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BULLETIN BOARDA Newsletter of the Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Video Description Supported in 2 tested DTV Converters At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital broadcasting. Digital broadcasting promises to provide a clearer picture and more programming options and will free up airwaves for use by emergency responders. Congress created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets after February 17, 2009. The Program allows U.S. households to obtain up to two coupons, each worth $40, which may be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes. A TV connected to cable, satellite or other pay TV service does not require a TV converter box from this program. To learn how to get the DTV converter boxes necessary to continue receiving over-the-air broadcasting after February of 2009, and the federal discount coupons, please visit call 1-888-388-2009 (That's "DTV-2009") or 1-877-530-2634 (TTY). WGBH's Media Access Group has tested two of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration/NTIA-certified coupon eligible converter boxes: Insignia (from Best Buy) and Digital Stream (from Radio Shack), and has determined that you can indeed receive and hear video description from a broadcast digital TV signal that properly includes it. Two different PBS kids programs broadcast on WGBH's digital channel were tuned in, and the descriptions came through. Even better news is that both boxes have both CC and SAP (or audio) buttons on the remote controls that allow you to access the various caption signals and alternate audio channels without having to go through the set-up menus. You will find discrepancies in the on-screen menus when you use the two different methods for controlling the alternate audio. Both boxes display "English 1" and "English 2" in the on-screen menu when you use the SAP or Audio button on the remote control. Use English 2 for accessing the video description (or Spanish if you are looking for that). In their set-up menus, both boxes display "English/Spanish/French" as the options in the pick list in those menus. And, of course, neither of the boxes has audible/talking menus for control of the set up and control of the boxes. The broadcaster must be properly tagging and sending the alternate audio in order for the boxes to pick up those signals and present them to the viewer. The Regional Library has available for mailing out Braille copies of 3 handouts from the Federal Communications Commission: (1) FCC Consumer Advisory: Video Description and the Digital Television Transition; (2) FCC Consumer Facts: "DTV" is Coming (And Sooner Than you Think); and (3) The Digital Transition: What You Need to Know about DTV. ANNOUNCEMENTS Students from Kenosha, Green Bay, and Madison are among the top Braille users in the United States and Canada, winning a competition held earlier this spring at the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville, as a part of the international Braille Challenge. The winners, Baylee Alger of Green Bay, Zachary Morris of Kenosha, and Amelia King of Madison, competed in reading comprehension, proofreading, spelling, dictation, and charts and graphs events as part of the challenge. Alger and Morris won top honors in the apprentice category for students in the first and second grades. Both attend their local school districts and receive Braille instruction from teachers of the blind: Alger from Kathleen Ford and Morris from Harry Ostrov. King has placed as a finalist twice before and won the competition in 2004. She currently attends the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped in Janesville and has been a student at Madison Memorial High School. Seventeen students ranging from second grade to high school seniors took part in the event on March 13. Winners were announced in early May by the Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles. The challenge, held since 2003 at the Janesville facility, is part of a competition in the United States and Canada to find the best Braille-using students in North America. The winners receive savings bonds and adaptive equipment from challenge sponsors. RESOURCES A new listserv helps connect Wisconsin families who are raising children or youth who are blind or have a visual impairment. Wisconsin Families of Visually Impaired Children is a family-to-family listserv moderated by a parent of a visually impaired child-a place to gain support, information, resources and build relationships. To join the list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WFOVIC/. Since its introduction the BadgerLink Songbook Database has made it easy for users to find songs in books in the DPI Reference and Loan Library's collection. Patrons looking for music for a wedding, recital or their own personal enjoyment have found the Songbook Database to be an invaluable tool. A newly added feature makes it easy to see which other libraries participating in WISCAT, the Wisconsin resource sharing system, own the books featured in the Songbook Database. Patrons can print out the WISCAT record for the songbook containing the song they want and take it to their library. If their local library doesn't own the book they can place an interlibrary loan request for it. The Songbook Database currently includes 40,000 unique records for songs contained in 2000 separate songbooks. Users can search for a song by title, composer, lyricist or year to discover a book containing the song. To find that favorite old song of yours in the BadgerLink Songbook Database, go to http://www.badgerlink.net/index.html and scroll to the bottom of the page, then click into the BadgerLink Songbook Database. If you have questions or want more information, contact the Reference and Loan Library at 888-542-5543 or email dpirllref@dpi.wi.gov. Bibliography: Candidates on Wisconsin ballots in 2008 John McCain. Faith of My Fathers, RC 48807, and Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir, RC 56852, are autobiographies in which Senator McCain describes his political career, values, his family history of military service and his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. McCain explores the character traits of exceptional people in Character Is Destiny, RC 60907, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life, RC 58324, and Hard call: great decisions and the extraordinary people who made them, RC 65557. The biography, John McCain: An American Odyssey, RC 49113, by Robert Timberg, was written when McCain sought the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. Ralph Nader. Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President, RC 53616, No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America, with Wesley J. Smith, RC 43589, The Ralph Nader Reader, RC 52407, and the new semi-autobiographical, The Seventeen Traditions, RC 65025. Barack Obama. In The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, RC 63126/BR 16808, Senator Obama discusses his ideas for improving our country. La audacia de la esperanza, RC 62990, is the Spanish version. In Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, RC 43877, he examines the impact of his ethnic heritage on his life. Barack Obama, RC 64442/DB 64442, by Sherri and Mark Devaney, is a general biography reviewing Obama's life and politics. Barack Obama: Working to Make a Difference, RC 65433, by Marlene T. Brill, is a juvenile biography for grades 5-8. David R. Obey. Raising Hell for Justice: the Washington Battles of a Heartland Progressive, RCW 825, is the autobiography of the longest serving member of Congress in Wisconsin history. A Democrat, he became chair of the House Appropriations Committee after the 2006 election. BULLETIN BOARD is published four times a year by the Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. It is available in large print, Braille, and audio-cassette editions. The Wisconsin Regional Library makes no recommendations or endorsements concerning any products or services which may appear in this publication. Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Last updated on 8/5/2008 7:40:57 AM |
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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers
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