[nabs-l] The technology in specialized notetakers

[Antonio Guimaraes]

Anjelina,

One of the problems you face is due to the lack of support from Humanware products. The Apex notetaker is not quick to add file formats to the list of supported documents. I find Hims, the maker of the Sense line of products a lot more responsive to these types of demands.

Note-takers are so expensive, and so specialized that I would not be able to afford one if my voc rehab agency didn't purchase mine. That said, I am virtually naked without my note-taker. It provides the most efficient access to information on the fly for me. It pairs with my iPhone, and much more.

There is a time and place for the laptop, and I am finding myself using the laptop more and more. It is easier to collaborate with sighted coleague. The windows or mac environments make it easier to manipulate data, and switch between applications.

There is no replacement to the note-taker for me when it comes to taking notes at meetings, accessing a schedule, and the like.

I've been spoiled by note-takers since the late 90's, but I am sure I would be able to do without if I really really had to, or if I were starting to use high tech devices in more recent years.

I can imagine a blind person would have adequate access to her notes on a smart phone or tablet, a bluetooth keyboard, and some easy way to access the device qquiccckkly.

I can get to any file and note in my Braille Sense in under 30 seconds if I know where to look. This is storage and retrieval at its best. The Braille Sense hands from a strap aaround my kneck, and I can get to anything in it very quickly.

You cannot even bring up a netbook from hibernate mode to the desktop, let alone access information on a disk. You can't carry and hold a laptop with ease, so it is cumbersome and awekward to look up little things like flight numbers, phone numbers, addresses, and the like on a laptop while traveling.

I need lots of reminders from travel directions to train schedules, to calendar appointments. The Braille Sense is the way to go for me.

You can pair note-takers to laptops as input and output devices, so other scenarios are possible.

I haven't tried this, but I suppose you could pair a Braille Sense to the laptop, leave the laptop at your seat, bring the Braille Sense to a lectern, and pull up notes for a presentation. You could plug a laptop to a projector, and work from your note-taker to access all the features on the laptop.

Note-takers continue to improve, and I think manufacturers ahve been adding enough functionality to thhhem to keep them relevant to blind users.

I am still waiting for the day when places like AFB will build an app good enough to make storage and retrieval cheaper, and just as easy as it is on the Braille Sense. 

We're not there yet. Power note-taker users know what we need to ditch the note-takers.

I have yet to see a program with full support for folders and subfolders, good search and replace features, spell check, file conversion and support for multiple formats. There are many other things one could build into a note-taker app, but these I mentioned should get us halfway there.

It shouldn't be hard to mimic a note-taker environment in a mobile application. I don't know what Hims and Humanware are waiting for.

Let my sinnisism step into play again while I say there is no interest in making something low-cost when they ccan crank these things out at over $5000 a piece.

The price of technology for the sighted keeps dropping. Why haven't we seen the same in the adaptive technology industry?

I hope some really capable, passionate blind computer scientists feel like disrupting the note-taker industry. It's not technocally impossible, and it is desireable for blind people to get affordible quality solutions that will employ and empower more of us to get out there.

I've been on my soapbox often in the past two days or so.

I can't be the only one who feels this way, though.

I hope  I've given you some interesting uses for note-takers.

And if one of you is bright, motivated, and passionate enough about changing how mmmuch it costs to be blind, I'd encourage you to pursue your passion. Go get IT done, and ask people for ideas. Go and disrupt the AT industry, and don't forget you've got a beta tester right here.

Thanks for reading,

Antonio
 
Antonio M Guimaraes Jr.

On Jul 13, 2013, at 10:10, Anjelina Cruz <anjelinac26 at gmail.com> wrote:

> HI all,
> I used to heavily rely on my Braille Note but have found for me using
> my computer during classes has been more productive. Is there a reason
> why the technology in blindness devices seems to lag behind mainstream
> technology? For instance, reading docx files has just come to the Apex
> this summer.
> I'm not at all unappreciative of the tools I have at my disposal,
> however I wonder why there isn't more of a push within the blindness
> community to modernize some of our tech choices faster.
> 
> What devices have you found help you be a productive student?
> -- 
> Anjelina
> 
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