TBC Closed Monday

The Talking Book Center will be closed this Monday, May 30, for Memorial Day. You are welcome to leave us voicemail at 1-800-531-2063 or email at talkingbooks@athenslibrary.org. We will resume our normal hours of 9am - 6pm on Tuesday, May 31.

Blind Horse Has 10-Animal Entourage

Sissy, a 15-year old blind horse who lives at an animal sanctuary in Montana, has a lot of help in the form of 5 goats and 5 sheep who make sure she can find food, water, and her stall. To read the MSNBC story about Sissy, please visit: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43138175/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/t/goats-sheep-guide-blind-horse-montana/?GT1=43001.

New York Public Library Turns 100

The New York Public Library is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. This massive library houses over 50 million items, including an early copy of the Declaration of Independence.

To read more about the library and its centennial celebration, please visit the MSNBC article: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43127605/ns/us_news-life/?gt1=39002.

VizWiz

The following article was taken from www.newscientist.com.

Phone app lets the blind see through the crowd's eyes
16:09 11 May 2011
Ferris Jabr, reporter



Yasmina, a student at the University of Rochester in New York, is in the mood for some soup.

She opens her cupboard where she knows the coconut milk she needs is sitting on the shelf amongst other canned goods. Instead of reaching for the right can, she hesitates. Yasmina is blind. She holds her iPhone to the open cupboard, snaps a picture of the cans, makes an audio recording of her question - "which one is the coconut milk?" - and double taps to send off her query.

Approximately 45 seconds later her iPhone replies in an electronic timbre: "The answer is the one on the right." "Great," Yasmina says, feeling for the rightmost can, "that's awesome."

Yasmina just used VizWiz, a new mobile phone application that provides the visually impaired with nearly real-time solutions to everyday problems. VizWiz can, for example, help the blind read their mail, coordinate their outfits, understand menus in restaurants, check expiration dates and interpret street signs. The app owes its swiftness and accuracy to a marriage of computer chips and good old-fashioned human brainpower.

Designing a computer program that can reliably recognize text and distinguish objects in the real world has proven to be a massive challenge for artificial intelligence researchers. To get around this, the researchers behind VizWiz - a team consisting of computer scientists from several universities, including the University of Rochester - decided to outsource the task of problem-solving to people: specifically, to Amazon Mechanical Turk's masses of online workers.

To make sure users get answers as quickly as possible, the researchers programmed an intelligent queuing system they call Quik Turkit to speed things up. Quik Turkit recruits Mechanical Turk workers even as a VizWiz user is taking a picture, so someone is always ready to answer an incoming query.

Eleven blind iPhone users tested out VizWiz, asking questions like: "What denomination is this bill?", "Do you see picnic tables across the parking lot?", and "What temperature is my oven set to?"

They received an average of three responses per query and waited an average of 133.3 seconds for the first answer. The first answer received was accurate or helpful in 71 of 82 cases. By the third answer, all questions were correctly answered.

In a second test, the volunteers got to use VizWiz 2.0, which includes improved image processing techniques. Their response time was cut to an average of 27 seconds.

Most of the volunteers were excited about VizWiz and said they would pay for the service. VizWiz could be "very useful," said one participant, "because I get so frustrated when I need sighted help and no one is there."

Athens Council on Aging News

Some events are happening at the Athens Council on Aging that you may be interested in. For information about any of these, please contact ACCA at 706-549-4850.


Ms. Senior Athens Pageant
Saturday, May 21, 2011 - 6 p.m.

Georgia Center for Continuing Education
The University of Georgia


Masters of Ceremonies:
Liz Dalton · Doc Eldridge


Contestants:
Annette Barfield · Helen DeLong
Consie Vella Ellington
Catherine Moore Harden · Wilma Jeffers
Bobbie McKeller · Elizabeth Nevil
Rubielen Norris · Jane Parrick
Carol Shelnutt · Judy Sloan · Susan Wiley


The winner will receive a crown, sash, $500 cash, $100 Belk gift certificate and the honor of serving as a liaison to the Athens Convention & Visitor's Bureau for 1 year.



Tickets: $75.00 a person

*A portion of the tickets is tax-deductible. Group rates are available.

Ticket includes cocktail hour, dinner and silent auction, live music and entertainment.

For more information: www.accaging.org/msseniorathens.php

To purchase tickets by the end of today: Contact Claire Boozer at 706-549-4850 or
cboozer@accaging.org.



Living Well Workshop

What is Living Well?

Living Well can help you cope with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and depression. The techniques you’ll learn through the Living Well workshops will help you lead a happier, healthier life.

The Living Well program is a six-week program led by trained leaders. During the small group classes members are encouraged to share and offer support. By attending all six classes you will:

• Learn how to manage your condition
• Learn to cope with negative feelings related to your condition
• Communicate better with your doctor
• Learn what you can do to help yourself
• Have fun sharing with a positive, supportive group

The group meets once a week for six weeks. Classes last two hours and are held at convenient locations in your county. This program is FREE of charge.

Who can participate?
Anyone with a chronic health condition is welcome. Family members, friends or caregivers can sign up too.


May 19 – June 23rd at Athens Community Council on Aging at 2:30 in the conference room.

The Boomers: Reflecting, Sharing, Learning

The Athens Regional Library System and the Lyndon House Arts Center have received a grant to develop programs for Baby Boomers. One part of this development is a new website. This website will be an ever-evolving entity, but will provide valuable information for Boomers in the Athens area.

Check it out! Boomers in Athens

Seniors Struggle After Tornadoes

Fierce tornadoes have whipped through much of the south recently, leaving a path of destruction and flooding behind. Today's Athens Banner-Herald ran an article about the impact that these storms have had on the senior populations. You can read it at: www.onlineathens.com/stories/051111/nat_827285473.shtml.

NFB Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
cdanielsen@nfb.org

National Federation of the Blind and
Law School Admissions Council Agree to Settlement


LSAC Will Make its Web Site Fully Accessible to the Blind


Baltimore, Maryland (April 26, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today announced that it has settled a lawsuit with the Law School Admissions Council, Inc. (LSAC) regarding access to the LSAC Web site (www.lsac.org) by blind people. As part of the settlement, LSAC will provide full and equal access to its Web site for blind users by September 1, 2011. Changes will be made to the LSAC Web site that will allow blind users utilizing screen access technology, which converts what is on the computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille, to read and interact with it. The accessibility requirements extend to all parts of the Web site on which services or products are made available to prospective law school applicants or to LSAT and Credential Assembly Service registrants, including, but not limited to, the process of applying to law schools through lsac.org and the documents and practice tests LSAC makes available online.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Access to Web sites is critical to the full and equal participation of blind people in all aspects of modern life. In this instance, access is especially critical, since without it blind people experience significant barriers to entering the legal profession. The National Federation of the Blind is pleased to have reached a settlement with the Law School Admissions Council and we look forward to working with its officials and technical staff in the coming months. It is our sincere hope that other educational entities and credentialing organizations that provide vital services over the Internet will follow LSAC’s example and take affirmative steps to provide full access to their Web sites by blind consumers.”



Deepa Goraya, a named plaintiff in the suit, said: “As someone who has gone through the law school application process and struggled to use the Law School Admission Council’s Web site, I am pleased to see that the Web site will be made fully accessible and the process of gaining admission to law school will now be easier for all blind people who are interested in entering this noble profession.”



Under the settlement, the National Federation of the Blind will perform semi-annual accessibility testing of the LSAC Web site until September 1, 2012.



The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy; Laurence W. Paradis, Anna Levine, and Karla Gilbride of the Berkley firm Disability Rights Advocates; and Scott C. LaBarre of the Denver firm LaBarre Law Offices.





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BARD Now Open to Institutions

BARD - the Braille and Audio Reading Download site - is now open for institutions to use. This will allow teachers, activity directors, and administrators to download books for their eligible students, residents, and patients.


If your institution currently uses cassette or digital Talking Books, you may sign up for a BARD account at the following link:

https://nlsbard.loc.gov/cgi-bin/public/nlsbardprod/accountrequest.cgi?libcode=GA1A;isinstitution=true


If your institution does NOT have a Talking Books account, but would like to use BARD, please contact the Talking Book Center at 1-800-531-2063 and we will help you sign up for the service.

BARD Suggested Reads - Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 8. After you've called Mom, spend the afternoon with one of these Talking Books available from BARD:

• "Are You My Mother?" - P.D. Eastman - DB 22795
  
  A baby bird falls from his nest and begins searching for his mother. For beginning readers in preschool-grade 2.
  
  
• "Teta, mother, and me: three generations of Arab women" - Jean Said Makdisi - DB 63183
  
  Jerusalem-born professor recounts the lives of her mother, Hilda Musa Said, and maternal grandmother, Munira Badr Musa--"Teta"--throughout the turbulent late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Said compares their lives to her own as she struggles to balance family and work with the notions of feminism, Arab culture, modernity, and tradition.
  
  
• "Only a Mother Could Love Him: My Life with and Triumph Over ADD" - Benjamin Polis - DB 60824
  
  Autobiography of an Australian with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. At nineteen years old he describes the difficulties he encountered growing up at home and school. Offers advice to parents about selecting schools, teachers, and medication; handling homework, discipline, and relationships; and other issues.
  
  
• "'Night, Mother: A Play" - Marsha Norman - DB 59604
  
  Intending to commit suicide within hours, middle-aged Jessie draws her mother into a taut conversation that begins with the practicalities of household management but shifts to take in issues of failed relationships, chronic illness, love, and the meaning of life.
  
  
• "A Remarkable Mother" - Jimmy Carter - DB 66727
  
  Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter pays homage to his mother, Bessie Lillian Gordy Carter (1898-1983). Describes "Miss Lilly’s" childhood in rural Georgia, training as a nurse during World War I, marriage, and 1968-1969 trip to India as a Peace Corps volunteer. Highlights her humanitarian ethic at home and abroad.
  
  
• "Like mother, like daughter (but in a good way)" - Jennifer Greene, Nancy Robards Thompson, and Peggy Webb - DB 68585
  
  Three short stories centering on the relationship between mothers and daughters. In "Born in My Heart" a woman struggles after her adopted daughter finds her birth mother. In "The Long-Distance Mother" a middle-aged divorcée returns home to patch things up with her mom--who now has dementia.
  
  
• "The must-have mom manual: two mothers, two perspectives, one book that tells you everything you need to know" / Sara Ellington and Stephanie Triplett - DB 69877
  
  The authors, who are best friends, use personal experiences and research they conducted for hosting their radio show The Mommy Chronicles to provide advice on various aspects of parenting. Topics include giving birth, living with a baby, working, dealing with health issues, expanding the family, and learning about schools.
  
  
• "Circling My Mother" - Mary Gordon - DB 66360
  
  Author of Shadow Man (RC 43651) and other works creates a portrait of her Catholic career-woman mother whose ninety-four years were shaped by childhood polio, alcoholism, and senile dementia. Gordon reflects on her bond with her mother and on the blessings and the burdens of loving her.
  
  

Talking Books Lunch & Learn

The Barrow Regional Medical Center offers Lunch & Learn classes at the Winder YMCA. Tomorrow, the Talking Book Center will be presenting a class on the Talking Books service. We invite you to join us for this event!

Talking Books Lunch & Learn
YMCA of Georgia - Piedmont
50 Brad Akins Dr Winder GA 30680

Tuesday, May 3
12:30pm