RE: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical perspective

  • From: "Ken Perry" <whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:59:54 -0500

I was not trying to get personal either I was only using some of the same
examples you are.  I think the two are exactly the same issues one person
says I am illiterate if I can't read Braille well and I say that I would
rather not be able to read Braille well then not both be able to use
technology well.  Do you realize this year for the first time I did all my
shopping on my own?  No I didn't buy everything on line but I researched
everything on line.  I took  buses to stores and cabs to stores so I figure
that's on my own since sited could and do do the same thing.  But without
the use of technology I could not have even pulled that much off.  

Tell me exactly what I cannot do if I do not know how to read Braille.  Note
I have every technology gadget there is and you cannot just throw them out
they work and I will continue to work.

I can list several things you cannot do if you don't know technology, I just
want to see if people are willing to admit that while Braille is useful
there is nothing I cannot do without it. 

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 9:49 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
perspective

Ken,

I didn't mean this to be personal and I don't deny the benefits of 
technology. I bought my first HP125 with speech to assist my practice in 
1982 when I couldn't really afford it and began programming because there 
really weren't the applications back then for it. I also keep an address 
book on my phone and of course I don't carry my notes about with me any more

than do my sighted colleagues. I take my notebook computer traveling with me

where ever I go and sometimes even a little note recorder though I prefer a 
small slate and paper.

This discussion always seems to get personal and defensive. As I said I am 
not a really good braille reader but sure glad I am a functional braille 
user.

What your buddy cannot do technologically isn't a discussion of braille use.

It is a technologically illiterate presumably in a situation where that 
disadvantages him. That is not the same thing. I worked with many 
technologically disadvantaged persons, with increasing use of PDF and other 
non screen reader friendly applications in the Health Industry I was often 
technologically disadvantaged and braille was of no benefit to me there 
either. these are not the same issues.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Perry" <whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 9:16 AM
Subject: RE: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical 
perspective


> You are wrong those of us who read Braille at a low level totally agree 
> that
> reading Braille would be nice.  What offends me though is people jumping 
> the
> shark and calling anyone who can't read a story or a menu fast enough to
> order illiterate.  As I said in my first email I agree that Braille should
> be taught in school and those who have the ability to learn at a young age
> should but not knowing how to read Braille at a fast enough page to read
> books is not an end all.  I don't feel robbed because I can't.  Whereas I
> would feel robbed if I couldn't read text in the sighted world as a 
> sighted
> person.  It's a total different ball game.  You have signs in the sighted
> world.  Braille signs are not only hard to find but when you find them
> sometimes they are just stupid I found a Braille sign on a fire hydrant 
> once
> that said it was a fire hydrant.  You mentioned taking notes.  I have 3
> devices that instantly turn on if I need them and can take notes not only
> faster than I could with a brailler but I could search and call them up
> faster.  For that matter one of the devices I edit notes on my server with
> in almost any place because its 3G so do you carry those volumes of notes
> around with you in Braille?  That would be a site.  All I am saying is I
> agree that Braille is good to learn.  So that makes a middle ground I do 
> not
> agree that I lose greatly by not knowing how to read Braille at a level
> where I can read books.
>
> I tell you what though.  I know a  person that I work with that still to
> this day cannot use a computer.  He is trying to learn right now.  I find
> him at a much larger disadvantage and he is a Braille expert.  He uses a
> Braille note and has no idea of things he could do if he understood
> technology.  I find him at a much larger disadvantage than I find myself.
> You can't individually shop without getting help if you know only Braille
> but you can if you know technology.  You can't create documents for the
> sighted world if you know only Braille but you can with technology. 
> Braille
> doesn't help you if you have to create those pill labels for other 
> customers
> but technology does.  I find that technology is a much more important tool
> than Braille when interacting with the rest of the world.  Braille has 
> made
> it possible for the blind to get started and to self organize while
> Technology has opened the world like nothing else has for blind people.
>
> Again I will finish this by saying I believe Braille should be taught but
> it's time to stop telling our kids they are something less if they don't
> read at the rate needed to read books in Braille.  They are not something
> less they are something different.  Even the sighted world is starting to
> have to come to terms with what the new technology age is bringing our 
> kids
> into.  It used to be you could not be a programmer in the sighted world if
> you cannot learn a language.  Not so with programming languages like 
> scratch
> kids are learning to code visually.  When coding languages get to the 
> point
> where you can tell the computer what to do and it will do it and create an
> application for others to use will they no longer be programmers.     No
> they will be programmers in a different way.  We have to use the tools 
> that
> give us the best life style possible and Braille is only a very small
> portion of that life style unless you have multiple disabilities.
>
> Ken
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens
> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 8:55 AM
> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
> perspective
>
> But surely that is the point.
>
> I too came to braille somewhat late and never was a really good braille
> reader nevertheless Janet and I have three braillers around here, I always
> had one on the corner of my desk at work for banging down notes or 
> telephone
>
> numbers, getting correct spellings for patient names and organizing lists
> for placing orders or any number of other things. Nothing like the random
> access to bits of information offered by written notes. We label things 
> with
>
> braille dymo tape, so convenient though we don't do it enough.
>
> Computer voice has certainly sped some things up and much recreational
> reading I would never do without talking books.
>
> Certainly one can get along without being able to read or write braille.
> remarkably large numbers of sighted people cannot read or write print
> adequately either and many function so well that people don't know they
> cannot. all that notwithstanding those who do not read braille adequately
> for function really cannot appreciate the value and benefit of braille
> literacy and those of us who do don't like to think of getting along 
> without
>
> it.
>
> Interestingly, neither has anyone ever asked me if I use braille when
> applying for work. Many make assumptions that I would use a dog guide or
> that a spouse drives me about or that I would be counting steps, I don't
> think those questions have much to do with what is required.
>
> What computers have done for us more than anything else is add another
> channel of literacy of a sort for us. As with braille they give us a 
> better
> random access to what we read than we had with tape and a currency we 
> could
> never have with tape or braille and in some situations more instantly.
>
> I don't know why this debate always seems to get defensive. It is like the
> dog/cane thing somehow there doesn't seem to be any neutral ground.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jamal Mazrui" <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: "Bob Kennedy" <intheshop@xxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:55 AM
> Subject: Re: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
> perspective
>
>
>>I agree that braille is generally a valuable skill for a blind person to
>>have.  I think all rehab programs should include braille instruction, and
>>all blind kids should be taught braille at an early age. Unfortunately, I
>>have also concluded that it is extremely  difficult for someone to become
>>efficient in reading braille if he or she did not learn it as a young
>>child -- perhaps similar to the way that languages are much harder to 
>>reach
>
>>fluency level when learned later in life.
>>
>> So, I read braille, but despite much practice during my late teens and
>> early 20s, (I lost my sight as a junior in high school), I never achieved
>> a speed that made it practical to use braille except for things like 
>> menus
>
>> and labels.  I have met many blind adults who are similarly situated.  We
>> have to make the best of speech or other techniques besides braille.
>>
>> Jamal
>>
>> On 12/22/2010 4:18 AM, Bob Kennedy wrote:
>>> Wow I didn't know there was so much passion for Braille.  Having gone
>>> blind
>>> at age 12, I had to learn Braille, just later than most.  Never could
>>> read
>>> fast and the careers I've had have left me with a small spot that is
>>> smaller
>>> than a full Braille cell of sensitivity on one finger.
>>>
>>> I've never had a problem finding work though, and no one has ever asked
>>> me
>>> if I can read Braille as a part of a job interview.
>>>
>>> No need for that when I built transmissions I guess.  I have been asked
>>> many
>>> times about my computer skills since I've left the garage business but
>>> still
>>> no concern for Braille.
>>>
>>> I better hope it stays that way or I'll have to get the Think Green
>>> people
>>> involved.  What is the ratio now?  Four pages of Braille to one of 
>>> print?
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Sina Bahram"<sbahram@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> To:<programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 10:40 PM
>>> Subject: RE: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
>>> perspective
>>>
>>>
>>> What Ken said.
>>>
>>> Take care,
>>> Sina
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ken Perry
>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 12:44 PM
>>> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Subject: RE: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
>>> perspective
>>>
>>> You said ,
>>> "Take away your tech, your electricity, your computer, your gadgets, 
>>> your
>>> willing friends to read to you, hand you a greeting card
>>> from a friend, a recipe, a medicine bottle with a braille label on it,
>>> and
>>> what happens?  Go to a nice restaurant with a sighted
>>> friend, have the waiter hand you a braille menu which they have gone to
>>> the
>>> trouble and expense of providing you, have that friend
>>> step away to go to the restroom, the waiter approach you and ask:  "What
>>> will you have today?"  What happens?  "Sorry, can you read
>>> me your menu?  I can't read this."  Litterate or illiterate?  You tell
>>> me."
>>>
>>>
>>> You assume a lot of things in the above.  I have been blind 20 years and
>>> got
>>> one Braille Christmas card,  I have only recently
>>> started seeing any Braille menus.  If you took the tech from most 
>>> sighted
>>> people they would be lost as well.  I have never got one
>>> bottle of pills with a Braille label.  Most of the Pill bottles I get
>>> come
>>> with barcodes though and read fine.  As for Cards  my son
>>> and daughter have given me audible ones.  Hell I got one this year with
>>> actual letters I could feel true this is like brailed so
>>> don't really count.  The point is Tech is here to stay and if it went
>>> away
>>> then maybe it would be worth me gaining speed with
>>> Braille.  It is like saying you don't know how to ride a horse so you
>>> won't
>>> be able to travel more than 20 to 40  miles  a day
>>> because you will have to walk if you don't have a car.  .  When I want 
>>> to
>>> read a menu I download one and I do that on my Braille
>>> plus and or Iphone both.  I actually take pictures of menu on  my IPhone
>>> and
>>> read it that way many times.  I am sorry but my brother
>>> has started going to restaurants in Atlanta only if they have online
>>> menus
>>> does that make him illiterate? Kids in college now
>>> couldn't do Calculus if you took their calculator away but I could does
>>> that
>>> make them lost in the world of business  because they
>>> use a tool?
>>>
>>> I never said that my way I s the best way.  What I said is to call them
>>> illiterate is asinine.  If they can write and read and spell
>>> they are literate.  You might not call them fully self sufficient but I
>>> would argue that until every written word is in Braille then
>>> no blind person is self sufficient when it comes to reading but then it
>>> looks like Google will fix access to text long before paper
>>> Braille ever catches up.
>>>
>>> Ken
>>>
>>> The funny thing is you say take your tech away and yet what you were
>>> talking
>>> about originally is reading with a Braille display.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Find yourself in a place with no new batteries for your machines, no
>>> power,
>>> access to a PC ETC.  Hand you a slate and stylus or,
>>> heck, just a sharp pin and some paper.  Instruct you to leave a note for
>>> a
>>> friend that you stepped out for an hour and will be back,
>>> and what happens?
>>>
>>> Take pride in your abilities, do.  Even boast about how well your memory
>>> works, your accomplishments in programming, your
>>> mathematical prowess, whatever you like but, don't tell me there is no
>>> value
>>> in reading and that implying that if some can't
>>> actually interact directly with text for themselves, know that letters 
>>> on
>>> that page are forming themselves into words and so forth,
>>> that this is an assinine thing to say.  For one thing, it's rude,
>>> discourteous, ETC. for another, it's not true.  Do as many studies
>>> as you like, ask as many people as you like, whatever.  You are not
>>> illiterate because you learned to read and write as a child.
>>> You used print.  You have some knowledge of braille.  If you can't do
>>> grade
>>> II, it is probably because you chose to deny yourself
>>> this skill.  If you can learn computer code, you can learn braille code
>>> be
>>> it Nemeth, computer braille, musical notation, whatever
>>> you like.  If you can learn alternate keyboards, you can train your mind
>>> to
>>> learn the feel of different symbols.  The only reason
>>> you couldn't is if your sense of touch is not working for some reason.
>>> In
>>> spite of this, the fact that you were taught your letters
>>> and how to read and write them as a child and learned them makes you
>>> literate.  You just haven't fully transferred those skills to
>>> another medium because you chose to rely on tech instead of putting 
>>> forth
>>> the time and effort it took to master them.  There are
>>> those who never really truly learn their letters unless they are the 
>>> ones
>>> doing the writing, output, not input.  Their knowledge of
>>> letters is more akin to their ability to put words together in a spoken
>>> sentence.  They know how to type out letters on a computer
>>> keyboard to get the computer to say what they want.  A lot of them write
>>> ate
>>> when they mean eight, break when they mean brake,
>>> speach when they mean speech and so forth because the computer speaks
>>> them
>>> out just the same and their mind never skips a beat when
>>> they hear it spoken and when their friends hear them spoken from a 
>>> screen
>>> reader.  They can write, they can not read.  ugly?
>>> Unyielding?  Yes, the world often is.  Yes.  Uncomfortable?  You tell 
>>> me.
>>> Fact?
>>> Absolutely.  It is immutable, uncontradictable, inarguable.
>>>
>>> Sorry about the rant.  I will stop since this has gotten off topic.
>>> It was never my intent to offend anyone.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Alex M
>>>
>>> On 12/21/10, Ken Perry<whistler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Well I agree that Braille should be taught and is good to know.  I
>>>> have to put my 3 cents in.  I went blind at 20 and in my now 20 years
>>>> of being blind,  I have only been able to learn to read Braille to the
>>>> see dick run levels.  That means I read enough to be able to code
>>>> Braille output
>>> methods
>>>> (i.e. My unique way of Braille scrolling on the Braille+ and Icon) and
>>>> I
>>> can
>>>> code games like Sudoku for the same devices.  I can also read labels
>>>> but
>>> if
>>>> you give me a Braille book be ready to age before I finish a paragraph.
>>> Now
>>>> I realize if I would have learned Braille when I was young it would be
>>> much
>>>> faster but I have said all this to say this.
>>>>
>>>> The idea that someone is illiterate because they don't read Braille
>>>> and
>>> are
>>>> totally blind is just stupid and asinine.  I have Taken High level
>>>> math classes with no Knowledge of nemeth,  True I would not have had
>>>> to use a reader if I knew nemeth then but I also could have done it
>>>> alone if they would have let me use the tools I can use for example I
>>>> could do all my calculus by hand with my Calculator/ worksheet called
>>>> xplore.  It  of
>>> course
>>>> is not really that accessible now that it's a windows app but when it
>>>> was
>>> a
>>>> dos app it was awesome for doing math by hand on the computer.  Yes
>>>> the computer did some of the work when I wanted it to but hell seen a
>>>> sighted person take calculus without an hp48 in hand lately?  Now I
>>>> will say when
>>> I
>>>> took Calculus I could and did do five page problems in my head.  My
>>> teacher
>>>> actually insisted I do this for him once because he thought my reader
>>>> was doing the math.  Little did he know I did the stuff better than he
>>>> could
>>> do
>>>> on paper in my head.  I definitely couldn't do that now but back then
>>>> I could.  Ask Sina I am sure he has that same ability.
>>>>
>>>> Now you say there is a difference from reading something by hand to
>>>> listening to it?  Hell yeah the thing don't always pronounce things
>>>> right and you can read a hell of a lot faster and retain more when
>>>> listening.
>>>> Doubt me?  Test me against anyone who can read Braille at what would
>>>> be considered 100% give us 10 books to read in the same amount of time
>>>> and
>>> test
>>>> us on it.  True this would really need to be done in a large group to
>>>> make sure the people involved just were not stupid but I will
>>>> guarantee the person listening to the text will retain more.
>>>>
>>>> You say yes but what about graphics and table.  Um sorry but getting
>>>> graphics and tables into Braille still takes translation of
>>>> information
>>> and
>>>> you will lose something there as well.  I actually found my Calculus
>>>> books on tape from RFBD very well read and well described in fact the
>>>> guy
>>> correct
>>>> the text book like 3 times that I remember while describing the
>>>> graphics.
>>>>
>>>> Note I have lived in both worlds a world where I had to read and do
>>>> math
>>> on
>>>> paper and now one I do everything in my head or on a computer.  I find
>>> using
>>>> my brain a much better exercise than writing everything down.  I call
>>> paper
>>>> whether it be sighted paper or Braille a disability in itself.  I
>>>> don't
>>> whip
>>>> out a book to take down a phone number I either remember it or poke it
>>> into
>>>> my phone.  Most of the time I remember it just because that works for
>>>> me.
>>>>
>>>> Now am I saying people don't need to learn Braille no.  As I started
>>>> out I think people should learn Braille  from the beginning and even
>>>> if they
>>> lose
>>>> their site it's a useful tool but I fully disagree that a person is
>>>> illiterate just because he or she cannot read Braille well.
>>>>
>>>> I want to end by saying my wife who has a Kendil, and and IPad still
>>>> loves to listen to Audible books and find she gets more out of the
>>>> books when
>>> she
>>>> listens because her mind can both listen to what she is reading and
>>>> assimilate the information without having to do the work of actually
>>> reading
>>>> the text and if you think that doesn't make a difference again I think
>>> some
>>>> studies should be done.
>>>>
>>>> Ken
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex
>>>> Midence
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 9:14 AM
>>>> To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> Subject: Re: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
>>>> perspective
>>>>
>>>> Hi, Don,
>>>>
>>>> For someone like you, braille isn't a viable solution.  Your case is
>>>> special and understandable.  You can't read braille unless you can
>>>> feel your way across a line.  About the most sensitive organ remaining
>>>> to you short of your tongue for this purpose is probably the tip of
>>>> your nose and, that would be ... well ... Let's just say that audio
>>>> tech is a wonderful thing.  We can't have folks giggling at us when we
>>>> read, you know.  =)  I'm talking about kids who grew up blind and have
>>>> two perfectly functioning index fingers (never could read with my
>>>> pinky, can anyone?) and a mind to go with them.  They should be able
>>>> to use both braille and audio to good effect.
>>>>
>>>> alex M
>>>>
>>>> On 12/20/10, Don Marang<donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
>>>>> My older sister was upset at me because I was unable to learn braille!
>>> My
>>>>> remaining fingers are just too insensitive now from nerve damage and
>>>> endless
>>>>> blood tests.  She has been a teacher at a blind school for at least
>>>>> 20
>>>> years
>>>>> and is a huge advocate for braille litercy.  She even reads braille
>>>>> while she is driving!
>>>>>
>>>>> Don Marang
>>>>>
>>>>> There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of
>>>>> any
>>>> real
>>>>> substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am
>>>> working
>>>>> on things that matter.
>>>>> Dean Kamen
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>>> From: "Alex Midence"<alex.midence@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>>> Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 6:03 PM
>>>>> To:<programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>>> Subject: Re: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
>>>>> perspective
>>>>>
>>>>>> Glad you liked it.  I was hoping someone on this list would have
>>>>>> personal recollections of this time and the tech available.  Neat
>>>>>> how there was braille output as far back as the 50's.  It's a shame
>>>>>> that that stuff is stil as expensive as it is.  Perhaps, some day,
>>>>>> as happened with speech technology, blind people will see the price
>>>>>> of a braille display drop to something affordable as in, under a
>>>>>> thousand dollars?  Same for a braille printer/embosser.  I am
>>>>>> enormously concerned at how many of the blind kids I have met
>>>>>> recently have poor braille reading skils and don't really seem to
>>>>>> care that they are bordering on illiteracy.  Having something or
>>>>>> someone read to you is not the same as direct input from a written
>>>>>> document to your mind without an intermediary.  In this age of
>>>>>> electronic texts, you would think that braille would explode in
>>>>>> popularity since you no longer have to fill a room with tomes of the
>>>>>> stuff.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Alex M
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 12/20/10, Rasmussen, Lloyd<lras@xxxxxxx>  wrote:
>>>>>>> That was fascinating.  Dr. Stoffel worked at NIH for a period after
>>>>>>> he wrote that article.  I could go on and on about this ancient
>>>>>>> technology, but had better do it off-list.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> People had produced braille from computers since the 50's.  The
>>>>>>> first speech for a blind computer user was for Jim Willows, an
>>>>>>> engineer  at the Lawrence-Livermore Laboratories in 1968 (letters
>>>>>>> and numbers played out through a digital-to-analog converter).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The context of this article ...  Votrax devices had been on the
>>>>>>> market for several years, but the SC-01 chip was put into the Type
>>>>>>> 'n Talk in
>>> 1981.
>>>>>>> This device had built-in letter-to-sound rules, so you didn't have
>>>>>>> to send phonemes to it as you did the earlier V S A and VSB boards.
>>>>>>> These
>>> three
>>>>>>> devices took RS-232 data and either acted like terminals or
>>>>>>> interpreted terminal sequences and sent the data along through
>>>>>>> another serial port
>>>> to
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>> displayed.  They were not screen readers running on the computer
>>>>>>> whose screen was being read.  It was revolutionary to think that
>>>>>>> you could
>>> buy
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> $300 Type 'n Talk instead of a $5,000 talking terminal to speak the
>>> data
>>>>>>> coming from an RS-232 device.  The Echo II synthesizer (using the T
>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>> technology) was added to the Apple II at about this time.  By the
>>>>>>> end
>>> of
>>>>>>> 1983 there were screen readers for the Apple II and for the IBM PC.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I worked a little bit with the FSST-3 and the VERT terminal, and
>>>>>>> heard Deane Blazie demonstrate the TotalTalk at various
>>>>>>> conventions.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Project Engineer National Library Service
>>>>>>> for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
>>>>>>> Library of Congress   202-707-0535
>>>>>>> http://www.loc.gov/nls
>>>>>>> The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect
>>>>>>> those
>>>> of
>>>>>>> the Library of Congress, NLS.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> [mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alex
>>> Midence
>>>>>>> Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 3:24 PM
>>>>>>> To: programmingblind
>>>>>>> Subject: Screen readers and how to develop them: A historical
>>>> perspective
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi, all..
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I thought this was rather interesting.  It is an article written in
>>>>>>> 1982 about some of the techniques used back then to write screne
>>> readers
>>>>>>> or
>>>>>>> "talking terminals" as they called them.  I was struck by some of
>>>>>>> the predictions the author made with regard to the future, some of
>>>>>>> wich
>>> came
>>>>>>> true and others which did not.  There was also a very interesting
>>>> section
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> on
>>>>>>> speech synthesis and how to get the hardware and software to do
>>>>>>> many of the things we take for granted nowadays like starting and
>>>>>>> stopping speech, repeating previously spoken text, deciding what to
>>>>>>> say as an acronym
>>> and
>>>>>>> what to speak as a word, punctuation levels and so forth.  It was
>>>>>>> fascinating stuff.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>
http://web.archive.org/web/20060625225004/http://www.edstoffel.com/david/tal
>>>> kingterminals.html
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Oh yeah, and get a load of the prices for that stuff!  Keep in mind
>>> that
>>>>>>> was
>>>>>>> in 1980's money too.  Put like a 33% markup on it and you might
>>>>>>> approximate what it would cost in today's money.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Alex M
>>>>>>> __________
>>>>>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
>>>>>>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> __________
>>>>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
>>>>>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> __________
>>>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
>>>>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> __________
>>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
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>>>>
>>>> __________
>>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
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>>>>
>>>>
>>> __________
>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
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>>> __________
>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
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>>> __________
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>>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>>
>>> __________
>>> View the list's information and change your settings at
>>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>>
>> __________
>> View the list's information and change your settings at
>> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>>
>>
>
> __________
> View the list's information and change your settings at
> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>
> __________
> View the list's information and change your settings at
> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>
> 

__________
View the list's information and change your settings at 
//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind

__________
View the list's information and change your settings at 
//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind

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