[nfbcs] Idea for new Braille Display

[Curtis Chong]

Greetings:

The idea to make a presentation accessible is already being implemented
(albeit without a Braille display in the mix) by Serotek.  Check out
www.accessibleevent.com.

I agree that a lower cost Braille display is definitely needed.  Alas, many
have tried, and none have succeeded yet.  The piezoelectric technology will
still be with us for a while yet<smile>.

Cordially,

Curtis Chong



-----Original Message-----This email is about an idea I have for a dual
display Braille display /
notetaker device.  See if you think the idea has any merit.

 

Original message follows..

 

<<<>>> 

 

The reason for this submission is that I have an idea . and I wanted to run
it by you all who are in the technical area to see what you thought . and
see whether you thought it would be useful.  If enough people thought it was
a good idea, perhaps pursuing it would be a good thing.  I don't have all
the technical details worked out .. far from it.  However, new technology
starts with an idea.  So please read it and give me your thoughts.  Would
something like this be worth pursuing?

 

This is a rather lengthy email .. so please don't get discouraged with the
length.  I hope you're excited when you read about my idea.

 

I was thinking about sitting in classes . in high school .. in college .
even taking training classes in the professional world.  I don't know about
you all, but I've been in situations where you tell the instructors that
you're visually impaired and ask that they make accommodations for you.  In
my case, I'm partially sighted, and I've asked the instructors . "when you
turn the page, tell me the page you're on so I can turn the page and be on
the correct page on my hard copy under my CCTV . that way I can follow along
more easily".  I've also asked instructors to do other things, such as give
me a printed copy of their notes before each class, and their comment is .
"well you can get the notes from someone else" . and that's the end of it.
Unfortunately, when it's technical material you're trying to absorb, and you
NEED to be able to see the material as the class is happening, not having
the material in front of you sometimes means you don't get the information
you need.  Perhaps they forget what you asked them to do because they've
never been around a visually impaired person and they just don't remember,
or perhaps they just don't know what to do or how to do it, and you end up
getting no help at all.

 

With that in mind, I was thinking . how can we get the information being
presented at the same time the instructor is presenting it, and yet not have
to depend on the instructor giving the information to us personally (which
they might forget) , and not have to depend on reading the board or overhead
(especially if we can't see it)?  And then this idea came to me...

 

Have dual multi-line Braille displays in one unit.  Each multi-line display
could have . say a 4 line 40 cell display, plus its own Perkins style input
keys.  So then you have 2 4 line 40 cell displays plus 2 9-key Perkins input
devices on the same device.  Furthermore, have one of the multiple line
Braille displays having a wireless connection that can receive information
and display the received information upon it.

 

Here's how it could be used ...

 

One of the Braille display units could have a wireless receiver hooked up to
it.  Whatever the receiver gets, it stores it in a memory buffer, and
displays the first X number of lines of data on the Braille display it's
connected to.

 

The other multi-line display would have its own 4 line display plus Perkins
9 key input setup.  It wouldn't be wireless and would serve as a standard
notetaker.

 

The point to having the wirelessly driven display is that a presenter
(teacher) would have all their class notes on a PC which had a corresponding
wireless transmitting device installed on the PC.  Every time the presenter
changed pages of his presentation (PowerPoint, Word, etc. )  the software on
his presenter PC would transmit the page digitally over a wireless device.
I would guess that this software that transmitted the data would be built
into the operating system so that the people at the education institution
wouldn't have to do anything special to set up this capability.  They'd just
have to be aware that the software existed and they might only need to turn
it on  . or maybe just have it on all the time.  It's just there in the O/S.
Next, . what is transmitted by the presenters PC would drive the wirelessly
controlled Braille display so that the display would pick it up, store the
page in its buffer, and then display that page (or at least the first N
lines . depending on the capacity of the Braille device) on the Braille
display.  Once received, the blind or partially sighted student could then
peruse the information on the display, use page navigation commands to
navigate the page or pages, etc.   This of course would demand that the
instructor used a PC to present the class material, was presenting with a
software package that the student's wireless device could receive and
understand, the PC would have to be transmitting wirelessly, and the student
would have to be able to receive the wireless transmission.  The benefit is
that the student wouldn't have to be able to see the board . he or she could
read the presentation on his Braille display.  There wouldn't be frustration
because of an inability to get the information because the student can't see
the board.  You could probably even extend this idea to laptops if a student
had enough vision to see a laptop .  But if he or she couldn't, receiving it
in Braille would mean that a lack of vision wouldn't meant the student
couldn't keep up with the class.  The student wouldn't have to be able to
see to get the information.

 

Of course this wouldn't solve the problem for EVERY class . there could be
some classes where this might not solve the problem.

 

It would of course mean that the standard for presentations in (at least)
the high school and college environment  would DEMAND this type of
presentation and a PC platform that would support the technology.  It would
be MANDATORY that this was a standard so that unless there were technical
obstacles (such as in a chemistry course for example where the teacher is
presenting an experiment that you just can't render on the device) the
textual information could be delivered to the student.  If the platform was
an agreed standard, any blind student could get math,  English, other
subjects as well (it might also mean the student . for technical subjects .
might need to know Nemeth).  If schools had to have this type of setup, then
the blind student would be able to get the presentation as the teacher
talked about it . WITHOUT having to do much .. and they'd be able to "see
what's on the board" . or  .. "on the overhead" . because they'd be
receiving it on their Braille display at the same time the teacher is
presenting one of the pages of their presentation.

 

As the teacher moves through the pages of the presentation, the wireless
display could change allowing the student to keep up.  Not only could the
wirelessly driven display contain the current page, but with enough memory,
it could store  all the pages of the presentation . so that the student
could capture the entire presentation (and save it) so that he or she had
the entire presentation to go back to later without getting slowed down by
manually taking Braille notes.

 

The second Braille display would be used in a standard notetaker type of
application, so that as the presentation is happening on the wirelessly
driven display, they could be taking notes with the other display and second
Perkins input device hooked up to the second display . checking their notes
on the display . or just entering data on the other Perkins type 9 key
input.

 

Note that this type of device would DEMAND that you knew Braille so that you
could use the information being delivered.  And, using the device would
DEMAND you knew the Perkins 9 key type input.  If you did have a notetaker
with a QWERTY keyboard plus the 2 multi-line braille displays, the device
might be too large and unwieldy to carry and use.  You could save a lot of
space by just having the Perkins input method rather than QWERTY.  The
Perkins 9 key input keys wouldn't take up that much room, so you could
likely have two of these and the two displays (perhaps 4 lines of 40
characters each), and the device (although a bit large) might be manageable.

 

Using this device might also be a good case for mandating that partially
sighted students learn Braille.

 

Now, this setup is dependent on getting the cost of the Braille display
down.  I've been reading about new advances in this technology where they
(universities doing development and research on new methods of rendering
braille) claim they can produce a Braille cell for $10, rather than the
current cost of $80.  Given that cost, if you had two 4 line 40 cell
displays (160 characters each display) times 2 displays, then the cost would
be $3200 for the Braille . well under what a display in today's technology
costs.  Heck, the 80 cell display I have at work cost $6000!!!

 

There would also have to be a lot of technical questions answered such as
what software would need to be incorporated in the operating system for the
presenters PC, and more technical questions about what software would reside
in the Braille device, how communication was carried out, etc. a LOT of
questions answered.  So I realize there are a LOT of problems that would
need to be solved.

 

However, if we COULD do something like this, with 2 multi-line displays,
enabling people that can't see the presentation visually to yet see it in
Braille .. and take notes ... would that be worthwhile?  Does this sound
like something that would help?  Would it be worth pursuing?

 

I think Braille is a great tool, and I think this could help boost its use
since it would provide a reason for knowing it.  Braille could be
responsible for delivering the class materials to the students without
having to make them bug their teachers who don't know what to do for their
partially sighted and blind students anyway.

 

Thanks for reading this lengthy email and please let me know your thoughts.