24 Hour AAC Read-a-Thon on Facebook and Skype
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Terry Gibson
Oct 20, 2009, 10:05:46 PM10/20/09
to aacpa...@googlegroups.com
On behalf of AAC Month planning team Judy Bailey of Everyone Communicates (USA) and Michael and Terry of FaCE (UK) invite you to join us online between Midnight EDT 21 October and Midnight EDT 22 October to celebrate AAC Month. Join International AAC Month on Facebook to post there or join the public chat on Skype:
This is a last minute informal event we are running as a pilot study to test how we might do a world wide all time zones day next year, where people can broadcast their readings and AAC awareness raising events across the time zones. With no time to organise for this year Judy and I committed to do the full 24 hours. We'll be looking at the stories and movies entered to the Many Methods, One Goal collection for AAC Month at www.aacawareness.org and at any AAC websites that come up in discussions. Please come on and keep us awake!
Thank you
Terry
terry n michael
Oct 24, 2009, 9:10:55 AM10/24/09
to AAC Parents
Judy Bailey beat me to writing up the AAC Read-A-Thon event (Michael
an I were travelling Thursday and Friday) so thank you to AAC Parents
who joined us on the day and thank you Judy for your report, which
follows:
Hi,
The 24 Hour AAC Read-a-Thon was great fun and lasted more than 24
hours! We had some very busy and chatty times and some slow times
during which we uploaded some information and links to the
International AAC Month facebook page, watched videos, discussed core
words and communication boards, and read stories from the online
collection at www.aacawareness.org. Some folks who joined us stayed
for long discussions while others signed on for short intervals
several different times or perhaps just for a short time. A few
people joined us after 11:00 PM EDT on Wednesday night, so we were not
ready to stop at midnight. We continued until 12:45 AM before saying
our goodbyes and signing off. The 24-hour format appeared to work
well in that it gave people one or more opportunities to sign on and
join in.
This was a joint event between EveryoneCommunicates (US, a project of
ICON Community Services) and FaCE (UK) and others around the world.
Terry (FaCE) and I were awake and alert and chatting with people for
the entire time. We had the opportunity to participate in
conversations among people in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Malta,
Sri Lanka, and France. During the Read-a-Thon there were many
wonderful moments--a young person who uses AAC participated for the
first time ever on Skype and made friends halfway around the world,
people around the globe made connections and talked about working
together in the future on projects, old friends reconnected, people
shared their enthusiasm, expertise, current projects, challenges, and
successes.
We kept the public chat open the following day and some folks checked
back in to chat more. We began discussing what worked well in the
event and what we would do differently next time (including more
advance notice and coordination), planning toward the next Read-a-
Thon. We hope to make the signing on process easier and to expand the
event to involve more people in more countries. We planned the Read-a-
Thon this year (with limited resources and limited planning time) as a
small pilot project from which we could learn. We learned a lot, and
folks who participated in the event encouraged us to do this again and
perhaps to do it more often than once a year.
I hope you will all visit the Facebook page at International AAC Month
to see the resources posted there. I encourage you to sign up as a
fan and to ask your friends, family, and colleagues to do so, too. We
would like to involve more and more people in learning about AAC and
the importance of communication.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to all who participated and to
everyone who wished us well even though they were not able to join us
this time. I want to express my special thanks to Terry who partnered
with me on this bold and fun move to raise awareness of the urgent
need for Effective communication for all . . . in our lifetime!
Thanks, also, to Justin who helped get us off to a great start at
12:00 AM on Wednesday and who was with us through much of the 24
hours, including the signoff.
We invite ideas from all for the next Read-a-Thon event. If you are
interested in joining the task force to work on this or other
projects, please contact me. Thanks.
Best regards,
Judy
End quote.
Terry
On Oct 21, 3:05 am, Terry Gibson <terryjohnm...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On behalf of AAC Month planning team Judy Bailey of Everyone Communicates (USA) and Michael and Terry of FaCE (UK) invite you to join us online between Midnight EDT 21 October and Midnight EDT 22 October to celebrate AAC Month. Join International AAC Month on Facebook to post there or join the public chat on Skype:
>
> http://www.skype.com/go/joinpublicchat?chat&skypename=terryjohnmick&t...
> This is a last minute informal event we are running as a pilot study to test how we might do a world wide all time zones day next year, where people can broadcast their readings and AAC awareness raising events across the time zones. With no time to organise for this year Judy and I committed to do the full 24 hours. We'll be looking at the stories and movies entered to the Many Methods, One Goal collection for AAC Month atwww.aacawareness.org and at any AAC websites that come up in discussions. Please come on and keep us awake!
> Thank you
> Terry
an I were travelling Thursday and Friday) so thank you to AAC Parents
who joined us on the day and thank you Judy for your report, which
follows:
Hi,
The 24 Hour AAC Read-a-Thon was great fun and lasted more than 24
hours! We had some very busy and chatty times and some slow times
during which we uploaded some information and links to the
International AAC Month facebook page, watched videos, discussed core
words and communication boards, and read stories from the online
collection at www.aacawareness.org. Some folks who joined us stayed
for long discussions while others signed on for short intervals
several different times or perhaps just for a short time. A few
people joined us after 11:00 PM EDT on Wednesday night, so we were not
ready to stop at midnight. We continued until 12:45 AM before saying
our goodbyes and signing off. The 24-hour format appeared to work
well in that it gave people one or more opportunities to sign on and
join in.
This was a joint event between EveryoneCommunicates (US, a project of
ICON Community Services) and FaCE (UK) and others around the world.
Terry (FaCE) and I were awake and alert and chatting with people for
the entire time. We had the opportunity to participate in
conversations among people in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Malta,
Sri Lanka, and France. During the Read-a-Thon there were many
wonderful moments--a young person who uses AAC participated for the
first time ever on Skype and made friends halfway around the world,
people around the globe made connections and talked about working
together in the future on projects, old friends reconnected, people
shared their enthusiasm, expertise, current projects, challenges, and
successes.
We kept the public chat open the following day and some folks checked
back in to chat more. We began discussing what worked well in the
event and what we would do differently next time (including more
advance notice and coordination), planning toward the next Read-a-
Thon. We hope to make the signing on process easier and to expand the
event to involve more people in more countries. We planned the Read-a-
Thon this year (with limited resources and limited planning time) as a
small pilot project from which we could learn. We learned a lot, and
folks who participated in the event encouraged us to do this again and
perhaps to do it more often than once a year.
I hope you will all visit the Facebook page at International AAC Month
to see the resources posted there. I encourage you to sign up as a
fan and to ask your friends, family, and colleagues to do so, too. We
would like to involve more and more people in learning about AAC and
the importance of communication.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to all who participated and to
everyone who wished us well even though they were not able to join us
this time. I want to express my special thanks to Terry who partnered
with me on this bold and fun move to raise awareness of the urgent
need for Effective communication for all . . . in our lifetime!
Thanks, also, to Justin who helped get us off to a great start at
12:00 AM on Wednesday and who was with us through much of the 24
hours, including the signoff.
We invite ideas from all for the next Read-a-Thon event. If you are
interested in joining the task force to work on this or other
projects, please contact me. Thanks.
Best regards,
Judy
End quote.
Terry
On Oct 21, 3:05 am, Terry Gibson <terryjohnm...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On behalf of AAC Month planning team Judy Bailey of Everyone Communicates (USA) and Michael and Terry of FaCE (UK) invite you to join us online between Midnight EDT 21 October and Midnight EDT 22 October to celebrate AAC Month. Join International AAC Month on Facebook to post there or join the public chat on Skype:
>
> This is a last minute informal event we are running as a pilot study to test how we might do a world wide all time zones day next year, where people can broadcast their readings and AAC awareness raising events across the time zones. With no time to organise for this year Judy and I committed to do the full 24 hours. We'll be looking at the stories and movies entered to the Many Methods, One Goal collection for AAC Month atwww.aacawareness.org and at any AAC websites that come up in discussions. Please come on and keep us awake!
> Thank you
> Terry
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