[Nfbwv-talk] FW: New Ap reduces the need for expensive proprietaryBraille keyboard devices
Peter Donahue
pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com
Mon Feb 27 16:07:55 UTC 2012
Good morning everyone,
While this app can make inputting data in to a smart phone faster and
more convenient the developers fail to consider the need to read refreshable
Braille hence continued need for a Braille display particularly if you're
deaf-blind. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Peter Donahue
----- Original Message -----
From: "Koch, Sheri L" <Sheri.L.Koch at wv.gov>
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Cc: "Wilder, Laine" <Laine.Wilder at wv.gov>; "Bates,Brenda G"
<Brenda.G.Bates at wv.gov>
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 8:44 AM
Subject: [Nfbwv-talk] FW: New Ap reduces the need for expensive
proprietaryBraille keyboard devices
This looks very interesting indeed!
Sheri Koch, MS, CRC
WVDRS
Program Supervisor
Blind & Visually Impaired Services
McJunkin Rd.
Nitro, WV 25143
sheri.l.koch at wv.gov
Phone: (304) 760-7178
FAX: (304) 759-2274
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From: Shepard, Yvonne K
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 2:38 PM
To: Koch, Sheri L
Subject: New Ap reduces the need for expensive proprietary Braille keyboard
devices
Dear Sheri,
I thought this new app sounded like an exciting development and wasn't sure
if you had read the article yet.
Best wishes,
Yvonne
New Braille-Like Texting App Lets You Text Without Looking
ScienceDaily (Feb. 17, 2012)
- Imagine if smartphone and tablet users could text a note under the table
during a meeting without anyone being the wiser. Mobile gadget users might
also be enabled to text while walking, watching TV or socializing without
taking their eyes off what they're doing.
Georgia Tech researchers have built a prototype app for touch-screen mobile
devices that is vying to be a complete solution for texting without the need
to look at a mobile gadget's screen.
"Research has shown that chorded, or gesture-based, texting is a viable
solution for eyes-free written communication in the future, making obsolete
the need for users to look at their devices while inputting text on them,"
said Mario Romero, Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Interactive
Computing (IC) and the project's principal investigator.
The free open-source app, called BrailleTouch, incorporates the Braille
writing system used by the visually impaired. It has been conceived as a
texting tool for any of the millions of smartphone phone users worldwide.
Early studies with visually impaired participants proficient in Braille
typing have demonstrated that users can input at least six times the number
of words per minute when compared to other research prototypes for eyes-free
texting on a touch screen. Users reach up to 32 words per minute with 92
percent accuracy with the prototype app for the iPhone.
"We are currently designing a study to formally evaluate BrailleTouch
through both quantitative and qualitative methods," said Caleb Southern, an
IC graduate student. "We will measure the typing speed and accuracy of
visually impaired users and capture the feedback from study participants in
areas such as comfort, ease of use and perceived value."
For sighted users, the research team is exploring how BrailleTouch could be
a universal eyes-free mobile texting app that replaces soft QWERTY keyboards
and other texting technologies.
"BrailleTouch is an out-of-the-box solution that will work with smartphones
and tablets and allow users to start learning the Braille alphabet in a few
minutes," said Romero. "It also reduces the need for expensive proprietary
Braille keyboard devices, which typically cost thousands of dollars."
The researchers have designed BrailleTouch to address the limitations of
soft keyboards, which do not provide tactile feedback, as well as physical
keyboards, which often use small and numerous fixed buttons. BrailleTouch is
the only iPhone app in existence that uses a six-finger chording process
that replicates the traditional Braille keyboard.
The app uses a gesture-based solution by turning the iPhone's touchscreen
into a soft-touch keyboard programmed for Braille and requiring only six
keys, making it a practical solution for the limited screen real estate on
smartphones.
The key feature of the BrailleTouch technology is the use of the six-key
configuration so that the keyboard fits on the screen and users keep their
fingers in a relatively fixed position while texting. This design allows
users to hold their device with the screen facing away from them ¬- cradling
the device with their palms or pinkies and thumbs - and to type with a
majority of their fingers, identical to typing Braille on a standard
keyboard.
The team behind BrailleTouch is led by Romero and IC Professor Gregory
Abowd, co-principal investigator. Former IC affiliate Brian Frey conceived
the original idea and developed the first prototype and Southern created an
improved design. They are conducting usability studies together with James
Clawson, a Ph.D. candidate in IC, and Kate Rosier, a master's graduate in
Digital Media and bachelor's graduate in Computational Media.
The research group has developed iPhone and iPad versions of BrailleTouch
and is currently working on Android versions. The app recently won the
MobileHCI 2011 competition for design at the MobileHCI conference in
Stockholm, Sweden.
BrailleTouch will be demonstrated at the Abilities Expo-Atlanta 2012, taking
place Feb. 17-19 at the Georgia World Congress Center. A video of
BrailleTouch in action is available at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIEO1bUFHsI
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIEO1bUFHsI>
This project was supported in part by the Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Center for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC), which is funded
by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR),
United States Department of Education, under grant number H133E110002.
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