[nabs-l] Fw: Touchscreen Braille Writer

[David Andrews]

I haven't used it -- just read about it.  I am not sure I understand 
your question about brailling C, you would just press where your 
fingers were for dots 1 and 4.

Dave

At 09:57 PM 1/5/2013, you wrote:
>Dave,
>
>         My question is how more than one dot, such as dots 1-4 for a c,
>would be typed using this app on a touch screen. It is an interesting idea
>indeed, and I am interested in playing with it on my iPhone. I wonder
>whether typing in Braille on a touch screen will increase my typing speed
>once I get used to doing it? Very interesting! By the way, have any of you
>actually played with this app? If so, what are your thoughts after using it?
>
>Chris
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David Andrews
>Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2013 10:41 PM
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fw: Touchscreen Braille Writer
>
>It seems to me that you folks are getting all worked up over nothing.  As I
>understand it, the software is for input only, and would run on a tablet
>like the iPad with access through voiceover.  Some people prefer Braille
>input, some qwerty, some fleksy or another system.
>
>Dave
>
>At 10:29 PM 1/3/2013, you wrote:
> >Maybe, I just want to know whether the software they created would run
> >on a device that has accessible output of some sort, like VoiceOver.
> >If not, then the Braille touchscreen is pretty much useless.
> >Personally, as a Braille reader and longtime Braille Note and Braille
> >Lite user, I feel like typing in Braille without the Braille output
> >would be awkward and not very helpful. But maybe others disagree with
> >me?
> >In any case I think their first idea of the Braille character
> >recognizer has much greater utility, and their reasons for abandoning
> >it are without much basis.
> >Arielle
> >
> >On 1/3/13, Kirt <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hello everyone,
> > > I'm sorry for the double post. But I feel like I need to clarify.
>Already,
> > > this idea is being modified in apps where we can use of virtual braille
> > > writer on the touch screen of an iPhone or an
> > iPad. I see a decent amount of
> > > value and that, I think.
> > >
> > > Sent from my iPhone
> > >
> > > On Jan 3, 2013, at 9:06 PM, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>
>wrote:
> > >
> > >> Oh how I wish these smart, creative guys had talked with blind people
> > >> before inventing this thing! Unless I missed something, does this
> > >> tablet have speech or Braille output? How is the blind user supposed
> > >> to be able to read his/her notes? I'm not sure if any current tablets
> > >> are accessible. Even if one is, I don't think the ability to write in
> > >> Braille rather than in QWERTY matters that much. The appeal of the
> > >> overpriced Braille notetaker is the Braille output, not the Braille
> > >> keyboard! Oh....Wow! That's all I can say.
> > >> If I were these guys I would go ahead with the Braille character
> > >> recognizer. That actually has some utility. It would allow a blind
> > >> schoolchild to convert his Brailled homework to print that his teacher
> > >> could read, or a blind college student to Braille math equations, scan
> > >> them and send them to her professor. If these Stanford students had
> > >> actually talked with blind people, they would have learned that blind
> > >> people successfully use apps that involve taking pictures of print.
> > >> Taking pictures of Braille would be easier, not harder, than what
> > >> already exists.
> > >> It continually blows my mind how many people make it a personal
> > >> passion to work on improving the lives of blind people in one way or
> > >> another, without really educating themselves on what is already out
> > >> there or what real live blind folks actually need.
> > >> Arielle
> > >>
> > >> On 1/3/13, Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>> Hello,
> > >>> Below is an article I was sent about a new app. I am not a fan of the
>way
> > >>> the creator views blind people, but I do think having a Braille Writer
>on
> > >>> the tablet would be very nice. It is so much faster to type texts in
> > >>> Braille
> > >>>
> > >>> than in print LOL...
> > >>> Thanks,
> > >>>
> > >>> Brandon Keith Biggs
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> STANFORD SUMMER COURSE YIELDS TOUCHSCREEN BRAILLE WRITER
> > >>> Home<http://engineering.stanford.edu/> >
> > >>> About<http://engineering.stanford.edu/about> > News &
> > >>> Updates<http://engineering.stanford.edu/about/news> > Stanford summer
> > >>> course
> > >>>
> > >>> yields touchscreen Braille writer
> > >>> <http://engineering.stanford.edu/print/node/148>
> > >>> In a two-month summer course on high-performance computing, promising
> > >>> undergrads compete to create innovative applications. This summer's
> > >>> winner
> > >>> developed a touchscreen Braille writer that stands to revolutionize
>how
> > >>> the
> > >>>
> > >>> blind negotiate an unseen world by replacing devices costing up to 10
> > >>> times
> > >>>
> > >>> more.
> > >>> Andrew Myers
> > >>>
> > >>> Each summer, under the red-tiled roofs and sandstone of Stanford, the
> > >>> Army
> > >>> High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) invites a select
> > >>> group
> > >>> of undergraduates from across the country gather for a two-month
> > >>> immersion
> > >>> into the wonders of advanced computing.
> > >>>
> > >>> Some of the undergraduates are gathered into teams. Some work alone.
>All
> > >>> are
> > >>>
> > >>> assigned mentors and tasked with a challenge. They compete, American
> > >>> Idol-style, for top honors at the end of the summer.
> > >>>
> > >>> The competition is made possible in part by a collaboration between
>the
> > >>> U.S.
> > >>>
> > >>> Army and several university and industry partners that makes up the
> > >>> AHPCRC.
> > >>>
> > >>> Adam Duran is one such undergraduate, a student both lucky and good.
>He
> > >>> is
> > >>> now in his senior year at New Mexico State University. Last June, he
>came
> > >>> to
> > >>>
> > >>> Stanford at the suggestion of one of his professors. His mentors were
> > >>> Adrian
> > >>>
> > >>> Lew, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Sohan
> > >>> Dharmaraja,
> > >>>
> > >>> a doctoral candidate at Stanford studying computational mathematics.
> > >>>
> > >>> "Originally, our assignment was to create a character-recognition
> > >>> application that would use the camera on a mobile device - a phone or
> > >>> tablet - to transform pages of Braille into readable text," said
>Duran.
> > >>> "It
> > >>>
> > >>> was a cool challenge, but not exactly where we ended up."
> > >>>
> > >>> BIGGER FISH
> > >>>
> > >>> Even before Duran arrived for the summer, Lew and Dharmaraja began to
> > >>> talk
> > >>> to the Stanford Office of Accessible
> > >>> Education<http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae>, people whose
> > >>> profession
> > >>> is helping blind and visually impaired students negotiate the world of
> > >>> higher learning. It became clear that there were bigger fish to fry.
> > >>>
> > >>> While a Braille character reader would be helpful to the blind, Lew
>and
> > >>> Dharmaraja learned, there were logistics that were hard to get around.
> > >>>
> > >>> "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?" said Duran. "Plus, the technology, while definitely helpful,
> > >>> would
> > >>> be limited in day-to-day application."
> > >>>
> > >>> "It was a nice-to-have, not a must-have," said Dharmaraja.
> > >>>
> > >>> So, the three began to ask questions. That is when they stumbled upon
>a
> > >>> sweet spot.
> > >>>
> > >>> "The killer app was not a reader, but a writer," said Dharmaraja.
> > >>>
> > >>> "Imagine being blind in a classroom, how would you take notes?" said
>Lew.
> > >>> "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."
> > >>>
> > >>> There are devices that help the blind write Braille, to send email and
>so
> > >>> forth, but they are essentially specialized laptops that cost, in some
> > >>> cases, $6,000 or more. All for a device of limited functionality,
>beyond
> > >>> typing Braille, of course.
> > >>>
> > >>> "Your standard tablet has more capability at a tenth the price," said
> > >>> Duran.
> > >>>
> > >>> "So, we put two and two together. We developed a tablet Braille
>writer,"
> > >>> said Dharmaraja, "A touchscreen for people who can't see."
> > >>>
> > >>>
> >
>[http://engineering.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/imagecache/700wide/news
>%20-%202012%200505%20-%20touchscreen%20braile%20writer.jpeg]Sohan
> > >>>
> > >>> Dharmaraja, a doctoral candidate at Stanford, demonstrates how the
> > >>> software
> > >>>
> > >>> works.
> > >>>
> > >>> First, however, the student-mentor team had to learn Braille.
>Originally
> > >>> developed for the French military, Braille is a relatively simple code
> > >>> with
> > >>>
> > >>> each character made up of variations of six dots - or bumps, really -
> > >>> arranged in a 2-by-3 matrix. The blind read by feeling the bumps with
> > >>> their
> > >>>
> > >>> fingertips.
> > >>>
> > >>> As any computational mathematician will tell you, such a matrix yields
> > >>> two-to-the-sixth minus one variations, or 63 possible characters.
>These
> > >>> 63
> > >>> characters are enough for a Western alphabet plus 10 numerical digits,
> > >>> with
> > >>>
> > >>> several left over for punctuation and some special characters.
> > >>>
> > >>> Over the years, however, those 63 characters got quickly gobbled up -
> > >>> through the addition of character-modification keystrokes, the total
>grew
> > >>> and now includes chemical, mathematical and other symbols.
> > >>>
> > >>> CHALLENGE
> > >>>
> > >>> A modern Braille writer looks like a laptop with no monitor and an
> > >>> eight-key
> > >>>
> > >>> keyboard - six to create the character, plus a carriage return and a
> > >>> delete
> > >>>
> > >>> key.
> > >>>
> > >>> Duplicating the Braille keypad on a touch-based tablet seemed simple
> > >>> enough,
> > >>>
> > >>> but there was at least one significant challenge: How does a blind
>person
> > >>> find the keys on a flat, uniformly smooth glass panel?
> > >>>
> > >>> Dharmaraja and Duran mulled their options before arriving at a clever
>and
> > >>> simple solution. They did not create virtual keys that the fingertips
> > >>> must
> > >>> find; they made keys that find the fingertips. The user simply touches
> > >>> eight
> > >>>
> > >>> fingertips to the glass, and the keys orient themselves to the
>fingers.
> > >>> If
> > >>> the user becomes disoriented, a reset is as easy as lifting all eight
> > >>> fingers off the glass and putting them down again.
> > >>>
> > >>> "Elegant, no?" said Lew. "The solution is so simple, so beautiful. It
>was
> > >>> fun to see."
> > >>>
> > >>> Beyond the price difference, touchscreens offer at least one other
> > >>> significant advantage over standard Braille writers: "They're
> > >>> customizable,"
> > >>>
> > >>> Dharmaraja noted. "They can accommodate users whose fingers are small
>or
> > >>> large, those who type with fingers close together or far apart, even
>to
> > >>> allow a user to type on a tablet hanging around the neck with hands
> > >>> opposed
> > >>>
> > >>> as if playing a clarinet."
> > >>>
> > >>> "No standard Braille writer can do this," said Professor Charbel
>Farhat,
> > >>> the
> > >>>
> > >>> chair of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department and executive
> > >>> director
> > >>>
> > >>> of the summer program. "This is a real step forward for the blind."
> > >>>
> > >>> SHOWING OFF
> > >>>
> > >>> In a demo, Duran donned a blindfold and readied himself before the
> > >>> touchscreen. He typed out an email address and a simple subject line.
> > >>> Then
> > >>> he typed one of the best-known mathematical formulas in the world, the
> > >>> Burgers Equation<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgers%27_equation>,
>and
> > >>> followed with the chemical equation for
> > >>> photosynthesis<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis> - complex
> > >>> stuff - all as if writing a note to his mother.
> > >>>
> > >>> For Duran, who has an uncle who is blind, the greatest joy was in
>seeing
> > >>> a
> > >>> blind person using his creation for the first time. "That was so
> > >>> awesome,"
> > >>> he said. "I can't describe the feeling. It was the best."
> > >>>
> > >>> In the immediate future, there are technical and legal hurdles to
> > >>> address,
> > >>> but someday, perhaps soon, the blind and visually impaired may find
> > >>> themselves with a more cost-effective Braille writer that is both
> > >>> portable
> > >>> and blessed with greater functionality than any device that went
>before.
> > >>>
> > >>> "AHPCRC is an excellent model for outreach, which not only trains
> > >>> undergraduate students in computational sciences but also exposes
> > >>> students
> > >>> to real-world research applications," said Raju Namburu, the
>cooperative
> > >>> agreement manager for AHPCRC.
> > >>>
> > >>> The center addresses the Army's most difficult scientific and
>engineering
> > >>> challenges using high-performance computing. Stanford University is
>the
> > >>> AHPCRC lead organization with oversight from the Army Research
> > >>> Laboratory.
> > >>>
> > >>> As for his summer courses, Farhat is optimistic. "Let's remember," he
> > >>> points
> > >>>
> > >>> out, "This was a two-month summer project that evolved because a few
> > >>> smart
> > >>> people asked some good questions. I'm always amazed by what the
>students
> > >>> accomplish in these courses, but this was something special. Each year
>it
> > >>> seems to get better and more impressive."
> > >>>
> > >>> Andrew Myers is associate director of communications for the Stanford
> > >>> School
> > >>>
> > >>> of Engineering.
> > >>>
> > >>> Video
> > >>>
> > >>> Watch: Stanford Course Yields Touchscreen Braille
> > >>> Writer<https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100361023253469>
> > >>>
> > >>> Thursday, October 6, 2011