[nfbcs] Braille on the iPad

[Tami Kinney]

Oh, I would buy one in a heartbeat! If I had a job and were earning 
money to pay for it. /lol/

Love the leaps in progress!

Tami

On 10/14/2011 11:09 AM, John G. Heim wrote:
> Yeah, interesting for sure. Normally, you can't type as fast on a
> braille keyboard as on a qwerty keyboard because it takes several
> fingers to make most braille letters. But its possible that that
> drawback would be lessened on a touchpad. In fact, given the difficult
> nature of the touch keypads, a braille keyboard might be more efficient
> than a qwerty keyboard because there are far fewer keys.
> If I ever lost my job, I think I'd try starting a company to sell
> Soekris brand computers to blind people. These are little computers
> about the size of an old VHS tape that run linux. I'd attach a USB
> keyboard and speakers and set them up with a screen reader. Bingo, done!
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
> To: "NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 12:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Braille on the iPad
>
>
> It seems like it's braille input only, which makes sense.
> I think I read braille a lot more than I actually write it, so I'd want
> both.
> Still, it's interesting.
> Tracy
>
>> 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 Man reading Braille Braille can seem outdated in a world where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.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfbcs mailing list
>> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nfbcs:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/carcione%40access.net
>>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbcs mailing list
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nfbcs:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/jheim%40math.wisc.edu
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbcs mailing list
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nfbcs:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast.net
>
>