Colleagues The next meeting of the Oxfordshire Family History Society will be a computer meeting, which will take place on Monday 2 August 2010. It will be held at the usual venue at Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1AB. The talk starts at 7.30pm, and will finish at around 9.00pm. Our speaker will be Jon Nixey, whose sight has been affected since birth and who has been completely blind since the age of twenty. Jon has entitled his talk :- Researching in the darkness and silence – how blind and deaf-blind genealogists use their computers. The talk will feature the use of Assistive Technology, and its application to family history research. Assistive Technology enables visually impaired people to read text-based information both on their computer and on the internet. Jon will consider the three main ways a blind or deaf-blind person can access information :- - Screen Reader - suitable for a person with total sight loss. A synthetic voice speaks the text aloud. - Screen Magnification - frequently used by those with impaired sight, the text to be read is made significantly larger. - Braille Display - primarily used by the deaf-blind, this display turns written text into electronic braille. He will then go on to demonstrate how impaired people use Assistive Technology to independently access the wide range of transcribed BMD, census and parish records that are vital to family history research. All members, potential members and their guests are welcome. Admission is free, and there is plenty of free parking at the Exeter Hall, as well as easy access to the meeting room. Society members will be on hand to help from 7.00pm, and we will endeavour to ensure that the talk has appropriate support for visually and hearing impaired people. However, anyone with other specific requirements should contact us so that we can try our best to meet them. For directions as to how to get to the Exeter Hall, please see :- _http://www.ofhs.org.uk/ExeterHall.html_ (http://www.ofhs.org.uk/ExeterHall.html) For a list of future OFHS meetings, please see :- _http://www.ofhs.org.uk/meetings.html_ (http://www.ofhs.org.uk/meetings.html) Any queries, please contact Leslie Binns by e-mail - _binns132@tiscali.co.uk_ (mailto:binns132@tiscali.co.uk) - or by telephone on +44(0)1865 863938. Paul Gaskell Publicity Officer Oxfordshire Family History Society _www.ofhs.org.uk_ (http://www.ofhs.org.uk/)