Interfacing for persons who are blind and physically handicapped

John P. Cookson; Lloyd Rasmussen

doi:10.1117/12.139253

20 January 1993 Interfacing for persons who are blind and physically handicapped

John P. Cookson, Lloyd Rasmussen

Proceedings Volume 1785, Enabling Technologies for High-Bandwidth Applications; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.139253
Event: Fibers '92, 1992, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

The Library of Congress's National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped serves a readership of about 750,000 patrons with `talking books' and magazines on specially formatted cassettes and flexible phonograph records. Looking toward the future, our technology assessment and research program has focused on digital systems as the most likely successor to today's methods. Digital technology offers unprecedented opportunities to explore new distribution methods such as central or regional archiving with network connectivity. It also allows for experiments in new patron interfacing using innovative strategies such as speech recognition with voice prompting. In this paper we present a brief description of the existing service, a proposed configuration for the next generation of talking book machines and a patron profile. We discuss the challenges and opportunities that would be presented by the experimental introduction of multimedia digital technology to our unique patron population. We solicit comments and recommendations from the research community.

Citation Download Citation

John P. Cookson and Lloyd Rasmussen "Interfacing for persons who are blind and physically handicapped", Proc. SPIE 1785, Enabling Technologies for High-Bandwidth Applications, (20 January 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.139253

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