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An Open Letter To All Top Tech Tidbits Readers. We Need Your Help. Top Tech Tidbits To Spin Off Access Information News Section As Standalone Publication Beginning November 7th 2022. Everything You Need To Know.

Released: 10/27/2022

Author: Aaron Di Blasi, Publisher, Top Tech Tidbits

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Do you consider yourself to be a Top Tech Tidbits hard-liner? Did you know there was such a thing? And if you did, do you know what it means to be one?

I'll begin by answering each of these questions myself. Firstly, yes, I suppose I do consider myself to be somewhat of a Top Tech Tidbits hard-liner. And secondly no, I did not know there was such a thing until I was informed by Top Tech Tidbits readers. And finally, no, I did not know what it was, either.

So without further ado, a Top Tech Tidbits hard-liner is a Top Tech Tidbits reader that prefers for their Tidbits to remain pure. And by pure they mean directly related to adaptive technology tips, how to's, and / or tutorials. And that's it.

Hard-liners do not wish for "other" types of access news to be mixed in with their Tidbits. Sours the taste they say.

This is a concept that we have understood and respected since taking over distribution of the Top Tech Tidbits publication in June of 2020. We very quickly came to realize that we were actually receiving two different "kinds" of news from content contributors each week. The first kind were Tidbits. Defined as articles directly related to adaptive technology tips, how to's, and / or tutorials.

But there were also a second kind. And they bore many of the hallmarks of Tidbits. But they were not, strictly speaking, adaptive technology tips, how to's, and / or tutorials. But they were definitely access information. So we dared not exclude them. And it's a good thing we didn't. Because readers have really come to embrace them.

By now you've probably surmised that this second type of news item are the articles that you read each week within the "Press Releases and Other News" section, a separate section of the Tidbits newsletter that directly follows Tidbits, and which was recently renamed "Access Information News." Below are 10 examples of articles that are considered "Access Information," but are not considered "Tidbits":

1.) Opinion Editorials That Discuss Technology And How It Affects The Lives of the Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

2.) Press Releases and Announcements From Access Technology Companies

3.) Accessible Gaming Discussions That Affect The Lives of the Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

4.) Videos of Product and Service Demonstrations For The Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

5.) Medical Technology Breakthroughs For The Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

6.) Voting Technology Breakthroughs For The Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

7.) Legislation Updates That Directly Affect The Lives of the Blind, Vision Impaired, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deafblind, Neurodivergent and / or Disabled

8.) Website and Software Accessibility Updates for Compliance

9.) Access Grant Applications, Announcements and Opportunities

10.) Access Infrastructure Updates (Such as audible traffic signals, crosswalks that talk, public transit updates, etc.)

How do we know that these articles are just as important to readers as Tidbits? Because they regularly appear within the Top 5 Most Clicked Tidbits of the Week. Something that surprised us and showed us that both "kinds" of news had become vital to the access community at large.

But... and I'm sure you knew one was coming... what we have struggled with the most is just how quickly both of these sections have grown. For those of you that have been reading Tidbits prior to 2020 you will recall that Tidbits used to consist of approximately 10-12 articles per week. We now publish an average of 25-35 Tidbits per week along with 25-35 Access Information news articles per week. That's 50-70 articles per week. And many have said it. It's just too much to consume sometimes.

Absolutely outstanding information they say. No complaints there. Just too much of it. And we have to agree. Both from the functional perspective of a reader actually being able to read and follow that many articles in a week, and from the technical perspective that the newsletter itself does in fact have a character limit. We are not upon it yet, but we most certainly will be if we don't take steps to reduce the amount of content within each newsletter.

An additional technical consideration is that two of the primary spam triggers for an email are character count and number of links. The higher these two numbers are the higher the spam "rating" assigned to the email. Which is an incredibly silly rule when you consider a publication like Top Tech Tidbits, but it is also one that we must take into account when trying to reach as many readers as possible.

Short Article Version Without Background Information Below:
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Therefore, beginning Monday, November 7th 2022 we will "spin off" the former "Access Information News" section of the Top Tech Tidbits email newsletter into its own weekly email newsletter, now to be delivered on Monday mornings at 4:00 AM ET. You will still receive Top Tech Tidbits every Thursday morning at 6:00 AM ET as normal. If you decide that you do not wish to receive Access Information News as a separate newsletter you will now be able to unsubscribe from it without affecting your Top Tech Tidbits subscription.

But here is where we really need your help. And believe it or not, the very best way that you can provide that help right now is not by donating, but by simply reading the new Access Information Newsletter each week.

For without readers, there can be no new newsletter.

That said, if you just want to read Tidbits, we certainly understand, and you will now have the option to do just that. But whatever your decision please don't tag the new Access Information Newsletter as spam. We do not wish to send email to anyone that does not wish to receive it. But since this was information that all Top Tech Tidbits readers were already receiving each week, we did not want to take it away without giving each reader a choice.

So if you decide that you do not wish to receive the new Access Information Newsletter just search for the word "Unsubscribe" within the newsletter and click on it. Physically, your personal "Unsubscribe" link is located at the very bottom of every email we send you.

If enough Tidbits readers agree to support the new Access Information News publication by reading it each week, we will attempt to support its ongoing distribution by seeking sponsorships and donations just like we did for Tidbits. Which would open up many new opportunities for everyone. From readers to sponsors to content contributors. And yes, we would also consider taking on another Editor specific to Access Information News. This person would be a long time access advocate, attorney, spokesperson or a combination thereof. Once we had the requisite number of sponsors in place this position would be compensated at $100 USD per month. Just like Tidbits. But again we first have to see how many readers are going to stay on with the new publication. So with that, I give you everything that you need to know about it.

The name of the new publication will be "Access Information News" and it will be delivered every Monday morning at 6:00 AM ET in order to give readers ample time to digest their Tidbits from Thursday. The new website for Access Information News can be found at: https://accessinformationnews.com. As always we welcome any and all feedback that you may wish to provide.

If you have any additional questions not answered by visiting the new website, or if you already know that you do not wish to receive the new Access Information Newsletter, please feel free to reach out to me at publisher@accessinformationnews.com 📧️ and I will make certain that your email address is removed ahead of time.

For those of you that plan to stick around and read the new publication John, Jenna and I look forward to working with each and every one of you to build a second respected, unbiased access information publication. Here's to that.

Cheers,

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP

Publisher (2020-Present)
Top Tech Tidbits
The Week's News in Access Technology
https://toptechtidbits.com 🌐

Publisher (2022-Present)
Access Information News
The Week's News in Access Information
https://accessinformationnews.com 🌐

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