Dear NVDA users, developers and supporters around the world:

My name is Joseph Lee, one of the users and contributors to NonVisual Desktop Access screen reader project. I would like to invite all of you to help us plan a major milestone for NVDA project: NVDA’s tenth anniversary in 2016.

For many blind people, computers have become an essential tool for participating in today’s information-rich society. This includes browsing the web to keep up to date with friends and family, using the Internet for academic activities, writing complex documents and software and so on.

Until few years ago, it was necessary to set aside a significant amount of money to purchase a screen access software for Microsoft Windows. However, that changed in 2006 when a blind Australian programmer, together with his friend set out to create a free, open-source screen reader for Windows: NVDA, or NonVisual Desktop Access. Back then, many thought this project would quickly fade. Almost a decade later, this screen reader has won numerous awards and is now part of lives of almost a hundred thousand blind people around the world, and we the NVDA community would like to take this momentum further by celebrating NVDA’s achievements and potential next year through various events.

If you would like to help us the user community help NV Access celebrate NVDA’s tenth anniversary in 2016, or would like to help plan a major event in April 2016 called NVDACon 2016, please join NvDACon 2016 Planning Task Force. The goal of this task force is to plan activities around NVDA’s tenth birthday, especially the upcoming NVDACon 2016.

There are two task force related mailing lists:
·         NVDACon discussion: This is the main Task Force mailing list where we’ll plan activities to celebrate NVDA’s tenth anniversary and NVDACon 2016. Please visit https://groups.io/g/nvdacon for more information or to join this Task Force (anyone, including NV Access staff are more than welcome to join).

·         NVDACon announce: This is an announcement list for those interested in events surrounding NVDA’s tenth anniversary. Please visit https://groups.io/g/nvdacon-announce for more information or to sign up to this list.

We look forward to getting input from the NVDA community in helping NV Access celebrate an important milestone for a project that is opening the doors for many blind people to education, employment and so on. If you know anyone who are interested in joining this effort, please do let them know.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joseph S. Lee
NVDACon 2016 Planning Task Force Chair

Groups.IO email lists can be subscribed using emails:
* NVDACon discussion: [email protected]
* NVDACon Announce: [email protected]