re post of announcement on world town meeting

This is being reposted with corrections on behalf of and for he
president of AbleTV.net.
plese distribute freely noting its posting to the following lists:
webwatch, blindjob, waiig, blind-l, access-l, uaccess-l, guispeak,
vicug and telecom-l
TVWORLDWIDE.COM
PRESS RELEASE
Thousands Expected Online as AbleTV.net  Webcasts 2000 Worldwide Town
Meeting for the Disabled
TVWorldwide.com to Produce Interactive Video Webcast Featuring Demo of
AbleTV.net's State-of-the-Art Audio Description and Closed Caption
Video Streaming Technology for the Web
Special Guest Speed Davis from the President's Committee on the
Employment of Individuals with Disabilities to Respond via Chat and
e-mail
Thursday, February 24, 7:30 PM EST at www.abletv.net.
For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Contact: Dave Gardy                                   Jeff Pledger
TV Worldwide.com                       able@abletv.net
www.tvworldwide.com        www.abletv.net
(703) 406-2031, (703) 786-3067    (301) 890-5944
Reston, Va.   AbleTV.net, the first global TV network for the
disabled, and a network affiliate of TVWorldwide .com announced today
it will offer a live video webcast of the 2000 Worldwide Town Hall
Meeting for the Disabled and that it will begin webcasting this
meeting on a monthly basis starting in March.  The 2000 meeting will
feature discussion of accessible video clips now available at
ABLETV.net.  Captioning and description of web-based media will soon
be made easier thanks to MAGpie (Media Access Generator), a new
application being developed by the CPB/WGBH National Center for
Accessible Media and the Trace Research and Development Center at the
University of Wisconsin.  Funding for MAGpie comes from the Trace
Center as part of its Information Technology Access Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center which is funded by the U.S. Department of
Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research.  For more information on Magpie, see the NCAM Web site
(www.wgbh.org/ncam).
"We were overwhelmed with viewers when we first webcast this town
meeting last year," commented Jeff Pledger, president of AbleTV.net
who himself became blind due to illness 16 years ago. "Individuals
with disabilities are a very close-knit community and the web is a
strong enabling factor for us. I am very proud of our video streaming
applications of the Magpie technology and pleased to be working with
TVWorldwide.com to make this interactive webcast event a reality for
the thousands we expect globally. "
Mr. Speed Davis, Public Affairs Specialist with the President's
Committee on Employment of Individuals with Disabilities, and a
paraplegic himself, will be the event's special guest. Mr. Davis is
also a member of AbleTV.net's Executive Advisory Board, a
distinguished group of experts in this arena which includes
representatives from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), Digex,
Inc.(Nasdaq:DIGX), WeMedia, Inc. and  other members from the
technology, financial, manufacturing and non-profit sectors.
"AbleTV.net's streaming video applications with audio description and
closed captioning are unique in the streaming media sector," remarked
Dave Gardy, Chairman and CEO  of TVWorldwide.com and host for the
event. "There is tremendous interest in what they have to offer, as
B2B and B2C streaming sites enable their on-line communities with such
accessibility, including the capacity for multi-lingual streaming, in
applications ranging from interstitial advertising to distance
learning."


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Received on Thursday, 24 February 2000 07:44:46 UTC