[bksvol-discuss] Re: Innovative computer 'eyes' help blind read: The iCAREReader

"Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:46:37 -0500

I think indeed for mail, or for example if they made it small enough, for 
say me to find out which tea bag package in my Bigaloos sampler is which.  I 
got cinnamon last night, not a fav, but I didn't hate it either, smile.  And 
again if it is small enough for doing things on the road so to speak, 
OCRing, packages in the supermarket, or say at a meeting, where carrying a 
flat bed scanner even if it is light and small like the Epson wouldn't be 
practical.

There are several companies who do "Twin vision" books.

In fact I have made them myself.

The two commercial companies are Seedlings Braille Books and National 
Braille Press.  In fact NBP offers a "children's book of the month" 
selection, a subscription, is well, I don't remember, smile.  Also other 
volunteer groups with NLS make twin vision books, but as Alison has pointed 
out they are pretty limited, which is why having the books on bookshare so 
valuable.

To make your own twin vision books which I have on occasion, you use clear 
laminate paper, or "contact paper".  Put it into a brailler or use a slate 
and Braille out what should be on each page, then cut out, trim, and peel 
off the backing and paste.

There are a variety of ways to make homemade tactile graphics, and there are 
several companies who offer Tactile graphics kits.

I use a piece of metal screening taped to a board, and I place the item I 
need to trace on top of the item, and make it tactile that way, though I am 
cheap, smile.

In deed different textures can be used to explain things like shading or 
color.  there are a Variety of sand paper materials that you can use to make 
textures, lace, felt, foam, and sand, and glitter, and a whole bunch of 
other things.  smile.

Is a favorite topic of mine.

There are also books called "book bags" where you would put objects  related 
to the book in a box, for the person to feel or experience as you read the 
book.

For example, in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, you could have prepared ahead 
of time small pieces of each of the thing the caterpillar ate, and let the 
students experience the different flavors, and of course, if you had access 
to a caterpillar, let them touch the caterpillar.  I also had a plastic 
butterfly in my kit.

For the book "A Chesapeake Bay Walk" is in the collection, I had let me 
think, a bald eagle figurine, a jelly fish figurine, a turtle, a goose 
feather, oyster shells, a crab (fake), star fish,, clam shell, some sea 
weed,

And I had sounds of the ocean and the  Bay on a CD, was a great lesson, 
though I got yelled at because I didn't know that Bald Eagles can be either 
brown, and white, or black and white, or brown black and white.  I have 
always drawn mine black and white, but that was apparently wrong or so my 
advisor told me, smile.  Guess it wasn't a huge offense, smile, as I got an 
A for student teaching.

Shelley L. Rhodes and Judson, guiding golden
juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
Graduate Advisory Council
www.guidedogs.com

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to
stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.

      -- Vance Havner
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "siss52" <siss52@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 2:29 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Innovative computer 'eyes' help blind read: 
The iCAREReader

You had the initials right but not in the right order (NLS).  Anyway, in
magazines they will sometimes put CAPTIONS:  and just tell something about
the picture, though not much.  In textbooks, however, they will put the
outline drawings even in Braille, but sighted people have trouble figuring
out what they are sometimes because of the absence of shading, colors, etc.

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."
>
>
>
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/tempe/articles/0317t-icare17Z10.htm
l
>
>
>
>
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