RESNA 2002
SIG-11 Annual Business Meeting Minutes
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Computer Tech Lab

Sharon Ferrell called the meeting to order. Everyone in attendance introduced themselves by giving their name and the state which they were from. Sharon filled us in on some changes that are planned for next year's conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It is looking like Atlanta might become the permanent home of the conference with only a detour to Orlando, Florida for the 2004 conference. Next year the conference proceeding will be on CD rather than bound into book form. Due to this change to electronic format, submission dates will be earlier and firm. Sharon also reported that the focus for RESNA in the upcoming year would be improving the web site, more public policy work, updating the ATP and ATS exams and energizing the annual conference.

Ray Grott opened a discussion on expanding the conference offerings to include more nuts-and-bolts examples of what individuals have actually done in the computer access area. These offerings would be above and beyond the SIG-11 Show & Tell and the Developers Forum. He felt that such offerings are needed due to the strong support shown for both and the high interest in hands on events. Ideas were also shared regarding adding a Tips & Tricks section and a Disasters section to the SIG-11 web site, articles for the Assistive Technology Journal, and for conference presentation. Those having the time to write papers were strongly encouraged to do so as they only need to be one to three pages long. It was also suggested that if we see a very interesting email, we should encourage the author to write a paper for the conference. Another recommendation was that SIG-11 form a mentoring group that could pre-read conference papers and give the author feedback fast enough for them to improve their paper and submit it for the conference. Alan Cantor volunteered to help review papers before conference submission.

The Listserve was highlighted as a great resource that goes on all year. However, it could be improved by having individuals who have had their problem solved by the list report back with their solution and/or results. Dennis Anson suggested that abstracts be made publicly available for a nominal fee on the web site.

No definite plans were made at this time, but the hope is that the group will consider these and any other ideas that we have and bring them back for our next meeting in Atlanta in 2003.

The election of the Vice Chairperson was the next order of business. The duties of the Vice Chairperson were explained as primarily in planning of the Developers Forum and support of the SIG-11 Chairperson. Kirk Siqveland and Ron Kocsis were nominated and agreed to serve as Co-Vice Chairpersons for the upcoming year.

Bruce Fleming presented the concept of a group White Paper to the SIG. All of us work with new products everyday. Are these products compatible? Will they work well with Windows? What problems happen? He proposes that we could help developers improve products by suggesting changes prior to general release of the product. Dennis Anson reported that due to pressure from implementation of Section 508, Microsoft is now coming to AT developers and asking how they (Microsoft) can help their stuff work with ours. The Microsoft Guide to Accessible Software, the items on the Trace Center web site and some items on the RESNA web site are available to anyone to use. Kirk Siqveland suggested that we develop a track on the list serve with a moderator who combines ideas posted and then re-posts them in a separate area/group on the list serve so that those who have specific problems can go directly to the appropriate area. Ray Grott wants either RESNA or SIG-11 to be seen as THE place where developers can come to for ideas, beta testing, etc. It was suggested that to further this idea of SIG-11 as a resource for developers, we should all put in a plug when ordering from producers of AT, "I saw this at RESNA and I'm ordering it." Dennis Anson also suggested that we need to approach vendors with this method, "What you've created is really cool, but my clients have a problem with this feature and have you thought about -------." This approach is more collaborative and will foster further SIG-11 and RESNA support with the AT vendors.

David Wysochi is also interested in who we, as members of SIG-11, actually served. He would like a survey created that asks who funds what each of us does. As many of us work with a very specific funding stream, it would be helpful for us, as a group, to know who is funding AT and the population we actually serve.

Dave Jaffe explained about our SIG-11 membership form and asked us to pass them on to others. Be sure to mention the SIG-11 web site and the email distribution list as an added value to SIG-11 membership.

The meeting was concluded with special presentations to Dave Jaffe and Dennis Anson. Dave was thanked for all he's done through the years in support of SIG-11 membership - the email distribution list being one part of a huge contribution. Dennis was thanked for all the years of running the computer lab at Conference. They were both presented with pens (with a PDA tip as well as ink tip) and engraved frames as small tokens for all they do for SIG-11 and for how much they mean to all of us.

The meeting was then adjourned.