Who's in the News

NCDDR staff are on the lookout for popular and disability media pieces that present research funded by NIDRR. In this issue, we share news items from CNN, MacWEEK, Prime Time Radio (AARP), and Missouri Ruralist. In addition, The Exploratorium in San Francisco is disseminating information from a former grantee's work through a unique exhibition available on the World Wide Web.

A segment entitled New Technology to Help Disabled Use U.S. Government Information and Equipment was aired on CNN's "Science and Technology Week" (April 29, 2000) and again on "Headline News" (May 6, 2000.) The broadcast included an interview with Shelley Popson, Instructional Technology Specialist with NIDRR grantee Vcom3D, Inc. (formerly Seamless Solutions, Inc.) The interview highlighted Vcom3D's SigningAvatar™ software, funded in part by NIDRR under a Small Business Innovative Research grant.

CNN's Marsha Walton, Producer, developed the story after Vcom3D took part in a CNN story on the "Section 508" exhibits at the FOSE Conference in Washington, DC, April 18-20, 2000. FOSE http://www.FOSE.com (Federal Office Systems Exposition) is the largest information technology exposition serving the government marketplace.

Signing Avatar utilizes 3D animated characters to increase the accessibility of the Internet for the Deaf community. Signing Avatar has a vocabulary of 3000 English words/concepts and 30 facial expressions. A brief description of the story focus and a link to a video clip is available at http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/05/26/disabled.t_t/index.html.

Vcom3D was also mentioned in MacWEEK in July, highlighting the organization's Golden Lasso Award garnered for the best presentation at the annual Web3D RoundUP in New Orleans. Web3D is a high energy showcase for the latest in 3D graphics where participants vote for the best technology and presentation with noisemakers and ping pong balls. Check out the story at http://macweek.zdnet.com/2000/07/23/0727webroundup.html. Additional coverage of the presentation, including images, can be found in the 3Dgate on-line magazine at http://www.3dgate.com/news_and_opinions/000828/0828bdeleeuw.html.

In addition to its recent CNN and MacWEEK.com fame, Vcom3D was featured in the May, 2000 issue of Computer Graphics, which also focused on the Web3D RoundUP and highlighted Vcom3D with a profile of Signing Avatars' technology and benefits. For more information, contact Ed Sims at eds@vcom3d.com or 407-737-7309. Visit Vcom3D's Signing Avatar Web site at http://www.signingavatar.com/.

On May 4, 2000 Mike Cuthbert interviewed Dr. Binh Tran, Academic Director of the RERC on Telerehabilitation, and Ms. Donal Lauderdale, the RERC's Research Operations Manager, for a segment on "Homecare Technologies" for the Prime Time Radio show. Dr. Tran and Ms. Lauderdale had given a presentation on SmartHomes as part of the American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP) "Connections of Independent Living" week. The interview about the use of technology to allow people to live independently in their homes was played on local public radio stations across the country.

The RERC on Telerehabilitation appeared on Mike Cuthbert's radar screen after Ms. Lauderdale piqued AARP education specialist Robin Ritter's interest in the RERC's work, during the January "Partnerships Conference" in Washington, D.C. For more information contact Ms. Donal Lauderdale at 202-319-5175 or lauderdale@cua.edu

Prime Time Radio has a listing of recent shows where you will find a brief description of the interview and a link to download an audio file of the show that aired on May 23, 2000.

[NOTE: RealPlayer is needed to listen to the audio file. You can download a free copy of RealPlayer from the RealNetworks site: http://www.real.com/player/.

Farmers and Arthritis, a project of the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC), is featured in the August 2000 issue of the Missouri Ruralist.

With a circulation of 30,000, the magazine goes to farmers who are actively engaged in production, said Steve Fairchild, field editor of the magazine. This article in the Missouri Ruralist means information on the Farmers and Arthritis Project will go directly to the people who can benefit from it. The Farmers and Arthritis Project is designed to help farmers who have arthritis stay on the job. The need for the project is demonstrated by these figures:

• More than 500,000 agricultural workers have physical disabilities.
• The median age of farmers is 54.3—compared to the median age of all U.S. workers which is 38.7

Through the Project, farmers can receive on-the-farm assessments by physical and occupational therapists to learn how to modify their work or their machinery so they can keep on farming despite any limitations that might stem from arthritis. For more information about the Farmers and Arthritis Project, contact Karen Funkenbusch, project coordinator, at funkenbuschk@missouri.edu

The Missouri Ruralist is one of 36 titles produced by Farm Progress Publications, which is headquartered in Carol Stream, Illinois. For more information, contact Steve Fairchild at Fairchild@farmprogress.com

Steven Kurzman, 1997-98 Switzer Merit Fellow, served as an advisor to the Exploratorium, a museum of science, art and human perception in San Francisco, California. Revealing Bodies is an exhibition that ran from March 18, 2000 to September 4, 2000.

Ellen Blasiotti, NIDRR's Program Manager for the Switzer fellowships, received a letter from Melissa Alexander, Project Director for Revealing Bodies, concerning the widespread dissemination of Steve Kurzman's Switzer Fellowship work. Prior to the opening of the exhibition, she wrote:

"The exhibition examines the impact and implications of scientific and medical representations of the human body. It will be a 4,000 sq. ft. mix of newly commissioned art, artifacts, imaging equipment, anatomy models, bio and mechanical prostheses and online exhibits. We will explore how these kinds of images and representations shape culture, scientific understanding, politics, and society."

"Body imaging and representation has long been a subject of discussion and debate in cultural anthropolgy, but the "meat" of this inquiry is often inaccessible to a non-specialist. At the Exploratorium we admire any scientist/artist/other who can make complex and provocative ideas comprehensible, and therefore accessible, to a broad audience. It's not so easy, a unique talent actually!"

"Steve Kurzman….set up a web site that described his work comparing different cultural implications for prosthetics between the U.S. and other countries. This dissemination was created for the non-specialist. I found his site when surfing for the exhibition. Since discovering his web site, we have contacted Mr. Kurzman. He has met with our exhibition staff and will be advising us on texts related to prosthetics and appropriate technology. He has been able to give insights into this field of technology in the US, which will be very valuable in our exhibition label texts. He has also agreed to lend us artifacts and provide us with photographic materials from his research for the exhibition. Additionally, we intend to host a public program and for Mr. Kurzman to speak about this research."

"Perhaps the most important thing for me to bring to your attention is that we anticipate a public audience of 300,000 for the exhibition over a period of six months. We also hope to do a web cast on prosthetics and archive it on our Web site, http://www.exploratorium.org/, which is accessed by 2.5 million people annually."

"…So an unintended, but I hope welcome, side effect of your support will be that thousands of people will have direct access to the knowledge gained by Mr. Kurzman's research. We are just thrilled with the window into this issue that he has opened for us.…His work will now help us non-specialists find a way to communicate very complex social issues around prosthetics, disability, economics and values to a broad public."

The Revealing Bodies exhibition is over but the Web site may be visited at: http://www.exploratorium.org/bodies/index.html

Go Behind the Scenes at: http://www.exploratorium.org/bodies/index_behind.html to find "Cultural anthropologist Steve Kurzman looks at the cultural significance of prosthetic limbs." For more information, check out his Anthropology and Prosthetics Web site: http://www.prosthetics-culture.org/ or write to Steven Kurzman at steven@prosthetics-culture.org

---

---

Top