This is indeed off-topic, and I'd appreciate it if replies were sent
off-list. For the record, just because the subject says it's
off-topic doesn't mean it should still be posted here.
James, List Admin At 01:37 PM 4/25/2006, you wrote:
Sorry for the OT.
The survey below was written by users of the Optacon. Invented in the early 1970s, the Optacon uses a hand-held camera to explore a print document and convert the picture of what it finds to a small tactile array composed of
vibrating pins. The Optacon was manufactured until the early 1990s. In 2006
many Optacons are still in use together with today's other available
devices. No single device will satisfy all the needs of any user. Whatever
combination of devices work for you is what you should be using.
This survey is an unscientific attempt to find out how many other people
might benefit from the Optacon if it was more readily available to them. The
survey is intended for information purposes only. Currently, only a small
number of Optacons are readily available. If
this survey's findings indicate that there is an interest in a device that
allows a person to examine print documents as they actually appear without
any interpretation via software or scanner, then possible work could be done
to re-develop the Optacon with more modern parts and ability to read today's
modern types of displays such as DVD, cell phones, mp3 players etc.
In spite of the computers, scanners, speech devices, Braille displays, etc.,
available today, the Optacon can perform some
tasks that the other devices perform with difficulty or not at all.
No computer is necessary to use the Optacon. It runs on electricity and/or
batteries and can be taken anywhere.
The main drawbacks are that the Optacon is slow and that it takes some
commitment of time and patience to learn and to use.
This survey contains fifteen questions relating to everyday tasks for which the Optacon is used most often. Please respond by letting us know if a particular task is a problem in your life. You can use the question numbers and respond with comments, or just read the questions and send back a general note. PLEASE REPLY TO: braille@xxxxxxxxx Thank you for taking the time to respond.
NOTE: If you have an Optacon that no longer works, it can still be repaired or rebuilt. Please let us know about this. If you read the survey and whish to know more about the Optacon, please write. You don't have to complete the survey to ask for information.
Here are the questions.
1. Do you ever wish you could sort through your mail and throw away the junk without waiting for sighted help? 2. If you use a scanner, do you have trouble scanning material without sighted assistance? Do you find the results confusing or inaccurate? 3. Do you have problems using reference material for work or school? Is this causing problems with late assignments or inability to keep up with co-workers? 4. Have you ever wanted to photocopy or staple a document but could not tell in what order the pages belonged or which sides of the pages have print? 5. Do you ever need to wait for sighted help to arrive before you can take a medicine or prepare a food because you can't read the instructions? 6. Have you ever been charged late payment fees, or missed an invitation to an important event because you did not have timely sighted help? 7. Did you ever wonder if the piece of paper lying in front of your door was a restaurant menu or an eviction notice? (important or unimportant) 8. Did you ever want to read print music? 9. Would you find it helpful to be able to mark appliances or label your CD collection independently? 10. Did you ever want to learn a foreign language with a different alphabet only to discover that speech recognition didn't really work? 11. Do you know what print looks like? If not, were you ever curious to know? 12. Would it increase your independence at times if you could do some of the following tasks without sighted assistance? sign documents, verify that envelopes and labels you typed or printed were addressed correctly, examine private correspondence such as bank statements, tax documents, or insurance and medical material. 13. Do you ever have to consult reference material that is too large, too fat, or too complex to be scanned? 14. Do you think that if you could read just a little print independently, it might expedite things at work, at school, and at home? please explain. 15. List any other ways in which the inability to read even a little print is making your life harder than should be necessary.
NOTE: The original advertising for the Optacon focused on reading novels and using libraries. As you can tell from the above message, Optacon users find its main advantage in a different set of tasks from what the inventors imagined.
Thank you again for responding to the survey.
-Catherine Thomas
braille@xxxxxxxxx
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