[optacon-l] Re: The Optacon User List Activities
- From: "Paula and James Muysenberg" <outofsightlife@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 12:27:02 -0600
Catherine,
When I was at Texas Tech in the early 80's, the university purchased
several optacons for use by blind students. When I visited a few years
later, however, those optacons were crammed into a cabinet, and to my
knowledge, no one was using them. If the units are still there, I wonder if
they could be donated to someone who could make them usable again. I don't
know whether the equipment is owned by the Texas Commission for the Blind,
or by Texas Tech. If anyone on this list knows anything about this
situation, maybe we can find out if the optacons are still there.
Regards,
Paula
----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Thomas" <braille@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 3:11 AM
Subject: [optacon-l] The Optacon User List Activities
> 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
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
> -Catherine Thomas
> braille@xxxxxxxxx /
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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