[ddots-l] Re: how about blind programmers and developers joining?
- From: "W. Nick Dotson" <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 11:33:02 -0600
One minor correction about Ray. He started his, "Kurzweil Reading Machines for
the blind" in 1976 because he adamantly refused to allow his pattern
recognition algorithms to be used for any military or inteligence evaluation
process, as he was ethically and religiously disinclined to allow his "God
Given
Gifts" to be used in a manner which might lead to the harm of another human
being... He had patented his PHD work, and it wasn't used for aerial target
evaluation, which was the military inteligence's desire. I have this from
conversaions with him on this topic, and, from his books. However, nowadays,
he is
working with the Defence and Inteligence establishment post 9-11, with respect
to the use of AI, but I don't have a great deal of insight into the hows and
wherewithalls, as he closed that topic off pretty firmly the last conversation
I had with him in 2004.
Nick
On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 10:13:23 -0700, Sean A. Cummins wrote:
Dear David I. and George B.,
The answers are at hand, it just a matter of coordination and money. Even
in the light of blindness, money is what will make the wheel turn.
Let me give you all a bit of a background in the Assistive technology
business.
Ray Kurzweil back in the late seventies developed an algorithm that would
later be used in decoding information for the military as well as for the
blind in the original Kurzweil reading system. Ray later started the
Kurzweil Music System as a spin off of his advanced algorithms that he had
developed for the printed word and military uses. Early in the eighties,
Kurzweil Reading System and Xerox Imaging got on board together with the
capital for the first "portable reading system" in the Kurzweil Personal
Reading system which also developed a smaller scanner for Xerox. What I'm
trying to illustrate is, if there isn't a mutually beneficial result, that
there isn't enough money for anyone company to undertake the task of
developing a keyboard where the research cost will exceed the profit margin.
Simple math! Anything that is developed for access should benefit the
general buyers market as well, then you will willingly get the attention and
respect of manufacturers. I had pointed this out in my email to the company
that we all wrote regarding the pitch fixing plug-ins. Let me illustrate
for you!
1.. Speech output was originally developed for the blind as you might
guess and now its uses are every where and in just about everything from
car, GPS systems, phones, toilets. well, almost everything! But you get the
point.
2.. Voice actuation, speech input, was developed for the physically
impaired and is now in computers of all kind, GPS systems etc. etc.
3.. Cirvicular motors, motors that can quickly change directions in almost
an instance. These were originally developed for the wheel chair! And
Whether or not most people know it, but our whole modern society depends on
these motors in things such as: read/write heads in floppy, CDROMS, DVDROMS
and hard drives, elevator doors, lift gates on trucks and the list goes on
and on!
My point I'm trying to stress, is that if we present an idea to a company or
individuals, it must have the element of being mutually beneficial for both
able-bodied as well as the disabled. When they see the dollars and sense to
the idea, it will be readily embraced.
Ray himself is a very phenomenal accomplished pianist and is not insensitive
to our plight. Again, back in the eighties/early nineties Ray had created a
minimal speech output keyboard for Stevie Wonder. He had taken one of the
Kurzweil 250's and modified it by adding the DecTalk speech to the keyboard.
This keyboard was use in many of Stevie's songs such as "I Just Called and
Part Time Lover".
I personally would prefer to approach this from an innovative posture,
rather then an ADA push!
Give it some thought gang and let's see if we can just support the ones that
have already flown the computer recording doors wide open for us!! Dancing
Dots has my vote and grateful appreciation this Thanksgiving.
Take Care,
Sean A. Cummins
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