[nabs-l] KNFB Reader app questions

Michael D Ausbun mausbun at unr.edu
Wed Dec 30 05:58:25 UTC 2015


Dear Sami,
(1)	I find the best position for both your arm and the phone camera is parallel to the desk or table, where the paper or document is being scanned. These levels out the text, which then allows the optimal character recognition (OCR) software to function most accurately. Additionally, I find if you hold the phone one foot, or approximately that, off the flat surface, you should be able to capture the entire document at once. Additionally, if you place the pone in the center of the page then raise it to the height suggested, results are much better, as all four corners are usually captured. I found that instead of using the tilt-guidance, the field-of-view report, located on the right half of the screen in the middle, was much more effective.
(2)	This really depends on the types of documents you will be scanning. If, for example, the document being scanned is a simple print out or document received from Social security, single column will work brilliantly. However, if the document is from a professor, from either a book or online journal that they have printed for your entire class, two-column will work better. Similarly, if you are doing a book, two-column would be better, as you could take a picture of both sides of the book-pages, without having to worry about blocking one side or the other. This is because it distinguishes the text-break or middle of the book as a separate page, then translates it as such.
(3)	Karl is correct here, and, I will add that the application will only translate whatever is captured in the photo. If part of the sign is out of the photo, for example, it will be left out of the translation, with only part of the text being included.
(4)	Depends where the text on the page is located. If you want to be safe, use the middle of the document as the reference point, and raise the phone about a foot or so from the page. This way, you should capture the entire document.

I hope this has helped in some way. If you have any further questions, please feel free to write me either on or off list (as this is a topic that could potentially benefit multiple people).
Respectfully,
Michael Ausbun
KNFB liaison, Nevada
Board member, National Association of Blind Students
First Vice-President, National Federation of the Blind of Nevada
Interim Legislative Director, Nevada
Man of Many Hats, National Federation of the Blind

________________________________________
From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Sami Osborne via nabs-l [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2015 3:05 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org; blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Sami Osborne
Subject: [nabs-l] KNFB Reader app questions

Hi all,

I recently downloaded the KNFB Reader app this Christmas and had
a few things that I wanted to ask you guys.

 First, what would you recommend to be the best position of my
arm and phone camera? I did turn on tilt guidance so that my
phone would vibrate to guide me through the position of my camera
to take the picture, and have tried many different things, but
everything I do seems to be wrong...

Second, what do you find is the best document type for scanning
documents - single-column or multi-column?

Third, can the app scan things that you don't have directly in
front of you, such as a street sign or window display? That would
be really nice, since you now wouldn't need to ask for sighted
assistance when you're out and want to locate something.

Fourth, do you have to point your phone camera towards the top of
the page or anywhere on the page?

I hope that you can answer my questions and will get back to you
1if I think of any more.  I'm really excited about using this
app, because it really sounds awesome.

Hope to hear from you soon and happy new year,

Sami

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