Ed Bosson wasn’t Dr. Bosson yesterday, but today he will be. Ed Bosson is being awarded a honorary doctorate degree today from Gallaudet University for his early work in Video Relay Service.
Thank you, Dr. Bosson. Thank you for VRS!
VRS changed our lives. Throughout years of hard work and persistence, one only needs to look at the VRS call centers, interpreters, devices, and improved video quality today to see what Dr. Bosson has accomplished. Without him, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Dr. Bosson, you changed our world.
Leaders around America submitted letters asking the world’s only deaf university to consider Bosson for a doctorate degree. A honorary degree from Gallaudet University is indeed honorary. But from where did this inspiration come?
Connections. Connections otherwise not possible. Families thousands of miles apart, smiling together at their monitors. Grandparents seeing their grandchild signing their first word. Friends chatting and laughing in their natural language. Business connections empowered by VRS. Difficult opportunities became potential opportunities. Complete and mainstream access for everyone. At long last a phone for us, the deaf! Bosson, you are our Alexander Graham Bell–inventor of the deaf telephone.
Because Bosson long pushed for, and successfully obtained VRS funding by FCC, videophones have become a permanent device in our homes and a permanent part of our lives.
People magazine published an article which inaccurately implied James Sorenson as the father of VRS. But the deaf community pointed to the humble Ed Bosson. It was not until after the FCC approved VRS funding that Sorenson began to distribute the VP-100. Not again would we allow a hearing man rob the credit rightfully due to a deaf man.
Today, we again point to Bosson giving him the credit he rightfully deserves. Congratulations!
Did Dr. Bosson realize what he was building? Whether he did or not, standing on the stage at Gallaudet, he can gaze into the audience’s eyes and realize what he has built. Closer communities. Better opportunities. Improved access!
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Not only the hearing robbing the deaf. This is Sorenson Communications facilitated U.S. robbery of a rather small and limited Canadian resource.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=617e44af-c704-4b53-8d63-d8620390ca54
Really? I learned something new! Thanks for sharing this e-announcement.
I will look up for biography summary of Dr. Bossom on Gallaudet University website. Thanks again.
RLM
I realized that Dr. Ed Bosson do have his deaf blog on the DeafRead blogsphere - “Ed’s Telecom Alerts”.
I want to congraluate Dr. Bosson for receiving the Honorary Degree from Gallaudet University.
I could not possibly find any biographical information about Dr. Ed Bosson and his life contributions to the creation of the VRS.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
“Ed’s Telecom Alerts”? It’s right under my nose! I would love to read all about him. Is there anyone pointing me to the right direction?
Ed’s blog is linked on the left sidebar.
http://www.swcdhh.org/vcp/fatherVRS.shtml
http://www.deafpeople.com/dp_of_month/ed_bosson.html
Dr. Bosson, as I was watching him accept the award of an honourably degree this afternoon, is a short man, but his brains are as vast and huge as the Rock of Gibaltar. I wondered why he is not one of the most-talked about people in the Deaf Community.
What a colossal and gigantic gift he has ever bestowed to the deaf world!
Jean,
SOME PEOPLE ARE EGOMANIACS AND HOG THE MEDIA. That’s the U.S.A.
I know that for a fact. It took lots for Deaf Life and others to swallow their pride and recognize a man of true humility. Too many less accomplished including lesser known ones from Indiana (where Matthew S. Moore hails from) were recognized by many big players before Dr. Bosson got his from just a few.
Just clarifying. Those from Indiana are good people and their achievements, while awesome, pale in magnitude compared to many of those by Dr. Bosson.
With due respect to Ed Bosson, Phil Bravin deserves the credit. Back in 1982 or 1983 as an IBM coop, I stopped by his IBM office in White Plains (44 South Broadway), that time the PC camera (later known as webcam) just came out and he quickly saw the opportunity: using the interpreter remotely. I sort of laughed at his idea (Phil, forgive me). A few years, here comes the VRS.
I understand that Ed was instrumental in bringing the VRS to the implementation and I congratuate him. Ed very obviously deserves this honor. I think there should be the plural to the founding fathers of VRS:
Phil Bravin and Ed Bosson.
.
Thanks for two enclosures regarding Dr. Bosson, Tayler!
I hope that will be your turn to receive such a honor from us, the deaf community in near future for your endless contribution, ex. DeafRead.
RLM
Oh I didn’t know! Boohoo! Just another reason why so much of Deaf history is a farce replete with tales where one takes so much credit and another overlooked. Like there was Gallaudet. Later Clerc and Massieu were brought to the forefront.
What’s up with that?
Sorenson and Bosson have similarities to Alexander G. Bell and Elisha Gray. Bell stole Gray’s ideas about the telephone and rushed them to Patent Office a few hours before Gray could file his patent. Today everyone knows AG Bell but few know of Gray.
Today everyone knows Sorenson and very few know Bosson. I am glad to see Bosson get some recognition. Sorenson gets credit for releasing his product on the open market first and enjoys the enormous financial benefits of being first. But that doesn’t make him the Father of VRS, it just makes him the KING of VRS. He has a vast kingdom of VRS users.