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Drawing For The Blind
idletask writes: "Hesham Kamel, a student from University of Berkeley who lost his vision 17 years ago due to a surgeon error, imagined and implemented IC2D (Integrated Communication 2 Draw), a program allowing visually impaired people in general to create computer graphics. The interface to the program is a mere telephone keypad, and it uses voice synthesis to communicate with the user. In fact, this program reveals, through its testers, that yes, blind people know how to draw, and they're as good at it as other people. More information on this program can be found here (1) and here (2). Story found on ArsTechnica."
blind people know how to draw, and they're as good at it as other people.
Well, if the poster had seen any of my "artwork", he'd know that that isn't saying very much.
That's really neat and all, and it's a good idea, and a lot of people are probably going to try it out, but..... If they're "visually impaired", how are they going to enjoy their own work?
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
You should have waited for drdink to come back from vacation to post that story.
Don't mod me, bro'!!!!
Now I can play pictionary with blind people WITHOUT feeling like I have an unfair advatange!
Fault loves the past, worry loves the future, but content enjoys the present.
I think this is a wonderfull thing. We could get some very good works that would otherwize not existed.
Very similar to software that lets blind people use computers for general use.
It's all about using technology to let everyone have access, and become productive members of society.
http://www.xpurple.com
some kind of MUD game for the blind?
great idea anyway...
'...blind people know how to draw, and they're as good at it as other people'
Unfortunately, no, blind people are not as good at drawing as other people. If they were, then being blind wouldn't be such a problem would it?
Making such a claim doesn't help anyone.
I'm sure the tool is useful and no doubt some blind people have proved very adept at using it. I dare say some blind people can produce fairly impressive results ( considering that they are blind ) without the aid of the tool, but blind people cannot draw as well as the rest of us, otherwise there would have been a good many more 'blind' artists... though I confess that Jackson Pollock might have been blind for all I know.
...is that the article says the system uses a telephone keypad for selecting where you want to put the cursor. Perhaps it's just a metaphor to make it easier to understand, but the keypad on a phone is upside down compared to the number pad on a computer keyboard. It would be rather confusing if the instructions said "press 1 for the top left corner," and you had to press the key that you were used to thinking of as "7". If this is a problem, I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to add an option to invert the pad - rather like GUIs will let you use a mouse left-handed or right-handed.
That apart, this sounds like a very cool idea. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that a blind person can draw if you give them the right tools. The main skill in drawing is observing things accurately - even if you draw from imagination, you're often remembering details of things you've seen. If you can't see your surroundings, then moving around without bumping into things or injuring yourself requires you to build an accurate mental model of the environment in 3 dimensions - observe it, in other words. The fact that collecting the information to build this model requires you to use senses other than sight is what project managers would call an "implementation detail." ;-)
Just another wannabe fantasy novelist...
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
This story reminded me of this Star Trek episode where Riker says:
"A blind man teaching an android to paint? That's gotta be worth something to someone."
True warriors use the Klingon Google
I wonder about people who have ALWAYS been blind. I am not really surprised at all that someone who became blind at some point in life after seeing can draw.
I am browing /. and JavaScrip pop-up windows start coming up and call me a homosexual and the articles redirect themselves to goatse site ? Somebody pw33ned /. ?
Don't see the canvas...BE the canvas.
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
Amen brother.
"Kamel, 40, who lost his vision 17 years ago through a surgeon's error." Damn, I'd be pissed! I hope he got a nice settlement out of that one.
can you see me now? good!!
--fetch daddy's blue fright wig, i must be handsome when i release my rage
"blind people know how to draw, and they're as good at it as other people."
Did the other people have their eyes closed?
She will be able to write complete arrangements and do sequencing and other stuff without her sight. I think thats pretty rad!
A deaf man composed some of the greatest music the world has ever heard. When will a blind man come along that will draw the greatest paintings? Mad Hatter
Wasn't Ludwig hearing impaired?
People who are born blind don't know how to draw. People who are born sighted do. Not all blind people can draw. Clear?
I guess this was how the Pontiac Aztek was designed...
Ok, I'll ask it...what the hell is the point? They'll never see anything they draw.
The comments about a certain deaf composer (Beethoven I assume) ignore the fact that he only lost (gradually) his hearing at the very end of his life. He had a sense of music based on hearing long before that and he could still analyze music via studying notation.
It reminds me of how the AMC built a handicapped accessible mountain hut to satisfy the mindless PC police. A bunch of heavily assisted people in modified wheelchairs managed to slog their way up to it the first month it was open just to make a point and it hasn't seen a single person in a wheelchair since then. This isn't surprising since it is on a very rugged trail not a sidewalk!
Next thing you know they'll be demanding a ramp to the top of Devil's Tower because it isn't accessible Federal property.
I can only imagine the kind of stuff a blind person would draw. Probably the kind of things that would make a powerful impression on anyone.
Honestly, I'd like to see a good blind artist become famous, it would be neat to see what people think.
It would be true art (and not in the Santa Fe sense, where you could barf on a canvas and sell it for $2700)
Linux is dead.
LU
After looking at some of Mr. Kamel's works I realised, according to the counter, that I was the 1st person to visit the page. This is after 47 comments. For shame.
Now on to my thought, Mr. Kamel is not tone deaf and there is the problem with repositioning the mouse to some point on the canvas. Is there any reason there could not be some sort of tonal feedback from the canvas to indicate where the mouse is positioned? I don't have time to invent it but the technology exists. Some of you folks have time to do it. We're talking sensors the size of a pixel and a modified mouse.
Do you have any Screenshots of this application ?
...
oh, wait
One could also use WordsEye and maybe add a speech frontend.
Marklar: marklar
Hey, the blind aren't that bad at "visualizing" and drawing, but web designers they are not. Red on green? Ug. :)
-
ping -f 255.255.255.255 # if only
Re, If they're "visually impaired", how are they going to enjoy their own work?
Drawings aren't all just to look at.
Suppose you're visually impaired or even completely blind. You could use this tool for drawing architectural plans, circuit diagrams, garden layouts, org charts--anything you want.
Unfortunately the system doesn't appear to be able to tell the operator that red links on green background are very difficult to read!
"The interface to the program is a mere telephone keypad, and it uses voice synthesis to communicate with the user. In fact, this program reveals, through its testers, that yes, blind people know how to draw, and they're as good at it as other people."
As good as other blind people, or perhaps 5 year olds. No offense to them, only to the idiotic comparison.
Dirk
It could just as easily be argued that drawing is simply the process of conveying an idea from their mind's perception of it to an external manifestation. The fact that it requires a visual component is more of an afterthought. If I place an object in a black bag and have someone place their hand inside, feel the object, and then draw a picture of it (either by hand or some other means) with their eyes closed, the individual should still have an understanding of what the object is. I am left wondering how many of the people posting here that have commented on what a blind person can or can not do have actually seen, spoken to, or worked with a visually impaired or totally blind person. Judging by most of the comments here I would say not too many. A number of years ago a friend of mine (yes, who was blind) made a comment to me. He said "I am blind, not stupid." :)
"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative." -- Woody Allen
I'm beginning to think that the Bakers are the only true innovators in natural language processing.
It seems it could all be done in software.
FRA: STFU GTFO
berkeley.edu = Univerity of California at Berkeley not University of Berkeley.
This reminds me of a company, Zform, that is starting up interactive games for the blind. I wonder how much longer it will be before the blind can get addicted to EverQuest like the seeing. ;-)
don't you think it's kinda wierd that this guy's site uses colors that aren't suitable for reading by colorblind people?
The discovery that blind people can draw (and use techniques like obscuring and perspective) wasn't discovered here. I'd rather give credit to John M. Kennedy at the University of Toronto, a Cognitive Psychology prof who's been working with blind children for years.
He's published at least one book, "Drawing and the Blind" (Yale Press, 1993), and there's a course at Scarbourough College on the subject: PSYCH54S. The link will take you to the course notes, which includes excerpts from his book.