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<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Sent in from Liz Morgan</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=brlerliz@gmail.com
href="mailto:brlerliz@gmail.com">Liz Morgan</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 03, 2018 1:09 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=jdegen16@comcast.net
href="mailto:jdegen16@comcast.net">jdegen16@comcast.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: Tactile Technology Converts Graphics into Braille
and
Makes Apps</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr><SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Hey Janey,
<DIV>Thought this was something interesting <BR><BR>
<DIV id=AppleMailSignature dir=ltr>Sent from my iPod</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>Begin forwarded message:<BR><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr><B>From:</B> "Huwie, Sandra" <<A
href="mailto:HuwieS@email.chop.edu">HuwieS@email.chop.edu</A>><BR><B>Date:</B>
November 28, 2018 at 9:30:02 AM EST<BR><B>Subject:</B> <B>Tactile
Technology
Converts Graphics into Braille and Makes
Apps</B><BR><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<H1 style="BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway">This Navigable by
Touch<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H1>
<P class=entry-meta style="BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway">November 27, 2018 12:48
pm<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">Touchscreens and digital
graphics
are everywhere, but for people who are visually impaired, they can be a
major
hurdle to using modern technology. But this is set to change, thanks to
tactile technology that automatically converts complex digital graphics
into
braille and stick-on smartphone buttons that make apps navigable by
touch.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">There are 30 million blind or
partially sighted people in Europe and only one in four of these
individuals
are working. Even those in employment still have to rely on support or
assistive technology to carry out their daily tasks.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">‘Blind people are almost kept
apart from society because they can’t interact or lead a normal life like
everybody else,’ said Klaus-Peter Hars, managing director of Inventivio, a
German IT company developing assistive technology solutions. ‘That is a
loss
for the individual, but also for society, so much knowledge, experience
and
capabilities are just not put to work.’<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">Hars and his team have
developed
a device called <A href="http://www.tactonom.com/index.html">Tactonom,</A>
an
A4-sized touch pad that turns digital graphics into a tactile display and
enables blind people to access complex digital information like tables,
graphics, maps, diagrams and apps.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">‘The problem with the
internet
revolution is that information has become more and more graphic,’ said
Hars.
‘That’s a killer for blind people because they need different technology
to
help them access that.’<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 19.5pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: raleway; COLOR: #666666">In about three to five
seconds,
<A href="http://www.tactonom.com/index.html">Tactonom</A> uses complex
software to translate digital information into braille text, which is a
touch-based language that uses a series of raised dots to represent words
or
images. The pad has 10,591 tactile points and uses a camera to track the
blind
person’s fingers so it can arrange graphical information around in them in
a
coherent manner. There is also a voice assistant to read aloud
particularly
complex parts which cannot be displayed by braille because of size limits
of
the pad.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">Read remainder of
</SPAN>article <SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">at</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoPlainText><A
href="https://coolblindtech.com/this-tactile-technology-converts-graphics-into-braille-and-makes-apps-navigable-by-touch">https://coolblindtech.com/this-tactile-technology-converts-graphics-into-braille-and-makes-apps-navigable-by-tou</A>ch<o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>