[Ct-nfb] FW: [TTZ] Will we be saying, bye bye to Braille!

Justin Salisbury PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu
Sun May 4 14:26:45 UTC 2014


This is comical.

It's comical how slow these researchers think Braille inherently is.

A braille reader who has put in adequate effort reads faster than this device.

I think it's great that people want to develop technologies like this, but the attitudes about blindness that they demonstrate our deplorable.

There are many other ways besides reading braille that we can read today, but reading braille is something that we have the opportunity to do, not something that is the only option left after all others are taken away from us. A lot of research demonstrates that people who read something in braille have a higher retention rate of the its content then those who read it auditorily. An even more common area of research is the difference between active reading and passive reading.

It looks like there are great possibilities for this device and what it may become one day, so I do not want to discourage the researchers from what they are attempting to create. I do think that they should be educated on the realities of blindness.

Sent from the iPhone of:

Justin M. Salisbury
Graduate Student
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin – Madison
@_JSalisbury

> On May 4, 2014, at 8:36 AM, "Hamit Campos" <hamitcampos at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This is from the tech zone. The guy got it off another list though as he
> points. Check it out. What say you to this?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The-tech-zone [mailto:the-tech-zone-bounces at emissives.com] On Behalf
> Of Chris Apple boy via The-tech-zone
> Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2014 2:44 AM
> To: A general technology discussion list
> Subject: [TTZ] Will we be saying, bye bye to Braille!
> 
> Got this off another list. I say no way! Braille will be around now and into
> the future. nothing will ever replace conventional methods.
> 
> Researchers from MIT Media Labs are developing a wearable device that can
> read out printed text using a synthesized voice, helping the sight-impaired
> read books without the use of Braille.
> 
> Called the FingerReader, the ring-like device has a mounted camera for
> scanning text. Audio feedback comes in the form of a robot voice that sounds
> like it has a speech impediment. However, according to the research team's
> website, the device is "just a research prototype at this point," so audio
> feedback would be fixed if and when it becomes available to the mass market.
> 
> To help the sight-impaired read text more efficiently, the device has cues
> or "haptic feedback" to help blind readers maintain a straight scanning
> motion with their finger. It gives out a vibration signal when their finger
> veers away from the line of text, and does the same thing when they've
> reached the end and the start of every line of text.
> 
>  The device can't read the fine print in your contracts, but it can detect
> 12-point printed text, which is ubiquitous enough when it comes to printed
> text. In an interview with TechCrunch, Roy Shilkrot, one of the researchers
> for the project, hopes that the device will help more than the visually
> impared. He said that the device is for people with "disability, ability,
> and superability" and hinted that it could be used to translate languages.
> 
> http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/fingerreader-h...
> 
> The team behind the FingerReader is said to be looking into miniaturization
> and features such as tethering to a PC or smartphone. If you want to see the
> device in action, check out the demo video below.
> 
> http://vimeo.com/86912300#at=31
> 
> --
> Regards Chris
> Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth!
> 
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