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                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1053

                            Friday, July 01, 1994

Today's Topics:


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                             Re: Talkative Menus
                          Re: getting books on disk
                Re: BRAILLE OUTPUT DEVICES FOR PC COMPATIBLES
                              ASAP for Windows
                Re: BRAILLE OUTPUT DEVICES FOR PC COMPATIBLES
              Hardware/software solutions for visually impaired
                       Anatomy of a Music Video (LONG)
                Re: Info needed. Voice input for blind person


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Subject: Re: Talkative Menus
From: ebohlman@netcom.com (Eric Bohlman)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)

Jeff E. Janes (jejanes@mtu.edu) wrote:

: A complete menu would take an awfully long time to go through on tape.
: Some method of skimming using CD would be necessary, but I don't
: know how it would have to work.

Tone indexing would help, assuming the menu was organized into sections
consisting of similar dishes.  Of course, you'd need a tape player that
supported listening for index tones (i.e. that provided audio while
fast-forwarding or rewinding).  The tape players used for the talking
book programs can do this.





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Subject: Re: getting books on disk
From: ebohlman@netcom.com (Eric Bohlman)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)

Jeff E. Janes (jejanes@mtu.edu) wrote:
: I think publishers are already aware of this area, and are scared
: to death of it.  With the ease and extent of copyright infringement
: using computers, I can see why they would be anxious about selling
: disks with the text.  One set of disk could cost them thousands of
: book sales, and most of their fat profits.
: Alas, another roadblock on the information s---- h------ [explitives
: deleted]

The publishers are also likely to be under pressure from the authors and
their agents here; it's not purely the publishers' decision.  Encryption
with a hardware key would provide an acceptable technical solution; the
political problem would be getting everyone to standardize on a
particular set of hardware key devices so users wouldn't have to buy one
hardware key per book.





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Subject: Re: BRAILLE OUTPUT DEVICES FOR PC COMPATIBLES
From: ebohlman@netcom.com (Eric Bohlman)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)

Allan Adler (ara@zurich.ai.mit.edu) wrote:

: Why is it so expensive?

Because linear actuators small enough to drive Braille-cell pins are
expensive, and you need a lot of them (120 for a 20-cell display, 240 for
40 cells, 480 for 80 cells and 12,000 for an 80x25 display).





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Subject: ASAP for Windows
From: boggerl@occ.uky.edu (Rick Boggess)
Organization: The NDLC's Internet Gateway

Does anyone know the projected release date for the ASAP speech program
from Microtalk?  Additionally, could anyone discuss experiences with
screen access programs for speech with Windows?




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Subject: Re: BRAILLE OUTPUT DEVICES FOR PC COMPATIBLES
From: at109@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Peter Duchesne)
Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


My Public service union bought one last year (cost $5000 Canadian)
woof!!  Try service clubs   I don't know what Americans have but
Lions club up here is very helpful if you approach them.  Rotary
Club loves to help kids.  Failing that government grants.
Keep on fighting  (Expensive because they don't make many of them
-- Economies of scale, as my university professors used to say)
--
Pete Duchesne
at109




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Subject: Hardware/software solutions for visually impaired
From: jsjdb@acad1.alaska.edu (Jason D. Bourgoin)
Organization: University of Alaska Southeast

PLEASE NOTE:  If you would like to followup to this message, please do
so by sending me an e-mail, as I do not normally follow these newsgroups
as much as I would like to.  Thank you in advance!

As the subject line suggests, I'm currently looking for computer hardware
and software solutions for the visually impaired.  While I am not visually
impaired, our organization is making an effort at accomodating computer lab
users who are, so I have been given the task of locating additional info on
it.

The platform type (MSDOS/IBM, Apple Macintosh, VAX/VMS, Unix) isn't
terribly important currently, as our organization supports a wide range of
systems, and I am more looking for contacts at this point than specific
items.

If anyone has any information from personal experiences, or can direct me
in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Jason

--
Jason D. Bourgoin
jsjdb@acad1.alaska.edu
--




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Subject: Anatomy of a Music Video (LONG)
From: mgflax@panix.com (Marshall G. Flax)
Organization: Currently, _extremely_ disorganized

My wife has been blind since birth, and so she has never seen a music
video.  While descriptive video services can do an adequate job with most
TV and movies, music videos are far too complicated for a voice
description.  I therefore wrote this description for her of Madonna's "Like
a Prayer" video -- one of the best videos ever, yet typical of the genre.
I have alternated descriptions of the action (without indentation) with the
lyrics (indented and preceded by the word "LYRIC").  It is a strong work of
art, and plays dangerously with race and religion.  As with all true art,
reader discretion is advised...

==========

Police sirens in background.  Madonna in a dark dressinggown runs down a
sandy hill, past a makeshift fire burning in an empty gasoline barrel, and
down an incline towards the camera.  She falls forward onto her hands and
front, pauses momentarily, then looks forward past the camera into the
distance.  The back of a hand slams a solid door shut.   A cross burns in
the night.  Madonna on the sandy ground gathers herself together and
prepares to push herself off the ground.  Madonna pushes the solid wood
door shut and turning around towards the camera.

     LYRIC: "Life is a mystery"

Madonna looks past the camera and sees a gang of white men standing in the
street around a woman against the outside of a solid door, sees one man
punching another,

     LYRIC: "Everyone must stand alone"

then focuses on a nordic-looking man on the edge of the crowd.

     LYRIC: "I hear you call my name"

Madonna sees a whitewashed single-room church ahead of her on the beach,
pushes herself off the sandy ground as the camera focuses on the church
glowing through a window on the door.

     LYRIC: "And it feels like"

A bewildered black young man with nappy hair is led away by police from the
street outside the door

     LYRIC: "Home"

Madonna closes the door of the empty church behind her, the sky in the
background a very strong blue.  She walks forward in the church, and
towards a gated shrine on the side.  The camera rotates from the shrine of
black saint (who looks remarkably like the young man led away by the
police), past candles, and fixes on Madonna, transfixed, then jumps to
several crucifixes on the walls,

     LYRIC: "When you call my name"

several other saints, then the black saint's face,

     LYRIC: "It's like a little prayer"

back to Madonna thinking, then focuses on a bunch of roses held in the
black saint's hand as the hand slowly opens.

     LYRIC: "Down on my knees, I want to take you there."

Madonna watches as the saint's eyes, one then the other, begin to tear.

     LYRIC: "In the midnight hour I can feel your power"

Madonna approaches the iron gates in front of the saint.

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there"

Madonna grasps the iron bars and kneels before the gate.

     LYRIC: "I hear your voice, It's like an angel sighing; I have no
     choice, I hear your voice -- "

Madonna sings looking up towards the statue.

     LYRIC: "Feels like flying"

Madonna from behind, pressed against the gate

     LYRIC: "I close my eyes"

Madonna lies down on a wooden pew and closes her eyes

     LYRIC: "Oh God I think I'm falling"

Madonna floating/falling through billowy clouds

     LYRIC: "Out of the sky I close my eyes"

Madonna is caught by a smiling woman dresses as a gospel singer and they
embrace

     LYRIC: "Heaven help me."

Madonna is tossed back into the air by her.

     LYRIC: "When you call my name, it's like a little prayer"

Madonna kneels before the saint's feet and slowly kisses his toes

     LYRIC: "Down on my knees I want to take you there"

Madonna rises before the iron gates and opens them

     LYRIC: "In the midnight hour I can feel your power"

Madonna steps through the gates towards the saint and touches his face

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer"

The saint's hands fall open, dropping the roses

     LYRIC: "You know I'll take you there"

Madonna caresses the saint's face

     LYRIC: "Like a child you whisper softly to me"

The saint moves out of the shrine, faces Madonna, touches her shoulder and
whispers in her ear

     LYRIC: "You're in control, just like a child"

then kisses her forehead.

     LYRIC: "Now I'm dancing"

The saint walks out the door of the church into the bright blue sunset

     LYRIC: "It's like a dream, no end and no beginning"

Madonna slowly looks back around the church, sees an old dagger among the
dropped roses

     LYRIC: "You're here with me, it's like a dream"

Madonna picks it up, and closes her hand around the middle, is surprised by
pain and drops the blade.  She looks down and sees a trickle of blood in
the center of each of her palms

     LYRIC: "Let the choir sing"

Madonna sings to the camera, then looks to the front of the church

     LYRIC: "When you call my name it's like a little prayer, down on my
     knees I want to take you there"

The camera turns towards the front of the church where it finds a black
gospel choir singing

     LYRIC: "In the midnight hour"

Back in the dark street.  Madonna is closing the door behind her.

     LYRIC: "I can feel your power"

Madonna watches across the street as a woman is attacked by a group of four
white men from all sides

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer"

The woman is pinned against the wall

     LYRIC: "You know I'll take you there"

The woman is stabbed in the side

     LYRIC: "When you call"

The exuberant choir sings

     LYRIC: "My name"

Closeup on the woman's wounded side

     LYRIC: "It's like a little prayer"

Madonna observes the attack, then makes eye contact with the Nordic
ringleader

     LYRIC: "Down on my knees I want to take you there"

A young black man races down a stairs towards the attacked woman; then back
to the singing choir; then the attacking men flee

     LYRIC: "In the midnight hour I can feel your power"

The young black man rushes to hold the woman, as Madonna watches from
across the street.

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there"

Police lights focus on the man; back to the choir; the black man releases
the attacked woman as he's led away from the police; back to the singing
choir

     LYRIC: "Uh huh, uh huh"

The Nordic-looking ringleader nods approvingly he spies the innocent man;
Madonna sees him hiding in the distance; the man is led away

     LYRIC: "Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone, I hear you call
     my name, and it feels like home.   Just like a prayer, your voice can
     take me there, just a muse to me, you are a mystery.  Just like a
     dream, you are not what you seem, just like a prayer, no choice, your
     voice, can take me there."

Madonna sings and dances in the dark in front of a field of burning crosses

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, I'll take you there

Madonna dancing in front of the choir

     LYRIC: "It's like a dream to me"

Madonna dancing with a young black woman member in front of the choir

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, I'll take you there"

The saint/innocent is sad, with burning candles behind him; Madonna is
still exuberantly dancing

     LYRIC: "I'll take you there"

The black woman sings to Madonna

     LYRIC: "It's like a dream to me"

Madonna lying on the pew, turning

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, I'll take you there"

The black woman sings exultantly

     LYRIC: "It's like a dream to me"

Dancing with Madonna, the woman presses her hand on Madonna's forehead.
Madonna sinks to her knees, still dancing

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, I'll take you there"

Interspersed images of the singing woman and the black saint leaning onto
Madonna on the pew, embracing her

     LYRIC: "It's like a dream to me"

They kiss; the burning cross; the choir; the burning crosses; Madonna
singing in front of the crosses; blood trickling out the eye of the statue
of a saint; the innocent in front of the police car;

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, your voice can take me there.  Just like a
     muse to me, you are a mystery.  Just like a dream, you are not what
     you seem.  Just like a prayer, no choice, your voice, can take me
     there."

Madonna dancing in front of the choir;

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer"

The saint is back on the side of the church, turning back into a statue

     LYRIC: "Your voice can take me there"

The choir singing; the statue's hands tighten around the bunch of roses

     LYRIC: "Just like a muse to me, you are a mystery"

The gates before the statue shut

     LYRIC: "Just like a dream you are not what you seem"

Madonna wakes on the pew, gets up, and approaches the singing choir

     LYRIC: "Just like a prayer, no choice, your voice can take me there"

The choir sings and dances down the aisle; the saint is a statue once more

     LYRIC: "Your voice can take me there"

Madonna moves towards the side of the church; the gates before the statue
become the cell bars on the side of the police station as Madonna speaks to
the officer and then moves towards the cell as the officer unlocks it.  The
curtain comes down on the church/police station; madonna singing in front
of the crosses; the choir bows; Madonna bows with the innocent/saint; The
screen reads: THE END
--
[Marshall G. Flax -- 718-256-3482 -- 8776 16th Ave #2, Brooklyn, NY 11214-5802]




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Subject: Re: Info needed. Voice input for blind person
From: blackburn860@delphi.com (Kathy Blackburn)
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)

The only system I've ever heard of is something called DragonDictate from
Dragon Systems.  It's fairly expensive and only solves half the problem:
input.  More importantly, a voice synthesizer and screen reading software
are necessary for accessing the information on the computer screen.

I suggest that your inquirer contact the library in your state that provides
talking book service.  They will have a great deal of reference information
on this kind of assistive technology.

Sincerely,
Kathy Blackburn
Austin, TX
Internet: Blackburn860@delphi.com




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                 End of Issue # 1053 of the Blind News Digest

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