The eText Publishers Advisory Board consists of software publishers.
Below is a brief description of each company and representative:
Mark Bernstein, President and Chief Scientist
Eastgate Systems
134 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Mark Bernstein, for more than two decades, has been president and chief scientist of Eastgate Systems, a pioneer company in the development of hypermedia and hypertext writing tools, and publishers of original hypertexts, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. At Eastgate, Bernstein has created and managed hypertext tools and technologies, including the Storyspace hypertext writing environment which has been widely regarded as the tool of choice for serious and literacy hypertext, and Tinderbox, a unique and powerful tool for masking, analyzing, and sharing notes.
Eastgate Systems, Inc was founded in 1982 and is located in Watertown, MA, just outside Cambridge. Eastgate publishes Storyspace, the software that inspired much of the best literary hypertext yet to appear, as well as an extensive catalog of original hypertexts, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, that are enjoyed and studied in colleges and universities throughout the world. Most recently, Eastgate's pioneering Tinderbox is a tool for notes – a personal content management assistant for capturing, organizing, analyzing, and sharing complex ideas.
Roberta G. Brosnahan, General Manager & VP
Freedom Scientific, Learning Systems Group
480 S. California Avenue
Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609 Freedom Scientific, Learning Systems Group
Roberta G. Brosnahan is the General Manager & VP for the Learning Systems Group of Freedom Scientific. Ms. Brosnahan earned California credentials in speech pathology, special education, reading, learning disabilities and administration. Her classroom and diagnostic experience aided her in defining both WYNN & TestTalker.
Additional collaborative efforts with U.C. Berkeley using small group interviews and qualitative research, plus input from other professionals, support the continuing development of the products.
Ms. Brosnahan is a past member of a variety of organizations that have studied language learning disabilities and dyslexia. She has presented internationally on technology benefits and dyslexia. Examples of her activities include:
• CEROD, board member, Center on Education Research on Dyslexia, S.J.S.U.
• ASHA, American Speech Hearing Association, member Planning Committee for
Specialty Board Recognition for National Child Language Specialty
• International Representative for ASHA at IALP, International Association of
Logopedics and Phonetics
• Academic presentations on technology and dyslexia in: Australia, Holland, Japan,
Portugal and U.S.
Freedom Scientific's mission is to develop, manufacture and market innovative technology-based products and services that aid individuals with learning disabilities and vision impairment.
The Company was created in 2000, by combining three companies in the assistive technology arena. Freedom Scientific is divided into two groups: the Learning Systems Group, providing solutions for struggling readers/learners; the Blindness/Low Vision Group, providing products to individuals with visual impairments.
The Learning Systems Group provides two well-recognized, award-winning software solutions, WYNN and TestTalker. WYNN transforms printed text into the spoken word. By synchronizing the text and audio presentation of materials, individuals can successfully access appropriate classroom text and literature. Numerous well-accepted study strategies and modifications are built into the product. TestTalker, a bi-modal accommodation, aids in preparing for successful test-taking and worksheet completion. Both products were defined by educators.
The Blindness/Low Vision Group provides hardware and software solutions. JAWS, the
company's flagship product, provides screen-reading capability to an international audience. The Group provides a full-range of award-winning solutions including Braille displays, reading appliances and low vision solutions. More information is available at http://www.freedomscientific.com/index.html.
TextHelp Systems, Inc.
Kate Gilligan – Vice President, Educational Publishing Division
217 Woodland Drive
Downingtown, PA 19335
Kate Gilligan has over 10 years of experience in instructional technology and digital publishing. Kate has experience in K-12 education at Pearson Digital Learning, Harcourt Classroom Connect and Leapfrog Schoolhouse, providing a background to position Texthelp Systems as the most significant tool for integrating mainstream technology into the classroom and the living room for learners of all ages and ability levels.
Texthelp Systems Inc. is an educational software company with offices in Antrim, Northern Ireland and Woburn, Massachusetts. Specializing in the design of assistive technology to help individuals to improve their reading and writing abilities, the company has developed a range of awarding winning software products which are marketed worldwide. Read more at their website: http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=10147.
IntelliTools, Inc.: A Cambium Learning Technologies Co.
Arjan Khalsa, CEO and Co-Founder
1720 Corporate Circle
Petaluma, CA 94954
Arjan Khalsa, CEO and Co-Founder, IntelliTools, Inc. has been the CEO of IntelliTools since 1991. His passion and broad vision have made him an active leader in the field of instructional technology and assistive technology and an active participant in national trade associations and legislative efforts on Capitol Hill. Arjan's background spans experience as an elementary teacher, a teacher trainer at San Francisco State University, and a faculty member at U.C. Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science. As CEO of IntelliTools, he was the lead inventor of IntelliKeys, the most commonly used and highly awarded computer access device of its kind. He has been Principle Investigator on federal curriculum grants through the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Arjan helped found the Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) in the mid-1980s, and he is a co-founder and past-president of the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA). He is currently a board member of the Consortium for
School Networking (CoSN).
IntelliTools, over the past 15 years, has conducted extensive research in universal design and differentiated instruction to develop accessible technologies for students and adults with special needs. It is currently engaged in a research study funded through the Small Business Administration to investigate reading gains for students in grades 4-8 who are at the 2.5 to 3.9 grade level. Math and literacy research projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIII) and have focused on student interaction with software to find the best ways to help students learn. The results are products employing universal design, in environments that enable speech, single switch scanning, and creating IntelliKeys overlays, plus access by a standard keyboard or mouse, touch screen, and most alternative input methods. IntelliTools received the Small Business Administration's prestigious Tibbetts Award in 1996 and 2002 for exemplary use of federal grants in product development.
Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., A Cambium Learning Technologies Co.
Jackie Wheeler
100 Crosby Dr.
Bedford, MA 01730-1402
While Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. was founded in 1996, the roots of the company extend back to 1976 and the introduction of the world's first reading system, the Kurzweil Reading Machine. Today, the company is recognized as the leading developer of reading technology for people with learning difficulties and those who are blind or visually impaired. Read more at the Kurzweil website: http://www.kurzweiledu.com/about_us.aspx
Ruth Ziolkowski, President
Don Johnston, Inc.
26799 West Commerce Dr.
Volo, IL 60073
Ruth Ziolkowski has been involved in Assistive Technology for 20 years. Ms. Ziolkowski is currently President and a proprietor of Don Johnston Incorporated located in Volo, IL. and is proud to celebrate Don Johnston's 25 years of success. She has held many positions at Don Johnston Incorporated such as VP of Research & Development. In addition to this she has worked with many collaborators in development of products. She is also a Co-Author for Beginning Literacy Framework with Karen Erickson and Caroline Musselwhite. In 2003 Ruth became a panel member for the National Center for Technology Innovation. Ruth also serves as an advisory board member for National Lewis University.
Ruth received her Bachelors Degree in Occupational Therapy in 1985 from University of Illinois. Early in her career she worked with Augmentative Communication and Assistive technology as an occupational therapist. She received her MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management in l987.
Working together with the founder, Don Johnston, she has developed a world class organization that specializes in the development and sales of assistive technologies focusing on literacy success for struggling students. Don Johnston Incorporated publishes the industry standard writing products, Co: WriterO, Write:OutLoud® and DraftBuilde® as well as unique considerate reading products including Start-to-Finish® Reading Series and Word Study products, Simon SIOTM and WordMaker®. Don Johnston Incorporated continues its leadership with the acquisition of the Annual International Conference, Technology Reading and Learning Diversity (TRLD).
Don Johnston Incorporated is a leader in learning intervention resources. This company has been delivering interventions to struggling students around the world for over 25 years. It is dedicated to building confidence and independence in struggling learners by providing educators with professional services and materials to ensure students' success. The company's industry-standard interventions address every area of Literacy, Word Study, Reading and Writing as well as support learning in the content areas. With easy-to-use solutions, the goal is for students to reach independence in grade-level curriculum because the unique content is considerate of each student's age, ability and needs. Customizable student preferences allow educators to scaffold their students through a successful learning experience.
John Gardner, Founder
ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.
1853 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333
Dr. John Gardner, Founder of ViewPlus Technologies, Inc., was a world renowned solid-state physicist who went blind at age 48 due to complications from eye surgery. Gardner encountered enormous barriers when he returned to his job as a physics professor and researcher at Oregon State University.
Gardner found that certain information required to communicate in the field of solid-state physics was difficult if not impossible to access, even with assistance from sighted helpers. In particular, he found there were very few tools available for blind people to convert visually-oriented information, like diagrams and structured mathematics, to a medium that could be fully comprehended through touch and sound.
Utilizing his vast expertise in acquiring grant funding at Oregon State University, Gardner applied himself toward researching and developing innovative technologies that could minimize the communication gap between himself and his sighted colleagues. Under the umbrella of the acclaimed Science Access Project (SAP) at Oregon State University, Gardner and his team initiated the first work on Tiger® embossing technology, the Accessible Graphing Calculator (AGC), as well as other important developments. Read more at the ViewPlus web site at http://www.viewplus.com/company/about-viewplus/
ViewPlus provides a number of high quality innovative products making mainstream technology accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. ViewPlus provides many products that may be coupled with their braille printers to bring assistive learning and access to a new level.