[Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought

Richard Baldwin baldwin at dickbaldwin.com
Thu Mar 29 02:20:32 UTC 2012 

Thanks Steve. Sorry I got things all tangled up.

Dick Baldwin

On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 8:49 PM, Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>wrote:

> Dick,
>
> I saw your references to other posts, but not having seen them I had to go
> on what you had written, and I saw it in the context of the fact that we had
> mentioned efforts made by other companies to develop face recognition
> software.  However, I accept your point and am glad there is a better
> explanation
> than what I had concluded.  You make valuable contributions here and your
> work on drawing software is very important.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:54:44 -0500, Richard Baldwin wrote:
>
> >Steve,
>
> >You wrote "My point here is not to scold as we have been sort of scolded,"
>
> >My earlier post was not intended to scold you or anyone else in the blind
> >community.
>
> >I pointed out when I made the (apparently offending) statement that it
> >might not make sense to some readers due to those readers not having seen
> >all of the previous posts due to distribution issues with earlier posts.
>
> >My post was in response to a post made earlier by a SIGHTED individual, I
> >repeat a SIGHTED individual, who in effect said that we shouldn't expend
> >efforts doing things that the big companies might do better if we are
> >patient and willing to wait long enough.
>
> >My point is that if I had the need, (and perhaps there is no need), I
> >wouldn't be patient and wait for something that the big companies might do
> >for me at some time in the future. Instead, if possible, I would do it for
> >myself.
>
> >Dick Baldwin
>
> >On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com
> >wrote:
>
> >> I don't understand the question.
> >> Dick Baldwin
> >>
> >>
> >> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 2:00 PM, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) <
> >> REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Dick,
> >>> You percieve this as a problem. Why?
> >>> I don't. The technology is interesting, but it doesn't mean not seeing
> >>> someone's face is a problem.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:
> blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> >>> On Behalf Of Richard Baldwin
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 9:04 AM
> >>> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics;
> >>> seeingwithsound at freelists.org
> >>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
> >>>
> >>> Apologies to those who haven't seen all of the response postings due to
> >>> cross listing of the original post and to whom this post probably won't
> >>> make sense.
> >>>
> >>> If I were blind and could purchase all of the necessary hardware,
> >>> including
> >>> gigabytes of USB storage for a few hundred dollars, I wouldn't be
> sitting
> >>> around waiting for Microsoft, Google, Apple, or some other large
> company
> >>> to
> >>> solve my problems. I would be working to solve those problems myself.
> >>>
> >>> If Bill Gates and Michael Dell had that attitude, there wouldn't be a
> >>> Microsoft. IBM would "own" the computer market on a worldwide basis.
> >>>
> >>> Dick Baldwin
> >>>
> >>> On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 7:03 AM, Carolyn MacLeod <
> >>> Carolyn_MacLeod at ca.ibm.com
> >>> > wrote:
> >>>
> >>> > Not sure if this is useful, and you probably already know, but
> >>> Microsoft's
> >>> > Windows Live Photo Gallery and Picasa and iPhoto (and some others)
> have
> >>> a
> >>> > feature called face-tagging.
> >>> > They work surprisingly well, although they need someone to identify
> >>> photos
> >>> > and confirm guesses, and they do make some ridiculous mistakes
> >>> sometimes.
> >>> > If you have Windows 7 or Vista, you may already have Windows Live
> Photo
> >>> > Gallery installed - to find out, open the Start menu and type
> "Windows
> >>> > Live Photo Gallery" in the Search field, then Enter.
> >>> > If not, here's a link with a download button:
> >>> >
> >>>
> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/photo-gallery
> >>> > Carolyn
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > From:
> >>> > Richard Baldwin <baldwin at dickbaldwin.com>
> >>> > To:
> >>> > BlindMath Mailing List <blindmath at nfbnet.org>,
> >>> > seeingwithsound at freelists.org
> >>> > Date:
> >>> > 03/27/2012 11:05 PM
> >>> > Subject:
> >>> > [Blindmath] Facial recognition -- food for thought
> >>> > Sent by:
> >>> > blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > Most of the math courses that I completed in public school and
> college
> >>> > mainly involved completely deterministic concepts such as finding
> >>> unknown
> >>> > in sets of algebraic equations, proving theorems in geometry, proving
> >>> > identities in trigonometry, solving triangle problems using
> >>> trigonometry,
> >>> > differentiating functions, integrating functions, playing around with
> >>> > solids of revolution, etc. They were all good exercises for the brain
> >>> but
> >>> > were not very close to real-world problems.
> >>> >
> >>> > When I made it into engineering college, the problems and their
> >>> solutions
> >>> > were closer to the real world but only barely so.
> >>> >
> >>> > When I completed my first engineering degree and went to work in the
> >>> real
> >>> > world, I learned very quickly that problems in the real world are far
> >>> from
> >>> > deterministics. In other words, there are very few problems in the
> real
> >>> > world that have deterministic solutions. Problems in the real world
> >>> > usually
> >>> > involve a mix of mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering,
> computer
> >>> > science, and other technologies, and there is rarely a single correct
> >>> > solution for any problem.
> >>> >
> >>> > Furthermore, the solution to most problems requires the design and
> >>> > implementation of complex mathematical algorithms, and those
> algorithms
> >>> > are
> >>> > most commonly implemented using a computer of some sort. (In my
> opinion,
> >>> > every student that receives a technical degree should be required to
> >>> learn
> >>> > to program well in at least one programming language.)
> >>> >
> >>> > By now you must be wondering where this is all heading.
> >>> >
> >>> > I saw on TV today that shopping malls and large department stores are
> >>> > installing electronic billboards that use facial recognition to
> display
> >>> > advertisements that are likely to be of interest to those persons who
> >>> can
> >>> > see the billboard.
> >>> >
> >>> > I have no idea what the facial recognition algorithm is for
> categorizing
> >>> > the viewers in a way that allows for a selection of appropriate
> >>> > advertisements. However, this tells me that the algorithm doesn't
> >>> require
> >>> > a
> >>> > supercomputer to implement. The algorithms must be implemented using
> >>> > modestly priced computer hardware. Otherwise, they would be too
> >>> expensive
> >>> > to include in such billboards.
> >>> >
> >>> > This makes me wonder if it might be possible to use a small portable
> >>> > computer to develop a system that will do facial recognition on
> people
> >>> > whose faces appear in the field of view of a miniature video camera
> >>> > embedded in eyeglass frames and to speak information about those
> people
> >>> to
> >>> > the wearer of the glasses.
> >>> >
> >>> > Science fiction? Maybe so and maybe not.
> >>> >
> >>> > Dr. Peter Meijer has demonstrated that it is possible to couple a
> video
> >>> > camera built into eyeglass frames with a small portable computer and
> an
> >>> > appropriate software program (The vOICe) and to create soundscapes
> that
> >>> > some blind users find very beneficial (see
> >>> http://www.seeingwithsound.com/
> >>> > )
> >>> > as they move through the world.
> >>> >
> >>> > Not being blind, I can't imagine what it would be like to interact
> with
> >>> > other people that you can't see. However, it seems to me that it
> would
> >>> be
> >>> > beneficial for a blind person to know something about another persons
> >>> > before a conversation begins. Depending on capability, this could
> range
> >>> > all
> >>> > the way from rudimentary information such as the probable sex and
> likely
> >>> > age of the person, to detailed information such as the
> identification of
> >>> > prior acquaintances by name.
> >>> >
> >>> > Perhaps it is time for a group of blind mathematicians, physicists,
> >>> > engineers, statisticians, and computer scientists to band together to
> >>> > produce such a system and to publish it as an open source
> >>> > hardware/software
> >>> > system.
> >>> >
> >>> > Food for thought,
> >>> > Dick Baldwin
> >>> >
> >>> > --
> >>> > Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >>> > Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >>> > http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >>> >
> >>> > Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >>> > Austin Community College
> >>> > (512) 223-4758
> >>> > mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >>> > http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >>> > _______________________________________________
> >>> > Blindmath mailing list
> >>> > Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> >>> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
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> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
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> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >>> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >>> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >>>
> >>> Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >>> Austin Community College
> >>> (512) 223-4758
> >>> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >>> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >> Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >> http://www.DickBaldwin.com
> >>
> >> Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >> Austin Community College
> >> (512) 223-4758
> >> mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >> http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >>
>
>
>
> >--
> >Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
> >Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
> >http://www.DickBaldwin.com
>
> >Professor of Computer Information Technology
> >Austin Community College
> >(512) 223-4758
> >mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
> >http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/
> >_______________________________________________
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-- 
Richard G. Baldwin (Dick Baldwin)
Home of Baldwin's on-line Java Tutorials
http://www.DickBaldwin.com

Professor of Computer Information Technology
Austin Community College
(512) 223-4758
mailto:Baldwin at DickBaldwin.com
http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/

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