[Mn-abs] Fw: tablet provides graphics to vi

Wed Feb 28 21:52:34 CST 2007

Hi Joe,
Its James here.
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the following address?
my e-mail is:
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James Konechne

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>From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
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>Subject: [Mn-abs] Fw: tablet provides graphics to vi
>Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 10:00:39 -0500
>
>Tablet provides graphics to visually impaired persons
>
>
>
>By:
>
>Sherry Mazzocchi
>
>Issue date: 2/5/07 Section:
>
>Karen Gourgey demonstrates the Talking Tactile Tablet, which helps the
>visually impared with visual concepts.
>
>Media Credit:
>
>John Lee
>
>Karen Gourgey demonstrates the Talking Tactile Tablet, which helps the
>visually impared with visual concepts.
>
>
>
>If you are currently reading The Ticker in its paper format, you probably
>don't have impaired vision. But imagine, just for a few minutes, that you
>do.
>
>You have a cane, or even a trained and trustworthy guide dog to help you
>navigate the halls and find your way amidst people, elevators and doors. 
>You
>arrive
>
>at your Statistics 101 classroom. Maybe you even have a Braille textbook.
>But what happens when the teacher puts equations, charts and bell curves on
>the
>
>blackboard? What do you do then?
>
>
>
>Karen Gourgey understands this dilemma. Gourgey is the director of Baruch's
>Computer Center for Visually Impaired People (CCVIP). Last September, she
>and
>
>Steve Landau of Touch Graphics, Inc. were awarded Baruch's first ever 
>patent
>for a device that helps students learn visual concepts. Called the "Talking
>
>Tactile Tablet," it incorporates Braille, raised graphics and voice
>technology to help students who are visually impaired.
>
>
>
>The TTT is a small, portable device that can be plugged into any PC with a
>USB connection. Convenient and easy to use, no additional battery or 
>drivers
>
>are necessary.
>
>
>
>The TTT is interactive and easy to use. It comes with a talking world map,
>games and an authoring tool, which can be used to develop new course
>curriculums.
>
>Games like Snakes and Ladders are fun and designed so students can quickly
>grasp the concept of learning how to maneuver across the tablet and become
>familiar
>
>with its graphics. "People who are visually impaired don't get a lot of
>training in graphics. My math teacher told me to skip over them," said
>Gourgey.
>
>"And I went to a high school for the blind."
>
>
>
>Because the TTT uses Braille, voice technology and raised graphics, it
>provides a multi-sensory learning experience. The screen is a dense fabric
>of fine
>
>wires, which can be thought of as a mouse. A tablet, much a like a chapter
>in a book, is inserted into the TTT. When a user touches the screen, they
>can
>
>either read Braille or run their fingers over a raised graphic while a
>synthesized voice describes it. Feeling a pie chart or a bell curve is an
>entirely
>
>different learning experience than looking at a drawing on a board or
>textbook. Using vision to understand something can be a flat, intellectual
>experience.
>
>But touching is to grasp a concept intimately and almost immediately
>internalize it.
>
>Gourgey said, "People are so used to looking at things. But when people 
>read
>Braille, the visual cortex is involved. They are using the same perceptual
>
>mode, but the input stream is different."
>
>
>
>One of the many benefits of the TTT, aside from being easy to use, is its
>wide range of applications. The TTT is being tested in Santa Monica with a
>learning
>
>disabled student this semester. Applications for learning Braille in 
>Spanish
>are being developed. The statistics program in the TTT was based on a
>textbook
>
>by Annette Gourgey (Gourgey's sister-in-law), an instructor at BMCC.
>
>
>
>The programs all have a main menu and a clear, consistent structure. The
>statistics program has review questions on each tablet. Students can listen
>to
>
>the TTT's succinct answers as well as type in their own. The TTT uses two
>voices. One voice describes the graphics in a synthetic, digitized voice.
>The
>
>other voice asks and answers questions in a recorded human voice. Landau
>said that speech technology is advancing. "Synthetic speech is now fairly
>human
>
>sounding." Recorded human speech, while pleasing, is not always that
>practical. "It's very expensive," he said. "They are large files that are
>slow and
>
>hard to load." TTT software currently sells for around $699.
>
>
>
>Gourgey, who was born blind, has been with the CCVIP since the late 1970s.
> >From very early on in her career, she knew that fusing literacy with
>technology
>
>would be the key to working with visually-impaired students. "The PC
>revolution in the '80s had to be for everyone," she said. "You need to know
>how to
>
>use a computer. There is power and freedom in information."
>
>
>
>Gourgey and Landau both say that Dr. Sally Mangold, who died of leukemia in
>2005, was an inspiration in their work. The founder of Educational Teaching
>
>Aids, Mangold was considered an innovator in field of teaching visually
>impaired students. "She was a hero in the field, a teacher of teachers,"
>said Gourgey.
>
>
>
>The product developed by Gourgey and Landau does not exactly mirror the
>technology advanced by Mangold, but the ultimate outcome is the same. "This
>will
>
>bridge the graphical literacy gap," said Gourgey, "and make it fun."
>
>http://media.www.theticker.org/media/storage/paper909/news/2007/02/05/News/Tablet.Provides.Graphics.To.Visually.Impaired.Persons-2695641-page2.shtml?sourcedomain=www.theticker.org&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com
>
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