Access to the Information SuperHighway Using OS/2 Warp

November 7, 1994

Recently, Vice President Al Gore established a blue ribbon council to
outline the Administration's plans for promoting the use of networking and
computing technologies to give Americans unprecedented access to
information and communications services.

It is called the United States Advisory Council for the National
Information Infrastructure (NII) and it includes computer and
communication industry leaders, members of the US Senate, and experts from
the legal and educational fields.  You may recognize names such as John
Sculley from Spectrum Information Technologies, Ed McCracken from Silicon
Graphics, or Nathan Myhrvold from Microsoft. The Advisory Council is
structured under Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce.

On October 18, 1994, the Advisory Council met at Silicon Graphics, Inc., in
Mountain View, California, to discuss access for users who have
disabilities.

This is a group of users who could benefit significantly from access to the
Information SuperHighway. If electronic information is accessible, people
who are blind will be able to "listen to" books. People who have mobility
impairments, who find it difficult to leave their homes to go to the
library or to a movie, will be able to retrieve this information and
entertainment. Socializing on the NII can open a whole world of
friendships and discussions for those who otherwise would not be able to
make these contacts around the world.

As part of the discussion in Mountain View, IBM Special Needs Systems (SNS)
was requested to show how technology can provide easy access to the
Information SuperHighway.

Janina Sajka of the World Institute on Disability, who is blind, assisted
Denny Mitchell and Rich Schwerdtfeger of SNS with a demonstration of using
the Internet through OS/2 Warp.  Ms. Sajka used IBM Independence Series
Screen Reader/2, to access OS/2 Warp. Janina demonstrated OS/2 Warp
graphical gopher, telnet, FTP, and the soon-to-be-released IBM WebExplorer
to retrieve files, read/send mail, and shop.

When interviewed by KRON-TV News for a future special on the NII, Janina
was asked how she accessed information on the SuperHighway before she had
this technology. She responded, "It was harder to do things, because you
could only do one thing at a time under DOS. Also, traditional Internet
technology requires you to know more commands. OS/2 Warp with Screen
Reader/2 looks wonderful because much of the arcane of Internet has been
expedited in the interface. I particularly like the ability to have
multiple Internet sessions going at any time."

Through the discussions and presentations, we feel the Advisory Council has
developed a greater appreciation for the use of IBM technology as an "on
ramp" to the Information SuperHighway for users with disabilities.

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