[bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: article on Optacon and Jim Bliss
- From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:03:06 -0400
I used my Optacon to study Japanese in college. It's easy to read the
simpler characters with it.
I use it all the time to look at print music. I used to transcribe music
using it, but now with a program to scan and translate music, I use it to
fix the inevitable errors.
And I'm using it to look up specific passages in the book I'm scanning, to
answer my own proofreading questions.
I find it invaluable.
Tracy
> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to
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>>> line.
>>>
>>
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>
> --
>
> mailto:<the.bee@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> --
>
> Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just
> dreaming
> about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the
> wind.--Ecclesiastes 6:9 NLT
>
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