GoAmerica and AGBell....my musings.

Several “interesting” names came up on AG Bell's list of donors in 2005. Of course you have Gallaudet University and RIT/NTID who donated money to AGBell. But one thing that may be surprising to you (well, not to me since I knew about this for sometime) is that GoAmerica Communications also donated money to AGBell. Now, does that company ring a bell to you? How about i711.com? Who owns i711.com? Well, GoAmerica owns it!

But you might say that was nearly 2 years ago when GoAmerica donated money and you’re pretty sure that GoAmerica (“i711.com”) will not have anything to do with AGBell from now on? Right? But you'd most likely be dead wrong. GoAmerica was listed in the “Past Exhibitors” (2006) section of the 2008 Exhibitor Prospectus.

Yet, how many Deaf bloggers/vloggers do we have on i711.com who are getting paid by GoAmerica (though I see nothing wrong here folks) but do not know that GoAmerica attended at least one AGBell Convention with the likelihood they’ll show up for the 2008 AGBell Convention? And what would their justifications be for staying on i711.com once they find out about GoAmerica and AGBell? Or, if they already knew that GoAmerica attended the 2006 AGBell Convention, why have they accepted a paid writing/signing position for their articles (both video and written formats)?

The question is, will GoAmerica be seen in one of the many booths at the 2008 AG Bell Convention in Milwaukee? As for me, does it really matter?

Nah.