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Re: draft for Friends of GNOME campaign

I have never edited a Wiki or anything of the like, but I have always wanted to create some tutorials and documents to help people who want to make the jump to Linux. When I first started using Linux, my learning experience came from browsing forums and from the results of numerous Google searches. I did not get involved with mailing lists until maybe late last year; I wish I would have done so sooner.
Switching to Linux was a very frightening thing for me at first because I felt as though very, very few visually impaired individuals used it. I was nervous about what to do, how to activate certain features, and so on. My wife (who is fully sighted) had never used Linux, let alone heard of it, so I had to be able to support the system and carry out basic administration tasks. When I first started using Linux, it seemed (and maybe this was because of my poor searching skills) that accessibility information was a bit hard to find.
I do not have really any programming experience, but I have always loved to write. As time permits, I want to learn more about GNOME 3/Shell (e.g. the proper names for different elements), and I woulds like to try to write up some draft tutorials for visually impaired users.
As I said before I am very appreciative of what is being done, and I want to be able to help wherever and however I can.
One question: For Wiki editing, do I need to be a member of a specific group or do I need to pass along my information to someone who moderates the Wiki? I just do not want to overstep any bounds or take any actions which I should not take. 

Thanks, everyone. Keep up the great work.

On 11/29/2011 01:48 AM, Brian Cameron wrote:


Robert:

The GNOME Community could use testimonials from people who
use Free Desktop a11y technologies.  Currently the Wiki does not
provide any:

  https://live.gnome.org/Accessibility

I think it would be great for the GNOME community if someone wanted
to help organize putting together some more rich content from users
that benefit from Free Software accessibility projects like GNOME.

Brian


On 11/29/11 12:50 AM, Robert Cole wrote:

Hello.

I was unsure as to whether or not my reply to this post would be
helpful, but I figured that, just in case it could be, I would respond.

I fell in love with Linux when I took my first Linux class back in 2006.
I knew nothing about accessibility at that time, but the professor of
the class took the time to research the topic for me. I used the
Gnopernicus magnifier in my first Linux system--Fedora Core 5. In late
2006 I began using gnome-mag in Ubuntu. In 2007 I completely switched to
Linux when I aw how stable both gnome-mag and the Compiz eZoom plugin
were. I was at a point financially where I could not afford to pay for
upgrades to my screen reader and screen magnifier under Windows. I have
been happy ever since and have no regrets.

I will admit that when I found out that GNOME 3/Shell did not work with
Compiz any longer I was quite disappointed as Compiz's eZoom plugin
worked very smoothly when panning while zoomed into the desktop. I have
been testing GNOME 3/Shell under a Linux Mint 12 virtual machine, and I
find that the Zoom feature works wonderfully. It does not pan as
smoothly as Compiz did, but this is while running on a virtual machine.
If it is still not completely smooth in an actual environment, I ma sure
that will be factored out in the future. I am not trying to complain; I
am very grateful for what is present, and I look forward to what the
future has to offer.

I have also begun to use Orca to reduce eye strain, and I love it. It
makes my life much easier. I appreciate all of the hard work which is
being put into GNOME. during its inception, I had read rants about how
the developers had basically thrown "Accessibility" to the side. From my
experiences in my Linux Mint 12 environment, I am glad to see that those
rants were wrong.

So, from the point of view of a blind student soon to graduate with an
Associate degree in Computer Information Systems, from someone who is
financially pressed because of hardships in finding employment, I will
say this: without the hard work of the GNOME developers, I would not
have made it this far. I am nto exaggerating any of what I say, believe
me. The accessibility of GNOME is the reason why I switched to Linux,
and it is why I stay.

I am sure that some developers out there may feel like their work is in
vain, but trust me...it definitely is not.

I will end this rambling on, and I do apologize for the long message. I
just wanted to make it know that, at least in my life, the hard work put
into GNOME has made a tremendous difference. It is something which I try
my best not to take for granted.

If I can help with anything (I wish that I could help financially, but I
can hardly afford to take care of my family) please feel free to contact
me on- or off-list, whichever is most efficient and proper.

Thanks for everything which all of you do to make GNOME work.


On 11/28/2011 02:25 PM, Juanjo Marín wrote:

----- Mensaje original -----


De: Dave Neary<dneary gnome org>
Para: marketing-list gnome org
On 11/28/2011 08:04 PM, Karen Sandler wrote:

jjmarin and I are working on this text to promote the FoG campaign
we hope
to launch next week. How can we improve it? Also, do you like "Make

2012

the year of accessibility for GNOME" as a short tagline?

I hate to say it, but I'm not sure if Accessibility as an abstract
concept
will sell.

Do we have some examples of GNOME users whose lives were made
measurably better
because of the a11y work we've done? Show-cases work wonders.
With your help we can start tackling those goals. Let's kickstart 2012 
as

the Year of Accessibility at GNOME and make the most usable desktop
environment the most accessible desktop environment!

Do we have any specific improvements (and the reasons why they're
important
- or the people for whom they're important) to point to?



Hi,

I think is worth to crossposting the following message from the
marketing list to
the accessibility list to get some feedback from users about how
useful the accessibilty features of GNOME are in their lives and why
it is important
for them to keep working on this.

Basically, there are a lot of accessibility tasks to be done in
several areas. There
are features to be implemented, for example, the gnome-shell Magnifier
track focus and caret, and more obscure issues in the platform, like
peformance Improvements which are important for getting a snapier user
experience, just to name a couple of
them. There are many tasks in the accessibilty roadmap [1] haven't
been done yet
because a lack of resources.

Cheers,


-- Juanjo Marin


[1] Two year 2010-2012 accessibilty roadmap.
https://live.gnome.org/Accessibility/Roadmap

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