[optacon-l] Re: creating a new optacon
- From: "Nick Dotson" <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2012 13:47:45 -0600
A few notes of "realism".
Part of what reduced the wider spread of the Optacon was a combination of
its having been oversold as a panacea, with inadequate attention to the
level of commitment, practice and skill required to become a proficient user
of it. Braille faces a similar fate, in that very few of us who are totally
blind, much less included in the larger population of "legally blind"
persons use it. Consequently refreshable braille displays, braille
embossers, and hard copy braille books are expensive...
Another block is that educators, rehabilitators, and end-users understand
that one can plow through large volumes of "mystery print" quicker, and
obtain useful information from text-based materials with an OCR solution.
The afore mentioned groups are either oblivious of, or, are willing to
exclude consideration of access to numerical spatially-oriented data, and
other forms of information that can be accessed with a tactually-based non
OCR solution.
And, if I may breach the "non disclosure" requirements of a study I'm a
Guinea Pigging in pertaining to an artificial vision system I'm
participating in, the UI for it, and learning to interpolate the data it
provides (especially for we congenitally blind folks) is hard to master, and
will take significant time and effort to gain enough proficiency to make the
device useful in all of the contexts in which it has potential utility.
I.E. lab situations are easier than using systems in the "real world" under
constraints of time. And, training done "one on one" or by oneself, is less
effective than if a system had the built in ability to allow others (family,
friends and colleagues) to easily run an app on their computers or cell
phones to help us learn to see--in this case. The Optacon's visual display
and repeater cable significantly limited the degree to which
non-professionals could assist us in the process of becoming proficient
user's of the device.
And, as has been mentioned, any device requiring non off-the-shelf
components as did the display and retina of the Optacon are going to be
prohibitively costly to manufacture and maintain in a cost-effective manner
in an era of austerity in the public and private realms when even hunger
looms larger than it has in the last 40 years in developed countries...
Nick
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Mallard
Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 12:02 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: creating a new optacon
Steve,
It's not a matter of comparing the costs; it's a matter of being creative,
and believing in new ways to approach fund raising and, if you like, "the
market". I'm sure, for instance, that if use of the Optacon had been
properly promoted in my country, rather than being discouraged by the very
people who should have spread it, things would have worked out differently.
In addition, I'm looking at what's happening now with Iphones and Android
phones. You have one Iphone, but hundreds of idfferent possibitlities with
Android...
Why? Because Android being open source, it can be modified, eprsonalised,
re-arrranged, spread to all sorts of devices. Therefore, an open device
would have much greater possiblities than a strictly patented thing...
You don't have to be optimistic; let's hope my faith and optimism, joined to
Jyrki's will be enough for us all, just like the faith of the paralised man
in the Gospels was enough to obtain his healing... (smile).
To the New Optacon!
Ollie
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