[optacon-l] The Optacon User List Activities
- From: Catherine Thomas <braille@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 04:11:13 -0500 (EST)
Hi, Everyone,
Judy and the other new members of the Optacon User list might be pleased
to know that the Optacon is still very much alive and well. Beginning in
April of 2006 the Optacon User list launched its own Optacon preservation
project. These are the things which we have accomplished so far. If I
leave out anything I hope other members will fill in the gaps.
We Optacon users launched a campaign to let everyone know that Optacons
could still be repaired. There are authorized repairers in the U.S.,
England, Canada, and Australia. We also asked for dead or non-working
Optacons which we called corpses to be used for parts or, if possible to
be repaired and returned to the hands of active users. As a result of our
efforts quite a few people who thought they would never use Optacon again
have been reunited with their machines or with new, actually
re-conditioned machines, both Optacon r series and Optacon II's.
Oehm Electronics in San Jose California, one of our authorized repairers,
fabricated a new retina calbe which can be substituted for those cables
badly broken or damaged.
The Optacon Users prepared a survey which was revised to add a couple of
extra questions. The object was to find out just what current Optacon
users were doing with their Optacons. The five most common uses of the
Optacon are: reading mail, signing checks and other legal correspondence,
verification that labels and other printed material had lined up
correctly, reading of private documents, and used in conjunction with a
scanner to determine what and where to scan. There are other common uses
but these recurred the most in the surveys. We have close to 200 surveys
at this time. We are expecting more.
We also wanted to isolate those uses of the Optacon that are uniques and
have never been replicated by any other device. Among the unique uses that
have been described in detail by list members or takers of our survey are:
reading of print music; reading documents that are written in more than
one language, reading the surfaces of appliances to find out which buttons
do what; reading schematics and diagrams; using fat books such as phone
books or dictionaries or large computer manuals; reading bottles, cans,
jars, prescription information; Etc.
Some of our members have placed articles in various braille magazines to
let people know that Optacons can still be repaired and that we are also
looking for them. Each time an article has appeared, we have gotten a
burst of emails.
Two of our list members have worked hard to supply as much of the original
Optacon documentation as possible electronically. If anyone needs the
manuals for any of the Optacon units or for the CRT lens they have only to
ask. Also, on the Freedom Scientific web site, apparently the current
owners of the TeleSensory rights, one of our list members arranged for the
original training manual to be placed there as a .pdf file. We explain to
anyone interested that this document is meant to be printed out before
use.
In addition to all of this, we are working to possibly re-develop the
Optacon at a future time. There have been several efforts made in this
direction but most of them have been glorified scanners. The object of any
device developed by our users would be a device that retains the Optacon's
biggest advantage which is the ability to see uninterpreted print in real
time. Two examples for instance are the ability of the Optacon to know
that information did in fact fit on a label and did not accidentally land
partially on another label or, the ability of the Optacon to show what
sort of margins a document has. This can be very handy if pages need to be
photocopied.
We have the talent right here on this list to design a new Optacon that
might be able to read let's say the displays on CD and DVD players or the
menus on cell phones or TV screens. We are in search of certain schematics
and some source code which is among the missing. Those on our list who are
engineers woule really love to have these things, particularly those
relating to the software which turned the Optacon II into a screen-reader.
Ww have accomplished these things without spending a dime. That in itself
is praiseworthy. Eventually of course, to develop a new Optacon, even a
prototype, we will need money. For now we continue to collect data which
will support our search for funds when the time comes. One of the
interesting issues whcih keeps coming up is the mention by people who are
not Optacon users that they wish they had been.
We do have several list members who are new Optacon users. Every so often
they let us know how they are doing. Many on the list have been more than
willing to partner with a new user to help get them started.
If any list member wants to read some of the itneresting stories posted to
this list over the years, visit the list archives. Perhaps someone can
once again post the address of the archives. I never have it when I need
it.
In summary, the Optacon is alive and well. Currently, due to donated
units, our repairers have enough Optacons for anybody who wants one.
However, our search goes on for more broken units or stashes of parts. So,
once again we urge all list members to dig trough those agency closets and
storerooms and to speak to anyone you ever knew who used an Optacon or
might have had a friend who did.
Our list moderator can confirm this for sure but I believe that since we
began our initiative in 2006 the Optacon list membership must have
doubled.
Optacon lenses and accessories have also been bought and sold on this
list. If anyone has a CRT lens, typewriter lens, calculator lens, small
print lens, etc. that they no longer use, someboedy else will be
delighted.
Lastly, we also have complied a few tip sheets to help Optacon users.
These are composed of suggestions that users have made on how to perform
certain tasks. We have a tip sheet on signing documents, and another on
using the Optacon to help with scanning. We also have a wish list which
mentions many of the fetaures that we might like in a new Optacon. If
anyone would like any of these or a copy of the survey, please write to me
privately.
Speaking of surveys, we also tried to find out how people who don't use
Optacons manage certain tasks. We didn't pursue this very far but the
replies we got to the urvey we created were very enlightening.
There is most definitely still a need for an Optacon. We have met with
great success in our efferts to preserve it and, we hope with the aid of
our group of engineers and instructors and trainers as well as our users
to develop a device that will be very useful to the next generation.
Please feel free to add anything I left out.
Catherine
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-Catherine Thomas
braille@xxxxxxxxx /
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