Our latest newsletter

Hello there The start of another weekend that’s shaping up to be very pleasant indeed.  Today, we would like to share our latest newsletter with you.

We hope you take a few minutes to read and digest.
Have a great weekend.
 

The Sterling Creations spring 2009 newsletter

 

                   Hello and welcome to the Sterling Creations spring 2009 newsletter, which is produced quarterly.  We hope that you enjoy it and encourage you to pass it along to those who may be interested in the types of services that we offer.  We welcome your feedback and invite you to give us your comments for it is only through you and with you that we can improve our services. 

 

Table of contents

1 Message from the president

2 The first quarter in review

3 Sterling services

4 Our partners

5 Contact info

 

 

Message from the president

Dear readers:

Spring is here and with it comes the hope for good things to happen.  Spring is one of my favourite times of the year because it signifies the awakening of nature’s wonders after a long and brutal winter. 

 

Like so many other small companies, this has been a very brutal quarter for us and as expected we have had to make several adjustments in order to deal with the economic down turn.  Nevertheless, we continue to toil away with the hope that things will start to improve soon.  Our quarter has been one of the toughest that we have ever had to face in our company’s 15 year history but there are a few things that we would like to share with you.

 

On behalf of the Sterling Creations team I thank you for your continuing support and feedback because with it we can only get better and without it our hopes will only dwindle.

Best wishes for spring 2009.

Donna J. Jodhan, president

 

 

The first quarter in review

As mentioned by our president, the first quarter of this year was one of the toughest for us but among the dark clouds there were some silver linings.  Our teams continued to toil away and thanks to their hard work, we managed to gain some new clients.

 

Our writing team was kept busy in the first quarter writing and editing for the staff at www.untappedwealth.com, providing services to the business desk page.  In addition, they continued to support Donna Jodhan with her blogs.  The writing team also managed to snag two clients in Britain and resumed work on a major project to ghost write and edit a fiction book for a client in Scotland.

 

Our translation and research teams also managed to stay ahead of the game by finding new clients in Europe.  The translation team continued its work with clients from Spain and right here in Canada and the research team broke some new ground in the United States by picking up some new clients.

 

Our accessibility team spent most of the first quarter engaged in marketing activities and it expects to continue doing the same for the second quarter.  At the present time, the accessibility arena is quite placid due to the present economic down turn. 

 

Our president continued her efforts to make things happen.  In March, she traveled with her friend and associate Sambhavi Chandrashekar to the CSUn conference in Los Angeles where they jointly presented a paper on A Framework to Support Online Credibility Evaluation by Web Users with Vision Loss. 

The presentation was a huge success and both Donna and Sambhavi managed to establish some very vital contacts within the accessibility field.

 

Sambhavi is a PHD student at the University of Toronto and is on schedule to graduate in April of 2010 and it is hoped that she and Donna would find ways to continue to work together.  Donna is extremely grateful to Sambhavi for having invited her to co-present this paper.

 

Donna also managed to gain the attention of the Alliance for the Equality of Blind Canadians and at the suggestion of John Rae, first vice president of the AEBC, Donna has decided to run for the office of second vice president of the AEBC at their upcoming elections which will be held during the AEBC’s agm in Vancouver British Columbia.  Donna has been asked to deliver the keynote address at this meeting.

 

Our unstoppable president has also been busy with other activities.  She launched a new blog in early March entitled “Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all” and you can view this blog at www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com.  She is also quite busy with one of her favourite pastimes; chess.  At the present time she is involved in an international tournament as part of a North American team against players from South Africa.  She has just won her first game and is hoping to defeat her opponent in the return game.

 

On March 31, Donna was cross examined by lawyers from the Canadian government as part of her ongoing charter challenge against the Federal Government.  The day went well for Donna and her team and we are all hoping that this case has a favourable outcome for all stakeholders.  Donna has launched a charter challenge against the Canadian government to get them to make their websites accessible to all Canadians; especially to those with visual impairments.  

 

This charter challenge was launched in June of 2007 after the Federal Government refused to make their websites accessible to blind and visually impaired Canadians.  As part of her team, Donna has been fortunate to obtain the services of Jutta Treviranus, one of the leading W3c experts.  Jutta is most renowned for her expertise internationally and Donna is extremely grateful to Jutta for her commitment to this charter challenge.

 

The following is a list of websites where you can read blogs and editorials written by Donna J. Jodhan:

Donna Jodhan!  Advocating accessibility for all

http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com

A weekly feature on important answers to consumers concerns

http://www.untappedwealth.com/businessdesk.html

A weekly blog for language professionals

https://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog/blog.html

A monthly editorial on business issues and concerns

https://www.sterlingcreations.ca/magazine.html 

Weekly editorials on accessibility issues in Canada

http://www.accessibilitynews.ca/acnews/editorials/donna.php

Editorials:  An International perspective on issues of accessibility and disability

http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com

A general perspective on issues of access and accessibility

http://numpadplus.com/blog/?page_id=7 

 

 

Sterling Services

 

OUR ACCESSIBILITY SERVICES

Meet our accessibility team!  Made up of a hard working group of very dedicated professionals.  

This team offers compliance and evaluation services.  They can help you to test and evaluate your websites for W3C compliance.  They are experienced at what they do and some of their tasks include:

Accessible website design and development.

Accessible website testing and evaluation.

Accessible content development.

Creation of user testing, technical support, high level, and detailed evaluation documents.

Managing of user testing teams.

User and technical support.

Hardware and software evaluations of access technology.

Presentations, seminars, and workshops.

 

Meet our research services team!  Our newest edition.

This team can help you to research info on all kinds of topics.  From simple subjects to the more complicated ones.  This team can do it.

At the present time the research team is heavily involved in helping clients to research info for some very complicated Human Rights cases and in addition, they are assisting several authors to find ways to market their books.

They also offer their research services to home businesses, small businesses, and to individuals.

Some of their tasks include:

Researching of requested info.

Producing well-written documents containing the requested info.

This team can carry out Internet, phone, and library research on your behalf.

 

Meet our writing team!  Known as the one stop writing shop.

This team is probably the busiest of our groups.  Working with authors, students, and marketing personnel from companies of all sizes.

Some of their tasks include:

Proofreading and editing. 

Copy writing.

Re-writes.

The writing team can help you to enhance and expand your articles, blogs, newsletters, online magazines, and web content.

To see samples of their work you can visit www.untappedwealth.com/businessdesk.html and there you’ll find daily blog s produced by this team. 

 

Meet our translation team!  Made up of translators and language coaches.

This team works in English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, and Mandarin.  They are heavily involved in the translation of storybooks for kids into several languages.

Their language coaches are also heavily involved in helping business professionals and new Canadians to become more proficient at writing and speaking English.

Our dynamic team of translators and language coaches can help you to improve and translate your articles, blogs, emails, faxes, newsletters, and online magazines.  In addition, they offer services to help you improve your phone conversation.

Some of their tasks include:

Translation.

Language coaching.

Transcription.

Proofreading and editing.

 

To learn more about our accessibility, research, and writing services, please visit www.sterlingcreations.ca and while there check out our free monthly online magazine.  You can go directly to this magazine by visiting www.sterlingcreations.ca/magazine.html.  This magazine is filled with articles of interest to the special needs population; there is also a section on helpful tips, and an editorial written by Donna J Jodhan.  The helpful tips section contains tips on a wide range of topics.  From the kitchen to your diet, and from your computer to tidbits on disabling diseases and even some tips on the workplace.  You can even submit your comments to this magazine by emailing us at info@sterlingcreations.ca.

To learn more about our translation team, please visit www.translationpeople.com and while there check out their weekly blog on the free useful info page.  This page contains some very helpful news for translators and language professionals and in addition, there is an editorial on various types of opportunities for language professionals.

 

Our sister website!  If you would like to make some light hearted contributions at absolutely no cost, then please send your contributions to info@onestopbookcafe.com.  Visit our sister at www.onestopbookcafe.com and there you will find a lot of interesting information, books to read, plus more.

 

 

Our Partners

 

We would now like to introduce you to our partners and invite you to check them out.

 

About MIAD

With over 15 years of business experience, MIAD Information Systems Ltd. is a full-line supplier of IT Hardware/Software and Service and Su pport for the GTA.  MIAD provides custom and name brand servers, laptops, notebooks and workstations, as well as warranty and non-warranty repairs service for major laptop/notebook brands such as IBM, Lenovo, HP, Compaq, and Dell.  MIAD has formed strategic partnerships with major IT manufacturers to deliver integrated business solutions that enable our customers to compete and grow in these demanding economic times.  We specialize in Customizable IT Solutions for Small/Medium businesses and custom tailor our solutions to the individual needs of your organization. Recognized across Canada for our Service Excellence by our customers and our Service Partners, IBM/Lenovo, HP, Apple and others. At MIAD we understand information technology and its use in solving problems. MIAD is more than just a company that fills orders; we specialize in developing creative, cost-effective solutions for our Clients, large and small. The commitment to quality and performance is proven by the successful partnerships we have formed with significant companies and institutions in the Canadian Educational, Health and Corporate sectors.

 

About Texthelp Systems’ Browsealoud

 Texthelp Systems’ Browsealoud is the preferred solution for speech enabling website content and increasing access for individuals with literacy difficulties. This award winning web accessibility solution, reads aloud all website content including Alt Tags, embedded PDF and Microsoft Word documents, and secure pages.  Reading text aloud combined with dual color highlighting makes it easier for users to read the web, interact online, or even learn to read.  Browsealoud is a subscription based service with a free download for your website visitors. It’s easy to implement and even easier to use, and is the only truly accessible text to speech solution for both website owners and visitors. 

 

See for yourself how Browsealoud works on these Browsealoud enabled sites:  

 City of Ottawa –

http://ottawa.ca/index_en.html

·                                 Province of Ontario –

·                                 http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cm/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7_0_252/_l/en?docid=STEL01_100996

·                                 Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health & Safety Board –

·                                 http://www.wcb.yk.ca/

·                                 Cambrian College –

·                                 http://www.cambriancollege.ca/in dex.php

·                                 Niagara College –

·                                 http://www.ni agaracollege.ca/accessibility_browsealoud.htm

 

·                                  About www.badeyes.com

·                                 President Geof Collis

·                                 “Bad Eyes Design and Consulting builds industry leading, accessible

·                                 websites using today’s best practices and in accordance with the W3C

·                               &nbsp ; standards and provides

·                                   accessibility audits. Visit them on the web at

·                                 www.badeyes.com.

 

·                                 About numpadplus.com

·                                 President Vashaun Jones

·                                 Are you in search for that perfect job?

·                                 Do you have a software application that you need training on or a computer operating system that you want to advance in?

·                                 If the answer to either of these questions is yes then we are the company to assist you. We are NumPadPlus.com LLC, specializing in online training for Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems.

·                                 If you work during the day or are in school and need a flexible time to train then we are here to help. We employ a staff of over 50 access technology specialist all over the globe, so we are able to provide training on your schedule and best of all it’s all done from the comfort of your own home.

·                                 If you need to learn Microsoft Office, Terminal in Mac or a flavor of Linux then we are only a click away.

·                                 For more information and other fun stuff like our blog, mailing list or podcast, check us out on the web at http://numpadplus.com or send an e-mail to info@numpadplus.com.

 

 

Contact info

To contact us by email:  Please send your email to info@sterlingcreations.ca

To contact us by phone:  Please give us a call at (416) 491-7711

 

 

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About Donna Jodhan

Donna Jodhan is an award winning blind author, advocate, sight loss coach, blogger, podcast commentator, and accessibility specialist.
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