Re: GNOME 2 Accessibility Guide

[Pat Costello <Patrick Costello Sun COM>]

Hi Sharon, 

Thanks for your mail. Irene will continue to work on the GNOME 2.x multiplatform 
Accessibility Guide, as per plan. We appreciate your experience in the 
accessibility field, so you would add real value if you were willing to review 
and comment on that guide. 

The main reason why we were not able to integrate your original accessibility 
guide draft into our manual was because we thought that your draft was more of 
an overview of accessibility requirements, whereas we were focussed on a 
task-oriented approach tightly linked with desktop functionality and tools. 
Would you consider developing your original document as a companion volume to 
the task-oriented accessibility guide? 

For example, if you use your original draft to create a manual called something 
like "Overview of Accessibility for the GNOME Desktop", then the two documents 
would support each other. Rather than overlap or contain similar information the 
two manuals could cross reference each other. An added advantage of such an 
overview document is that you would not need to update the document for each 
desktop revision, instead you would be free to update the document for changes 
in the accessibility world. Irene, on the other hand, will continue to update 
the task-oriented guide for each desktop revision. Using this strategy, we 
should be able to cover all the requirements, and maximize our cooperation. 

We would offer to be reviewers for the overview document, if you decide to run 
with this suggestion. 

Pat

> 
>On 18 Feb 2003 Sharon Snider said:  
> 
> To all,
> 
> I have no problem with removing my version from the Web site because my
> goal of having a generic version of the GNOME2 Accessibility Guide has been
> accomplished. Originally I was advised by Pat on 9/3/2003 that Sun did not
> plan on creating a generic guide and that their version would be  Sun
> specific (see email #1). However, I would like to contextualize a couple of
> comments in Pat's note to provide a clearer picture of how my GNOME2
> Accessibility Guide was developed.
> 
>    The GNOME 1.4 Accessibility, completed on 2/18/2002,  was my original
>    work and the majority of the GNOME2 Accessibility Guide content and
>    format was taken from the original guide.
>    The GNOME2 Accessibility Guide was written before any other Sun drafts
>    were published to CVS or the community.
>    The keyboard accessibility features taken from the engineering documents
>    available in GNOME CVS had no name or copyright. I discussed attributing
>    credit  for the information on the list and with Irene. On 11/26/2003
>    Irene and I agreed on the acknowledgement to Sun  for the input on
>    keyboard navigation and AccessX. (See acknowledge provided by Irene from
>    the original email#2 below).
>    It has always been my intention to collaborate on the GNOME
>    Accessibility Guide with the GNOME Documentation Project and the Sun
>    team. I have been working with the Sun team since 9/10/2001 on this
>    guide. After 5 months of work  (and being advisedby Pat that our chapter
>    would be included as part of the GNOME Users Guide), they decided not to
>    include our GNOME Accessibility content. In addition, they released the
>    right to the copyright for their assistance with the GDSG. (See email
>    #3)
> 
> Sincerely,
> Sharon Snider
> Linux Accessibility, and Information Development
> IBM Linux Technology Services
> (512) 838-4127, T/L 678-4127
> 
> 
> 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
> 
> Original message:
> Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 18:30:10 +0000 (GMT)
> From: Pat Costello <Patrick Costello Sun COM>
> Reply-To: Pat Costello <Patrick Costello Sun COM>
> Subject: Re: GNOME 2.2 Desktop Accessibility Guide
> To: kirillov math sunysb edu
> Cc: gnome-doc-list gnome org
> 
> On Feb 17 2003, Sasha said:
> 
> > Great!
> >
> > But now we have tow accessibility guides: one by Sharon Snider of IBM
> > (this is the one posted on http://www.gnome.org/start/2.2/)
> >  and another one by Irene Ryan of SUN. The best solution would be if
> > these could be merged, or if the authors agreed on joining their
> > efforts. Otherwise, we will have to choose which of them to include on
> > the web page and gnome-user-docs package, which almost inevitably leads
> > to hurt feelings...
> >
> 
> Frankly, Sasha, I do not see any reason why the accessibility guide that
> Irene
> has produced should be merged with the document that Sharon produced for
> several
> reasons:
> 
> - Irene's document relates to the GNOME 2.2 desktop, not the 2.0 desktop.
> - Irene's document covers both Linux and Solaris.
> - Irene's document is original work, produced by original research by Irene
> and
> engineers in Sun.
> - Irene's document is technically up-to-date.
> - Irene is working on her document to include new accessibility
> functionality
> and tools. She will issue regular updates.
> - Irene's work complies fully to the GDSG.
> - The only material in Sharon's document that we would see as being
> suitable for
> merging into Irene's document is material that was largely taken from
> Irene's
> original work in the first place. There was a string about this topic last
> November, see the following:
> 
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-doc-list/2002-November/msg00105.html
> 
> - That material is in any case now out-of-date in Sharon's manual.
> 
> Now, I'm not saying that no-one else cannot submit another book covering
> the
> same ground, but with a different slant. For example, there is already the
> Introduction to GNOME covering the same ground as the Overview chapter in
> the
> user guide. Sun is submitting the accessibility guide under the GFDL and
> others
> are  welcome to use the material, with due attribution of source, of
> course.
> 
> Pat
> ____________________________________________________________________
> Email #1:
> 
> > ----- Forwarded by Sharon D Snider/Austin/IBM on 09/03/2002 01:57 PM
> -----
> >
> >                       Pat Costello
> >                       <Patrick.Costello        To:       Sharon D
> Snider/Austin/IBM IBMUS
> >                       @Sun.COM>                cc:
> john sheehan dub-mail1 Ireland Sun COM
> >                                                Subject:  Re: New GNOME
> Desktop Accessibility Guide
> >                       08/14/2002 11:46
> >                       AM
> >                       Please respond to
> >                       Pat Costello
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Sharon,
> >
> > Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier about your attached mail, we are
> > just
> > emerging from the holiday season. The documentation team at Sun has
> > considered
> > your mail, and we thought it only fair to let you know what we are doing
> as
> >
> > regards an Accessibility Guide.
> >
> > We will produce an Accessibility Guide for the GNOME on Solaris desktop,
> > but the
> > way things look at the moment, the guide will be very Sun-specific. The
> > guide
> > will talk about Sun-only accessibility applications, Sun hardware, and
> > Solaris-specific considerations. Beyond those few topics, we are still
> > forming
> > our ideas about what we want to put into the manual.
> >
> > Therefore, we are not really in a position to collaborate on a generic
> > GNOME
> > accessibility guide, as such a document would not meet our needs.
> >
> > Having said that, when we have our document in a reasonably advanced
> state,
> > we
> > will issue drafts to anyone who is interested in the subject. We would
> > appreciate your comments, if you are willing to be a reviewer. Even
> though
> > our
> > document will have a strong Sun flavor, we aim to publish our
> Accessiblity
> > Guide
> > as an open-source manual when the document is completed.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Pat
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Email #2:
> 
> As regards copyright and acknowledgement, Sun is satisfied if you put an
> acknowledgements section into your manual, that says the following:
> 
> Acknowledgements
> ----------------
> Material for the key navigation and AccessX chapters of this manual was
> derived in part from documentation by Sun Microsystems Inc.
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Email #3:
> ----- Message from Pat Costello <GolithoLtd netscape net> on Mon, 18 Feb
> 2002 18:20:03 +0000 -----
>                                                             
>       To: sniders us ibm com, "Kristin E Thomas"            
>           <kristint us ibm com>                             
>                                                             
>  Subject: GNOME Desktop Accessibility Guide - xml files.    
>                                                             
> 
> Hi Sharon and Kristin,
> 
> As per our discussions last week, I have created xml files that can form
> the basis of a  GNOME Desktop Accessibility Guide. Note the following:
> 
> - There is only one chapter at the moment which is the accessibility
> features chapter that you provided.
> - Although the Sun team have done some work in terms of reviewing and
> structuring the file for xml, I don't think that we've done enough to
> warrant a copyright claim, so at the moment the copyright claim is
> attributed to you two.
> - I've prepared a starter preface, which you can alter to your own
> requirements.
> - You can edit or change the features chapter, you now effectively have
> the source files. As we are not including this book in the submission of
> the user guide to the community, you will need to contact John Fleck and
> Dan Mueth about finding a place for the accessibility in the community
> cvs tree. You will probably need to request a community cvs account.
> - You will notice that I have inserted ids for every section in the
> document. The files won't work in the GNOME viewing tools unless you
> have meaningful, unique ids for every section. I've put them in for you
> this time around, you will need to remember to do them yourselves if you
> add any new material.
> - The main file is the gag-book.xml file, which contains entities to the
> other files, plus a standard title page layout.
> - Note that I've given the book a V2.0 revision number. This is in line
> with the revision numbering that we have decided on for other GNOME
> manuals. The unit part of the part number indicates the GNOME desktop
> revision level, and the decimal part indicates the specific release
> version of the manual. I know it looks odd that this book is called V2.0
> when there was no V1.0, but at least we will always be able to tell at a
> glance which desktop revision is associated with a manual.
> - You need to keep the legal.xml as it is. This is the latest file, so
> you shouldn't need to update it for a while anyway.
> 
> That's it for now. We will most likely be coming back to you some time
> later in the year with our own  contributions to the accessibility guide.
> 
> Good luck with the book,
> 
> Pat
> 
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