S1E150 - 20240124 - Tuesday Topics - Jeff Bishop an BITS.

One of the joys of being a part of the American Council of the Blind is that, in addition to having state affiliates as members, the organization has welcomed the formation of more than a score of organizations formed based on an interest or a set of skills. Over the past couple of months there is no question that the affiliate most often garnering our attention was BITS. Blind Information Technology Specialists has been around since the early 1980s but, in its earlier history, it was a group that was mostly interested in welcoming computer programmers. Some years ago the organization changed its name and became much more open to having others join its ranks. Over the past six months or so, the President of BITS has been Jeff Bishop. He has a long history of service to ACB. He has been a Board member. He currently serves on the Board of Publications. He has been a leader in the effort to expand ACB Media is the host of ACB'S "main menu" program.

Jeff will be joining Tuesday Topics partly to tell us about three initiatives that BITS is making that will certainly positively impact ACB and its members. I have no intention of talking about any of them here. There have been announcements but I want you to hear from Jeff not just what they are but why they are being offered. Perhaps these new initiatives will alter the way that special interest affiliates operate to get new members. Perhaps the approach will have lots of long term consequences for ACB that we can't even foresee yet.

Interesting though it will be to talk about BITS, we at Tuesday Topics indicated to Jeff that we wanted more from him. He has worked at Microsoft and is probably among the most knowledgeable people we know with regard to access technology. So we thought we would ask him about the current state of tech for people who are blind! We will probably also ask him to look ahead to explore with us what the consequences of the AI revolution might be for folks who are blind. As we explore the organization, BITS, and the knowledge that Jeff brings to the table, we will, I hope, also get a chance to explore who Jeff Bishop is. Where did he grow up? What are his interests and passions? What made him leave Microsoft? We are looking forward to a chance to showcase BITS, access technology and Jeff Bishop next Tuesday.

Find out more at https://acb-tuesday-topics.pinecast.co