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(a)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>