[nfbcs] nfbcs Digest, Vol 148, Issue 15

Sat Sep 17 18:12:36 UTC 2016

I am subscribed to a discussion list about the optacon on the freelists
server.  Actually, there is quite a devoted group of people who would love
to see a new optacon.  One of the list members has developed a working model
which he would like to make available if he could get funding.  He says he
has found a way to make an affordable device, but he hasn't specified all of
the details.  He says he has developed an inexpensive actuator to display
text and images.
There was also a discussion on the list about the new graphics display from
APH.  People are concerned that the refresh rate would be too slow to be
practical.  They think a smaller tactile array would be more practical.
Whether a new optacon becomes available remains to be seen.  I had optacon
training but couldn't afford one so I didn't have any incentive to keep up
my skills since I know the device I had was a loaner unit from the
government.  I I would certainly find a device useful to deal with foreign
language characters.  I have not found a comprehensive list of the new UEB
Braille symbols so sometimes I have to guess what letter has been modified
by a foreign accent or some other special character.

Dan

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Subject: nfbcs Digest, Vol 148, Issue 15

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Optacon thoughts (Steve Jacobson)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:17:27 -0500
From: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Optacon thoughts
Message-ID: <SNT404-EAS2778DA70A3820A185106689BCF30 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dave,

I feel somewhat obligated to make clear that I am not one who thinks there
is a huge user base awaiting a new Optacon.  If a new Optacon had come along
that was a couple thousand dollars that had some improved design features, I
would probably have coughed up the money to buy one, but I do acknowledge
that it is a specialized device.  There was talk at one time that a
one-handed Optacon might be developed where one would track and feel the
results with the same hand.  This would have greatly reduced the needed
coordination since it would have involved only one hand, but I do not
honestly know how much difference that would make to the average user.  To
some degree, the problem is the same as it always had been, that it sounds
like a wonderful machine but developing the technique to use it effectively
is a lot of work and still has limitations.

I think the recently announced graphics display does have some possibility
to fill the gap for which some of us have used Optacons.  The potential to
use such a display to access maps is also a possibility that I hope is
pursued.  For example, maps will not need to be restricted to a page.  One
could have larger maps with more detail and the graphics display could be
moved around the map as a sort of window.  Whether any of this happens is
hard to know, but it will be interesting to watch.

Having said all of this, though, I think my use of the Optacon has been very
helpful on my job.  My understanding of print has been greatly increased.
The Optacon is the only way I can independently get an idea of why OCR
worked poorly for example.  I am amazed how often using OCR on screen shots
works very poorly even though the print seems clear with the Optacon,
something I've had to deal with on the job.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of David Andrews via
nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2016 6:48 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Optacon thoughts

Curtis et al:

I acknowledge what you and others have said. The Otpacon did allow you to
feel what was really on the page.  But it was relatively expensive, and most
people never got that fast with it, so didn't use it much.  Yes, there are
people who were good, and still are ... but ...

I predict that what is likely to happen is that we are seeing at least one
announcement of a relatively inexpensive graphics display, from APH, ue out
late next year.  You could scan a page, and have parts come up on this
display, I would predict, giving you a feel of what is actually there.

Hope I made sense.

Dave

At 12:30 PM 9/14/2016, you wrote:
>Greetings all:
>
>Although the optacon was difficult to learn, slow to read print, and 
>moderately expensive, it did one thing that no technology does today. 
>With the optacon, a blind person could literally feel the shapes and 
>texture of print on the page. A blind person could, with some effort, 
>also feel diagrams and handwritten information, although I would wager 
>that this latter type of information was a bit more difficult to 
>understand.
>
>Yes, we do have OCR technology now, imperfect as it is. But we don't 
>have anything that enables us to "feel" the print. I do have some 
>desire for this ability, but I am not sure how much I am willing to pay 
>for it<smile>.
>
>Regards,
>
>Curtis Chong

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