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

Tue Dec 30 08:31:48 UTC 2014

Nice to be able to reach back and read that, Ted. Thank you.
My oh, my. Indeed.
Most of us, I imagine. We may remember that Kurzweil machine that was placed 
in the college library here in Bozeman in the early 1980s. And Tom &  Scott 
who were blind students at MSU, gave us demonstrations at the summer 
program. It was quite an extraordinary thing.

I just ordered my update on the K-1000 scanning software from Kurzweil. It 
should come on a little round thing called a CD, which of course was not yet 
in my imagination yet at that time.

I am scanning a book by a local history teacher fellow, Derek Strahn, who 
produces the 2 minute radio show here on KGLT, the Montana Medicine Show.
Hope to have it up on Bookshare when all is said and done. Maybe the Montana 
Talking Books library might want to produce it in human audio, too.

I am reading a book I just got from BARD during this break.
Any of you have you read it?
by Anthony Doerr.
All the Light We Cannot See.
I imagine there is some conversation in our blind community, as the young 
female character is blind.
The setting is France, World War Two, for her. And the counterpoint story is 
a young boy in Germany who is not blind, but is a radio and technology guy.
A fascinating story. I like the writer's narrative quite well.

Best wishes to all for a happy new year.
And snug up good during these last hours of 2014.
As the cold air blast through our Montana plains and mountains.

Rik

-----Original Message----- 
From: Edward Robbins via Nfbmt
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 7:55 PM
To: 'NFB of Montana Discussion List'
Subject: [Nfbmt] FW: [Reader-users] Article from Braille Monitor

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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