louis Braille invented what we have come to know as the Braille code,
but he didn't invent the concept of creating tactile markings.
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dorene Cornwell
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 11:26 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
Hi Deborah
I am a great believer in the creative power of crankiness.
The French military like Braille because people could pass notes in the
dark in foxholes without lights to give away their locations. Night
vision and thermal imaging technology has probably overtaken that
particular advantage at this point.
As far as the Stanford project, maybe one point is that the
touch-screen technology enables people to do only small increments of
programming to add whole new apps and easily increase functionality. To
me this is a big advantage over the time and expense of developing
whole devices specifically for the blind.
I have demoed a similar touch screen input based on braille and
connected to another project at a different university. I am not a fast
braillist and the project still had not implemented some parts of
standard Braille like contractions and some statistical selection help
that would reduce the error rate. However, I REALLY liked the input
method. It was almost as fast as one based on Voiceover and not nearly
as tedious in terms of finding letters in small space. I think the
marketing piece would be doable and it's really interesting to be able
to implement changes like this on a much shorter timeline than in teh
past.
Best
Dorene Cornwell
Seattle WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Kendrick <[log in to unmask]>
To: VICUG-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat, Oct 15, 2011 11:12 am
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
Maybe I'm just being cranky, but I think people are getting much too
excited
over this project. It is just the work of a couple of graduate
students in
a summer program. There is no paln to go to market. No prototype for
any
of us to examine. It sounds interesting, but I just don't see the
point in
spending much energy on worrying about what all it will and won't do.
Again, maybe I'm just in a cranky mood -- or maybe my critical brain
discredited them the minute I read the part of the announcement that
braille
was invented by the French military.
Deborah
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sun Sounds of Arizona" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
> Yes Terry, it does, and I figured it was something like that. The
article
> didn't say though, and you'd have to become used to keeping your
hands
> very
> still and also not resting your hands on the "keys". As I am a very
fast
> Brailist, I wonder what the lag time is.
>
> Mark, if there was a back translation app, you'd just use the dot six
as
> the
> capital sign like normal. That would be the easiest way for this to
work
> for
> a true Braille user.
>
> -----Original Messag e-----
> From: Terri Hedgpeth [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 8:30 AM
> To: Sun Sounds of Arizona; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
>
> Bill,
> The way this app works is that it establishes the spatial position of
the
> 8
> Braille keys when you place all 8 fingers on the screen. Then you
type
> the
> Braille letters by tapping the corresponding finger combination for
the
> desired Braille letter. So for a letter b you would touch the screen
with
> both your index and middle fingers at the same time. For letter c,
you
> tap
> both index fingers at the same time maintaining the same spacing
between
> them you had on your initial tap with all 8 fingers.
> Does my explanation make sense?
> ===================================================
> Terri Hedgpeth Ed.D.
> Director, Disability Resource Center
> PO Box 873202
> Arizona State University
> Tempe, AZ 85287-3202
> Assistant: (480) 965-3366
> Direct: (480) 727-8133
> Fax: (480) 965-0441
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> ==================================================
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sun Sounds of Arizona
> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 8:02 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
>
> I understand how placing the hands on the device creates a virtual
set of
> keys, what isn't clear is how one actually uses that keyboard. Since
> Braille
> requires up to six keys pressed in combination, how does a person
indicate
> the he or she is brailing, rather than just calling up the keyboard?
You
> have to lift your fingers off the pad before Brailing a letter, so
then
> what? Don't know if I explaining this well, but Brailing is obviously
not
> the same issue as typing which is only one key at a time.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of doris marvel fisher
> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 5:55 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VICUG-L] stanford braille keyboard
>
> This was posted elsewhere so I thought I would share it here.
>
> Touchscreen Braille Writer Lets the Blind Type on a Tablet By
Christina
> Bonnington October 12, 2011 | 12:00 pm | Categories: R&D and
Inventions
> One
> group of people has traditionally been left out of our modern tablet
> revolution: the visually impaired. Our slick, button-less
touchscreens are
> essentially useless to those who rely on touch to navigate around a
> computer
> interface, unless voice-control features are built in to the device
and
> its
> OS.
> But a Stanford team of three has helped change that. Tasked to create
a
> character-recognition program that would turn pages of Braille into
> readable
> text on an Android tablet, student Adam Duran, with the help of two
> mentor-professors, ended up creating something even more useful than
his
> original assignment: a touchscreen-based Braille writer.
> Currently a senior at New Mexico State University, Duran arrived at
> Stanford
> in June to take part in a two-month program offered by the Army
> High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC). The program is a
> competition: Participants are given research assignments, ranging in
the
> past from aerospace modeling to parallel computing, and vie for honors
> awarded at the end of the summer. This year, projects aimed to solve a
> problem using the Android platform. Duran and his team's project,
titled
> "A
> virtual Braille keyboard," was this year's winner for "Best Android
> Application."
> Duran was challenged to use the camera on a mobile device, like the
> Motorola
> Xoom, to create an app that transforms physical pages of Braille text
into
> readable text on the device. From the get-go, there were problems
with
> this
> plan.
> "How does a blind person orient a printed page so that the computer
knows
> which side is up? How does a blind person ensure proper lighting of
the
> paper?" Duran said in an interview with Stanford News. "Plus, the
> technology, while definitely helpful, would be limited in day-to-day
> application."
> So Duran and his mentors, Adrian Lew, an assistant professor of
mechanical
> engineering, and Sohan Dharmaraja, a Stanford Ph.D. candidate studying
> computational mathematics, decided to develop a writer app, instead
of a
> reader. Currently, the visually impaired must use desktop-based
> screen-reading software or specially-designed laptops with Braille
> displays
> in order to type using a computer.
> Because a blind person can't locate the keys of a virtual keyboard on
a
> flat, glossy touchscreen, the team decided to bring the keys
themselves to
> the user's fingertips. Specifically, when the user sets eight fingers
on
> the
> device, virtual keys align underneath each of the user's fingers. The
> team's
> Braille keyboard is comprised of eight keys: six that are used to
compose
> a
> Braille character, a carriage return, and a backspace key. If the
user
> gets
> disoriented, he or she can re-establish the keyboard layout with a
lift
> and
> re-application of the hands.
> "The solution is so simple, so beautiful. It was fun to see," Lew
said.
> Such
> a keyboard is also useful because it customizes itself to the user,
> adjusting the onscreen keys based on the user's finger size and
spacing.
> (I
> wish my iOS keyboard did that!) Duran demoed the app blind-folded,
typing
> out an email address as well as complicated mathematical and
scientific
> formulas, proving the keyboard could be useful to educators, students
and
> researchers. He also got to see a blind person use his app for the
first
> time, which he said was an indescribable feeling, "It was the best."
> Lew said via email, "We do not yet know how exactly this will reach
final
> users, but we are committed to make it happen." The team has several
> options
> they will be considering over the next few weeks, so perhaps we could
even
> see an app end up in the Android Market soon.
> The tablet-based system costs 10 times less than most modern Braille
> typing
> solutions, and, based on the video below, appears to be anything but
> vapor.
>
> dory
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
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