[Ohio-talk] Questionnaire for Braille labeler users

[Barbara Pierce]

From: napub-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:napub-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of tribble
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 1:18 AM
To: NFBnet National Association to Promote the Use of Braille MailingList
Subject: Re: [napub] MIT Seeks Input about Braille Labeler

When all else fails, use a slate... I actually prefer the sheets from
american thermoform that I can type in my perkins brailler and cut to size.
I don't like my 3m labeler and never use it.
I am partially sighted but see only light and color and some movement.
Lost my vision gradually over time. I am over the hump at 51 -- it's all
down hill from here -- which could be either good or bad, depending on how
you look at it.
Oh well, happy brailling.
--le

----- Original Message -----
From: "Amy Ruell (by way of David Andrews<dandrews at visi.com>)" 
<aruell at nbp.org>
To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 12:04 AMM is seeking our op[inion before
they do something.
Subject: [napub] MIT Seeks Input about Braille Labeler


I have been asked to circulate the following:


-----Original Message-----
From: <mailto:karina.pikhart at gmail.com>karina.pikhart at gmail.com
[mailto:karina.pikhart at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Karina Pikhart
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 11:36 AM
Subject: [2.009] Braille labeler product survey

Dear Customer,

We are the senior mechanical engineering design team at MIT working on
designing and building a brand new Braille labeler. We need the help of
people like you to design the best product possible for the blind and
visually impaired. We would be so grateful if you could reply to this email
with your own answers to the questions listed below at your earliest
convenience. The results will be assessed anonymously; your confidentiality
is certainly our priority.

Additionally, for those of you living in the Boston area, please keep your
calendar open for this Saturday morning for a one hour focus group during
which e will present some basic models and give you the opportunity to test
them out and give us feedback. Details of time and location will be emailed
out shortly. Please let your friends know about this event; we want to have
as many blind and visually impaired people there as possible to help us
design the best product that we can.

Thank you so much! Please continue reading for our survey questions.

1. How much vision do you have? When did you lose your vision?

2. What is your age? (teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.)

3. Do you own a 3M label maker?

4. What have you used your 3M label maker to label?

5. Approximately how many letters can you type in 10 seconds on your 3M
label maker?

6. If you label disposable items, such as canned foods, can you describe how
you do it? Do you adhere the label to the can and dispose of it when you
throw away the can? Or do you have a system for reusing your labels? Can you
describe it? If you reuse your labels, is it to save money, to save the time
of making a new label, or is there another reason?

7. When you use your 3M label maker, do you usually make multiple labels in
one sitting, or do use it each time you need just one label?

8. Do you ever have a need to make multiple lines of label? Is it
challenging to make two labels and line one up below the next while placing
them?

9. Is there any part of the labeling process for which you prefer or require
help from a sighted friend? (Identifying items to be labeled, creating the
labels, trimming the labels, peeling the labels, sticking the labels,
etc.)

10. Do you carry your 3M label maker with you? To work? To the grocery
store? If your 3M label maker were small and light enough, would you carry
it with you to label things right away as you purchased them?

11. Would you purchase a label maker that required batteries to operate?

12. What other things do you have to do besides simply embossing the braille
in order to prepare a label? (How often do you have to buy replacement tape?
Do you have to trim the label? Peel the backing? Anything else?) Please
elaborate on anything that is tricky or inconvenient, or that might
sometimes cause a mistake so that you have to remake the label.

13. Do you own any technology for which you would say that the buttons are
too small?

14. Do you own a brailler or a Braille note? Which do you have, and how long
have you had one? Approximately how many letters per second can you type in
10 seconds on your brailler or Braille note?

15. How much would you be willing to spend for a label maker that used dymo
tape, had a 6-button interface like a brailler or a Braille note, and was
smaller than the 3M label maker?

Thank you so much for your time! Please forward this on to any friends who
may be able to help, and have them reply to me, Karina Pikhart, at
<mailto:kpikhart at mit.edu>kpikhart at mit.edu
. Any questions about the nature of our project or of this survey may also
be addressed to me.

Thanks again!
Karina Pikhart
2.009 Blue Team