Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: Funding Priorities List update and need help

Hi :)
I think it would be good for someone else here to put that forwards to the BoD discuss list.  They 
don't take much notice of me.  Stuart is there any chance you could champion that request through 
the BoD discuss list?

Personally i think it would be great if they had several different requests for how to spend/invest 
money to help with accessibility issues.  If those different ideas were for different amounts of 
money then it might help them pick and choose 1 for now and perhaps others later.  

A "Community Development" person would not be directly involved with doing coding work or anything 
like that.  Their main work would be to 
 * attract people into the team, 
 * "raise the profile" (get people familiar with the idea of and hopefully help them realise it is 
a LOT more important than they currently realise) of the team generally both inside TDF and 
externally, 
 * raise the profile of accessibility issues and what could be done to help (for example the 
websites team might find some advice useful and the docs team might find advice helpful too), 
 * perhaps approach outside projects that are good at improving accessibility issues in projects 
and get some help or 
 * maybe seek  funding opportunities and 
 * to liaise  between the different  people involved on different lists so that 
          1.  people here know of developments and 
          2.  so that people doing the work don't feel quite so isolated and under-appreciated when 
they are working on accessibility issues.  

Err all that sort of thing, or at least to help build up the team and kinda help other people to do 
those 'tasks'.  I am not sure i would be good at the job because
  1.  I have a tendency to annoy people and am already "in the bad books" of various people in the 
BoD
  2.  I don't directly experience the issues that need to be worked on so i only understand the 
problem AFTER someone has told me about it, which is kinda too late.  We need someone to pre-empt 
or instantly understand issues and be able to deal with FUD quickly by understanding the reality.  

So, most of those things are things that Stuart does naturally or could do better if we were able 
to support him better rather than relying on him finding time outside of work and other 
commitments.  Ideally by supporting him better.  

Regards from
Tom :)  





> ________________________________
> From: V Stuart Foote <VStuart.Foote@utsa.edu>
> To: "accessibility@global.libreoffice.org" <accessibility@global.libreoffice.org> 
> Sent: Wednesday, 30 January 2013, 16:56
> Subject: RE: [libreoffice-accessibility] Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: Funding Priorities List 
> update and need help
>
> Tom, and other Accessibility advocates...
>
> Thanks, but I view my personal role as QA and have really only had to focus on the Windows & Java 
> Accessibility Bridge side because of the exceptional QA and development work being done by Roman 
> Eisele with the OSX Apple Accessibility API, and by Joanmarie Diggs on the Linux A11y AT-SPI & ATK 
> support delivered via Gnome ORCA. 
>
> In truth changes are needed with the underlying UNO Accessibility API (a derivative of an old Java 
> design) to incorporate ongoing work of the A11y group, Microsoft, Apple and Google and to ensure 
> that LibreOffice assistive technologies span all the development platforms with a consistent API 
> that integrates with all LibreOffice components and implements accessibility roles needed by a 
> broader range of AT.
>
> This might be handled by a "Community Development" person, but the scope of a reengineering of the 
> the underlying UNO Accessibility API suggests this will need the administrative resources of a 
> full committee of developers and AT interface designers overseen by the TDF board.  
>
> The TDF board can't raise enough funds to pay to have this done, so the challenge is making the 
> case that the future of accessibility support for LibreOffice does not lay with the status quo, 
> that waiting for IAccessibile2 from the IBM Symphony contribution is only a Band-Aid, and that a 
> substantive redesign of the internal API implementing more AT roles while accommodating a wider 
> range of external interfaces better positions all LibreOffice products as fully accessible.
>
> If the TDF is going to spend any money. Suggest pay to prepare statement of preliminary 
> requirements and AT design goals describing what currently exists, while identifying what roles 
> and functions are missing from the core UNO Accessibility API for full support of the external 
> accessibility APIs.  That would be money well spent on AT and give the developers and GUI 
> designers a solid starting point.
>
> Stuart
>
> _______________________________________
> From: Tom Davies [tomdavies04@yahoo.co.uk]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 7:05 AM
> To: Marc Paré; accessibility@global.libreoffice.org
> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re:        Funding Priorities 
> List update and need help
>
> Hi :)
> This is exactly why i think the Accessibility Team really needs a "Community Development" person 
> to be employed either directly by TDF or by one of the supporter organisations and then loaned to 
> TDF.  Part-time, even just 2 days a week would be a huge boost.
>
> We need more people in this team and need them to be more active.  At the moment it feels like 
> it's only due to Stuart that anyone is doing anything and most of that work seems to be being done 
> directly by him.  I think that if the post was created then it would be good to give Stuart an 
> interview for the position.
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
>
>
>
> > ________________________________
> > From: Marc Paré <marc@marcpare.com>
> > To: accessibility@global.libreoffice.org
> > Sent: Saturday, 19 January 2013, 3:57
> > Subject: [libreoffice-accessibility] Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: Funding Priorities List 
> > update and need help
> >
> > Hi Tom,
> >
> > Le 2013-01-17 05:46, Tom Davies a écrit :
> > > Hi :)
> > > I wondered if anyone here is interested in putting forwards ideas for where money should be 
> > > targeted to improve accessibility.  No-one on this list backed my ideas so i couldn't put them 
> > > forwards.  Is everyone happy with accessibility in LibreOffice?  Is it all working perfectly 
> > > all the time?
> > >
> > > Regards from
> > > Tom :)
> >
> > Be aware that Florian has stated that a funding suggestion needs to be backed by someone who will 
> > assume leadership/responsibility for any request from start to end. IMO, there should also be a 
> > clear accessibility team, which could just be 2-3 people who make it a point to advance 
> > accessibility issues.
> >
> > For example, you could have accessibility bugs sent to this list and help QA with bug quashing -- 
> > some of this is easy to do such as "confirming" that the bugs do happen on other people's boxes 
> > and OS's OR helping test out possible fixes to the bugs etc. We do this with the Website list and 
> > it has been quite the success.
> >
> > Sometimes when people see positive movement in a group it will inspire others to follow and to 
> > help out.
> >
> > As you know accessibility is quite important in getting LibreOffice accepted in large 
> > institutional settings (educational/governments etc.). I am sure that the TDF would be interested 
> > in getting proposals from the accessibility team and helping out.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Marc
> >
> >
> > -- Marc Paré
> > Marc@MarcPare.com
> > http://www.parEntreprise.com
> > parEntreprise.com Supports OpenDocument Formats (ODF)
> > parEntreprise.com Supports http://www.LibreOffice.org
>
>
>
>
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