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The 1998 Maryland Technology Showcase
by Gregg J. Donaldson
The third annual Maryland Technology Showcase Fair was an interesting conglomeration of vendors, technology gadgets and gizmos, Federal and state agencies, businesses, seminars and nontechnical consumers, coming together to see what Maryland had to offer. The two day fair was held at the Baltimore Convention Center, December 9-10, 1998.
Among the venders of interest were FreBon International Corporation, which won Information Technology Board's (ITB) Awards along with Sailor.
In an effort to publicize it's mission the Access and Equity Committee, of the Governor's Information Technology Board (ITB), sponsored a call for exhibitors, at Maryland's 1998 Technology Showcase, to be recognized for their products accessibility to disadvantaged persons. The participants displayed applications of software and hardware and demonstrated the potential for their products to eliminate barriers for not only persons with physical disabilities but those with language and economic obstacles.
A flyer announcing the challenge was sent with information packets from American Showcase Management. Eleven exhibitors responded and a panel of committee members interviewed contact personnel as the showcase took place around them.
The products were recognized for their accessibility, by persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hearing impaired, physically challenged, illiterate, non-English speaking and economically deprived. Two exhibitors were chosen to receive awards from the ITB.
Fre Bon International Corporation for its videoconferencing which has the potential for linking persons across disability and social levels to information from remote sites and Sailor Operations for its internet link for most people through accessible computer software and hardware and its availability at local libraries.
The members of the Access and Equity Committee asked that we thank all participants who responded and invite an even greater number of technology providers to join in next year by displaying products that represent their efforts in universal design.
FreBon International Corporation: FreBon International Corporation (FBIC), is a full service company that specializes in the implementation of point-to-point and multi-point videoconferencing networks worldwide. The company is in McLean, Virginia and awarded a 5-year contract with the State of Maryland on June 20, 1994. This contract is open to all State, County, and Local agencies, as well as all educational institutions. FBIC is classified with the Department of Transportation as a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE). FreBon also works closely with Bowie State University and the National Guard. For more information, call: 703- 848-8200 or 1-888-FreBon1 and their homepage is: http://www.frebon.com.
National Federation of the Blind: Jobline - is a text-to synthetic-speech telephone based national employment list delivery service developed and operated by the National Federation of the Blind in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, (DOL). This growing national network will provide the entire national daily updated job list database of DOL's America's Job Bank in synthetic speech to people nationwide over telephones. Forty states will shortly join Maryland and Minnesota in having this service. Jobline, which uses technology originally developed for the blind, makes the job search easier for non-computer users, people who live in rural areas, people with other disabilities, and those who have difficulty with reading. For more information, call: 410-659-9314, Web: http://www.nfb.org
Cable in the Classroom: Cable in the Classroom is a $420 million public service effort supported by 38 national cable networks and over 8,500 local cable companies. These companies act as partners in learning with teachers and parents by providing free cable connections and over 540 hours per month of commercial-free educational programming to schools nationwide. The program was started in 1989 and today it is provided free to more than 78,000 public and private schools. Member include CNN, Discovery, A&E and Nickelodeon, set aside a portion of their on-air schedule to air commercial-free programming on subjects as varied as science, art, history, math, literature and world events. Some programs are specifically created for a network's Cable in the Classroom offering, such as; ESPN2's SportsFigures. While others, such as; A&E reformat their documentaries from their regular schedules. All programs are copyright-cleared for at least a year so schools can build their own video libraries.
How It Works: Member cable companies provide cable connections to schools in their service areas. A monthly magazine is available, which lists the Cable in the Classroom programming by subject. Then teachers, school media coordinators, librarians, or volunteers can tape the programs either at school or home. Teachers then keep the shows and use them when them when it is appropriate, generally using short segments of a program, frequently pausing the video to ask questions and discuss key points. Cable in the Classroom, also provides teacher training workshops to help teachers learn how to use cable resources effectively. TT asked if Cable in the Classroom was shown in any Special Education schools? We were told, yes and Nickelodeon's Blues Clues did very well getting a response from Autistic children. For more information call: 703-845-1400, their Web:http://www.ciconline.org
Sailor is a Project of Maryland's Library Community to help people gain access to the worldwide web through free Internet access. Sailor also hosts many of Maryland's websites throughout the state. Sailor was also a winner of the Information Technology Board's (ITB) Award. Visit any Maryland Public Library or their website: http://www.sailor.lib.md.us for more information.
IBM's ViaVoice98, for Home/Office or Executive: Software that allows a person to speak and type in their own voice. The products work with most Windows applications. Home: Allows the whole family to create and edit documents with ease in their own voices. Office: Lets a person navigate and control his/her desktop and applications by voice, as well as create voice commands for repetitive keyboard movements. Executive: Supports multiple users sharing the same computer. IBM's ViaVoice98 Specialty Vocabularies (for Legal and Medical dictation) Software that allows a person to speak and type. They allow a person to do letters, reports, forms, etc. Each package provides unique terminology and statistics assuring customers a maximum recognition accuracy rate. For more information their Web: http://www.ibm.com/viavoice
Another company that was of interest is, ITServ, they have two services. Firstgate - is a fully functioning voice mailbox, but also allows users to send voice messages from any touch-tone phone. It delivers them as sound file attachments to standard e-mails to anybody you designate. Thus, eliminating the computer. A person can speak in their native "language as well as retrieve messages by telephone or computer. Also a person can send to multiple recipients thus saving on long distance charges. RideWay- is a networking system for home or office, which allows people to explore the Internet at the same time, through a single connection". For more information call: 301-948-0170. Or Web: http://www.itserv.com
D.
THIS RIBBON IS GlVEN IN SPECIAL RECOGNITlON OF EXHIBITORS AT THE 1998 MARYLAND TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE WHOSE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WERE NOMINATED AND CLEARLY DEMONSTRATE UNIVERSAL AND EQUAL ACCESS SOLUTIONS. BY DEVELOPING ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, YOUR ORGANIZATION HELPS TO EMPOWER MARYLAND'S DISABLED AND DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES AND SETS THE PACE FOR OTHER TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS.
THE ACCESS AND EQUITY COMMITTEE OF MARYLAND'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BOARD, IS PROUD TO RECOGNIZE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF
IN DEVELOPING AN ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION
DECEMBER 9, 1998
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