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Jim Halliday
President, HumanWare, Inc.
6245 King Road
Loomis, CA 95650
Phone: 800-722-3393 x 412
Fax: 916-652-7296
Email: halliday@humanware.com
Three years ago, I published a paper entitled, Braille vs.
Speech: Making Sense of the Debate. (A copy is still
available in the Forum section of HumanWare’s website at
www.humanware.com). In this paper I discussed the strengths and
weaknesses of various forms of speech and Braille and stressed
the importance of the brain pathways as they relate to learning
through these very different media. The ultimate conclusion of
the paper stressed not only the validity of using multiple forms
of media (speech, Braille, and tactile graphics), but also the
need to combine these various media. The paper also projected
into the future the kinds of technology needed to achieve greater
success. Moore’s Law has proven that technology doubles in
its speed of processing and its sheer capacity every eighteen
months. This means that since writing the 1998 paper, technology
has made monumental leaps into new realms. Let’s see how we
are doing.
Speech technology has moved from hardware-based solutions to
software-based solutions. Braille has moved from "dumb" terminals
that are totally dependent on screen reading software to
terminals with the intelligence to add power and simplicity to
any screen reader. Just three years ago, the technological
limitations of both speech and Braille devices, especially
portable devices, trapped people who were blind in "blindness"
environments or forced them into full-blown computers with
complicated screen readers just to perform simple but necessary
functions like email.
New technologies are enhancing a blind person’s ability to
use their preferred media for reading and writing without being
confined to the world of blindness. The advantage of having
mainstream applications presented in an environment that is
intuitive and efficient has been the domain of those who have
sight. In just three years, new technology has advanced to the
point where blind people can have the same advantages of
environment and yet still produce results that are compatible and
in many cases indistinguishable from those produced by their
sighted counterparts.
This paper is about these new technologies and how they can be
used to increase productivity, improve competitive performance,
and enhance the likelihood of success for people who are blind.
My 1998 paper compares Braille and speech and explains their
strengths and weaknesses while suggesting how they are best
applied. The fundamental philosophies expressed in that paper
remain valid today, but the technology has changed and a new
generation of products means that the future is really starting
today.
"Sight is an amazing sense that instantly and simultaneously
detects broad spatial characteristics, intricate patterns,
complex symbols, multiple color combinations, juxtaposed data
points, spatial relationships, and even subtle variations that
add depth of meaning to an image." JCH 1998
In the early 80s when Apple Computers introduced the Macintosh,
many people scoffed at the cutesy icons that were designed to
make using the computer more intuitive and friendly. These
skeptics looked down on this graphical user interface as
something no "real" computer user would ever take seriously.
Today 95% of the desktop computers in the world use a very
similar graphical user interface called Windows. Why? Most people
don’t really care about the mechanics of a device. They
simply want to put the device to use to generate a result in the
easiest, most efficient, most effective way possible. The
graphical user interface was just such a solution for people with
sight.
Although a user interface and a computer operating system are two
different things, Microsoft bound them inextricably into one when
they created Windows. As a result, people who are blind are
forced to navigate through a visual obstacle course just to
access the Windows operating system and the applications that run
under it. To accomplish this wonder, they must use a piece of
software called a screen reader. Unfortunately, although a screen
reader does provide access to Windows and its applications, that
access is not the same fast, friendly and intuitive interface
enjoyed by sighted people. We talk a lot about equal access in
our industry, but the fact it, ACCESS IS NOT EQUAL UNLESS THE
ENVIRONMENT IS EQUAL. A visual environment is by definition NOT
equally accessible to someone who is blind.
The goal of screen readers has been to provide access to a
graphical user interface. However, the goal of a computer user is
to control specific applications (word processor, email program,
address list manager, scheduler, etc.) in order to produce a
specific result. Unfortunately, the more a user is forced to deal
with access technology before he or she can focus on the desired
applications, the less enjoyable, efficient and competitive that
process becomes. We will talk more about screen readers later in
this paper, but for now let’s be clear that as important as
screen readers are to the blindness community, they add an extra
level of complexity that sighted people do not confront when
accessing computers.
One way of getting around this extra step is to create a computer
with a closed environment. Traditional notetakers fit into this
category. They have their own user interface that is more or less
intuitive for speech or Braille users. They also have a series of
proprietary applications, with varying degrees of capability,
that are built on an operating system that will process the data
and produce a result. Unfortunately, these traditional notetakers
have lacked the power of true applications and they have not been
built on a modern operating system that is compatible with
mainstream technology. IF THE RESULTS ONE PRODUCES ARE NOT
COMPATIBLE WITH OR INDESTINGUISHABLE FROM THE RESULTS PRODUCED ON
MAINSTREAM TECHNOLOGY, THEN THE USER IS AT A HUGE DISADVANTAGE
AND MUCH LESS LIKELY TO COMPETE EQUALLY IN A SIGHTED WORLD.
Truly effective computer technology must possess three key
elements: 1) An intuitive, fast and friendly user interface
(environment) that gives people who are blind direct access to
applications. 2) A suite of powerful applications that all "feel"
the same even though they are used for totally different
purposes. 3) An operating system that allows the final results
produced by those applications to be compatible with mainstream
technology. Such a device not only offers equal access, because
it has an equally intuitive environment, but it provides equal
results because those results are indistinguishable from those
produced on mainstream computers.
Although I’ve been promoting the creation of such a device
for years, the only products that currently begin to approach
this lofty goal are BrailleNotes and VoiceNotes. All models of
these products have intuitive user interfaces designed
specifically for auditory or Braille users. All models also have
a full suite of applications that include a word processor, a
standard POP3 email program, an address list manager that is
actually relational database, a true scheduling program, a book
reading program, and a scientific calculator. All models are
built on a Windows CE operating system, which allows the user to
produce results that are compatible with those produced from
standard Windows applications. For example, a Grade II document
produced on a BrailleNote can be saved as a Microsoft Word file,
which instantly back translates the file into standard print text
and saves it in a format that is literally a Word file, readable
on any standard PC running Word. Likewise, a file originally
produced on a standard PC in Word can be opened on the
BrailleNote and read in its original format or instantly
converted into a Grade II Braille file. At the writing of this
paper, Word is the only instantly compatible application in these
products, but because BrailleNotes and VoiceNotes are built on a
Windows CE platform, it is just a matter of time before other
standard applications are likely to be equally compatible.
Although products like the BrailleNote or VoiceNote effectively
address the equality issues relating to standard computing, they
contain only a limited number of applications. Many sighted
people carry Palm Pilots or Pocket PCs, but these people also
have PCs that perform more powerful or esoteric functions. For
those jobs that require more than just standard applications,
screen readers again become the only way of access for someone
who is blind.
There are a variety of screen readers on the market. Some are
powerful, yet complicated. Others are more straightforward, but
also more limited. Some are configurable, yet still approachable.
And still others offer the ability to write special scripts that
can be extremely time consuming and costly to produce, but which
streamline access once those scripts have been written. Still,
many applications don’t require complicated scripts. In our
office, we recently paid nearly $4,000 to have someone write
special scripts for a screen reader to access our in-house
database. To our regret, we later tried a less expensive screen
reader that worked right out of the box without any need for
scripting whatsoever.
Most screen readers in the US have been written from an auditory
perspective with Braille as an afterthought. As a result, the
Braille access is often limited or it contains access elements
that are less intuitive or friendly for a Braille user.
Traditionally, Braille displays have been totally dependent on
screen readers to give them access to a computer. The strengths
and weaknesses of the screen reader are reflected onto the
Braille display. As a result, the screen reader with the best
Internet access might have the worst Braille access or the one
with the best Braille access might be less configurable. As a
result, users have been forced to either use multiple screen
readers or to settle for the one with the least weaknesses for
his or her access purposes. One of the two key issues in using
Braille displays is that a Braille user wants great Braille
access, but doesn’t want to give up the ability to
configure his or her screen reader (preferable without paying
someone big bucks to do it). The second key issue is that anyone
who uses a Braille display wants to be able to control Windows
right from the display rather than constantly returning to the
computer’s keyboard to enter commands, which takes valuable
time and increases fatigue. Most Braille displays have
exacerbated this problem because their command-keys have no
relationship to Windows, which uses optional mnemonic keyboard
commands to replace mouse moves and clicks. For example, ALT F
opens the drop-down menu in a Windows application. CTRL S saves a
file. CRTL P prints the file. X exits or closes the application.
Windows makes all of these commands easy and fast, but Braille
displays have had limited or no ability to control Windows
directly.
In the future, Braille displays will need to rise above the
limitations of a screen reader. Braille displays will come with
their own software, which will enhance the performance of any
screen reader. This software will limit the need to purchase
screen readers that require complicated and costly configurations
because the Braille display’s software will already contain
easily programmable yet extremely powerful macro capabilities.
New-generation Braille displays will also have command-keys
configured in such as way as to take advantage of the mnemonics
that are already built into Windows.
At this writing, there is only one of these new-generation
Braille displays on the market. Braille Voyager comes with its
own software, called Tieman Express, which is a powerful macro
program and you don’t need to be a programmer to configure
it. It also has command-keys configured like 8 Braille writing
keys. Dots (keys) 7 and 8 are CTRL and ALT keys, so all Windows
commands are easily and intuitively controlled right from the
Braille display.
As we look into the future, we can predict that breakthrough
products like BrailleNote, VoiceNote and Braille Voyager will
fundamentally change the way people who are blind think and
function. These products will evolve further and other developers
will copy these fundamental ideas and add their own ideas to
create new variations. People who are sight and people who are
blind will all download electronic books from Barnes and Noble or
some other on-line bookstore and be able to read those books in
print, large print, speech, or Braille. All they will need is the
appropriate reading device. I am convinced that mainstream
technology will move toward personal wireless controllers for
everything from microwaves to automated teller machines to coke
machines. As this happens, previously inaccessible machines and
technology will suddenly become accessible through both speech
and Braille devices that ride this same wave. As I noted earlier,
the future starts today as the first signs of these new
technologies enter our market. The infrared port on a BrailleNote
can already print to a printer, or transfer files to a computer,
or display what’s on the Braille display in fully
back-translated text on a computer’s monitor without even
connecting any wires. As fully wireless communications becomes
more widely available, devices like the VoiceNote will not only
function as one’s personal organizer, but it will become a
controller to the mainstream world.
These advances seem mind-boggling today, but in five years they
will be commonplace. And the greatest thing about all of this
technological change is that people who are blind will have
better access than ever before. They will simply carry a
different controller from the ones carries by sighted people.
Everyone will have a unique user interface tailored to his or her
unique needs. The communications will be universal, so that all
controllers will be compatible with the devices that we will all
be controlling. And because each person will have a friendly
environment controlling universally compatible technology, the
results will be far more equal for everyone.
Jim Halliday has been intimately involved with a number of
major developers and manufactures of braille and speech
technology since the mid-1970s. He is currently president of
HumanWare, Inc. in Loomis, CA. E-mail: halliday@humanware.com
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