[ba-unrev-talk] Drawing system for the blind
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=174096756&m
=4700923005 (01)
"Using graphics programs may be a daunting task for many people, and for
the blind it is even tougher. While most graphics programs use a mouse or
stylus for input, it is difficult for the blind to draw when they have no
frame of reference to work with. Enter Hesham Kamel. Kamel is a blind
engineering student at U. California at Berkeley and after having a project
go past due because his illustrator was on vacation, he decided to develop
a graphics program for the blind. His program IC2D (Integrated
Communication 2 Draw) has allowed Kamel and others visually impaired draw
themselves instead of relying on others to produce their illustrations.
Taking advantage of the universal familiarity with the layout of a
telephone keypad, the program divides the screen into nine squares, each
labeled with the corresponding numbers "1" through "9." Moving from square
to square is just like dialing a telephone number. Each time a user enters
a square, he or she has the option of subdividing it into another
three-by-three grid, zooming in on increasingly finer details in the
drawing. The program is capable of repeating the progression 81 times for a
total of 729 possible squares." (02)
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XML Topic Maps: Creating and Using Topic Maps for the Web.
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-74960-2. (03)