Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 12:31:33 -0700
To: [log in to unmask]
From: AFB Technology Center <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: CTIB Expansion Letter

MEMORANDUM

To: All CTIB Members

 From Jay Leventhal, Jay Stiteley, Gil Johnson, and Karen Wolffe

Subject: Future plans for the CTIB

Date: July 2001

As you know, the Careers and Technology Information Bank (CTIB) provides a
unique
opportunity to share information about job experience and assistive
technology with
other people who are blind or visually impaired.  A job seeker can contact
someone in their
intended profession or someone in the field they are preparing to enter.  A
blind person can get
in touch with an experienced user of a product that they are interested in
purchasing or that they
have technical questions about.  This is critical as we continue to have to
use new software on
the job that may or may not work with assistive technology.

We know that as a member of the CTIB, you will be interested in our plans
to expand this very
important and unique program. CTIB is such a valuable part of AFB's
Technology program but
has not been used as widely by Rehabilitation Counselors as we would
like.  With that in mind,
we are taking two steps that, we think, will make it more usable by
Rehabilitation and Education
personnel.

First, we want to expand the occupational information we already have and
organize the job
titles so that they will be easier to search through. This will also enable
any blind job seeker,
Rehabilitation Counselor or teacher to link with the Bureau of Labor
Statistics "Occupational
Outlook Handbook (OOH.)  The OOH lists a great deal of information about
thousands of jobs
such as training requirements, salaries, typical duties, and projections of
future demand for
employees in that field.  This information will complement and enhance the
information
gathered from CTIB members.

The second thing we want to do is to make it posible to search the database
on line through our
web site <www.afb.org>.  Your personal information will be protected and no
ones name or
contact information will be listed. In order to contact CTIB members, job
seekers
or job researchers will have to connect through AFB.   CTIB members
will be identified by a numeric code only.

We expect that these changes will be accomplished by the fall and will
greatly expand the
utilization of the CTIB.

Within the next month, you will all be asked to update your information so
that we can build on
what we already have.  We have been using the new CTIB database that
Crista Earl designed for a year now. We will add new questions to
that database and e-mail the forms to you to be filled out. If
you are attending the 2001: A Technology Odyssey conference in
Pittsburgh, please stop at the AFB exhibit table and we will be
glad to update your information on the spot.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns about this project,
feel free to contact any of
us.


Sincerely,

Jay Leventhal
Editor in Chief, AccessWorld
Phone: 212-502-7639
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Jay Stiteley
Director of National Technology Programs
Phone: (312) 396-4420
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Gil Johnson
Director, AFB West
Phone: (415) 392-4845
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Karen Wolffe
Phone: 512-707-0525
E-mail: [log in to unmask]