RTR2009

Ronald May

Why did you delete some some references to Ronald May in a couple of articles? You can reply on this talk page and I should spot it though not right away as I don't check on Wikipedia every day. --Marc Kupper|talk 08:50, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Marc, I am the Ronald May referred to in those posts and didn't feel that my name being there was of appropriate importance to maintain. You are welcome to reinstate them if you feel they are more beneficial listed than not. If you'd like to verify this via a separate e-mail feel free to contact me at ronmay1@gmail.com

Kind regards,

Ron

Thank you for the reply Ron. The sections that noted your contributions have been deleted. There is one I'd like to add back as I thought it was interesting which is your work at Sanyo-Fisher with respect to closed captioning decoders. This section has been deleted for now:

The expert witness testimony on behalf of Gallaudet University was provided by Ronald May, then employed at Sanyo-Fisher USA Corporation, a California division of Sanyo Electric. Sanyo-Fisher was the manufacturer of the set-top closed captioning decoder box sold at the time by NCI, the National Captioning Institute. Mr. May's research concluded that the cost of the captioning circuitry, when integrated into the set, increased the cost of the set to the consumer by only a few cents, as compared to the cost of the stand-alone set-top box, which at the time was selling for just under $200.

I'd like to add something about this back though it does not need to note your contribution. Ideally, everything that gets added to Wikipedia is based on indapendant and reliable third party sources. Thus what we are looking for are news reports, magazine, articles, etc. Did you testify before Congress? If so, what was the date and someone can check to see of there are news articles to use for citations. I'm also confused about "on behalf of Gallaudet University." I believe this is an interesting bit of history for how CC got integrated into TV sets rather than needing external decoders. --Marc Kupper|talk 07:05, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Marc, the only thing I still have is the letter which I framed from one of the Senators (name escapes me at the moment) inviting me to testify before the Congressional hearings. I ultimately did not testify because what was done created quite a furor in the office and our management felt (wrongly, alas) that if Congress mandated features in television sets then that would spur on the end of western civilization as we knew it. Of course, they were wrong, and I left the company soon afterward. Gary Shapiro was a lawyer for Consumer Electronics Association (sponsor of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and he also attacked what we were doing for Gallaudet (He's now president of the CEA, so I guess there really is no justice in the world).

What I did submit and what should be on public record somewhere is the paper I wrote for Gallaudet Univ which they submitted as expert witness testimony since I was working at Sanyo at the time in the consumer electronics division and we were the manufacturer of the set-top captioning box sold under the NCI brand. I really don't mind if you add my name back in because frankly I was very proud of all this. There is one reference that was published in the NY Times while the hearings were going on that referenced my research, which stated that the difference in incorporating the closed captioning chip into the TV set itself versus having it remain separate in a set-top box would add only a dollar or so to the set instead of it remaining a $200 product sold separately. I'd be happy to scan the letter and e-mail it to you if you like; it's still tucked away. Just let me know.

Ron — Preceding unsigned comment added by RTR2009 (talk • contribs) 16:47, 12 February 2009

Hi Ron. The New York Times article would be the most useful of the items. I'll see if I can find it at the library. The letter would not be of as much use as it's just the invitation and could not be used to back up that what we are adding to Wikipedia is accurate. I remember the CC discussions were quite contentious and so there should be no shortage of articles. --Marc Kupper|talk 09:23, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Marc, it took about 5 seconds to find the article here:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DF113EF935A25753C1A966958260

The exact reference to my expert witness submission is here: "The television industry and supporters of closed captioning agree that the technology will add $3 to $10 to the cost of a set once the chip is mass produced. About 20 million televisions are sold in the United States every year."

Let me know if you have any questions. (Oh, yes, the letter was from Tom Harkin).

Ron