Abstracts of Presentations

Abstracts of Presentations The symposium included 58 presentations distributed throughout the concurrent sessions. With the exception of one panel discussion, the presentations were in the form of prepared papers and "poster presentations." Almost all included demonstrations of applications of the technologies being discussed. The prepared papers tended to be more informational than the poster presentations, whereas the latter offered greater opportunity for personal interaction and "hands on" experiences with the technology concerned. A few presenters followed up their formal presentations with poster presentations. A call for papers was distributed well in advance of the symposium, indicating areas of special interest for attention during the symposium. Potential contributors were invited to submit abstracts for review by the Symposium Program Committee . It should be noted that presenters were not asked to provide full manuscripts. The abstracts of all the accepted presentations follow. They appear in alphabetical order, by the first author's last name. In most cases, the presentation titles alone should enable the reader to identify the topic or combination of topics being addressed. If there is more than one author, the place of employment of the senior or first author is indicated first. If the reader seeks more information than furnished by the abstract, he or she is of course free to contact the author. However, the reader is reminded that authors were not asked to prepare manuscripts, so the reader should not have this expectation. PENNTEXT: A TV news service for the deaf Sally Caldrone, Tippi Comden—Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Pittsburgh, PA PENNTEXT is a unique news and information TV text service for deaf and hard of hearing citizens in Pennsylvania . Broadcast daily on all seven of Pennsylvania's Public Television Network stations, it includes the top national , state, and local news stories of the day, along with information and events of special interest to deaf viewers . A popular feature is the "Student Program," written by deaf and hard of hearing children across the state. PENNTEXT works on the same principle as closed captions, but appears as a full-screen rolling text on the TV screen. Viewers access PENNTEXT through a caption decoder switched to the TEXT channel. The language structure and vocabulary are geared to the needs of deaf and hard of hearing children and adults with varying levels of reading ability, so that all can have access to important current events and opportunities for informed citizenship. Because text does not have to "match" a picture, it can be programmed for slower speeds than captioning, enhancing readability. The presenters show tapes of PENNTEXT stories and discuss the history, philosophy, and technical "how-to" of the service, providing other states with the basic information needed to extend the benefit of such programming to their own deaf and hard of hearing citizens. Sign In: TV production in a dormitory setting Gina Cariello—New York School for the Deaf, White Plains, NY Educational activities within the dormitory program are essential elements in the ongoing program at the New York School for the Deaf. During the 1989 and 1990 school years, the TV club within the dormitory program worked cooperatively with the public television access channel at Ossining to develop 30-minute TV programs related to deaf culture. Personnel from the public access station assisted staff and students in developing these programs. Students had the opportunity to produce , direct, and star in the production. The result for each of the 2 years was a television program of sufficient quality to be shown by the TV station as part of its regular schedule of programs . This presentation describes the process and shows "cuts" from the two productions. A live demonstration of Prodigy and America Online in schools for the deaf Dan Castle—California School for the Deaf, Riverside, CA Since this school set up the first networked Apple/CorvLis lab for the deaf in the United States in 1981, its students have been using modems. In 1989 the school began instructing students in the use of Prodigy™ and America American Annals of the Deaf Online™, two telecommunications service software programs. This presentation demonstrates these programs and their most effective uses in the classroom , library, administrator's office, and the computer...