The Centre for Deaf Studies and the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Bristol, thanks to funding from the Leverhulme Trust and an industrial liaison with IBM UK, have come up with a system to provide deaf people with access to live daily information. The only other such system in existence in the UK is believed to be the computer-based reporting system, Palatine, at the House of Commons, which retails for UKP5,000, requires highly trained and expensive operators, is written in phonetics and is consequently not very accessible to the average deaf person. The Centre for Deaf Studies decided that what was needed was a system to communicate live information that is inexpensive, portable, simple to operate, uses standard English, would not display text with words crossed out or with backtracking and would have a user screen separate from the operator’s screen. These specifications were given to Neil Davies in the University’s Computer Sciences Department, who developed the Hi Linc transcription program from them. The program runs on any personal computer that has the MS-DOS BIOS with 384Kb of memory and a floppy disk drive. Put in the jokes It is written in Borland International’s Turbo Prolog, enabling features such as windows and pop-up menus to be used, along with abbreviation expansion, speaker annotation and input from prepared text. In this way the operator who is typing the information can keep up speed by typing abbreviations which automatically appear in full on the user’s screen, can put in the jokes and asides that speakers add to prepared speeches, as well as indicate who is speaking. Furthermore, as the user’s screen is separate from that of the operator, typing errors can be corrected immediately and need never reach the user’s screen. The user’s display is stable, so there is no problem with scrolling or lines jumping up, as the text finishes at the bottom of the screen and starts again at the top, rather like turning a page. Everything on screen is stored on memory and can be printed out. The system is available in three configurations using the RS232 serial port for connection. In conferences, the user’s computer can be linked to, for example, a BBC micro to give the best display and typing conditions, while the most flexible set-up is probably where two personal computers are linked together in, say, a classroom; whereas the most portable and inexpensive configuration requires the user’s computer and a viewdata adaptor which can also be used in the home for the subtitling of television programmes.
The text adaptor, which is at present a prototype, was designed by Simon Hetzel at the University’s Computer Sciences Department and is based around a Z80 microprocessor with a Teletext encoder chip which enables the text to be placed anywhere on the TV screen, as the genlock facility allows video recordings to be mixed with text from the personal computer. The package, comprising the software and the black box, will retail for less than UKP500, and is initially available only from the Centre for Deaf Studies at Bristol University. IBM was curiously quiet about its involvement in the whole project, but it transpires that it gave the equipment to enable the system to be placed at six different sites, as well as seconding a co-ordinator to the University. The packages will be marketed with minimal profit margins, and the profits will go back to the Leverhulme Trust. If, however, demand for Hi-Linc takes off, then it seems likely that it will be distributed via the IBM dealer network. IBM was less shy about the 40% discounts for the disabled that it is offering on its Personal Computers and PS/2s. It was also pleased to be able to promote its new support centre for people with disabilites based at IBM UK’s Warwick location, which will become fully operational this summer. Like its US counterpart in Atlanta, the UK centre offers a toll-free telephone line to give advice on computer aids for the disabled, it will have a demonstration centre to show visitors how information technology can be used to broa
den opportunities for the disabled in the business world, and it will liaise with governmental and voluntary bodies. IBM UK itself, out of a total workforce of around 18,000, currently employs approximately 100 people who are registered disabled. Clearly there is scope for improvement here, and Mr Dobrzynski, who is heading the Support Centre at Warwick, said IBM would seriously consider the implementation of Hi-Linc within the company. All well and good, but what did the deaf people present actually think of the system? They thought it was generally beneficial, but two things bothered them. Adult reading ability Firstly, it would only be of benefit to the fraction of deaf people who had a normal adult reading ability; and, secondly, how would they afford IBM’s PS/2 portable (even with a 40% discount), on which it was being promoted? This is a good point, especially as IBM has recently launched two proprietary products for the disabled, both of which run on PS/2s. These are the PS/2 Speech Viewer and the PS/2 Screen Reader. The former is an educational tool for speech therapists, which converts speech acoustics into interactive video displays thus enabling people with a speech disorder, or whose hearing is impaired, to see a dynamic visual representation of their speech on a computer screen. The latter product enables the blind and visually impaired become computer users through voice communication from the computer. The blind user hears the words on a computer display, listening to the same words that a sighted user would see. One can only assume that IBM is banking on the main market for these products coming from institutions and organisations rather than from the private, disabled individual. It does seem a shame, however, that a lot of disabled people will be unable to use the sort of technology being promoted in Bristol because of the exorbitant cost of the hardware on which to run it. Over to you IBM.
