[Blindtlk] MIT Seeks Input about Braille Labeler

[Amy Ruell]

I have been asked to circulate the following:


-----Original Message-----
From: <mailto:karina.pikhart at gmail.com>karina.pikhart at gmail.com 
[mailto:karina.pikhart at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Karina Pikhart
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:36 AM
Subject: [2.009] Braille labeler product survey

Dear Customer,

We are the senior mechanical engineering design team at MIT working 
on designing and building a brand new Braille labeler. We need the 
help of people like
you to design the best product possible for the blind and visually 
impaired. We would be so grateful if you could reply to this email 
with your own answers
to the questions listed below at your earliest convenience. The 
results will be assessed anonymously; your confidentiality is 
certainly our priority.

Additionally, for those of you living in the Boston area, please keep 
your calendar open for this Saturday morning for a one hour focus 
group during which
e will present some basic models and give you the opportunity to test 
them out and give us feedback. Details of time and location will be emailed out
shortly. Please let your friends know about this event; we want to 
have as many blind and visually impaired people there as possible to 
help us design
the best product that we can.

Thank you so much! Please continue reading for our survey questions.

1. How much vision do you have? When did you lose your vision?

2. What is your age? (teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.)

3. Do you own a 3M label maker?

4. What have you used your 3M label maker to label?

5. Approximately how many letters can you type in 10 seconds on your 
3M label maker?

6. If you label disposable items, such as canned foods, can you 
describe how you do it? Do you adhere the label to the can and 
dispose of it when you throw
away the can? Or do you have a system for reusing your labels? Can 
you describe it? If you reuse your labels, is it to save money, to 
save the time of
making a new label, or is there another reason?

7. When you use your 3M label maker, do you usually make multiple 
labels in one sitting, or do use it each time you need just one label?

8. Do you ever have a need to make multiple lines of label? Is it 
challenging to make two labels and line one up below the next while 
placing them?

9. Is there any part of the labeling process for which you prefer or 
require help from a sighted friend? (Identifying items to be labeled, 
creating the
labels, trimming the labels, peeling the labels, sticking the labels, etc.)

10. Do you carry your 3M label maker with you? To work? To the 
grocery store? If your 3M label maker were small and light enough, 
would you carry it with
you to label things right away as you purchased them?

11. Would you purchase a label maker that required batteries to operate?

12. What other things do you have to do besides simply embossing the 
braille in order to prepare a label? (How often do you have to buy 
replacement tape?
Do you have to trim the label? Peel the backing? Anything else?) 
Please elaborate on anything that is tricky or inconvenient, or that 
might sometimes cause
a mistake so that you have to remake the label.

13. Do you own any technology for which you would say that the 
buttons are too small?

14. Do you own a brailler or a Braille note? Which do you have, and 
how long have you had one? Approximately how many letters per second 
can you type in
10 seconds on your brailler or Braille note?

15. How much would you be willing to spend for a label maker that 
used dymo tape, had a 6-button interface like a brailler or a Braille 
note, and was smaller
than the 3M label maker?

Thank you so much for your time! Please forward this on to any 
friends who may be able to help, and have them reply to me, Karina Pikhart, at
<mailto:kpikhart at mit.edu>kpikhart at mit.edu
. Any questions about the nature of our project or of this survey may 
also be addressed to me.

Thanks again!
Karina Pikhart
2.009 Blue Team