Greetings:
Just got off the phone with Jeff Shafer of Compuserve's
Corporate Communications department. Although he didn't have
many technical details, he did assure me that Compuserve is
aware of the many concerns of the blind community. He stated
that the belief that Compuserve has "turned its back" on blind
computer users is a misperception, borne out of the press
revealing an incomplete picture of Compuserve's plans, and, he
admits, by Compuserve perhaps rushing forward on the protocol
switchover without fully working out all the possible
ramifications to the user base.
Although Mr. Shafer is a public relations person with
Compuserve, and as such paid to put a positive spin on things,
he seemed straightforward and sincere in our conversation. He
asked that I pass along any, all or none of the details of our
conversation as I saw fit. Also, he informed me of a Compuserve
planning meeting scheduled for Wednesday of next week to deal
with the issue of the protocol switch and the needs of users
with various disabilities.
It seems that there has been quite a national uproar regarding
this whole situation, which seems to have given Compuserve a
heads-up. With any luck they'll follow through.
More info as it comes in. Attached is email from Mr. Shafer
which lead to our conversation.
Tom Way
way@asel.udel.edu
Applied Science & Engineering Labs
University of Delaware
-------------------------------------------------------
Date: 05 Jan 96 11:40:19 EST
From: Jeff Shafer <JSHAFER@csi.compuserve.com>
To: Tom Way <way@cis.udel.edu>
Subject: Letter writing campaign
Tom,
My name is Jeff Shafer. I work in communications at CompuServe
and have become aware of your letter writing campaign. I have
been working extensively in recent weeks on the issues that
concern you and would like to talk to you personally to discuss
some upcoming announcements. Hopefully, I can give you some
information that will make you a CompuServe supporter and
encourage you to help me let people know what is in the works.
Please call me at 614-538-4632 at your convenience.
I look forward to talking to you.
Thank you,
Jeff Shafer
CompuServe Corporate Communications
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Dec 02 2012 - 01:30:03 PST