[Nfbktad] FW: [Nfbk] New Mobility app developing

[Todd E.]

Greetings,

Compliments of Cindy Sheets. See below.


Cheers,

Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbk [mailto:nfbk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of slery
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2014 4:55 AM
To: 'NFB of Kentucky Internet Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Nfbk] New Mobility app developing

I didn't have a chance to read about this particular app, but did want to
share about an article I recently listened to. I think it was in the Verge,
but it might have been PC World. It was an indoor GPS system that worked
with your phones. It is NOT designed for blind people specifically and
nothing is mentioned about blind people. It is actually developed for the
sighted when they go to things like conferences. The system is completely
portable and easy to set up. They place navigation points around the
conference center and people use their phone app to navigate to the panel
that they want or to simply stand in hall and find out what is going on
close to them.

This would be awesome for malls where a blind person uses their mobility
skills to actual get places but they could brose stores just like a sighted
person looking around.

There is also technology that is currently being tested where RFID is used
to offer customers coupons or specials when they walk around a store over
their phone. I'm not sure I agree with this technology, but if I as the
customer have the ability to say I want it on or off, it would be great if
they added a special app for the blind that also announced the departments
as you walked around the store in addition to announcing sales.

Cindy S.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbk [mailto:nfbk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Corbb 
> O'Connor
> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 10:29 AM
> To: NFB of Kentucky Internet Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbk] New Mobility app developing
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I know that this team's intentions were in the right place, but the
problems
> with an app like this can easily be summarized in one of the writer's 
> own
> words: "Working with Andres and his mobility specialist, these tech 
> enthusiasts imagined themselves in the place of the visually impaired, 
> walking through Resaca's halls blindfolded. By experiencing these 
> challenges firsthand, the group pinpointed the features needed to make 
> Hello Navi a success."
> 
> When designers imagine themselves in the place of a blind person 
> without longer-term, immersive training in the use of a long white 
> cane, it
becomes
> clear that they believe blindness to be a tragedy. We as blind people 
> have "challenges," yes. Very few blind people that I know travel 
> independently
in
> new areas by counting steps or only relying upon a GPS. Those that do 
> find travel difficult and stick to predefined routes.
> 
> Now, don't get me wrong: there's certainly some great work being done 
> in the area of indoor navigation. Dianne Pawluk of Virginia 
> Commonwealth University is leading a team to develop a device or 
> software that will
help a
> blind person to understand the layout of indoor areas like shopping malls.
> Tactile maps are becoming easier to produce. With systems like 
> Ariadne, we can drag our fingers across a map on the iPhone to get a lay
of the land.
> 
> All of these aforementioned approaches rely upon a blind person 
> receiving information in a non-visual way, then leave that person to 
> interpret the
data
> for himself or herself. An app like what the group described in this
article
> relies upon a person or computer to direct a blind person entirely.
> 
> So, as Cassandra says, this is a neat idea: "This app has a stretch of
tech tools
> we hope to incorporate. Using Google Indoor, we hope to upload our 
> campus digital blueprints to create a 3D picture on the device..."
> 
> Even ignoring the idea that VoiceOver is a text-to-speech and not
speech-to-
> text system, here's where they go wrong: "VoiceOver will allow Andres 
> to speak into the phone and request to be directed to pre-recorded 
> location points. The phone will speak back and guide him with 
> directions and steps
to
> get to his desired location."
> 
> Frankly, when a sighted person tells me to take 15 paces that way, 
> then 50 paces to the right, I politely thank them, begin walking the 
> route, and
then
> ask for better directions. "The fifth door on the left" is much better
than "50
> paces."
> 
> So, before we go running to apps like this as a panacea, let's educate 
> the developers (and even Andres, the blind student in this story) 
> about how to use structured discovery cane travel technique that 
> doesn't rely on a sighted instructor or step-by-step (pardon the pun) 
> directions from a sighted person all the time.Z
> 
> Corbb
> 
> 
> On Mar 27, 2014, at 9:42 AM, Cindy Smith <cindy.smith8109 at aol.com>
> wrote:
> 
> http://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0,,20800087,00.html
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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