Flying back from Fortescue last week I was thinking about a doco I saw
on the Senior Australian of the year who is a blind gentleman. I have
seen the audio support for windows that uses text-to-speech to help
blind people know what is on the screen but it struck me as odd that
the blind person has to sit in front of a screen that they obviously
can't see... So I came up with...
... what if?
What if each pixel on the screen was a pin head and the pins raised by
a millimeter or two to separate black text from white background...
the whole screen could become a braille space... amazingly the
gentleman I saw was an amazingly fast touch typist so the input is not
the issue... its the output and the feedback... it will be interesting
to see where this project goes.
on the Senior Australian of the year who is a blind gentleman. I have
seen the audio support for windows that uses text-to-speech to help
blind people know what is on the screen but it struck me as odd that
the blind person has to sit in front of a screen that they obviously
can't see... So I came up with...
... what if?
What if each pixel on the screen was a pin head and the pins raised by
a millimeter or two to separate black text from white background...
the whole screen could become a braille space... amazingly the
gentleman I saw was an amazingly fast touch typist so the input is not
the issue... its the output and the feedback... it will be interesting
to see where this project goes.
A few things to consider, the input method in computing is generally using your hands to type or move a mouse to a point.
ReplyDeleteYou then observe the output with your sight. If you had no sight, then what other choices do you have? Braille output requires touch, which will not allow the user to utilize their hands for INPUT at the same time as OUTPUT.
Either input or output needs to be performed without using hands - maybe other areas of the body sensitive to touch may be used. For example, why not make the braille pad on a desk - Laying your arms across the braille pad would allow the pad to raise or lower the pixels; and for you to 'feel' iton your arms.
I guess it remains to be questioned just how accurate a representation of a computer screen can be using braille-type technology. With possibly millions of pixels in every pad, exactly how 'defined' would the feeling be?
Curing blindness might be easier :)