Announcing the Founding Members of the AppleVis Podcast Team

By AppleVis, 31 January, 2016

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

We are pleased to announce the people who are the founding members of our new AppleVis Podcast Team. Each person brings a wealth of podcasting and Apple product experience to the table, and we are sure that they will help to make the AppleVis Podcast an even more informative voice in the space that we occupy.

The founding members of the AppleVis Podcast Team are:

Rather than try to summarize each podcasters’ unique accomplishments and qualifications, we felt it best to invite them to introduce themselves in their own words:

Personal Introductions From the AppleVis Podcast Team

Lulu Hartgen

Hi, I'm Lulu Hartgen. I live in the UK with my husband and help to co-run a business where my chief responsibility these days is designing and developing audio games.

I love working with sound—from finding interesting sound effects, to making relaxing nature ambiences to producing a background ambience so real you feel you're there. I've worked with different kinds of audio for the past fifteen years, everything from hospital radio to live internet radio, through audio with photography on Youtube, all kinds of AudioBooms, and of course podcasts.

I love all kinds of games, but the ones which stay on my phone are the ones which push the envelope, the whimsical, the creative, the different. I'm super excited to be on this team and looking forward to bringing you some interesting demos in the weeks to come.

Jonathan Mosen

Update 30 March, 2016

Jonathan has now decided to step down from the Team due to other commitments. We thank him for his involvement with the Team and desire to help the community.

Hi everyone, I’m Jonathan Mosen, and I’m looking forward to putting some podcasts together for you. I live in New Zealand with my wife Bonnie, and have four children.

I’ve had a varied career which has included work in commercial radio, government relations, governance and assistive technology. I’ve been doing audio things on the Internet since around 1996, and I was the founding director of ACB Radio in 1999.

We thrive as a community when we’re all willing to share our knowledge with one another, so It’s wonderful to be a part of the AppleVis community in this way.

Mike Malarsie

Hello AppleVis community! My name is Mike Malarsie and I’m stoked to be a member of the AppleVis podcast team! I live in Salt Lake City, Utah with my wife and kids. I’m a part time public speaker, snowboarder, traveler, yogi, CrossFit enthusiast, and overall thrill seeker! Most important to me though is my chance to be a stay-at-home dad while my kids are still little.

I started a small website called How to be Blind and have been podcasting there for a few years. This is my opportunity to take a new step, learn some new things, and be part of something bigger. I’m excited that I’ll have a chance to help out around here after all these years of quietly watching this community grow! Thanks to AppleVis for letting me be a part of this, and thanks to all of you for your support!

Derek Daniel

Update 16 March, 2016

Derek has now decided to step down from the Team due to some changes in his personal life. We thank him for his involvement with the Team and desire to help the community.

Hey there everyone! My name is Derek Daniel and I am super excited to be a part of the podcast team for AppleVis!

I live in Indiana with my wife & high school sweetheart and two wonderful kids. I have been blind nearly 15 years and love to have a great time with friends, family and living life to the fullest.

I have a background in musical theater and have been “talking for a living” for well over a decade. I look forward to sharing my passion for everything in the world of Apple and assistive technology!

Chris Skarstad

Hi everyone! I'm Chris, AKA Toonhead from Richmond in the great state of Virginia! You've probably seen my name on posts a time or two on the forums. As for some of my favorite kinds of apps, I have a lot of games, and radio-related apps as well, so you'll probably hear a lot of demonstrations of those coming up. When I'm not podcasting and broadcasting, I like to read books. Stephen King is by far my favorite author, but I also enjoy a good biography or sci-fi/suspense novel as well. Thanks to the AppleVis team for allowing me to podcast here!

Lisa Salinger

Hi to all,

I'm Lisa Salinger, and I live in northeast Pennsylvania. I am fortunate to be able to blend my hobbies with my career. I work with BlindAlive and teach Windows, iOS devices, and other miscellaneous tech. I have some other exciting things in the works, but will wait to share as I know more. I enjoy playing with all kinds of technology, of course, and have been known to get hopelessly lost in a good book on a fairly regular basis.

My choice of a favorite kind of app seems to change based on what I am doing at the moment. I enjoy trying to keep a demonstration simple, so that someone relatively new to the world of iDevices can easily follow along. On the other hand, I enjoy deep dive-style discussions on just about anything.

I would like to add my thanks to the AppleVis team for this opportunity, and I look forward to working with everyone.

Mark Seddon

Hi, my name is Mark Seddon and I live in the UK with my wife. I have the best part of thirty years experience in audio, radio and other media work. It all started when I was really young, and at eight years old I was recording my own audio programmes. That progressed into having my own mini-studio at home in my teens, to doing things like Hospital and charity radio, and then going into the media full-time.

I enjoy keeping myself busy and often am involved in many projects at once! I enjoy sharing about assistive technology, so I can help blind and visually impaired people experience the freedom it brings to become more productive, and on a level with sighted users.

I am excited about being on the AppleVis podcast team, and look forward to sharing with you soon!

Sheri Wells-Jensen

Hello, Everyone,

I'm Sheri Wells-Jensen. I live in Bowling Green, Ohio with my spouse, two daughters and two cats. During daylight hours, I'm an associate professor in the English Department at Bowling Green State University where I happily teach linguistics and English classes for international students.

After hours, I'm one of the merry co-hosts of the Language Made Difficult podcast from Speculative Grammarian, and a member of the GRUBS (Grande Royale Ukulelists of the Black Swamp--a harmony singing, song writing, Ăśkulele extravaganza. I do a little programming and web design, so my favorite apps are the cute little efficient ones that do one thing very well without sucking up lots of memory.

I'm delighted to be joining the AppleVis podcast team, and I look forward to getting to know all of you better.

Jeff Bishop Joins the AppleVis Editorial Team

We are also very pleased to announce that Jeff Bishop has joined the AppleVis Editorial Team. Jeff brings a wealth of Apple product, beta-testing, and professional podcasting experience to the team, and we greatly appreciate Jeff’s dedication and desire to help make the AppleVis website the best that it can be.

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Comments

By Rolando Jr Ogayon on Monday, February 22, 2016 - 10:42

Hello guys,

Thank you for working very hard to make this site the best place to go to for the Blind community who seek information regarding apple devices.

Best regards from the Philippines,
Jhon

By Deborah Armstrong on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:42

I continue to be impressed with all the fine tutorials and information the Applevis team offers.

I have five ideas for podcasts that I'd like to hear. I know all this is a volunteer effort, and want to repeat that I am grateful for the material the community is already providing; your labor of love has made me a much more capable user of my iDEVICES.

Idea #1: Editing audio on the iDEVICE. What tools do you podcasters use to perform this chore? How about a walk-through of a couple of these. I still mostly edit audio on my PC, but often wish I could do it on my iDEVICE.

Idea #2: Help for blind students. As a working adult, I use my iDEVICES mostly for pleasure. Though I read, write and listen to a ton of content, I don't see it as a study tool. But at the college where I work, more and more blind students are using the iPHONE as their primary technology. I'd like to point them at a podcast and/or guide that would better help them read textbooks, take notes, view instructor's slides, take online courses, research and use reference materials and track when assignments are due. A guide or podcast from real students that discuss how to perform these tasks efficiently would be great. For example, I find ibooks and Kindle great for reading novels, but I wouldn't want to read portions of a textbook with these e-readers. Our LD students love notetaking devices like LiveScribe or the Sonocent app, but neither choice is particularly accessible for those using Voiceover. A computer user can simply ask the instructor to put his slides on a flash drive; an iDEVICE user needs a different way.

And then there's always the issue of selecting text, cut copy and paste. Most of my blind students really struggle with editing anything, even a simple homework assignment on their device. Your podcast library already has many great casts of course, but selecting and featuring links to some of the best ones for students could be very helpful.

Idea #3: hobbies. We all have passtimes from creating melodies,gardening, knitting, cooking, collecting, playing chess, you name it. How has an iDEVICE enhanced your ability to enjoy some long-time hobbies, especially hobbies you had before you owned an iDEVICE? That would make an interesting round of podcasts.

Idea #4: Self-improvement. From improving one's spelling, to improving one's vitality with yoga, to improving one's environment with organizational skills, I'm wondering how our podcasters have used their iDEVICES toward that end.

Idea #5: Ringtones. I'd really like to make ringtones and attach them to my contacts. For example, a recording of the paratransit van backing up (Beep-beep-beep) would be the ringtone for paratransit calling me to say my ride is late. A recording of my pet barking would tell me my husband was calling from home, and a recording of my mom's doorbell would tell me it was Mom on the phone.

A good guide on how to create one's own ringtons right on the phone (something that was trivial to do with Symbian) would be very useful.

Though I've enjoyed the multiplicity of podcasts showing us how to use particular apps, I'd like to see more in-depth podcasting that's task-oriented rather than app-oriented.

Thanks for reading.

By Ekaj on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:42

Welcome one and all, including Mr. Jeff Bishop! Some of you I recognize, while others I don't. Actually I think there's only one of you I don't recognize, but that's okay. I'm looking forward to hearing other things you have to offer. AppleVis has been my main go-to location for learning all about my MacBook. This is my first and I love it. Keep up the great work Editorial Team!

By Pa. Joe on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:42

I have been using a mac for one month now. I don't mean to sound corny, but I already feel like I'm part of a community. Thanks for sharing.

By Apple Khmer on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 10:42

Hi,

elcome all. Look forward to seeing your work.