I've started a list called comtouch, that is about devices that communicate to touch. ComTouch is short for
CommuniTouch, and hopefully will address issues that interest audio, visually and speech impaired people. This
mailing list was started out of the meeting we had on Nov.21 at 5PM in 443. If you are interested in being on the mailing
list, please email me and I will add you, or you may edit the Necsys listing yourself.

Summary of the discussion 11/21/00 follows:
-Hiroshi won't be here until next meeting
-Sile is here until October.
-Braille is a 2 by 3 grid, and takes one finger to read.

We discussed existing communication methods, such as Braille and finger spelling. Finger spelling is more
emotional, social, while Braille is more business-like official.

Then  we discussed some possible controls that we could use:
rollers, joysticks, roller wheels, joysticks.

I had built a mockup for the Communicane project that might be of interest. It is inspired by the teleactor talk about
the averaging of masses to help an actor decide what to do onscreen.  The mock-up consisted of a handheld joystick
(pushed  by a finger) that could allow a person feedback on the average trajectories taken by people around them. The
popularity of a certain direction would be felt as the opposition force on the joystick to movement. (For example,
if someone moved the joystick to the left, and it was easy to point in that direction, that means that left is a way
most people go. If someone  moved the joystick to the right, and it was hard to move the joystick in that direction, that
means that most people do not go to the right. Thus, a user (especially a visually impaired person), may be able to
determine quickly what many other people do and this might help them figure out what the most likely path is. Thus, in
an emergency, real-time information on mass movement could significantly  help them find the direction that the masses
are going to reach safety.
Hiroshi suggested other places of putting the joystick, like on the side. So we tried that too.

Then we got back to talking about designing more general communication devices for those who need to use touch.

The mapping of communication design would either be 2 types:
- analog continuous movement (like inTouch)
it is more emotional
-discrete state transition (like braille or keyboards)

We are not linguists. Sile suggested we just build them and
see if people like the prototypes as a proof of concept.

We discussed that domain of communication split up into  a 2x2 grid (analog, simultaneous or discrete, allowing
interruption).

Existing technologies:
Sile mentioned there's a braille notetaker that we souls look at with 7 keys and a single line braille display.

I had to bring up the distinction between 2 design objectives: the low bandwith and the high bandwidth devices.
Either we want a device that is high bandwidth, multi-purpose, or we want one that is solely for emotional
communication.

The orange idea- a small, handheld pda for communication with touch. I think it would be a sphere cut into 5 wedges
(one for each finger to push on). Pressing a wedge to close the orange, would represent one bit.

(We might also have an additional bit for the bend of the wrist to represent an additional bit.)

We discussed for a long time about the symmetric aspect of communication.  Past research has shown that symmetric
communications lead to fighting, although they seem bidirectional (one person speaking can interrupt the
other).  Gian brought up that even when we are speaking, interruption is possible because we are really on two
different channels.  While, in haptic feedback, there might be the uncertainty of whether the message is getting across
when one person is trying to communicate
.
Symmetry limits duplexity of conversation.

Gian brought up the idea that a magnitude would be a good output that would allow for bidirectional (but asymmetric)
communication.

Magnitude force input--> vibrate amplitude

Rob also brought up (to round out the discussion) that pressure force input/output on different parts of the orange
might be a part. This might be a problem for those with small hands, or not enough force (e.g. arthritis) to resist
a strong force output by another person. On thinking about this further, I also worry if people might get hurt.

Perhaps it would develop a Realtime interpersonal continuous mobile haptic interconnected language.

Before we left, Sile brought up the notion of a rubik's cube object that could allow for all the braille alphabet.
Ben brought up the idea of having a font that both sighted and blind people could read. We'll work on a mockup for
this.

I will do a search of existing technology on Braille, deaf-blind, communication devices.

I will try to have a further mockup of the two devices.

The next meeting will be at 5PM on Tuesday, Nov.28 in 443.
Happy Thanksgiving! (I'll be having leftovers well into the
next week!)
Angela
     11/24/00 2:17 AM