There are books called Twin Vision which are written
for blind people to
read to sighted children. Those pictures are pasted
on and I understand
that they look more realistic to sighted children.
I do not know who owns
Twin Vision, only that I have seen a lot of those
books at the Illinois
School for the Visually Impaired library.
Sue S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 12:23 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Innovative computer
'eyes' help blind read:
The iCAREReader
Interesting. But as I understand the article (and I
only read it quickly), one would have to take a book
and scan it. Wouldn't it be quicker, and less
expensive, once the scanner goes on the market, to
download a book from bookshare if it's there? I can
see the advantage in reading mail or magazines,
though.
Now all we need is someway to translate
illustrations,
into Braille, or Daisy (whatever that is), or to
describe. Are illustrations in books from NSL (do I
have the initials right?) described?
I would think that it would be possible, though
possibly expensive, to make at least the outlines of
figures in books raised so that people could feel
them
-- and maybe make the insides of the outlines that
are
usually colored in different textures.
Hmmm. If I were younger and had the money I'd start
such a business. I bet it would become profitable.
Cindy
--- "Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> New type of scanning and OCR style thing, I can
see
> where this would be
> beneficial.
>
>
> Arizona Republic
> Thursday, March 17, 2005
>
> Innovative computer 'eyes' help blind read: The
> iCARE Reader
>
> By Alison Stanton, Special for The Republic
>
> Thanks to an innovative device developed by
students
> and staff at the Center
> for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) at
> Arizona State University,
> visually impaired people will now have a chance to
> read their mail, browse
> through a magazine or look over a restaurant menu
> quickly and easily.
>
> Graduate students Michael Rush and Sushant Bhatia
> began creating the
> computerized device, called the iCARE Reader, in
> 2002, collaborating with
> ASU's School of Architecture and Design.
>
> The iCARE Reader uses a 13.7 megapixel camera to
> take a picture of any type
> of printed page and load it within seven seconds
> into a computer. The text
> can then be read aloud at different speeds by a
> synthesized voice.
> advertisement
>
> "This is a tremendous opportunity to bring the
power
> and potential of
> computing and information technology to help
> individuals with disabilities
> and in general in the realm of enhancing human
> performance," said Sethuraman
> Panchanathan, 43, director of the center, part of
> the Ira A. Fulton School
> of Engineering.
>
> Unlike traditional scanning devices that can also
> convert text into voice,
> Panchanathan said the iCARE Reader is faster, more
> accurate and lets
> visually impaired people skip through documents
> quickly and easily.
>
> "You can go back by word, character or paragraph,"
> he said.
>
> Laura Bratton, a junior majoring in psychology at
> ASU, said she enjoys using
> the iCARE Reader.
>
> "It's a lot faster than the traditional scanners,"
> said Bratton, 20, who was
> diagnosed at age 8 with a condition that has
caused
> her retina to
> deteriorate.
>
> Bratton, who works in CUbiC and helped test the
> device, said she uses the
> reader about once a week and likes the freedom
that
> the device provides.
>
> "I have used it mainly for pleasure readings -
books
> that are not available
> in alternative formats that I can scan, mail and
> personal letters," she
> said. "I think it will provide me the chance to do
> more things independently
> like read books and fliers."
>
> Terri Hedgpeth, 43, is a disability research
> specialist at CUbiC who lost
> both eyes at 18 months of age due to retinal
> blasphoma. Hedgpeth said that
> before developing the iCARE Reader, staff members
> met with visually impaired
> people, disability specialists and teachers to
learn
> what would be wanted in
> such a device.
>
> "We took the unique approach. We decided to ask
the
> consumer what they
> want," the Tempe resident said, laughing.
>
> Once the iCARE Reader was created, Panchanathan
said
> he and others from
> CUbiC sought additional feedback from visually
> impaired people and other
> groups.
>
> "We are getting feedback before we deploy it,"
> Panchanathan said, adding
> that CUbiC recently debuted the iCARE Reader at
the
> Foundation for Blind
> Children in Phoenix.
>
> John Black, 56, a research scientist at CUbiC, is
> proud of the work done to
> create the iCARE Reader.
>
> "All my life I've had a love affair with books,
and
> allowing people access
> to these books is important to me," the Tempe
> resident said.
>
> Hedgpeth said she knows from personal experience
> that without new and
> innovative devices, many visually impaired people
> simply avoid reading
> things that are not readily available in Braille.
>
> "For a lot of visually impaired students and the
> elderly, if it is too much
> hassle to read, then people don't," she said.
>
> Hedgpeth, who has used other forms of reading
> technology for years and found
> them "tedious and time-consuming," loves the ease
of
> iCARE Reader.
>
> "It's a lot easier. I like to be able to go in
there
> and put something down
> and know what it is quickly," she said. "This
gives
> the person a chance to
> read a book the way anyone else does."
>
> "The important word is 'independent,' " Black
said.
> "We are hoping to give
> independence to people to read without relying on
> anyone else."
>
>
>
