[bookshare-discuss] Re: OT Re: about the optacan
- From: "Evan Reese" <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 09:31:35 -0800
You weren't REALLY expecting the price to come down, were you? <grin> How
often have you seen something for the visually impaired start out at a high
price and cost less later? I'll bet you'll have a hard time coming up with
more than a rare instance. Pardon my cynicism, but I haven't seen it happen
very often.
When I was living in Pennsylvania, in high school, many students at the blind
school I was at got them by way of a grant from the Mellon foundation, reducing
the cost to the buyer of $100 - or in this case, the buyer's family. I don't
know if it's worth $3000, but I'm sure glad to have one. (Actually, if I
remember correctly, the price was $3500.)
----- Original Message -----
From: Linda Lupaczyk
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 8:33 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: about the optacan
Hello Bookshare family,
Speaking of the optacon, I have often wished I had one! I used to be a rehab
teacher and used an optacon and taught others how to use it. The price was
prohibitive, however, so I never did invest in one. I always thought they
would come down on the price so those of us working-class people could afford
it, but they never did. I couldn't justify spending $3,000 on a machine that
was so tedious to use, but I would love to have one for the many times reading
machines can't read something. For instance, when the print changes on a page,
the scanners go nuts! With an optacon, one had a chance of reading the
material. I'll never forget how surprised I was when I "saw" italicized print!
I have also wanted to get a book to learn Spanish. I can't use the READING
EDGE for that, because if I insert the card they make for reading Spanish, it
won't read the English explanations, and if I use my original card which is, of
course an English-reading card, it won't read the Spanish. This also could
have been possible with an optacon, but is it worth $3,000?
Just some thoughts.
Linda
----- Original Message -----
From: shannon
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 8:26 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] about the optacan
Evan,
Thank you for the answer. That does sound like a really great thing. It is
too bad that they don't make it anymore. What did they come up with to take
it's place. I would think a toy like that would be in great demand? It sounds
kind of like a CCTV only instead of a TV, it has a brail display. Do I have
that right?
Shannon
----- Original Message -----
From: Evan Reese
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 8:02 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Just Downloaded My First Book for
Validation
Optacon is a - I forget the word for it - a condensed word meaning
optical to tactile converter. It uses a camera you move over the page with one
hand and the print is converted into an image of vibrating pins which you read
with the index finger of the other hand. Very useful not only for reading
print but also looking at raised-line drawings and graphs.
Most people - including myself - can't read very fast with it, but it's
great for short stuff and I use it especially for math, which doesn't scan
well. I also use it to check scanning errors that aren't obvious from the
context on stuff I scan, and now on stuff I will validate.
Unfortunately, the Optacon is no longer manufactured.
----- Original Message -----
From: shannon
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:03 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Just Downloaded My First Book for
Validation
Hello Evan,
I have a kind of unrelated question I am on a couple of lists and
recently I have heard Optacon allot. What is an Optacon?
Thanks
Shannon
----- Original Message -----
From: Evan Reese
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:04 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Just Downloaded My First Book for
Validation
I just downloaded my first book for validation. It's _In The Ruins_
by Kate Elliott, Crown of Stars Volume 6. It was submitted on November 17, so
it's been up there for a while. The submitter put it in the Fair category, and
by the looks of things, that's about right. I've noticed quite a few errors
just in the first few pages. Also, the copyright information was not provided,
so I put that in.
I'm picking up a paper copy this afternoon from a local bookstore.
If it had been categorized as excellent, I might not have bothered, but I might
have gotten one anyway - preferably from my local library - but they didn't
have one. I would prefer to have a paper copy in case there's a scanning error
that I can't figure out. I have an Optacon, so I at least don't have to ask
someone sighted what's on the page if I run into trouble. I've been wanting to
read this book since it came out last August, though, so I'm going to read
right through it.
However, if the errors are too many and too egregious, I just may
scan the whole thing in again. It might come out better - my OpenBook does a
pretty good job, especially with hardcovers and trade paperbacks. It might be
more effective timewise than trying to puzzle out garbled text. Hopefully that
won't be necessary.
I'm a little nervous, this being my first book and all. I hope I do
things correctly.
By the way, is there a keyboard shortcut for the Copyright symbol? I
just used alt-169 at the beginning of the book where it's supposed to be, but I
was wondering if there is a keyboard combination for that? Just curious.
I also subscribed to the volunteer discussion list. I was a little
intimidated at first by the 50 messages per day figure cited on the website,
but I figure that it may not be as bad as all that; it isn't as though I have
to read all of them.
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