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Byte size interview No 6: Chris McCausland
- 17 Aug 07, 02:27 PM
We're building our lives round the web and technologies. Lack of access to the online world can seriously impinge on our lifestyle. Every week we speak to a disabled person and get a snapshot of what they're using, why, what bugs them and what they love in terms of access to digital life and the internet in our Byte size interview.
This week, we talked to . Chris is 30, and a stand-up comedian currently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Before his career as a comedian, he studied Software Engineering at Kingston University, so he knows his way around a computer. He is visually impaired, and uses screen reader software to surf the web.
Q: What are your favourite websites?
Amazon and play.com, for toys 鈥 I don鈥檛 buy anything serious. I use the 大象传媒 for news and sport, and and to research material. They are all largely text-based, and fairly easy to get around.
Q: What are your least favourite websites?
Even though I鈥檓 on , I find that annoying and hardly ever check other people鈥檚 profiles. As soon as you do, music usually starts playing, so I can鈥檛 hear what JAWS is reading out! I don鈥檛 like either. They use verification images to stop touts using automated software to buy large amounts of tickets. Although they have a number to call to avoid the images, it is never well serviced, and it is really hard to get tickets for popular events.
Q: What was the last thing you bought online?
I bought a bunch of t-shirts from play.com for the trip to Edinburgh, so that I don鈥檛 have to worry about the washing! I had to get my sister to help me pick cool ones though 鈥 none of the text descriptions of the t-shirts really tell you what they look like.
Q: If the web were taken away from me I would鈥
I think I would be ignorant of almost everything going on in the world, I鈥檇 feel out of contact with everyone and be 100% miserable. I might get more work done though, as I wouldn鈥檛 get distracted by reading all the bizarre stories out there, like a man marrying his horse or what have you!
Q: What鈥檚 the most adventurous thing you鈥檝e done on the web recently?
I think that it must have been making a flight and hotel booking for a trip to New York. I prefer to do these things face to face, but as it was cheaper to do it online, I thought I would try it. It all worked out well, and it was a fantastic stay.
Q: What are your favourite blogs?
I don鈥檛 read blogs. I鈥檓 not interested in other people! Seriously though, too many blogs are a bit dull, reading about what people had for breakfast and so on. That鈥檚 also why I don鈥檛 watch reality TV.
Q: Have you ever heard of Facebook?
Yes, and I鈥檓 avoiding it like the plague. It is bad enough being on MySpace. I don鈥檛 need another mailbox to check!
Q: What are your favourite gadgets?
My mobile phone and my laptop. I have all my contacts on my phone, and get football updates, and all that kind of stuff on it. I spend a lot of time in hotels, and the TV systems and menus to watch satellite TV in the rooms are getting more and more complicated and less accessible all the time. So I just watch DVDs on my laptop instead.
Chris McCausland can be seen performing 鈥溾 at The Counting House in Edinburgh, as part of the Fringe Festival, until 25th August.
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