John's Introduction

Hello! My name is John and I am a student studying library technology. Like a few other contributors on this blog, I am new to Blogger and blogs in general.

I made a few changes to the blog’s formatting:

- I changed the colors of the date headers (background and text) to make them “pop” and to better separate the individual blog posts.

- I changed the “Blog Contributors” names list text in the header to white in order to match the rest of the header text and make it easier to read against the purple background.

- I added author names to the blog post footers.

Other contributors on this blog have given definitions for assistive technology, or AT. This term is often used synonymously with the term adaptive technology, though technically there is a slight difference. An adaptive technology is a special version of or an add-on to an already existing technology, and is a subset of the broader term assistive technology (Adaptive; What’s).

Within the context of libraries, adaptive technology and assistive technology are “systems, devices, and software specifically designed to make library materials and services more accessible to people with physical and/or cognitive disabilities, including large print books, closed captioned video recordings, Braille signage, voice amplification devices, screen magnification and screen reading software, voice recognition software, etc.,” (Reitz).

References:

Adaptive Technology versus Assistive Technology. (2015, November 09). Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.assistivetech.com/adaptive-technology-versus-assistive-technology/

Reitz, J. M. (2014). Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from https://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_a.aspx

What's the Difference between Assistive and Adaptive Technologies? (2008, August 29). Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.assistivetechnology.vcu.edu/2008/08/29/whats-the-difference-between-a/