C2I Conference - why did I use my voice?

Well. The first Vlog/Blogger Conference at Gallaudet University has come and gone. It was a refreshing sight to see serious and thoughtful discussions, and the exchanges of ideas rather than a debate for a change. I'm sure if you watched the whole live webcast you'd have seen me speak vocally rather than sign. Let me take another opportunity here to explain as I tried to do so that at the beginning of my presentation at Gallaudet. And then I'll toss in some of my notes and further thoughts on this whole C2I conference.

First off. Congrats to Jill Bradbury for pulling this off. This was no small feat and she had to overcome many obstacles to get this one done. Can't wait til next year (?) to see another C2I conference. Will it be an annual thing? Time will tell. Many thanks to interpreters and captioners and everybody else involved in this historic event. It'll be recorded prominently in Annals of Gallaudet University.

Met a few familiar faces. Amy Cohen saw me and looked directly at me and she still didn't recognized me! She said she had to look at my side profile of my face to recognize me. Har har Amy.

Met Jamie Burke. Finally! Hello to her and continued luck with the blogging. Also, Kristi Merriweather was there and met and had a good time and opportunity to chat more with her in person for a change. Chris Huer was there and we got off to a good start on getting to know each other. Take heart, Chris. You did good no matter what people will say. Met my old chemistry teacher, Prof. Michael Moore. He still remembers me and some nice chats throughout the day. I also had a nice chat with Jane Norman who got a kick out of watching me play the piano. Heh heh.... Lots of positive reviews by people who saw me play the piano. For those who voted "No" on whether I should put my video up of me playing the piano on my blog, do you really think that your votes of "no" would've stop me? ;-) Glad to see that everybody had a good time. Meeting up with old friends and makiing new ones.

For those in Deafreedom land, "Wiggums" was there. Nice surprise! He used had a stopover flight in D.C. for several hours before the next flight out to Europe! For those who didn't come to the C2I conference when "Wiggums" was there is now officially on Wiggums' "bad list".

Now, on to my explanation for the speaking part.

I speak all the time. This is what I do at work. My train of thought is better when I speak. I speak at a similar capacity at work in front of groups of people that I deal with the public on environmental issues and water since I do work for the Federal government responsible for 1.1 million acres of government lands. I prepare presentations all the time. I deal with the concerned public on environmental issues either individually or in large groups, which, of course, at times I'm considered to be the target.

:-)

Now, I spoke also only because the C2I conference had voice and ASL interpreters, and a real time captioner available for the audience sitting in the seats before me and for the people out on the internet. Had it not any of the interpreters I would have signed. But in this case my preference has always been to talk and listen because i do well with it. And just as well an opportunity to showcase my point about choice and communication access. Not that I'm trying oppress anybody because of what I just did which would be ludicrous. That was an example of diversity where I am at one end of the spectrum as a deaf person who is hard of hearing. This is my identity. It always has been. And I'm still in the same boat with you and anybody else among the 30 million people with hearing loss in the United States. We all share very similar communication issues and concerns.

Now, this conference consisted mostly of three separate and consistent theme. And those are technology, communication, and education. My notes below consisted mostly about technology and how technology is the key when it comes to interaction and communication. I believe it's important to toss in my notes here because I believe Gallaudet is at a critical juncture in its survival right now. In other words, Gallaudet University must somehow re-invent itself, for the lack of a better word.

Note, some of my notes may be redundant. As always, there are lots of ideas out there that people may have on what to do about Gallaudet's future. In my honest and professional opinion is that technology is the key here for Gallaudet to survive and compete with the outside world. We MUST develop the technology on campus because we know what we want.

My conference notes for my presentation:

1. Technology - take advantage of this!

2. Communication - be involved!

3. Education - spread out knowledge, info, and raise that bar!

Ok. Here are my notes along with some modifications that I tried to convey last night but didn't have time. I will now clarify here on my blog.


"The Futuristic Classroom". What does it mean?

• Is it about the ability to interact?

• Is it about communication needs and preferences?

• Is it about accessibility when it comes to the free flow of information whether coming from a computer or human being?

• Is a “futuristic classroom” on campus only?

• How about off campus?

• Is it always about classrooms? What about outside of classrooms? Can learning take place outside of the classrooms?


What should we expect in a “Futuristic Classroom”?


• Technology seen in classrooms ought to reflect equally well the technology we would see on campus when it comes to communication and interaction.

• It ought to be seamless.

• Intuitive. Of common sense. Completely accessible and very transparent.

• A "no-brainer" (pardon the pun) campus the moment you step in at the front gate.

• The campus should be intuitively clear that Gallaudet is a university accessible to everyone at any time.

• Especially so for a Deaf person stepping onto the campus for the very first time seeing that technology along with service is leap years ahead of everybody's expectation on how a campus should function.

• The front gate is our advertisement to the world that they are invited to come in and without worry when it comes to their and, especially so, deaf people communication need where signing is the preferred mode of communication.


Is technology critical to Gallaudet University’s success?

• Yes. Extremely important.

• Why? Technology is moving faster than ever before. Technology and performance doubles every 2 years.

• Technology will play a major role in how we will interact with anyone on and off campus.

• We must plan 2 to 4 years in advance and take into consideration future technology not quite ready for the market but has been demonstrated such as the flat screen panel that’s thick as a playing card you can put up on a wall.

• We must also plan 5 to 10 years down the road on how technology can be integrated successfully all over the campus and in classrooms.


What area of technology is growing so fast?

• (describe computer chip speed and memory)
• cell phones
• internet connection
• voice recognition – it is widely being used today. Many cell phones have voice recognition features built into them. 
• ASL or sign language recognition later on down the road but potentially critical for Gallaudet survival and propagation and preservation of ASL.


What can we do?

• Gallaudet must RE-INVENT itself!
• This is critical to Gallaudet University’s success and survival.
• Technology is the key.
• Look around the conference room.
• Today’s conference is a perfect example of how technology is helping you, Gallaudet University, and future students to continue to thrive and succeed.
• Technology is key to the preservation and, even, propagation of ASL.
• ASL was never in danger in the first place!


Must have a program established on campus. One idea is to have what you called “Media Lab”. Media doesn’t necessarily mean “news” or “info” but how we use and spread information and ideas by incorporating the value of communication on all levels. An experimental campus. Must establish a core research area on Gallaudet that can become recognized as an important scientific "Think Tank" on campus. Everybody is involved. Even kids since sometime they bring up the darndest and great suggestion.

• Need to keep people who have done computer/technology work relating to communication on campus of Gallaudet. Such as Christian Vogler, who will leave Gallaudet this April, who has done his PhD work on computer ASL-recognition and facial recognition. Lots of valuable time, resources and money were put into him will be lost upon Gallaudet when he leaves. Also, same goes for other people who have done similar work. We need to bring those people on board and begin the real serious research and must have the full support of Gallaudet University.

• Must use technology on campus and develop better technology because we know what we are looking for and want.

• Why wait for technology to happen when the researchers, students and other contributors on campus can make it happen first and earlier?

• There are no engineering program at Gallaudet. Why not?
• Establish computer science and electrical engineering program on campus. Use existing consortium universities and their engineering classrooms to help fill the engineering gap at Gallaudet in the meantime.
• This may lead to the increased potential of retaining engineering students at Gallaudet. Perhaps develop masters program? Use consortium universities?
• Have students develop a need to have this "Media Lab" which may help keep students on campus and not quit early or go home.
• We must employ greater use of the consortium program.
• As a requirement, undergraduates (and perhaps graduates) need to attend at least 2 to 4 classes at one of the 13 universities in and around D.C. as part of their graduation requirement.
• Why?
• Because we will always interact with hearing and deaf.


What’s more is that We are seeing this capability today. Compared to 5 years ago, just think of the kind of technology we didn’t have. And think where we may be in 5 to 7 years from now.

Digital convergence

University of Idaho engineering outreach

Consortium universities – how many of them are wired and accessible. A “webcam” in every classrooms?
universities that are a part of the consortium program


Establish a new program that will support researchers at the graduate and staff level, as well as professors who are in the area of technology and communication accessibility.

For example, Christian Vogler who is deaf and has a PhD who worked in the area of ASL-recognition research where computers would learn to recognize ASL movements and decipher them.

Invent the technology here on campus and patent them which could be a source of revenue in the future.

A “mini-MIT” campus so to speak.

What program would be ideal to start with?

Have a program called “Media Lab”.

It does not necessarily mean “news” or “info”. It is about how information is used and propagated. It is how we interact with each other on the social level is where we get our new information.

Related blog - Voice is way, way better than ASL!