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AUTHOR: MAIL.BLINDL
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I would like to add some ideas about the Braille Movie:
The initial idea was to provide Braille in such a way that it feels
as similar as possible to Braille on paper or on an electronic
Braille line. So, there should be no vibration because usual Braille
dots do not vibrate. In fact, the prototype at CSUN showed some
vibration unintentionally. On one hand, this failure should be fixed.
On the other hand, some attention should be payed to the questions if
the perception of the characters could be supported by a small amount
of vibration, and if so, if this vibration should be vertical or
horizontal. With vertical vibration the height of the dots would be
varied; a mode not known from usual Braille. With horizontal
vibration the dots would be shifted to the side a little bit, and
that's the same what happens when the reader moves his or her finger
back and forth for a short distance. If vibration could be helpful
then the user should be able to select the vibrating or the
nonvibrating mode according to his or her preferences.
(Of course, the skin is more sensitive to vibration than to static
information but this does not necessarily mean that
vibrating characters are recognized easier.)
Jude's comparison between a narrow display of a calculator and the
Braille Movie is quite helpful but there is an important point:
Displays with fixed locations for each character or numeral match
Braille displays containing usual Braille cells. If the information
is shifted it must be shifted at least by the width of one character,
so the shifting is not smooth but a sequence of distinct jumps.
The Braille Movie is comparable to graphic displays having an
array of dots. Then each numeral is built up by a certain arrangement
of dots. In this case, lateral shifting can be accomplished by a
sequence of short jumps (from dot to dot) and can be perceived as a
smooth movement. Since the pins of the Braille Movie can be lifted in
a number of steps the match would be a graphic display able to show a
gray scale.
A Braille Movie on a tablet mouse could display a virtual full page
text screen. Probably, some characters other than Braille can be
read, too. There is the idea to use it for reading a mathematical
notation called Dots+ which includes some Greek characters, for
example. However, I expect dealing with more complex graphics using a
Braille movie to be rather difficult. So, there should be no
competition of the Braille Movie and full screen graphics displays.
Our development of an input/output tablet driven by an
electrorheological fluid is not affected by the Braille Movie
approach but is going on as planned. I will keep you informed as soon
as there are some "tactile results".
Joerg
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Dec 02 2012 - 01:30:03 PST