The Tactile Times editors are very excited about Christmas. This is a short update to wish you a Merry Christmas, and to bring you the latest news. We wish you all a relaxing Christmas, and we look forward to getting ready for Issue 6 in 2022!
In this update we have the latest news, some advice on preparing for more home learning, our current top tech tips, and details on the latest events. But for jokes you will have to go to our accessible on line advent calendar! All details are inside this update.
N.B. This update includes hyperlinks which will not appear clickable on the Touch or Touch+. If you see some random text saying something like ‘Back to Contents’ it is a link made for people using computers or phones to bring you back (in this case) to the contents list.
2. Building an accessible advent calendar
3. Remote learning could re-appear at any time. Are you ready?
4. Tactile Times' top tech tips
5. Webinar recordings and other resources
Soundscape have recently released a major update to their app. The update contains a new feature called routes, which lets you combine markers to create a route, and have Soundscape automatically guide you to the next marker once you reach the marker it is guiding you to. This may be useful for example on an unfamiliar route where you could put a marker at each corner and then combine them to create a route. It is also good as it means you don't have to keep switching between beacons along your route, as you can get everything set up before you go. Routes can also be shared with people (e.g. your friend or mobility instructor).
To download the update, go to the App Store and search for "Microsoft Soundscape", then click the "Update" button.
You can now nominate someone you know for one of the categories of the RNIB See Differently Awards. From everyone who is nominated, RNIB will then create a shortlist (which we were on last time!), and then the public can vote for the winner. Sadly you have to nominate someone who is 18 or over, so there is no chance of us being on the shortlist this time.
You can nominate someone on RNIB's website at https://www.rnib.org.uk/see-differently-awards and the deadline is 31st December.
Last year we had the idea of building an accessible advent calendar on our website. We thought it would be amazing to create the first online advent calendar designed specifically for young braillists. We only had this idea once December had already arrived, so we couldn't create anything for that year.
So, this year, the story continues…
This year we were more prepared. We launched a beta version of our advent calendar, which is available now on our games website. It includes some Christmas jokes and also some audio files. We have also added a sound when a door opens, to give you confirmation that the door is open and that you can find out what's behind it.
We can confirm that the calendar is fully-accessible with a screen reader. If you find any accessibility bugs, please let us know.
Because this is a first test, not all days have content in them. There are also some features that we don't yet have, but are hoping to have ready in time for December 2022. These include automatically keeping doors open after the day has passed, and making it easier for non screen reader users to navigate.
If you would like to check out the first version of the advent calendar and give us some feedback, just go to https://games.tactiletimes.org/advent.html and then send any feedback to [email protected].
With the new Covid variant rapidly spreading, nobody knows what the situation will be like in January. Even if the overall guidance turns out to be to keep schools open, many schools, classes and year groups are likely going to have to isolate because of Covid outbreaks. Also, you may get Covid and find you have to suddenly switch to learning remotely.
So here are 5 things that you could do to get ready:
The number one thing is for you and your parents to make sure that there is a plan for how you will receive your adapted work at home. But there are also other things that you can do to prepare now.
If you know which meeting platform (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex) your school uses, double-check that you can independently join a meeting using that platform. A simple test could be to ask your parents or a friend to create you a meeting, which you could then attempt to join.
If your school uses a system (such as Google Classroom) for you to submit work remotely, you should get comfortable using it now so it isn't a surprise to you if you have to stay at home.
Why not read up on your schools meeting platform on our tech blog to get familiar with how it works? If your schools meeting platform isn't listed on our tech blog, try and search up some articles on how to join meetings with it.
If you find there is an issue that cannot be easily solved, or that you are not able to join meetings, now is a good time to sort it out before it becomes urgent!
If you have tech (e.g. a Touch) that you only use in school and do not take home, you need to make sure you are allowed to bring this tech home if you have to learn remotely.
This will not be an issue for some people, but we have heard that some children are not allowed to take their tech home. If you are one of these children then speak to your parents and QTVIs, as your tech can come home! It is time to make this change.
If you have an embosser at school and hardcopy braille really helps you, you should ask to take it home. If you don't know how to send documents to it yourself, you also need to learn how to do that.
Get a Touch plus for remote braille lessons – With a touch plus, you can share your screen on Zoom.
You can use this feature along with KeyBRF so that you can have a productive braille lesson remotely where your braille teacher/QTVI can see braille you type come up on their device. You should ask for a Touch plus as soon as possible if you think this would make a big difference for you.
You can achieve a similar result with a computer and Duxbury but it requires that you have a braille display, a Windows computer, JAWS, Duxbury, Zoom and a big chunk of time devoted to setup and testing. That is quite a long list of requirements!
This one isn't really about tech, but we always recommend that you get some fresh air and do some outdoor exercise. Particularly during a lockdown when we might be at home all day, it is very important to schedule in time for exercise. You can also use Strava to track your exercise. See our review of Strava in issue 5 for more details, and get yourself set up now.
Here are our top tips to get the most out of tech, Christmas 2021.
For more on technology visit our tech blog at https://tech.tactiletimes.org
Although there are very few live webinars over the Christmas holidays, there are still loads of recorded webinars available to watch on demand. These include all Sight and Sound's events, some of the master classes run by the Braillists Foundation , all the HumanWare live webinars, lots of APH access academy and many more. There are also resources such as newsletters and webpages which have helpful information. Have a look at the links below to get you started:
Sight and Sound podcast (with lots of archived webinars):
https://audioboom.com/channels/4972917
Sight and Sound YouTube channel (with lots of archived webinars and videos):
https://www.youtube.com/user/SightAndSoundTech/about?disable_polymer=1
HumanWare live page:
https://tactiletimes.page.link/HLWS
Hadley technology (with lots of videos and archived discussion groups, you will need to login/register):
https://hadley.edu/learn?topic_id=14
Braillists media page (which contains recordings and notes from Braillists events):
https://www.braillists.org/media/
Look website (with resources, news, recordings of webinars and many more pages):
BrailleCast – A podcast run by members of the Braillists:
Top tech Tidbits for Thursday newsletter archive (a newsletter all about accessible tech):
https://www.toptechtidbits.com/archive.html
VocalEyes newsletter archives (they have been sending out weekly newsletters ever since the first lockdown started):
https://us7.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=909237df20438895b80cc2b0d&id=1c2762eb08
Look-UK Newsletter archives (they have been sending out weekly newsletters since the start of the first lockdown):
https://us13.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=831403dd02fd4412372ae9267&id=8de2671ac8
British Blind Sport newsletter archive (they have been sending out monthly newsletters):
https://us6.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=a9d59ab4c8&id=27857b700e
And don't forget our own past issues page and events email archive (the events email archive is no longer updated but might still be a useful resource). Why not also check out our useful links page and discover something new?
Here are some events which are coming up in 2022. Some of these are not Advertised on the Internet!
The Braillists Foundation will be holding a world braille day event on Tuesday 4th January. This is likely to be the first webinar after the Christmas holidays. The details have not been sent out so we recommend you subscribe to the Braillists newsletter if you are interested in attending. You can subscribe at https://braillists.org/newsletter
The Braillists will also likely resume their regular schedule in 2022 (see https://braillists.org/events)
Out of all the organisations we list events from, the Braillists have the most accessible and well-structured website by far, so it will likely be easy to find what you are looking for by visiting their website (https://braillists.org).
Contact the Braillists by email on [email protected]
There have been regular Look youth forums taking place on Zoom over the last few months.
The series ended with a festive party on 15th December.
These youth forums are now on pause for the holidays, and they will resume in February.
For more information, contact Elin Williams by email at [email protected]
Sight and Sound have been running regular webinars throughout 2021.
These concluded with the last AT Social hub on 16th of December, but they will start again in 2022.
The timings will change slightly from January 2022 onwards, and sessions will start at 2pm on a Thursday.
This is sadly during the school day, but if you are at school you can still catch up with the sessions later via the podcast or YouTube channel. If you would like more information, contact Stuart Lawler on [email protected]
Sight Village events are free-to-attend exhibitions where companies present the latest technology for blind people. They are really fun but can sometimes get a bit noisy. They are very helpful if you would like to try out a piece of tech to decide whether it is helpful for you or not.
If the Covid situation allows, Sight Village are hoping to do in-person events in 2022. These will be taking place in different towns and cities throughout the country (with the biggest Central event taking place in Birmingham). See below for the dates of all the planned events.
South-west (Exeter) – 26th April 2022
Central (Birmingham) – 28-29 June 2022 (sadly during the school term this time)
Pre-registration will be able to be completed via the link above once available.
North-east (Leeds) – 21st September 2022
Pre-registration will be able to be completed via the link above once available.
South-east (London) – 8-9 November 2022
Pre-registration will be available from the QAC Eventbrite page (not the find out more link above) once it opens.
You can contact the team on [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to subscribe to the newsletter.
You will find Christmas jokes in the first few days of our online advent calendar (see above for details).
But here is one to get you started: “What do you get when you combine a Christmas tree and an iPad? A pineapple”
Why not also check out some music in days 12 and 13 of our advent calendar?
This is the end of this update. It was published in December 2021 by the Tactile Times. Please note that we are hoping to start publishing hard copies, and sending them to subscribers that have requested hard copies, in 2022.
If this document was forwarded to you, we recommend subscribing for free to get future issues and updates by email. You can do this via the accessible Google form on the Subscribe page of the website.
If you would like something more to read, why not check out our past issues?
Email: [email protected]
Website: tactiletimes.org
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