I'm extremely naïve in the world of "braille graphics," probably more
correctly known as "tactile graphics." My old Blazer embosser could be made
to do a bit of graphics by changing the setting of a bar and telling the
machine to make spacing between "cells" and "lines" to equal the standard
spacing between the dots on the left side of the cell and those on the right
side. In that mode, you could make a solid page of equally-spaced dots, If
you wanted to watch the Blazer grind out all of them - and drink a cup of
coffee while you waited. I understand that my new "Braille Buddy" will also
do graphics, but I have never tried it. You might even be able to cause
different "dot strengths" to occur in a picture or graphic so that you could
somewhat mimic contrast on a page. I'm not sure what they can do with
tactile graphics these days. I know that I have received braille material
with a tactile graphic said to be a picture of something. As I examined it,
I could not tell for sure what is being depicted on the page; it was only
the text explaining the image that told me what it was.
Since I am blind from birth and, at least from an experiential standpoint,
do not know of light, darkness, color, perspective on a picture, and
probably other characteristics necessary to do a good picture. One problem,
then, which would come to me is how do I convert a three-dimensional image
in my mind of, let's say a car, into the two-dimensional image which will
have to appear on the page because you cannot draw "down into the paper."
If someone were asking me to attempt to draw a car, I'd have to figure out
which two of the three dimensions I am going to "output" to the page. When
I was in the second grade, the teacher had paper cutouts of animals, but I
did very poorly in recognizing them because I was feeling only a
two-dimensional image and trying to equate it to some three-dimensional
record of an animal in my memory. I know that this is a weird way to put
it; but it is the best I have been able to figure out after I in a way "went
through my mind" as a teenager to sort out some things. One aspect of that
process, which probably ran over several months altogether, was to look at
that matter of relationships between what "runs" in my mind and what
actually exists. Here's one more "classic"; I understand that a road looks
narrower as a sighted person looks along it. I understand from my science
class the matter of angles - the road occupies fewer degrees of arc as you
look farther out along that road. But in my mind, there is no need for that
setup because the mental image isn't based on degrees of arc as seen in the
environment of light. When I was a young child, my parents told me that I
lived in the dark; but that point was one point that "went out the window"
when I did that "sorting out" process. Since light is undefined to me in
EXPERIENTIAL TERMS, then darkness cannot be defined because it is the
opposite of light which of course can't be defined in experiential terms to
someone who has never seen. So for practical terms, I live in a world which
knows neither darkness nor light; but that doesn't bother me because well,
it is "where" I live. But I am pretty sure that such ideas affect my
understanding and ability to deal reliably with graphics in any form.
Probably the only graphics I can understand are graphics related to
mathematical concepts such as, for example, a graph showing input voltage on
the horizontal axis and output current on the vertical axis. Put another
way, the graphics I can understand would be numeric relationships shown in a
two-dimensional format. That limitation also affected my ability to
understand Windows concepts in the beginning. When they talked about
"pulling a screen forward," I asked, "How can you reach into that boobtube
and pull something out toward you?" It took a stroke of genius for a
coworker to communicate the idea to me using a stack of "tab cards" which
she held in her hand as I felt the tabs across the top, each tab being a
part of its own card. Finally, she told me that Alt-Tab is the way I will
use to "pull a screen forward." That explanation linked the visual image on
the screen to a keystroke and something "linear" in my mind.
I suspect that the Orbit display doesn't have the resolution required to
display print letters, and that may be one reason that it could not be
harnessed to serve as the output device for a new Optacon.
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:23 AM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Suggestion for Orbit Research
Hi all,
I wasn't suggesting contacting Orbit Research. Nolan Runyan or someone else
with a technical and/or engineering background may have already done that.
I was just informing the list that Orbit Research is open to new ideas.
Orbit Research may have already had a discussion with people pursuing a new
optacon and determined that it wasn't feasible. I remember someone mention
on this list that they felts that the actuators Orbit uses for the graphiti
weren't adequate for a new optacon.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Laurel Jean Walden
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 6:41 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Suggestion for Orbit Research
Hi, Dan and all.
This sounds like a good idea to me. I will contact Orbit Research this week
and add my 2-cents worth regarding the prospect of a new Optacon. The more
of us who speak up, the better, even if such a consideration is put on the
back burner because of the pandemic.
Even in this age of smart phone cameras and intelligent apps, there are
still cases when I really need to see how something appears or is oriented
on a page, what my handwriting looks like, etc. My Optacon still sits on the
bookcase by the front door, ready to go to work at a moment's notice.
Best wishes and stay safe.
Laurel in South Carolina
On Jul 18, 2020, at 2:11 PM, dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:optacon?
Hi all,
Yesterday I was in the NFB exhibit hall talking with people from Orbit
Research. Their president mentioned that they are receptive to ideas
for new products. Has anyone approached them about developing a new
quotes) in the message subject.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Thanks,
Dan
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