[bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: article on Optacon and Jim Bliss

  • From: "Susan Lumpkin" <slumpkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:14:27 -0700

Hi Debby,

I'm impressed! You're obviously quite good at using the Optacon!
Congratulations and you should be quite proud of your accomplishments with
it! I know that took many hours of hard work! 

Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Debby Franson
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 9:20 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: article on Optacon and Jim Bliss

Hi Sandi and everyone!

I have had an optacon since 1981 and can't imagine life without it.  I felt 
like a kid in a candy store and would by books and magazines.

Some of the interesting things that come to mind that I have done with the 
optacon in no particular order are:

I've read the complete Bible.

I read "Windows '95 for Dummies" so I could look ath the screen shots, 
which helped me visualize the various screens.

I've read German, Spanish, and French, looked at the Greek alphabet in one 
of my husband's electronics books, Japanese, Chinese, which are too hard to 
read because of their writing systems, took the optacon to a ten week adult 
education Russian class and read aloud when asked to,

I have looked at a few computer programming languages to see what they 
looked like.

I looked at the front and back panels of various electronic gear and 
learned how to use them after learning the location and function of the 
controls.  It was easiest to learn a small thing such as an mp3 player this 
way.

Debby

At 01:16 PM 10/8/2011, Sandi Ryan wrote
>I don't know how to contact him, but the Optacon helped me through some 
>trying times in my life.  I had friends who used it for just little, 
>simple things.  But I read books and magazines (for the first time I knew 
>what advertising looked like in a magazine), checked out statistical 
>symbols (X-hat), learned the shapes of Greek letters and which ASCII 
>symbol to use to mean "divided by" in an equasion.  I no longer have an 
>Optacon (mine died years ago), but I would still use it if I did.  There 
>are so many things it did that all this other technology (wonderful as it 
>is) doesn't come close to doing.
>
>I hope the Optacon 2.0 is developed.  Many people may consider it a relic 
>of the past, but it is still unique and useful!
>
>Sandi
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 8:09 AM
>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OT: article on Optacon and Jim Bliss
>
>
>>I know there are other Optacon users on this list.  There may be some who
>>don't know that Dr. Jim Bliss, one of the Optacon inventors, is terminally
>>ill.  I'm sending along this article about the Optacon and Dr. Bliss that
>>appeared yesterday on an NPR website.
>>
>>The Optacon allows blind people to "read" complex visual material
>>through their
>>fingertips.
>>
>>Dr. Bliss:
>>As so many on this list have already said, the Optacon changed my
>>life.I thank
>>you for your tremendous contribution and may God be with you.
>>- G.
>>
>>This week, James "Jim" Bliss announced he is dying.
>>
>>In an email message Bliss, an MIT Ph.D. electrical engineer who developed
>>technology for the visually impaired, wrote that he has "terminated all
>>treatment" for his multiple myeloma and "joined Hospice" after battling
>>cancer
>>for eight years.
>>
>>Bliss developed a life-changing device for blind people that few outside
>>that
>>community have ever heard of. The Optacon, which Bliss created with
>>Stanford
>>Professor John Linvill (who first dreamed up the idea to help his blind
>>daughter, Candy, read) looks like a clunky, 70s-era tape recorder with a
>>cable
>>attached not to a microphone, but to an optical sensor.  By enabling
>>users to
>>gather visual information through touch, the machine has been a
>>game-changer.
>>
>>Many report the Optacon is the single best device that allows for a life
of
>>independence, to learn foreign languages, become an engineer, read music
or
>>simply peruse one's own mail.
>>
>>Indeed, Bliss's posting about his terminal cancer on a listserve devoted
>>to the
>>device, Optacon-L, generated scores of responses from blind people all
>>over the
>>world describing how the device transformed their lives by allowing them
to
>>"read" complex visual information through their fingertips, rather than
>>with
>>their eyes.
>>
>>In contrast to Braille (which expresses letters as simple raised dot
>>patterns)
>>or speaking machines (which perform optical character recognition and
>>read text
>>aloud), the Optacon, (or OPtical to TActile CONverter) senses
>>dark-and-light
>>areas of ink and paper, converting them into a vibration pattern that
>>can be
>>felt with the fingertip and, with experience, interpreted by the brain.
The
>>device can also be used to "read" information directly from a computer
>>display.
>>
>>What's startling about the notes to Bliss is that so many blind people
have
>>relied on their Optacon devices for more than 30 years. Some recount
>>having two
>>machines on hand to make sure at least one is available when the other
>>undergoes
>>repairs. Many report it's the single best device that allows for a life of
>>independence, to learn foreign languages, become an engineer, hold a
>>job, read
>>music, finally understand capital letters or simply peruse one's own mail.
>>
>>Here's a sampling:
>>
>>
>>Dear Dr. Bliss,
>>I'd like to add my voice to all of those many who have praised the
>>Optacon and its incredible life changing impact on all of us who use
>>it.In my
>>opinion, not even the enormous impact that today's most proliferate and
>>productive technologists like the late Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others
>>can in any way measure up to or compare with the positive good and many
>>blessings that your tireless efforts and the work of pioneer John
>>Linvill have brought about via the Optacon. This remarkable instrument.is
>>an example of humanity at its very best.
>>
>>Or this from a woman in Wales:
>>
>>
>>Yes, thank you for all you've done in promoting the Optacon. I taught
myself
>>cursive writing in Russian and English using it; began transcribing books
>>into Braille; as well as studying New Testament Greek and Biblical
>>Hebrew in
>>graduate school. Countless other things, too, but those stand out for me.
>>God give you strength, Dr. Bliss.
>>
>>
>>"As a software engineer," one man writes, "I have found it to be the
>>most useful tool I have to do my job."
>>
>>Bliss apparently took his role as a creator of the Optacon quite
seriously,
>>according to Don Bishop, who writes:
>>
>>
>>I received my OPTACON in 1972 and your wife was one of my original Optacon
>>training teachers at the motel on El Camino where the classes were held.
>>At the
>>time I lived just across the bay in Fremont and I distinctly remember
>>that you
>>personally carried the big box containing the OPTACON out to our car.
>>How many
>>CEO's do that?
>>
>>I appreciate all you have done in the creation and marketing of the
>>OPTACON as well as your participation in our list here where you've
>>provided valuable input over the past few years.
>>
>>One gentleman writes that the Optacon "still ranks as the best Enabling
>>Technology
>>invention that has helped so many people around the world have the
>>freedom to
>>read the printed word," and another woman says the device "gave me my
>>job at
>>IBM." A New Yorker writes of seemingly small but astonishing
breakthroughs:
>>
>>
>>Before I got my Optacon, I knew nothing about print.  Now, I know, for
>>example,
>>that often in books, the first word is written in capital letters, or
>>the first
>>letter of the word can be very big. I now know what italics looks like.
>>Amazing.
>>
>>And here, a user remarks on the dignity such a device offers:
>>
>>
>>Dr. Bliss, I have only one thing to add to all that has been said about
the
>>Optacon and that is that it is the one piece of technology which I would
>>never give up. I could live without all the other gadgets, but giving
>>up my
>>Optacon would take away one of the very few links we as blind people
>>have to
>>the sighted world of print information. The Optacon is still the best
>>device
>>in terms of its versatility and its reliance on the user's own
>>intelligence.
>>Thank you for giving us a device that boosts our dignity by its very
>>design.
>>
>>Earlier this week I emailed Bliss to get his response. He wrote back
>>saying that
>>what surprised him most were the amazing things that long-time Optacon
>>users
>>said they were able to do with the device. "I suspect this is the result
of
>>rewiring of the brain to use parts normally used for vision," Bliss
>>wrote. "That
>>is why I've proposed a new Optacon be developed that has higher
resolution,
>>greater field of view, and displays more attributes such as color,
>>intensity,
>>etc."
>>
>>When I asked for more details about Optacon 2.0 a day later, Bliss said
>>he was
>>too ill to write back. He expressed hope, though, that a new team of
>>researchers
>>working on a modern Optacon would soon find success.
>>
>>
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>>
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Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming 
about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the 
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