[Nfbmt] FW: [Reader-users] Article from Braille Monitor

Tue Dec 30 02:55:57 UTC 2014

See how far things have come.
Ted

EDWARD C "TED" ROBBINS
, CEO MBEI, Treasurer NFB of Montana & MANAGER MAB EQUIPMENT PROGRAM
PHONE & FAX:  406 453 6678, CELL:  406 799 6268
104 RIVERVIEW 5 E
GREAT FALLS  MT   59404

-----Original Message-----
From: Reader-users [mailto:reader-users-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Dezman Jackson via Reader-users
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 5:33 PM
To: Reader-users at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Reader-users] Article from Braille Monitor

Hello all,

I am pasting an article below which I came across from a 1978 Issue of 
the Braille Monitor on one of the early versions of the Kurzweil Reading 
Machine. Definitely gives some perspective from what was available back 
then to what we have today. Enjoy.

Dezman

The Braille Monitor April 1978

      KURZWEIL READING MACHINE TESTING PROJECT NEARS A SUCCESSFUL
      CONCLUSION

The Federation's testing and evaluation of the Kurzweil Reading Machine 
is nearing its conclusion, and the results have been well worth the 
effort. The project has taken longer than expected, and this has been 
due to the emergence of small but difficult-to-correct problems with 
many parts of the system. Yet this is the most valuable aspect of the 
testing. For instance, the design of the book holder has been changed a 
number of times. In early models of the machine, either the book holder 
would break or it would damage the books being read. It was the sort of 
problem not likely to concern computer engineers working in isolation in 
their laboratories, but it is important to blind people using the machine.

The Federation purchased five of the reading machines; and as of 
February 1978, 75 blind persons had used them for a total of more than 
1,100 hours of reading. Heavy day-in-and-day-out use like this has 
enabled the Kurzweil engineers to locate problems before the machine is 
on the market in its final form. The difference is between a machine 
that startles the public with its technical sophistication and a machine 
that is actually useful to blind people. It is a difference that the 
blind know well in an age when every laboratory of advanced research in 
the country seems intent on producing some miracle for the blind.

The basic technology for turning print into speech has been around for 
several years, and a number of companies have demonstrated the use of 
it. What emerged as the Kurzweil machines were spread around the country 
and used for routine reading chores was that the basic translation of 
print was just the beginning. As reported in the June 1977 /Monitor/, 
Kurzweil Computer Products had made great progress in dealing with the 
enormous variety of typestyles used in printed matter. Originally 
restricted to a single typewriter type, the machine now comprehends more 
than 200 different styles.

Yet it turned out that this was just the first step. The traditions of 
book formatting have been developing since the middle ages, and the 
innovators in the field never worried about what sense a machine would 
make of their work. Multiple columns, headings at the left or right 
margins, page numbers in a dozen places, pictures, graphs, and the 
paraphernalia of scholarly texts--all of these have proved a nightmare 
for the engineers. Beyond this, the mechanics of the machine have come 
in for extensive comment. The placement of keyboard buttons, the 
pressure it should take to press one down, the spoken commands, even the 
kinds of screws and handles that will permit easy maintenance and 
replacement all of these have been tested and altered and tested and 
altered again.

It has been an eye-opening experience for everyone involved, but the 
result will be a machine that is not just a technical breakthrough but a 
useful tool.

Kurzweil Computer Products is presently at work on what is called Model 
III. This model will incorporate the alterations made as a result of 
suggestions from users in our testing project. It will be unveiled for 
the first time at the NFB Convention in Baltimore this summer. The Model 
III will be smaller than previous models, and the price has dropped from 
$50,000 to just under $20,000. This is still beyond the reach of most 
consumers, but it is a first step. Eventually, the price should come 
down to about $5,000.

All five of the reading machines purchased by the NFB are now in 
operation. The NFB machines are in the following locations: the New York 
Public Library's Main Branch, in Manhattan; Blind Industries and 
Services of Maryland, in Baltimore; Norlin Library at the University of 
Colorado, in Boulder; the Iowa Commission for the Blind, in Des Moines; 
and the State Orientation Center for the Blind, in Albany, California.

It takes about a day of training to use the machine proficiently, and 
schedules of use have been set up to ensure constant testing; but 
interested blind persons and the general public can see the machine in 
operation at any of these sites. And of course, the new Model III will 
be on display at the Baltimore Convention in July.

Although the Kurzweil testing project will end this June, the experience 
gained by the Federation in this area will not go to waste. The value of 
large-scale consumer testing has not been lost on other producers of 
technical devices for the blind. We have been approached by several 
companies interrested in setting up formal testing projects for their 
machines; and we are prepared to work with any firm that wants the input 
of its consumers. Particularly in the area of technical advances, it is 
far more productive to solicit the input of consumers in the development 
stage than to work without their input and then wonder why the result is 
rejected by them. We are the ones, after all, who have to use the devices.

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