Lori

Both you and Kelly make valid points.  I should like to add 3 of my own:

(1)  No two individuals, be they sighted or not, can come up with an
overview that will address the unique questions any given reader of the
report will have.  Different people want different bits of info and look
at things differently.  Hence, no matter who writes the report and
participates in the evaluation, it won't be satisfactory to someone
happening to read it.

(2)  When such reports are written, and the intended audience is potential
blind users, it is important that the presented info be that what blind
users want to know.  If that report is prepared by a sighted individual
with little feedback from blind users, such a report may fall short in
providing such info.  As an example which might bring home that point,
how valuable would you find a report    I would write on a car you were
contemplating to buy if I only included my personal reactions.

(3)  One thing I like seeing in such product overviews is an overview of
the machine outlining how controls and switches are set up, etc.  Such
product descriptions may best be prepared by an individual who is not
sighted as they are more likely to have a feel on how to do this.  Once
again, this goes back to the notion that potential regular users of a
product may be in a better position to understand the product than a
non-user who just happens to be in the business of writing reports.  If
the report writer happens to be working with users in the report's
preparation, however, these problems could be avoided.

I think it comes down to this:  potential buyers of such equipment are
more likely to take seriously opinions of daily users rather than that of
a journalist one day writing about technology and perhaps the next on
books.  And with the costly nature of these products, and often the
inability to examine the gear firsthand prior to purchasing, the sources
of opinion aren't a trivial matter.


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