[Home-on-the-range] FW: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad

Fri Oct 14 18:48:48 UTC 2011

What are you talking about I don't know know what that is.
Meg

From: maryse figueroa 
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 1:04 PM
To: NFB of Kansas Internet Mailing List 
Subject: Re: [Home-on-the-range] FW: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad

If this is what you want, rally advocacy angels...that,s you

Maryse
HOTR monitor

On Oct 14, 2011 1:01 PM, "Meg Silkey" <megmiller at earthlink.net> wrote:

  I think that this is a great idea. I would buy one if that was one of the features. Braille would be real nice on a touch screan. I hope that they can get it on there for us braille users.
  Meg

  --------------------------------------------------
  From: "Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO" <susan.stanzel at kcc.usda.gov>
  Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 7:43 AM
  To: "NFB of Kansas Internet Mailing List" <home-on-the-range at nfbnet.org>
  Subject: [Home-on-the-range] FW: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad

    Hi Everyone,

    I got this from the computer science list. It is really a fantastic glimpse into the future.

    Susie

    -----Original Message-----
    From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Fred Wurtzel
    Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 9:37 PM
    To: 'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'; NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
    Cc: 'Mike Ellis'; mikeeellis at comcast.net
    Subject: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad

    This is not simply connecting a Braille display or keypad, it is Braille
    directly through the touch screen.  This sounds pretty cool.

    _next article

    Tablets turned into Braille keyboard by US researchers

    Man reading Braille Braille can seem outdated in a world where

    touchscreens are ubiquitous

    A team of US researchers has devised a way for people with impaired

    vision to use the touchscreen of a tablet such as an iPad as a Braille

    keyboard.

    It turns some previously fundamental thinking about how to make

    technology accessible to blind people on its head.

    Instead of using a keyboard or mechanical writer, users type directly

    onto the flat glass.

    The inventors used a novel design for the keyboard to overcome the lack

    of tactile features.

    Smart keyboard

    "Instead of having fingers that find the buttons, we built buttons that

    find the fingers," said Stanford's Sohan Dharmaraja, one of the

    researchers on the project.

    Mr Dharmaraja using iPad with Braille software The software creates a

    smart keyboard for users

    Users place eight fingers on the screen and the keyboard appears.

    Shaking the device activates a menu, and further interaction is

    achieved by regular touch gestures.

    Mr Dharmaraja, alongside team-mates Adam Duran - an undergraduate from

    New Mexico University - and assistant professor Adrian Lew, came up

    with the idea during a boffin's X-Factor-style contest.

    The competition, organised each year by Stanford University, challenges

    students to come up with some innovative future computing ideas over

    their summer break.

    In demonstrations Mr Duran typed out a complicated mathematical formula

    and the chemical equation for photosynthesis.

    But it also offers a solution for more basic problems.

    "Imagine being blind in the classroom, how would you take notes? What

    if you were on the street and needed to copy down a phone number? These

    are real challenges the blind grapple with every day," said Prof Lew.

    There are some obvious benefits to using touchscreen technology over

    traditional Braille writers.

    "Current physical note takers are big and clunky and range from $3,000

    (£2,000) to $6,000 (£4,000). Tablet PCs are available at a fraction of

    the cost and do so much more," said Mr Dharmaraja.

    Promising development

    As part of the project, the students had to learn Braille. The system,

    originally developed for the French military, is made up of six dots

    arranged in various patterns. They are read by people's fingertips.

    But the system can seem outdated in a modern era where touchscreens are

    ubiquitous.

    Accessible touch screen devices such as the iPad offer a huge range of

    possibilities for developers and for blind and partially sighted

    people," said Robin Spinks, the Royal National Institute for Blind

    People's manager of digital accessibility.

    "This prototype Braille keyboard for touch screen devices represents a

    very promising development, and RNIB look forward to being able to test

    it with our members in the future," he added.

    It may be some while until the Stanford project is turned into a

    commercial reality but the team are determined.

    "Who knows what we will get because of this device. It is opening a

    door that wasn't open before," said Mr Dharmaraja.

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