EASI Webcast focuses on exciting work being done at Adobe to make its
famous PDF documents fully accessible to users with disabilities.  Now
available at http://www.rit.edu/~easi

For many computer users with disabilities PDF has been 'infamous' and the
cause of much pain and anguish.  Many document providers have used PDF
especially libraries and frequently government agencies.  The coming of
Section 508 requiring Federal agencies to purchase only accessible products
appeared to create a giant problem.  Adobe, however, has actually been
working to transcend this problem for some time and has had people working
on it.  There is now a new dedication and commitment to make PDF a
universallly accessible document format.  Not only will the help disabled
users, especially the blind, but as more and more people access the
Internet with cell phoenes and other very small wireless products, PDF will
need to be able to be rendered intelligently for these users as well.

This week's webcast is an interview with:

Dianna Husum
Product Manager, Professional Publishing Solutions Group
Adobe Systems Incorporated

Dianna Husum is a senior product manager in Adobe's product and technology
integration group. One of her primary projects is developing and
implementing an accessibility strategy across Adobe product lines. Prior to
coming to Adobe Systems, Dianna published an online magazine
dedicated to coverage of emerging Internet technologies. She has been
involved in electronic/Internet publishing since 1993. Dianna holds a BS in
journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo,
Calif.

Rick Brown
Accessibility Product Manager, ePaper Solutions Group
Adobe Systems Incorporated

As the Accessibility Product Manager for Adobe's ePaper Solutions Group,
Rick is responsible for defining and marketing accessibility solutions
for Adobe Acrobat software and the Adobe PDF file format. He has been with
Adobe Systems for the last six years, serving as product manager for
PageMaker. Rick has more than 11 years of experience with
high-technology companies. Prior to Adobe Systems, he was the public
relations manager for technical markets at Sun Microsystems and held a
variety of positions at leading PR and marketing consulting firms,
including Ketchum Communications. Rick has a BA degree from the
University of California, Davis.

Loretta Guarino Reid
Acrobat Accessibility Engineer, Document Technologies Group
Adobe System Incorporated

Loretta is a Senior Computer Scientist in the Acrobat Development Group,
working on accessibility issues in the Acrobat family of products. She has
been with Adobe Systems for five years, and with the Acrobat group for nine
months. Prior to Adobe Systems, she worked for MicroUnity Systems Engineering,
Digital Equipment Corporation, and Xerox Corporation. She has an BS and MS
from
Stanford University and PhD from Carnegie-Mellon University.


***** Note, EASI plans to have a follow-up interview in the fall after the
release of Adobe's next version of a more accessible product.  If you want
to ask questions of the Adobe folk, send questions by e-mail to Dick Banks:
[log in to unmask]

Barrier-free Web Design Online Workshop
Workshop starts June 7, 2000
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops/easiweb.htm