I think there are several reasons why we are not seeing a new optacon. So
far, Charles Pond has been the only person as far as I know who has reported
on prototyping a new optacon. If others on the list have been involved in a
project, I don't know about it. In order to develop a new optacon we need
the following items.
The easiest item would be developing some promotional videos. The videos I
have seen on YouTube are out of date. We need new videos demonstrating the
optacon in terms of tasks which no other device can do. I'm not qualified
to make such a video. I lost my optacon skills because I didn't have access
to a device. It would be great if someone making the videos would compare
the optacon with some currently-available technology in such as way that the
person watching or listening to the video would understand what makes the
optacon unique. One approach might be comparing the optacon to an OCR
application like KNFB Reader. Find an example where KNFB Reader or some
other OCR application incorrectly interprets tabular data.
The next steps would be to create social media accounts on Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn. People are using social media rather than mailing
lists to get information. The word optacon would get lots of search results
through search engine optimization. I see numerous job leads and connection
requests on LinkedIn every day. IF there are people in this group who are
savvy with social media then they can get started.
The other items we need are formal documents containing use cases and user
data for the current optacon, a possible specification for a new optacon,
and a formal business plan. A couple of years ago I tested a hardware
device which was a type of mouse to provide tactile feedback and allow the
user to interact with a computer. I thought the device had potential. The
company failed because they had no formal documentation of how their
technology worked or a formal business plan to request funds for producing
the device. The president of the company thought he could succeed by
begging for money. The project failed for a variety of reasons and I don't
expect anything more from the company unless they determine what they want
to accomplish. I mention the failure as an object lesson in what should be
avoided.
So this is the situation we are in. It would be a tall order to develop a
new optacon but I don't think it would be impossible. It takes an organized
group of people to develop a business plan.
Dan
to view the list archives, go to:
www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes)
in the message subject.
