-based AT products, where users can network
with each other to exchange tips and tricks.</p>
<hr>
<h1> Get Involved</h1>
<h2> Newsletter Design Competition</h2>
<p> Good at newsletter design? Want to help out? Submit a
design for our newsletter that is simple, professional,
accessible, easy to read, easy to skim. You can use this
newsletter as a sample – but also suggest or include other
parts you think useful if you like.</p>
<h2> How To Get Involved</h2>
<p> Would you like to become involved in Raising the Floor?
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://raisingthefloor.org/getinvolved">Come visit
our website and let us know how you would like to pitch
in.</a></p>
<hr>
<p class="footer1"> This email was sent to
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:sdickson@uiuc.edu">sdickson@uiuc.edu</a>.</p>
<p class="footer2"> To unsubscribe from future newsletter
mailings, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://raisingthefloor.org/index.php?q=civicrm/mailing/unsubscribe&reset=1&jid=149&qid=934&h=2df044e72fa7ffbb">click
this unsubscribe link.</a></p>
<p class="footer2"> To unsubscribe from ALL Raising the
Floor announcements of any type, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://raisingthefloor.org/index.php?q=civicrm/mailing/optout&reset=1&jid=149&qid=934&h=2df044e72fa7ffbb">click
this Opt-Out-ALL link.</a></p>
<p class="footer2"> Raising the Floor - International<br>
150 route de Ferney<br>
Geneva, 1204<br>
Switzerland<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://RaisingTheFloor.org">http://RaisingTheFloor.org</a></p>
<!-- <div class="location vcard"><span class="adr"><span class="street-address">150 route de Ferney</span><br /><span class="locality">Geneva</span>, <span class="postal-code">1204</span><br /><span class="country-name">Switzerland</span></span></div> -->
</td>
<td style="background-color: rgb(235, 235, 235);"
bgcolor="#ebebeb"> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>