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

Tue Dec 30 04:47:12 UTC 2014

Awesome!

And the experience sure hasn't gone to waste, has it?

thanks Ted,
Dan

On 12/29/14, Edward Robbins via Nfbmt <nfbmt at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 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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-- 
Dan Burke
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