The Japan Braille Library is now accepting applications for the Teruko Ikeda ICT Training programme 2012.

There will be 2 Intermediate courses.  The 1st course will be from Monday the 2nd of July to Friday the 13th of July, and the 2nd course will be from Monday the 16th of July to Friday the 27th of July.

We are still confirming the contents of the courses, so please check the blog again for updates. However, it is expected that they will be similar to the 2011 intermediate course.

Applicants should be visually impaired and come from countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. They should also have basic computer skills, a good level of English proficiency, and be between 18 to 35 years of age.

Interested applicants should seek recommendations from former trainees of the Teruko Ikeda ICT Training Programme or go through their local organisations for the blind.

For further information or to request an application form, please contact Ms. Christina Anne Lau at the following e-mail address: christinalmk at gmail dot com. The closing date for applications is the 31st of January 2012. Successful candidates will be notified by e-mail. We look forward to receiving your applications.

We have made some changes to the syllabuses for this year’s courses.

For the Intermediate course, we have cancelled Discussion 2. Instead, there will be a presentation by members of the Penang E-Community Club about Internet marketing.

If you’ve ever wondered how to use the Internet to start your own business, then we’re sure that you’ll find this presentation valuable and interesting.

The Advanced Course trainees will also have the chance to hear a similar presentation. Please check the syllabus page of your course for more information.

We are extremely grateful to Mr. Alvin Cheong and Mr. Jackie Chao of the Penang E-Community Club for agreeing to share their knowledge of Internet marketing with us.

I have just added more information about the 2011 intermediate and advanced courses.

Please navigate to the Pages heading on the main page. Under this heading is a list containing links to syllabuses for the 2011 intermediate and advanced courses, an explanation of the seminar and discussions, information about the optional courses, and much more.

I’ll be posting updates to the tutorials and course notes soon, so please check back regularly.

The selection meeting to choose this year’s Teruko Ikeda ICT trainees was held on Friday the 11th of March.

Here are the names of the selected applicants:

Intermediate course

• Mongolia: Mr. Batchuluun Oyunsaihan
• Sri Lanka: Mr. Kelum Prasanna Surige
• Indonesia: Ms. Lindawati Kwa
• The Philippines: Ms. Louise May L. Fami
• Nepal: Mr. Pawan Ghimire
• Bangladesh: Mr. Rashed Chowdhury
• Bhutan: Mr. Santabir Rai
• Malaysia: Mr. Toh Wooi Seong
• People’s Republic of China, Tibet Autonomous Region: Ms. Yudon

Advanced

• People’s Republic of China, Tibet Autonomous Region: Mr. Gompo Gyentsen
• The Philippines: Mr. Joel Rescober
• Nepal: Mr. Khom Raj Sharma
• Sri Lanka: Mr. Rasika de Silva
• The Philippines: Ms. Rhea Althea Guntalilib
• Thailand: Mr. Songkran Soisaklang

If you were not selected this year, please consider applying again next year.

The application period for the 2011 Teruko Ikeda ICT courses is now over.

JBL will start interviewing applicants from Saturday the 26th of February. However, there were many applicants this year. Therefore, it will not be possible to interview every applicant.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an application. If you are not selected for this year’s courses, please consider applying again next year.

The deadline for applications for this year’s Teruko Ikeda ICT courses is Friday the 25th of February, 2011.

Interviews will not start until after the application deadline.

We have received many applications this year, so it won’t be possible to interview all applicants.

If you applied but are not contacted for an interview, please consider applying again next year. Many of this year’s applicants are well qualified and suitable, but time pressures at JBL mean that we cannot contact everyone.

Here is a little more information about this year’s advanced course.

Like last year, the advanced course will be an intensive programming class. At the moment, we plan to use the Python language to develop a GUI desktop application for Microsoft Windows. If there is enough time, we shall also build a database-driven interactive web site.

We decided to use Python because it is a fairly easy language to learn, and it is widely used in the IT industry. The free Windows screen reader, NVDA, is written in Python, as is the Orca screen reader for the Gnome desktop environment.

Hopefully, this year’s trainees will gain experience in software development using Python, in object-oriented design concepts, and in the planning and creation of GUI interfaces.

However, please be aware that the aims of the course may change, and that there may not be enough time to cover all of the topics mentioned here.

Please feel free to add a comment to this message with your views, opinions or suggestions.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 Teruko Ikeda ICT courses, to be held at Saint Nicholas Home, Penang, Malaysia from the 18th of July to the 19th of August this year.

Like last year, there will be two courses: an intermediate course and an advanced course.

The intermediate course will start on Monday the 18th of July, and end on Friday the 29th of July. The syllabus has not yet been finalised, but it is likely to be very similar to last year’s intermediate course. This year, there are places for 10 applicants on the intermediate course.

The advanced course will start on Wednesday the 3rd of August and finish on Friday the 19th of August. Like last year, the advanced course will be an intensive computer programming course. However, the course content is likely to focus on application development rather than web site development. Further details will appear on this blog when the syllabus has been finalised. This year, there are places for 6 people on the advanced course.

The Japan Braille Library hopes to receive applications in the following ways:

• By recommendation from our former trainees
• or by recommendation from a local welfare society or organisation for the visually impaired.

Direct applications from individuals may be considered, but the selection committee does not have the time to conduct hundreds of interviews. Therefore, if you are an individual, it would be best to apply through your local organisation.

More information about this year’s courses will appear on this blog in the coming months. If you have any questions, please add a comment to the post and we will try to respond as soon as we can.

The deadline for applications is Friday the 25th of February, 2011. The staff at JBL would like to wish all applicants the best of luck.

This post contains two PDF files.

The first is a list of keyboard shortcuts for the Ubuntu operating system, and the other is a list of keyboard shortcuts for the Orca screen reader.

If you are interested in creating a DVD that will perform an unattended installation of Windows7, then this site could be useful.

It tells you how to make a bootable DVD which can be used to install Windows7 automatically. However, the process is a little complex, so please make sure that you fully understand it before trying it out.