January, 2010

Sometimes the biggest barrier to learning new technology is us. Me. You. And that part, once realized, can be pretty liberating.

I don't consider myself a techie, yet i'm curious about how technology helps folks--including me--accomplish tasks and goals. I like trying out new tools, so when Tena Hanson suggested I use Meebo to interact with attendees at the exhibit hall for the Iowa Small Libraries Online Conference, I jumped at the chance to learn something new.

Conferences are expensive to run and to attend, and those costs keep many of us at home, wishing we had the funds to travel away from our desks. But with new technologies cropping up daily, low-cost alternatives are surfacing that make learning from the experts a little easier on the pocketbook.

Just like any good tech geek, I've been reading reviews and jealously drooling all the photos and videos of upcoming products shown at this past week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The annual Las Vegas tradeshow reveals the hottest new technologies, coolest gadgets, and flashiest concepts for all the geeky gear I hold dear. Most of the products either haven't hit the market yet or are at pricepoints out of reach for most average folks — and especially out of reach for many nonprofits, libraries, and public service organizations.

Another excellent webinar from the TechSoup Talks series is coming up this week! If you've heard of "accessibility" and want your site to be usable for all people, but aren't sure where to start, this webinar is for you.

You might not have noticed, but I've been away for 6 months. Six months! That's a long time, but I've spent my time wisely. As you can imagine, there's a lot to catch up on around here at TechSoup. But rather than focus on the past, I'd like to share something that happened yesterday that started with a gentle tap on my shoulder...

This post was originally published to the TechSoup Blog and was authored by Kami Griffiths. 

Please join us next Thursday, January 14 at 11 a.m. Pacific time for our next free TechSoup Talks! webinar. We will be discussing website accessibility with Jane Vincent from the Center for Accessible Technology.

Implementation of web accessibility can seem excessively complicated. In reality, the best accessibility practices dovetail with good overall usability and are easy to implement via standard tools such as templates and cascading style sheets (CSS). This hour-long session will cover topics such as understanding the difference between various accessibility guidelines, avoiding common accessibility errors, when (and when not) to rely on automatic accessibility checkers, and unexpected populations that benefit from accessible websites.

This free webinar is best suited for individuals with some knowledge of HTML coding who are involved with ensuring that their organization's website is accessible. Space is limited so register today!

If so, check out the Adobe Special Donation Program. Thanks to Adobe, we've been able to lower the admin fees by approximately 50 percent on the following products:

• CS Design Premium 3.3 Mac (Retail value $1799): Admin fee was $136, now $69

• CS Design Standard 3.3 Mac (Retail value $1199): Admin fee was $92, now $45

• Photoshop CS 3.0 Mac (Retail value $649): Admin fee was $51, now $25

• Photoshop Extended CS 3.0 Mac (Retail value $999): Admin fee was $76, now $38