[nfbwatlk] Talking Signs in Seattle

Wed Sep 6 15:48:01 CDT 2006

Good lord.  Eue.

Kaye
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Talking Signs in Seattle

> The problem I see with *any* talking sign technology is that it is only
> as good as those who maintain it. This is true whether the technology is
> infrared (Sound Transit) or RF tagging (Harry Hart). It seems to me that
> people are far more likely to maintain printed signage than they are
> audible signage -- if only because they read print. Mr. Hart's
> technology is potentially less of a problem to maintain but even with
> it, someone is going to have to maintain the messages. And I don't know
> about you but I don't *want* to here advertisements for the stores I am
> passing. Perhaps it's a guy thing but I want to buy X and nothing else
> and I want no distractions. (grin)
>
> And all of this has the fundamental drawback that one needs to know the
> signage is there in order to use it. Yes, I know; theoretically, one is
> expected to wave the receiver about to determine if anything useful is
> blatting at him/her. But that's theory. In practice, with cane or dog,
> one only has one hand left and one is often carrying something. And
> sound is serial; information comes in bit by bit by bit. With sight, one
> can take in several things at once. So visual signage is far easier to
> deal with than is audible signage or Braille signage. That's why ADA's
> guidelines on signage are so relaxed; one needs to know where the
> signage is in order to use it, negating its fundamental purpose.
>
> speaking of waving things about:
>
> A man from Katmandu
> Found a rather large mouse in his stew.
> Said the waiter: "Don't shout
> And wave it about
> Or the rest will be wanting one, too!"
>
> Mike Freeman
>
> On Wed, 6 Sep 2006, marty wrote:
>
>> Hay guys,
>>   You know I don't know about all the rest of you folks but I grew up on
>> star treck, and this stuff is straight out of the series. Why not have a
>> small receiver that is placed in the ear, that will pick up the signal 
>> from
>> said signs, and go from there. If it can help some folks, why have a fit
>> about it? No admitteddely, this technology will not be available every
>> where, yet if it could be of some assistance, then why  not? but the 
>> system
>> that Mr. Heart has out is a more user friendly system, just in the size 
>> of
>> the receiver,  its about the size of a lighter, and with some of this 
>> blue
>> tooth technology, things will be useable without the entire world knowing
>> anything about what help it gives, to anyone, not just the blind, and 
>> that
>> was what it was designed for, and supported by the local store owners who
>> advirtize there.Folks lets face it, these people are working on 
>> improveing
>> their carma, so they are going to do what they think will help, its up to 
>> us
>> to choose what we are going to do whith it. No it will never replace the
>> common sence of just asking, not to mention, basic good mobility skills,
>> which are good anywhere.Its education and choice, and what , and how its
>> used.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jim Portillo" s<jp100 at earthlink.net>
>> To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 10:00 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Talking Signs in Seattle
>>
>>
>>> Oh, are you talking about Harry Hart?
>>>> From what I understand, he's gotten some money for that, but I'm not 
>>>> sure
>>> how much or for how many.
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
>>> To: "NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 9:33 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Talking Signs in Seattle
>>>
>>>
>>>> Actually, there is a fellow working on such a system in Seattle using
>>>> the same technology as the RF ID tags used on merchandise. Don't know
>>>> how far he's gotten, though. Although I'm not enamered of talking 
>>>> signs,
>>>> the idea had some traction as regular merchants could use the system as
>>>> you describe and text could be scrolled onto the little handheld
>>>> receivers. Speech synthesis would be used for the blind. My chief
>>>> concern there was maintainability of the system; someone would always
>>>> have to update it.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, 1 Sep 2006, Carl Jarvis wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Mike,
>>>>> Did you ever wander around Woodland Park back in the days when you 
>>>>> could
>>>>> buy
>>>>> an Elephant Key and put it into the box positioned by each exhibit? 
>>>>> The
>>>>> box
>>>>> would begin to tell you everything you never wanted to know about what
>>>>> was
>>>>> supposed to be in there.  Of course they might have moved the original
>>>>> occupant and put something else in, or the box refused to work at all.
>>>>> I
>>>>> suspect that those little problems were what finally did the project 
>>>>> in.
>>>>> Still, I have a point here, it seems to me that talking signs could 
>>>>> have
>>>>> a
>>>>> very broad appeal.  Think of old uncle Fuddy Duddy arriving in our 
>>>>> Fair
>>>>> City.  As he rolls off the box car, he can trot into town and rent a
>>>>> unit
>>>>> for the day.  As he pan handles his way up one street and down another
>>>>> he
>>>>> will be aware of all of the local attractions.
>>>>> But really, such a system could be underwritten by the local 
>>>>> merchants.
>>>>> Not
>>>>> that they would want to have old uncle Duddy dropping in, but it would
>>>>> be
>>>>> a
>>>>> way of advertising under the guise of providing a public service.  And
>>>>> at
>>>>> it's finest, such a system might even include a little screen so 
>>>>> sighted
>>>>> folks could stand mesmerized by the sight of all the local shops and
>>>>> their
>>>>> mounds of merchandise, along with a road map taking them right up to 
>>>>> the
>>>>> front door.  Eventually the blind might have to fight just to have 
>>>>> such
>>>>> a
>>>>> system audio described.
>>>>> Carl Jarvis
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk
>>>>>
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