LYNX-DEV lynx and blind users

[Rick Lewis]

Hi, All, 
i tend to respectfully disagree with Lloyd Rasmussen's numbers 
estimate, although there's no way to get a totally accurate picture. 
While the active discussion lists contain  several hundred people, 
my observation is that for every  one on the list, there are several  
who don't have  time for, or don't know of, blindness-related mailing 
lists. There are also many who  use lynx on institutional systems to 
gather information. This is the point-of-entry stage, and I suspect 
quite a  few may call local libraries, colleges and universities to 
get limited access, not knowing how rich and varied Internet access 
can be, but also wanting to find certain information. 

As a volunteer with the Free-Net here  in Arizona, with some 20,000 
members, I've encountered several blind folks by happenstance--and 
my guess  is  that I've encountered maybe 1 to 2% of total users  on  
this system alone. These are folks with information needs, but maybe 
not the most active information consumers. 
The vitality and ease of use of lynx helps to demystify the 
process of getting on the Net for these folks. 

Anyway, extrapolating from my  experience, I'd guess  the number to be 
more like 3,000 as opposed to several hundred, butof course I can't prove 
it ''' 

Better than a "marketing" approach, I would think, would be a look at 
how effective lynx is for users of various systems, regardless of  number. 
While you can'tmove mountains for one r two users, the numbers approach 
could tend to (if not done carefully) de-value the very real information 
needs of any valid minority  of users. 
Thanks for listening, 


--
Rick Lewis 
The 90's: the decade where your employer could downsize your job. 
But all you can get upsized is an order of fries. 



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