[nfbcs] Optacon thoughts

[Nancy Coffman]

It will be interesting to see where haptics take us. Who knows, maybe our iPhones with can FB reader will allow this type of access. Even though it is not pens, maybe at some point, we will be able to achieve similar results with vibration.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 16, 2016, at 2:17 PM, Steve Jacobson via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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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