[Nfbwv-talk] FW: New Ap reduces the need for expensiveproprietaryBraille keyboard devices

Mon Feb 27 16:14:40 UTC 2012

Wonder if they could do some type of little port and a 16 cell refreshable braille attachment?

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

This electronic mail transmission may contain information that is confidential, privileged, proprietary, or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you are not authorized to read, print, retain copy or disseminate this message, any part of it, or any attachments.  If you have received this message in error, please delete this message and any attachments from your system without reading the content and notify the sender immediately of the inadvertent transmission.  There is no intent on the part of the sender to waive any privilege that may attach to this communication.  Thank you.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwv-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwv-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Peter Donahue
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 11:08 AM
To: NFB of West Virginia Discussion List
Cc: Mary Donahue
Subject: Re: [Nfbwv-talk] FW: New Ap reduces the need for expensiveproprietaryBraille keyboard devices

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>
To: "Courts, Terry L" <Terry.L.Courts at wv.gov>; "Kirkpatrick, John D" 
<John.D.Kirkpatrick at wv.gov>; "Lokey, Cynthia A" <Cynthia.A.Lokey at wv.gov>; 
"NFB of West Virginia Discussion List" <nfbwv-talk at nfbnet.org>; 
"Henderson,Rick P" <Rick.P.Henderson at wv.gov>; "Hoffman,Clinton R" 
<Clinton.R.Hoffman at wv.gov>; "Kolwick, John A" <John.A.Kolwick at wv.gov>; 
"Mann, Janice K" <Janice.K.Mann at wv.gov>; "Morris, Darrell L" 
<Darrell.L.Morris at wv.gov>; "Neal, Judy E" <Judy.E.Neal at wv.gov>; "Patterson, 
Susan A" <Susan.A.Patterson at wv.gov>; "Pompeii, Ronald J" 
<Ronald.J.Pompeii at wv.gov>; "Wilson, Glenn R" <Glenn.R.Wilson at wv.gov>; 
"Anderson, Rebecca F" <Rebecca.F.Anderson at wv.gov>; "Currey, Tina M" 
<Tina.M.Currey at wv.gov>; "Miller, Carla C" <Carla.C.Miller at wv.gov>; 
"Crookshanks, Ryan P" <Ryan.P.Crookshanks at wv.gov>; "Douglas, Michelle L" 
<Michelle.L.Douglas at wv.gov>; "Faulk, Sherry D" <Sherry.D.Faulk at wv.gov>; 
"Hogan, Michelle L" <Michelle.L.Hogan at wv.gov>; "Lipscomb, Beth A" 
<Beth.A.Lipscomb at wv.gov>; "Maynus, Kevin L" <Kevin.L.Maynus at wv.gov>; "McCue, 
John W" <John.W.McCue at wv.gov>; "Privitera, Kathylene M" 
<Kathylene.M.Privitera at wv.gov>; "Riffle,Barbara A" <Barbara.A.Riffle at wv.gov>
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

This electronic mail transmission may contain information that is 
confidential, privileged, proprietary, or otherwise legally exempt from 
disclosure.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified 
that you are not authorized to read, print, retain copy or disseminate this 
message, any part of it, or any attachments.  If you have received this 
message in error, please delete this message and any attachments from your 
system without reading the content and notify the sender immediately of the 
inadvertent transmission.  There is no intent on the part of the sender to 
waive any privilege that may attach to this communication.  Thank you.

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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