Friends,
warning: longish email
I share my thoughts-in-context with all of you, partly at the risk of making it non-relevant to the gnu/linux/tech kind of focus of this forum. If so, please excuse my articulation and/or intrusion.
Thanks to Krishnakant, jtd and Dinesh, besides many others, who have/are contributing to this thread.
I have been working with electronics and IT for over two decades and feel that jtd's comments reflect a great deal of practicality and real-life experience. Thanks jtd for your time and mindshare on this and to this forum :-)
More of my thoughts in context...
Perhaps the focus may be (partly) redefined if were to reword "digital assistance" in Dinesh's well summarized metrics, to "viable assistance",
"digital" should be a subset of "viable" if/when/where found relevant and useful. Real-life is analogue (not digital ;-)
Can we request or work towards getting local authorities and/or sponsors to install hand/guide rails (say some 4 feet tall and 6 feet long) say within the first 18 feet of each street of each intersection ? (numbers are indicative and can be redefined to some agreed and conformable standard).
These rails would typically located at the edge of the kerb/footpath. No rocket science here... it is common to see such railings at various intersections and places, installed at various times, by various local authorities, mostly with the intention of attempting to guide pedestrian traffic.
Now to make the difference and add value :
1. The guide rail size/proportions must be standardized, consistent or predictable (say within one or two flavours of sizes).
2. These guide rails to be embossed with markings (braille or otherwise recongisable by the visually impaired).
3. The embossing may be on the under-side of the rail or upper side or whatever outdoor-egronomics for such a purpose recommend.
4. The exact embossing patterns/style should be defined and guided by recognised/specialist agencies who work in the domains for the visually impaired.
5. For those who are not visually impaired, these "embossed guidance" rails are colour coded/painted with the colour scheme which is akin to the classic red-white-blind-person-stick scheme. This will easily convey to the sighted persons that these guide rails serve a special/additional purpose for the visually impaired.
6. If this kind of deployment can happen with some volumes that make a difference to society, then at this stage, we have in effect something that already delivers some greater value and conforms to the KISS principle....
* low-tech * little or no maintenance, * easily installed * represents incremental costs over what local authorities already (are supposed to) do in (m)any case.
7. If we are unable to make this much happen, more technology and/or non-KISS schemes will find it even more difficult to be widely adopted and to become viable and succeed.
8. When the creation (or upgradation of existing) guide rails happen, figure how to drive towards ensuring that those making these also make provisions for electric/energy supply and a small weather proof contaner (like at traffic signals but much smaller I hope)
9. Stage one gadget, FM broadcast device, fixed frequency, emits predetermined beep/pattern signal to only indicate presence of sign-post-guide-rail for a short radius of say 10-20 feet.
10. Alternate/stage two gadget, FM broadcast device, fixed frequency, emits pre-recorded voice guidance signal, indicates presence of sign-post-guide-rail, and tells you few more words about the area...
8. Based off this infrastructure, redploy whatever guidance systems that are catalysed partly by all the discussions that have happened in this context on this forum, further tempered by whatever resources and political-will and technology can/will permit.
9. Caveat 1: I do not know if any such schemes already exist or are in use, (The Lord has been kind to me in that I do not have any known physical impairment, and thus have not studied or dwelled much on these kind of needs or domains).
11. Caveat 2: If this embossed guide rail (iron tubes and cement masonry) solution is the way to take off, probably this conversation may not have a place on this forum,
Thanks for your time. vkb
On 03/9/06, dineshah@gmail.com wrote: <snip> The project is to provide digital assistance to visually disabled person digital locational and guidance system.
The system should be simple to implement. it should be low cost. is simple to use. should be maintenance free should be expandable? should be commercially viable? </snip>