[Tactile-Talk] My Introduction And Remarks From 2024 Science Division Talk

[kperry at blinksoft.com]

Did you apply for one of the Monarchs?  There has been calls.

 

From: Tactile-Talk <tactile-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jason J.G. White via Tactile-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2024 7:22 PM
To: tactile-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Jason J.G. White <jason at jasonjgw.net>
Subject: Re: [Tactile-Talk] My Introduction And Remarks From 2024 Science Division Talk

 

 

On 27/8/24 18:47, Daveed Mandell via Tactile-Talk wrote:

I also think it's time to push for heavily subsidized braille products 
in this country and throughout the world. They are not luxuries. How 
many of us can truly buy a Monarch?

I agree with the general point. At least there's already U.S. government funding available for students that will offset the cost. I don't know what happens to the device once the student has completed secondary school and, we hope, moves on to university though.

According to an interview that I heard, APH and HumanWare are looking for public funding sources in other countries as well.

I've recently had a chance to work with a Monarch for several hours, thanks to an opportunity provided by former colleagues. I'll say it publicly: I was impressed with the Braille, the tactile graphics, and the maturity of the included software for a pre-release product. There wasn't time to try anything especially creative, but we did experiment with the tactile graphics library, the graphing calculator, the chess game (without much success), the word processor, and so forth.

I had prior experience with the Graphiti (also at the prototype stage), which of course made manipulating tactile graphics on the Monarch even easier. This is exactly the device I wish I had in secondary school calculus and physics courses. In the early 1990s when I was completing secondary school, it was all about raised line drawing kits and stereocopy machines for producing tactile graphics. Graphics-capable embossers weren't readily available at the time, at least in Australia, which is where I am from.

The Monarch should also be excellent for reading a lot of text, which I regularly need to do. 10 lines of 32 cells are better than a single-line Braille display, in my opinion.

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