Five controversial performers coming to your local library. [thanks lisa]
Author: jessamyn
deaf peopel can make phone calls @ your library
As you’ve seen me write a zillion times, I pretty much don’t review web sites or web apps that aren’t library specific, but I helped a patron use this one in my library yesterday and it’s worth people knowing about. IP-relay.com is a web site put out by MCI that allows deaf and hearing impaired people a web interface to gain access to a relay operator. They type into a chat-like java applet and a specially trained operator then speaks what they type over the phone to whomever they call. There is an extra cool feature where using a video phone people can converse using sign language. A patron can sign to a video phone [for many deaf people this is their first language and English is second] and a relay operator will translate their signs into spoken English. For more information on deaf telecommunication hurdles in the US, I recommend reading A Phone of Our Own: The Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell by Harry Lang.
hi – 31may
Hi. It’s taken me a while to get back on track after travelling. I got some good feedback on my talk from various ALA members and others and am hoping to use it even more in the future. I have also been invited to give a talk on “Emerging Technologies” for a group called Librarians of the Upper Valley [aka LUV] which is the area I live in. I am planning to talk about “technologies” such as voice mail, email, and good signage in addition to more nouvelle tech such as IM, blogs and “ask a librarian” web site features.