Karlen Communications
Our logo was designed by a native artist and captures the spirit of who we are and what we do. The image represents the harmony between man and woman. The silhouette of the eagle represents the spirit of the woman in the image of the bear which symbolizes man. the feather represents the passing of knowledge by the teacher to the student. If you look carefully, there is the head of a loon at the base of the dark part of the feather. The loon was the only animal who would dive to the bottom of the lake to retrieve medicine that would restore the sight of the chief of the artist's tribe. The loon holds an honoured place in native history. This logo has so many dimensions that it allows those who view it to explore their creativity...which is also what we like to do. We are not "one thing" but many - in business and in person.
Readthe Karlen Communications Company Profile [this is a tagged PDF document]
There is a Karlen Communications Blog that focuses on accessibility issues for creating documents and using applications.
Karen MCCall is a 2011 Microsoft MVP [Most Valued Professional] Award recipient for Word. She also received this award in 2009 and 2010.
Conference Handouts
Accessible Document Design (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, InDesign)
Our strengths are in the creation and repair of tagged accessible PDF documents. Tagging an inaccessible PDF document is only one step in the process. Many of the elements of a PDF document can be implemented in the source document. For example there are tools and techniques for Word, PowerPoint and Adobe InDesign that document authors can use to make those documents more accessible. In turn this lessens the repairs needed when the document is converted to tagged PDF. Of course we also work with legacy untagged documents that need to be made more accessible.
Karlen Communications can provide:
- State, provincial or corporate site licenses for valuable resources such as "Accessible and Usable PDF Documents: Techniques for Document Authors," Logical Document Structure Handbook: Word 2007," and "Logical Document Structure handbook: PowerPoint 2007."
- On-site or web based training.
- Consulting on strategies for implementing the Accessible Ontarians with Disabilities Act or the Refresh of Section 508...or both!
- Document remediation and repair.
Contact Karlen Communications for pricing.
Free Resources
These documents are in RTF format.
- Basic Computer Literacy Checklist. this can be used for assessment or training, by people using adaptive technology or people who don't use adaptive technology. If you say "I can use a computer" these are the things you should be able to do.
- CCTV/Video Magnifier Assessment Protocols. A form you can use if you are an assessor, trainer or person going for a CCTV assessment. This form is designed to be client based.
- Equipment Setup Checklist. When your computer is delivered, this checklist will help you verify the tools you need are working. this checklist is primarily for people who will have adaptive technology installed on their computer.
- OCR/Scanning Literacy Checklist. What you should know about your OCR/Scanning software after 10 hours of training. A resource for assessors, trainers and people who are being assessed or trained on using their scanning software such as OpenBook [Freedom Scientific] or the K-1000 [Kurzweill Educational Software].
- Screen Magnification Literacy Checklist. What you should know about your screen magnification software after 10 hours of training. This resource can be used by assessors, trainers and people being assessed or trained to use screen magnification software such as ZoomText [AiSquared] or MAGic [Freedom Scientific] .
- Screen Reading Literacy Checklist. What you should know about your screen reading software after 10 hours of training. this resource can be used by assessors, trainers and people being assessed or trained to use their screen reading software such as JAWS [Freedom Scientific], Window-Eyes [GW Micro], or HAL [Dolphin] .
- Voice Recognition Literacy Checklist. What you should know about your voice recognition software after 10 hours of training. Although this is based on Dragon NaturallySpeaking from Nuance, it can be applied to the speech tool in Microsoft Office or on a tablet PC. A resource for assessors, trainers and people who will be assessed or trained on using voice recognition.
The resources relating to adaptive technology and the equipment setup checklist are based on the Ontario Ministry of Health's ADP [Assistive Devices Program] criteria. Feedback is always welcome.
Karen McCall has done tutorials for Freedom Scientific. They include the JAWS and Excel 2000, JAWS and Excel XP, and JAWS and WordPerfect 10 tutorials.
CSS Formatting
This web site uses an external CSS file to format everything. We hope this demonstrates that you can create interesting pages using guidelines for more accessible and usable web content. The advantage to an external CSS is that we can just substitute one piece of code and it will be reflected in every page we used the formatting. This saves time and lets you view your choices on all pages at once. Sometimes what looks like a good idea on the front page doesn't translate well to subsequent pages!
There are two good resources for creative CSS menus, the CSS Edge by Eric A Myer and "Listomatic."
Copyright
This site was created by Karen McCall using Adobe Dreamweaver 8. It was last updated July 2011. Copyright by Karen McCall and Karlen Communications.