NOTICE OF VIBUG MEETING
When: Saturday June 13, 2015 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.
Where: 77 Mass Ave, Building 5, room 134 on the campus of MIT in Cambridge.
Meeting Format
Announcements and technology updates
Technology question and answer period
Presentations and product demonstrations
THIS Month
* At 2:00 PM, MIT Postdoctoral Research Associate Ted Moallem will
demonstrate and solicit feedback on a product under development called
"WaxPen". He provided the following information:
"Development of the prototype device, which we call "WaxPen", is a
collaborative effort between myself (an MIT postdoc) and several core
members of the Blind-Lead Workshop in Shillong, India, all of whom are
themselves blind.
WaxPen is intended as a simple, low-cost drawing tool for the blind,
particularly those in the age range of about 4 to 20 years. Sighted children
and young adults engage in drawing and sketching to support key aspects of
learning and development --- beginning perhaps with development of hand and
multi-sensory coordination, children go on to use drawing
representationally, as a means of expression, sometimes in acts of
rebellion, and ultimately in a range of cognitive and
communicative activities (supporting education, wayfinding, innovation, and
so on).
The vast majority of blind children do not have any comparable access to
drawing with immediate sensory feedback. (Heat/Swell-paper is not widely
available, while drawing raised lines on the reverse side of a page does not
offer immediate sensory feedback.)
WaxPen is an effort to change this unfortunate reality, to give blind
children and adults a low-cost tool, comparable to a pen, for drawing raised
lines and shapes directly onto the front face of a page or
other surface."
* At 3:00 PM, Suzy Eppling, who is an occupational therapist
specializing in
services for the blind and visually impaired and also a trainer for OrCam
Technologies, will demonstrate a new product which is to launch on June 7.
She wrote:
"OrCam can assist people with visual impairments by reading text,
recognizing products such as canned goods, and performing facial
recognition."
If you cannot join us in person and are a 2015 member in good standing,
contact me for the password for online access by June 12at 5:00 PM. (I'm
sorry to say we had problems with our online access at the May meeting.
We'll try to do better in June.)
Please note that VIBUG does not meet in July or August.
MEMBERSHIP
Not a member yet? It's easy to join. Visit our website at
http://www.vibug.org.
Jerry Berrier
president@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:president@xxxxxxxxx>
