Re: Around India with a Canute: Professor Solomon, Kumar, Guvindraj and the Vellore Blind School
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E M Rogers
Sep 22, 2017, 8:39:48 AM9/22/17
to Braillists Forum, BBT Reports
% Journal of WCMT sponsored India trip ; 9th entry \\
Around India with a Canute: \\
Professor Solomon, Kumar, Guvindraj and the Vellore Blind School
% Ed Rogers, Bristol Braille Technology CIC
% 20th of September, 2017 ; from Kanthari, Trivandrum
[N.B. This post takes me up to the half way point in the trip. I will be
heading back to the UK on Monday morning. Once home will post a few
pictures from the first half of the trip, then follow up with second
half of reports in October.]
On Saturday the 9th of September I arranged to meet Professor Solomon
and, separately Guvindraj, somewhere in Vellore. Happily after some
confusion we all ended up meeting in my hotel, along with a friend of
Solomon, Kumar. The primary purpose was to demonstrate the Canute and
get their opinions.
On Sunday the 10th we went together to the Vellore Blind School for
another demo to the students.
# Background
Solomon and I have been communicating every now and then by email for
many years, without every meeting. He was interested in the Canute. And
so it was natural to arrange to meet. Initially the plan was to meet in
Chennai, but this was bought forward (and West) to Vellore.
Many moons back I was in a chain of ideas for refreshable Braille
concepts. One of the others who had done some very interesting work was
Ted Moallem. Ted used to live in Vellore, but in his stead put me in
contact with a gentleman called Guvindraj, who was a leading figure in
an organisation called The Blind Lead. Will come back to this at the
end.
# Canute feedback
The focus of both meetings was getting opinions on the Canute.
The Braille dots were widely liked, with one person describing them as
'superb'. No complaints about sharpness.
The price (50k INR) was considered reasonable and comparable to an
iPhone.
We did not get a chance to go much deeper into the user interface;
except to note two flaws which the BBT team are already aware of;
sometimes crashes and requires reflashing, and gives off small electric
shocks.
- The former likely caused by being a recent version of the software
which we've not been able to test in the field much or at all before
taking it to India.
- The latter leak from the power adaptor I'm using, which a solution
has been developed for.
A fair number of people continue to 'find' the wrong arrow key for
selecting a line, i.e. the one above or below. We will need an embossed
line running from the arrow head to the first character (with one cell
gap, perhaps).
They would like to reduce the weight, obviously.
There was much comment about how far apart the lines are and how they
would like that reduced. Explaining that that's just how it is doesn;t
cut much ice. This is very seldom bought up and there's nothing we can
do but explain the reasons. The best explanation, however, if someone
is not interested in the technicalities, is simply to explain that a
majority are perfectly happy with line spacing and many even find it
helpful.
# Digital Braille files in India and how to get them
They are very keen on scanning and OCR being built into the Canute. This
would be no mean feat but cannot be dismissed out of hand. One of the
central planks of the Canute's design, focusing on existing BRFs, has
little value in India, where there is no ready supply of digital Braille
files.
Before distributing Braille devices into India the organisation will
have to think about the whole print-to-digital-Braille flow of
information into the device, without assuming that anything will be
pre-existing.
Modular Infotech (see earlier post) do this by recommending they
displays are used by institutions who hook them up in a 'Braille
library' to a computer that does conversion through their own software.
Others talk about hooking it up to their phones (although it should be
said that even more decry that as increasing the costs).
In these meetings they wanted OCR in the Canute. No easy solution, but
no point distributing digital Braille equipment unless have an
end-to-end solution.
# Future
We shall all keep in contact. Solomon was kind enough to set up a whole
series of meetings for me in Chennai (all now passed as I write).
The Braillists Foundation and The Blind Lead have many things in common,
so I shall explore these when home with Guvindraj and Ted.
# N.B.
I'm going to take a week's break from posting written reports as this
one takes us to half way, and there are many other things to do in
Kanthari and catch up on before coming home on the 25th.
⠠⠃⠗⠊⠌⠕⠇⠀⠠⠃⠗⠇⠀⠠⠞⠑⠡⠝⠕⠇⠕⠛⠽⠀⠠⠞⠑⠇⠀⠼⠚⠛⠊⠚⠓⠑⠋⠊⠃⠁⠙
| Bristol Braille Technology CIC | Tel: +447908 569 214 |
Around India with a Canute: \\
Professor Solomon, Kumar, Guvindraj and the Vellore Blind School
% Ed Rogers, Bristol Braille Technology CIC
% 20th of September, 2017 ; from Kanthari, Trivandrum
[N.B. This post takes me up to the half way point in the trip. I will be
heading back to the UK on Monday morning. Once home will post a few
pictures from the first half of the trip, then follow up with second
half of reports in October.]
On Saturday the 9th of September I arranged to meet Professor Solomon
and, separately Guvindraj, somewhere in Vellore. Happily after some
confusion we all ended up meeting in my hotel, along with a friend of
Solomon, Kumar. The primary purpose was to demonstrate the Canute and
get their opinions.
On Sunday the 10th we went together to the Vellore Blind School for
another demo to the students.
# Background
Solomon and I have been communicating every now and then by email for
many years, without every meeting. He was interested in the Canute. And
so it was natural to arrange to meet. Initially the plan was to meet in
Chennai, but this was bought forward (and West) to Vellore.
Many moons back I was in a chain of ideas for refreshable Braille
concepts. One of the others who had done some very interesting work was
Ted Moallem. Ted used to live in Vellore, but in his stead put me in
contact with a gentleman called Guvindraj, who was a leading figure in
an organisation called The Blind Lead. Will come back to this at the
end.
# Canute feedback
The focus of both meetings was getting opinions on the Canute.
The Braille dots were widely liked, with one person describing them as
'superb'. No complaints about sharpness.
The price (50k INR) was considered reasonable and comparable to an
iPhone.
We did not get a chance to go much deeper into the user interface;
except to note two flaws which the BBT team are already aware of;
sometimes crashes and requires reflashing, and gives off small electric
shocks.
- The former likely caused by being a recent version of the software
which we've not been able to test in the field much or at all before
taking it to India.
- The latter leak from the power adaptor I'm using, which a solution
has been developed for.
A fair number of people continue to 'find' the wrong arrow key for
selecting a line, i.e. the one above or below. We will need an embossed
line running from the arrow head to the first character (with one cell
gap, perhaps).
They would like to reduce the weight, obviously.
There was much comment about how far apart the lines are and how they
would like that reduced. Explaining that that's just how it is doesn;t
cut much ice. This is very seldom bought up and there's nothing we can
do but explain the reasons. The best explanation, however, if someone
is not interested in the technicalities, is simply to explain that a
majority are perfectly happy with line spacing and many even find it
helpful.
# Digital Braille files in India and how to get them
They are very keen on scanning and OCR being built into the Canute. This
would be no mean feat but cannot be dismissed out of hand. One of the
central planks of the Canute's design, focusing on existing BRFs, has
little value in India, where there is no ready supply of digital Braille
files.
Before distributing Braille devices into India the organisation will
have to think about the whole print-to-digital-Braille flow of
information into the device, without assuming that anything will be
pre-existing.
Modular Infotech (see earlier post) do this by recommending they
displays are used by institutions who hook them up in a 'Braille
library' to a computer that does conversion through their own software.
Others talk about hooking it up to their phones (although it should be
said that even more decry that as increasing the costs).
In these meetings they wanted OCR in the Canute. No easy solution, but
no point distributing digital Braille equipment unless have an
end-to-end solution.
# Future
We shall all keep in contact. Solomon was kind enough to set up a whole
series of meetings for me in Chennai (all now passed as I write).
The Braillists Foundation and The Blind Lead have many things in common,
so I shall explore these when home with Guvindraj and Ted.
# N.B.
I'm going to take a week's break from posting written reports as this
one takes us to half way, and there are many other things to do in
Kanthari and catch up on before coming home on the 25th.
⠠⠃⠗⠊⠌⠕⠇⠀⠠⠃⠗⠇⠀⠠⠞⠑⠡⠝⠕⠇⠕⠛⠽⠀⠠⠞⠑⠇⠀⠼⠚⠛⠊⠚⠓⠑⠋⠊⠃⠁⠙
| Bristol Braille Technology CIC | Tel: +447908 569 214 |
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