Dear all,

If you are receiving this message, I have found your name on either the
LISA IV registration list on the Web or the list of contributors to the
program, and I know that you are either a native English speaker or are
fluent in English.

Those of you who attended LISA III in Tenerife will remember our
colleague Eva Isaksson, University of Helsinki Observatory, who has a
severe hearing impairment.  Although she is very fluent in written
English, she cannot hear well enough to understand spoken English.  At
Tenerife, we had a group of volunteers who took turns transcribing
sessions for Eva.  Our process there was very successful, and we intend
to repeat it in Prague.

So I need volunteers!

Here is what is involved.  Eva is bringing her laptop, so the
transcriber will take notes on what is being said by the current
speaker, typing directly into the laptop, so Eva can read the screen.  I
will be asking speakers to provide, whenever possible, a copy of the
text on paper or diskette for any part of their talks that will not be
presented in a visual display using Power Point, overheads, etc.  In
cases where Eva has a paper/disk copy of the text, all the transcriber
needs to do is point out where the speaker is in the text.

In Tenerife, we had lots of transcribers, so each person did just a
single session, e.g. 9:00 until the mid-morning break, ~1.5 hours.  I
hope we will again have lots of people volunteering to make this meeting
accessible for Eva.

Please email me if you are willing to help.  I will set up a schedule
and let you know which time slot is yours.

Many thanks,

    Ellen