Last week, thanks to a generous travel sponsorship from the GNOME Foundation, I attended the 25th annual CSUN Conference -- or more accurately, I attended the 1st (annual?) GNOME Accessibility Hackfest which took place at the conference.

You can't always get what you want...

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I expected to get out of this hackfest. Sure, it would be a great opportunity to work face-to-face with other accessibility developers and spread the word about GNOME to the attendees of the conference. But I'd be lying were I to deny hope that Will Walker would show up, much like Bobby from the 80's television show Dallas, to inform us that recent events had all just been a bad dream. Or, failing that, that one of the companies which ships the GNOME desktop would see the hackfest as the opportune time to announce the creation (restoration) of a full-time engineering position whose primary focus would be Orca development. Or, also failing that, I would not have objected to a visit from the Good Fairy.

Mind you, I'm not greedy. At this point I have no expectations of having (what I feel to be) an appropriate number of engineers devoted to GNOME accessibility development. All I wanted was something, anything, which would put things back to where they were before so that I could happily continue in my role of humble Orca worker bee. Alas, no such luck. As a result, I am now officially the Orca project lead/maintainer.

What exactly will happen with respect to the broader GNOME accessibility picture remains to be seen. Will went over the large list of issues facing us for GNOME 3.0. A few items (CSPI and GOK, for instance) got slated for deprecation, and many of us at the hackfest volunteered to take on what remained. But I was really hoping we'd also walk away from the hackfest with a new leader: someone who could see both the forest and its trees, serve as the GNOME community's "point person" for accessibility issues, and herd us cats accessibility developers into a cohesive, focused group. In other words, another Will Walker. But that hope was dashed along with my other hopes when no one stepped up to try to fill Will's shoes. I still truly believe that we'll find our way, and that in the end it'll all be good; at the moment, however, I'm just not sure how that will come to pass.

...But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.

As I keep reminding myself, I must focus on what I can do; not on what I cannot. What I can do is continue to work on Orca, and things are starting to look up on that front:

Growing the team

While Oracle has yet to officially acknowledge my Open Letter, it seems they are doing the more important thing, namely starting to respond to the concerns raised therein: They sent Li Yuan and Ke Wang, two engineers from Oracle/Sun Beijing, to the hackfest. Will led a session in which the four of us went over Orca's internals with the aim of getting Li and Ke sufficiently up to speed to contribute to Orca. It is my understanding that Li will be able to add a bit of time for Orca to the accessibility work he is already doing, and that Ke will be able to spend 50% of his time working on accessibility, including Orca. Phew! Thanks guys for joining the team. And thank you Oracle for continuing to support this project.

Alejandro Piñeiro of Igalia also attended the hackfest. Alejandro has been working on Cally (accessibility support for Clutter) and is now taking a look at getting Orca working with gnome-shell. Thank goodness! An inaccessible gnome-shell would be a major setback for GNOME accessibility, but I had no idea how I was supposed to fit that issue on my own to-do list. It was great to have the opportunity to continue the discussions about Orca he and I had at the Boston Summit last October. And while it, too, remains to be seen, I'm hopeful that Alejandro (and/or another developer from Igalia) will be able to join the Orca team to address some of the other issues we're facing. Regardless, thank you Alejandro for all your work. And thanks to Igalia for its ongoing support of GNOME accessibility.

Testing

Going from being a one-(wo)man team to being a member of a potentially four-person team is itself a great outcome for this hackfest, but I also had the good fortune to spend some quality time with Mozilla's accessibility guys, Marco Zehe, David Bolter, and Alexander Surkov. We talked quite a bit about testing and now have a plan for both sides to better detect and prevent regressions. This should go a long way in ensuring that GNOME users who are blind continue to have compelling access to Firefox.

I also had a chance to talk with Mike Gorse and clarify some aspects of the Orca regression test suite so that he can use our tests as a means to ensure that the work he is doing with AT-SPI over DBus behaves as expected.

That the ÆGIS Project is going to be working with the community to start tackling the broader issue of accessibility testing in GNOME was yet another piece of welcome news. After all, time that does not need to be spent on hunting down accessibility regressions in other applications is time that can be spent on making Orca even better.

Going forward

Will and I went over what I need to do to make a release. (You're right, it is a piece of cake. But thanks for going over it with me! One less thing for me to stress over.... )

Last, but not least, I am extremely touched by the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar which was presented to me by Peter Korn and the rest of the GNOME a11y guys for my work on Orca. It was neither expected nor necessary, but with everything going on these days it was very (very, very) much appreciated and lifted my spirits considerably regarding the future. You guys are the best!!

So all in all I'd say it was well worth getting over my dislike of travel (not to mention my complete and utter fear of flying) to attend this event. Many, many thanks to Eitan for taking on the mammoth task of organizing all of it -- and us! And thanks again to the GNOME Foundation for making it possible for me to attend.

Now for the hard part: Getting everything we've set out to do done....

Dear Oracle:

You don't know me, so please permit me a brief introduction: I'm Joanie. By day, I'm an assistive technology specialist working with individuals who are blind or visually impaired. By night, weekend, and holiday for almost four years now, I've been a GNOME community contributor working primarily on the Orca screen reader, a project led by Sun's Accessibility Program Office.

Working with the engineers at Sun, both inside and outside of the APO, has been an honor for a variety of reasons, not least of which is our shared common belief: Access isn't a privilege; it's a right. Towards that end, Sun Microsystems strived to ensure that ALL users have access to software and information.

Does Oracle plan to do the same?

Sun Microsystems believed that these things shouldn't be denied to those who aren't employed, or who don't live in the "right" country, or who don't speak the "right" language, or who cannot afford to purchase thousands of dollars' worth of access technology.

What does Oracle believe?

Through its significant, ongoing contributions to the GNOME desktop, Sun Microsystems has made computer access possible for many individuals with disabilities, from all walks of life, all over the world.

Will Oracle embrace the opportunity to continue this important work?

My assumption was yes. In fact, I was feeling quite hopeful. After all, the past few years have been hard on Sun. But with Larry Ellison's promise of increased investment in the Sun brand, and Oracle's strong commitment to accessibility, things would finally be turning around: If one under-funded APO could accomplish everything that it has, what could the two combined and properly-funded APOs achieve? At the very least we'd be able to finally get a handle on all of the accessibility challenges facing GNOME 3.

I was wrong.

Last week, Oracle laid off two more members of Sun's already-decimated APO. One of those let go happened to be both the Orca project lead and the GNOME Accessibility project lead, Willie Walker. I truly hope this was an oversight on Oracle's part, and one that will be rectified very soon. Because if it is not, and if no other company steps forward to continue this work, the accessibility of the GNOME desktop will become the open source equivalent of an unfunded mandate, doomed ultimately to fail.

Oracle's decision threatens to leave many individuals with disabilities around the world without access to a modern desktop environment. I find that tragic.

The "<insert number here> things" meme is going around twitter, and I've been tagged by @empirebetty. A while back, when it was a blog meme requiring eight things, Rich Burridge tagged me. So I'm now faced with the challenge of finding seven things beyond that which you already know about me. I will do my best.

I've decided to make my response theme-based. The theme, taken from @empirebetty's astute observation, is "Endearing Neuroses".

1. Today I am an INTP. Check back tomorrow.

   Years ago, I took the Myers-Briggs Personality Test as part of a course I took at UT Austin. At the time, the results indicated that I was an ENFP:

   ENFPs are introspective, values-oriented, inspiring, social and extremely expressive. They actively send their thoughts and ideas out into the world as a way to bring attention to what they feel to be important, which often has to do with ethics and current events. ENFPs are natural advocates, attracting people to themselves and their cause with excellent people skills, warmth, energy and positivity. ENFPs are described as creative, resourceful, assertive, spontaneous, life-loving, charismatic, passionate and experimental.

   I really did used to be an extrovert, and many of the items in that description resonate with me and how I was back in those days. But that's not me any more. I don't know if those early results were flawed or if I changed. But I've since taken an online test -- mainly to get the widget for my last.fm page -- and now I'm practically the complete opposite, an INTP:

   INTPs are logical, individualistic, reserved, and very curious individuals. They focus on ideas, theories and the explanation of how things work. They are especially adept at discussions and debate. They have the ability to focus intently on a subject. They appreciate and respect intelligence in others.

   Reading the additional descriptions of the INTP, I do think that sounds more like the way I am today. Do personalities change that much over time? Regardless... I'm me, whatever type (or types) that happens to truly be.

2. I love horror movies, but I close my eyes during the scary parts.

   Actually, that's not entirely true. I place my hands over my eyes and then slowly spread my fingers apart to peek because I really do want to see what's going on....

   The funny -- or sad -- thing is, I don't love (or even enjoy) really scary, brutal, bloody horror movies. I prefer movies that play on one's fears and suggest horror rather than actually display it. So I'm covering my eyes for what amounts to some pretty tame -- and often lame -- scenes. <shrug>

   As a related aside, I'm starting to get into J-Horror. All the benefits (psychological fear, suggestion of horror, etc.) without the need to hide my eyes. If you have any good suggestions for J-Horror, by all means let me know.

3. I am, on the whole, a secular humanist. One that believes in ghosts.

   And, yes, I do realize the inconsistency there. By definition a good, true secular humanist wouldn't believe in ghosts. Mind you, I'm not convinced they exist; I'm simply not convinced that they don't, nor have I been given any evidence to prove that they don't. For some reason, I tend towards believing in them rather than disbelieving. Plus ghosts make for good TV and movie entertainment.

4. I buy my vacuums based upon their bug-sucking-up attachments.

   (I realize that for some of you, this is not new information. But for many it will be, and it is consistent with my chosen theme.)

   I have, for as long as I can remember, been completely afraid of bugs -- at least those which are in danger of coming into contact with me. It doesn't matter if they are alive or dead as far as the contact goes.

   I've dealt with this over the years in a variety of fashions:

   • Marriage. Proved to be a successful solution for awhile.
   • Cats. Believe it or not, this can be effective. Cats find small moving things amusing. Plus they tend not to grumble.
   • Poison. Certainly gets the job done, but the quantity I used was so disproportional to the lethal dose for my victim that I tended to have subsequent asthma attacks and my home smelled toxic for at least a day.

   At long last I arrived at my current solution: Vacuum cleaners with really long attachments. Healthier for me than marriage, cats (turns out they trigger my asthma), and poison.

5. I often wonder "What will happen if....?" And decide to find out.

   If I do say so myself, this approach to life in and of itself is admirable -- it arguably may be amongst my best qualities. Unfortunately, I'm only curious about things I know absolutely nothing about. Combine this with my incredibly short attention span and low tolerance for frustration and... well....

   Sometimes I have an amazing amount of success, like the time I replaced the icky 80s-chandelier-style fixture that (dis)graced my condo with a much more suitable fixture. Mind you, I turned off power to my entire home beforehand -- after dressing nicely, doing my hair, and putting on some makeup just in case what I learned about electricity from the Home Depot guy proved significantly incorrect. Other times I'm less fortunate.... Still, holes can be patched, ceilings repainted, and plumbing replaced. Besides, the fridge poetry wall (yes an entire wall) in my kitchen -- while lumpy -- is a reported favorite of the contractors who come to clean up after me.

6. I really like movies by M. Night Shyamalan.

   Even "The Happening." There, I've said it. Phew! I feel much better.

7. My father passed away this year.

   I've been debating off and on about whether or not this is something I want to announce to the world. The reason I finally decided to go ahead and share it here is primarily to explain -- perhaps even justify -- why I've been largely AWOL personally, socially, and professionally for the past several months. And to do so once in writing, rather than a bunch of times face-to-face. Yes, I AM taking the easy way out. I admit it. And under the circumstances, I think I deserve it.

   The basic facts are these: My father happened to be mentally ill and my last contact with him was when I was 13 (I'm now 38.). I learned of his passing via a letter sent to my place of employment by an attorney. The cause of death, I later found out, turned out to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

   It's funny the sorts of baggage we carry around without realizing it. Then something like this happens....

   What I've learned from this situation, and what I want to focus on, however, is this: People are amazing. I've received a tremendous amount of patience, warmth, and support from folks -- some of whom I had confided in, many of whom I had not. Some of whom I've known for years, some of whom I barely know -- or in the case of twitter, never even met. Many of these individuals could have concluded that I was blowing them off and would have been justified (albeit completely incorrect) in their thinking. Instead they keep checking in on me, looking out for me, in some cases even helping me pick up the pieces of my life because I've been too stunned to do so on my own. These people, though not related to me by blood, are my true family. Thanks for looking out for your crazy cousin in her time of need.

With apologies for those who don't like memes.... I'm tagging:

• @newts (Update: His seven things)
• @jenocal (Update: Her seven things)
• @theberrygirl
• @wwalker
• @davidbolter
• @comay
• @tindle

That's what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there's food to be caught and babies to be born and a life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated, and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so that we don't have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don't fit the way we want the world to be.

--Mau, in Terry Pratchett's Nation

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're running Ubuntu. Some take us forward, they're running OpenSolaris.

Sorry Jeremy, I couldn't resist. And my apologies to you as well, gentle reader, if you came here looking for the current state of affairs on OpenSolaris vs Ubuntu. One of these days I should write up my personal perspective on where things stand. Unless, of course, I can convince some folks to do an "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC"-style smackdown, which would be infinitely more entertaining. Assuming that will not come to pass.... For now suffice it to say that while we're not quite "there yet" with OpenSolaris, every day brings me a bit closer to concluding that my bastardized quotation ain't so far from being the truth.

But that's not what this entry is about. It's about time, plain and simple. Or, rather, not so simple as I discovered.... With a hat tip to Rich who always concludes each of his technical exercises in frustration by sharing what he's learned for the next poor soul who floats in on the same boat, I present to you what I've worked out thus far about time in a dual-boot Ubuntu/OpenSolaris environment:

1. Ubuntu insists on setting your hardware clock to UTC. It doesn't matter if you didn't want your hardware clock set to UTC. Nor are you asked if you might want to switch away from the local time in favor of UTC -- unless, you happen to be using the alternative installer. Sadly, odds are that you are not: If you're using the user-friendly, graphical, "live CD," you are NOT using the alternative installer.
2. Theoretically, the Ubuntu installer looks to see if you're in a dual-boot environment. If it concludes that you are, it is designed to not engage in its default time "correcting" behavior. This would suggest that installing OpenSolaris prior to Ubuntu would solve the problem. Alas, it does not. Trust me.
3. I have been informed that "UTC=yes is the correct and sane default" If you're wondering what the advantage of it defaulting to yes happens to be, as I was/am, I'm afraid I couldn't tell you. (UPDATE, see below.) I truly believe that there is indeed a good reason -- feel free to add it in the comments for my edification -- but the fiat was all I got. Well, that and the fact that Ubuntu detects dual-boot installations ("albeit not always quite as often as you'd want." Indeed. See previous item.). Oh, and the suggestion that I "can always change it." Which brings me to:

4. How DO you change whether or not the hardware clock is set to UTC or the local time post-installation? You'd think (or at least I thought) you would be able to do so through the Time and Date Settings dialog, part of gnome-system-tools. Were that the case, there'd be a uniform (and hence more user-friendly) way to adjust this option in Ubuntu and OpenSolaris because both use the GNOME desktop and, therefore, both include g-s-t's Time and Date Settings dialog.

   Of course, you could bypass the whole UTC vs. local timezone issue and use g-s-t to set up synchronization with an NTP server in both Ubuntu and OpenSolaris.... That's actually what I wound up doing last week. BUT what if you don't have a network connection at the moment? Besides I wanted an answer; not a workaround.

   I was going to open an RFE against g-s-t -- I'm envisioning a "My clock is set to UTC" checkbox -- but someone beat me to it. Two years ago. It hasn't been closed as WONTFIX, but no action seems to have been taken either.

5. So how do you change it in Ubuntu then? Well, some googling led me to the answer: Edit /etc/default/rcS. Just set UTC=no. Once you know this magical tidbit, it's all good: A few seconds' worth of editing and Ubuntu stops stomping on the time, OpenSolaris doesn't keep having the time changed on it, and you cease to send email to folks from four hours into the future. In other words, if all you want to do is cause your blessed environments to stop waging war over what time it is, this is all you need to do. And there was much rejoicing. Yea.

6. But what if you want to change it in OpenSolaris instead? At this point answering this question was/is admittedly merely an exercise to satisfy my curiosity. That said.... After some more googling.... It seems that you can use rtc for this purpose:

   pfexec /usr/sbin/rtc -z UTC

   is all you need. Once again, Ubuntu is happy (this time because it can continue stomping along on its "correct and sane" path ), OpenSolaris is happy (because its time now jives with the hardware clock), and your friends no longer have any reason to suspect you've mastered time travel. At least not until you adjust the timezone via g-s-t. Doing so causes /etc/rtc_config -- the file you corrected via rtc -- to be updated and you're back to Ubuntu and OpenSolaris fighting again.

   Should g-s-t be modifying /etc/rtc_config?? I honestly don't know, but life seems like it might be easier if it didn't, so I filed a bug against OpenSolaris. *shrugs*

Now if you would be so kind, answer me this: Why is it so much work to (figure out how to) configure something as simple and trivial as the time in a dual-boot environment? Shouldn't it JustWork™?

UPDATE: This morning Colin Watson began addressing the bug I filed regarding the Ubuntu Live CD's installer failing to set UTC=no in a dual-boot Ubuntu/OpenSolaris environment. He even took the time to provide me with a useful reference/link:

If you're unfamiliar with the reasons why keeping the hardware clock in local time is a bad idea, please read:

  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/mswish/ut-rtc.html

Thanks Colin!

Taken one month (almost to the day) before the start of what we may come to think of as the "Great Depression - Take 2":

Note to self: In the future, when giant red warning signs present themselves, don't laugh; pay attention.

There are oh so many things. How many can you find?

Those of you who can find several, please also find the opportunity to remind the "average users" in your life to think before they click.

A year ago, almost to the day, several users of Orca screen reader had expressed an interest in using Claws Mail instead of Evolution (currently the default mail client of the GNOME desktop) or Thunderbird. The Orca team is very small, but we do our best to implement the features and support requested by our users -- in addition to working on those critical features that any screen reader should have and fixing the bugs which, alas, exist. So I took a look at Claws Mail from an accessibility point of view. After all, if Claws Mail uses standard Gtk, it shouldn't be too hard to implement support in Orca.

The good news: Claws mail is (as I recall) mostly standard Gtk. Yea!

The bad news: There are a few custom widgets which are not accessible, and there is no caret navigation implemented when reading messages. These two issues prevent us from being able to implement support. Had I more time in the day, I might be able to at least generate a proof-of-concept patch for the first issue, but my current skill level is not likely such that I could implement caret navigation. So, as is custom in the open source world, I opened a couple of bugs:

• Accessibility events missing in FolderView and SummaryView
• Add support for caret navigation/selection

And, as is sadly too often custom in the accessibility world, they languished. Until today:

It looks like nobody has been interested in implementing this feature since the end of 2007; in order to clean up the bugzilla, I'm marking this WONTFIX.

Features in Claws Mail get implemented on a developer-interest basis: if one of the core developers codes a feature, or if an external contributor provides a good patch, the feature gets added. If the feature interests nobody with coding abilities, although it seems nicer to leave old requests lingering in Bugzilla and let the submitter hope the feature will be added someday, it's more honest (and cleaner) to close them as WONTFIX.

Fail.

I suppose I should at least give the Claws Mail guys credit for being honest and stating that they're not interested in accessibility, but it is a shame for the end user.

Now back to focusing on implementing support in Orca where it belongs: on those applications whose developers ARE interested....

From today's "Hodes Hotline Update":

I opposed the FISA legislation because I believe it does not strike the proper balance between protecting civil liberty and security as it undermines essential rights of US citizens to be free from warrantless government surveillance. We must not compromise the fundamental constitutional rights of our citizens.

It is never acceptable to violate our Bill of Rights. It is my top priority to protect our country and keep us safe—and our intelligence services have the tools to do that right now. At the same time, I have consistently opposed any legislation that grants retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s apparently illegal warrantless wiretapping program. This legislation provides de facto immunity without real accountability.

If we give a free pass to the government to invade our privacy outside the boundaries of the Constitution, we give up the freedom for which so many Americans have fought and died.

(emphasis added by me)

Thank you Congressman Hodes for your efforts!

...And those of you who know me know what that means: the frighteningly rapid approach of the course which shan't be named.

Given the lack of public transportation in New Hampshire and my rather ADHD personality, waiting around for a bus to fling myself in front of doesn't seem like a viable option. Do you think it's possible that the Maya sucked at math?? I mean it's almost 2012, and they didn't have calculators back then....

Words - Missing Persons

Do you hear me
Do you care
Do you hear me
Do you care

My lips are moving and the sound's coming out
The words are audible but I have my doubts
That you realize what has been said

You look at me as if you're in a daze
It's like the feeling at the end of the page
when you realize you don't know what you just read

What are words for when no one listens anymore
What are words for when no one listens
What are words for when no one listens it's no use talkin at all

I might as well go up and talk to a wall
'cause all the words are having no effect at all
It's a funny thing am I all alone

Something has to happen to change the direction
What little filters through is giving you the wrong impression
It's a sorry state I say to myself

What are words for when no one listens anymore
What are words for when no one listens
What are words for when no one listens it's no use talkin at all

Do you hear me
Do you care
Do you hear me
Do you care

Let me get by
Over your dead body
Hope to see you soon
When will I know
Doors three feet wide with no locks open
Walking always backwards in the faces of strangers
Time could be my friend
But it's less than nowhere now
less than nowhere now
less than nowhere now
now
ow ow ow

Pursue it further and another thing you'll find
Not only are they deaf and dumb they could be going blind and no one notices
I think I'll dye my hair blue

Media overload bombarding you with action
It's getting near impossible to cause distraction
Someone answer me before I pull out the plug

What are words for when no one listens anymore
What are words for when no one listens
What are words for when no one listens it's no use talkin at all

What are words for when no one listens anymore
What are words for when no one listens
What are words for when no one listens it's no use talkin at all

Do you hear me
Do you care
Do you hear me
Do you care
tell me what are words for
Do you hear me
tell me what are words for
Do you care
tell me what are words for
Do you hear me
so tell me what are words for
Do you care
so tell me what are words for
Do you hear me
tell me what are words for
so tell me what are words for
Do you care
so tell me what are words for
Do you hear me
tell me what are words for
so tell me what are words for
Do you care
so tell me what are words for

(Lyrics provided by leoslyrics.com via Rhythmbox)