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Comment by funnybeam | Hacker News Reader

I love how honest this is about the limitations and the whole design process. Truly a great example of a real hacker project

I have a Georgi keyboard (mentioned in the article) which I started getting to grips with then put aside during a way too busy period at work. This has made me want to dig it out and try again.

I’m also thinking that two of those faunchpads put together on the long edges could make an even better ‘back of phone’ keyboard (or back of mini tablet) for a handy portable note taking device

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Sure, but if you have a few keys to press, why not go all the way and make it a Braille keyboard? It would teach sight-able people how to write braille.

> It would teach sight-able people how to write braille.

Is this an interesting goal? I absolutely understand why it would be extremely valuable for most people to know their local sign language for communication with those who can't hear, but I fail to see how wider learning of a very special writing system (one that anyway can't be currently read from electronic devices) would impact the sight-impaired community.

There are definitely electronic Braille reading devices. They're called refreshable braille displays, and are often also combined with a specialized keyboard.

Wider adoption could conceivably improve these interfaces through more users and commercial interest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display

Awesome, I wasn't aware of this! Thank you for the link! I believed Text-to-Speech is the only option used for HCI by people who can't see a screen.

That doesn't read Braille. It reads digital data and writes Braille.

its a reading device in the sense that an amazon kindle is a reading device, a device with which to read

The daughter of a coworker of mine has an elementary-school friendship with a blind girl. When she wanted to write a letter to her, I embossed the text for her, because, you know, I can write braille. I was told the little girl was very thrilled to receive a piece of paper she could actually read. But I guess this sort of human interaction isn't worth the effort, right? :-( Sad to read your attitude.

You embossed a letter because you knew how to emboss. I could look up the braille alphabet for the letter faster than I could learn how to, and actually, emboss the letter itself. You don’t even need to look it up. Braille Neue is a great font that prints the roman letters with the braille locations you can then emboss. Since braille is a letter for letter transcription of English, again, what is the utility to the blind for widespread learning by the sighted? It isn’t sign language, which is a distinct language used by the hearing impaired to communicate. It is literally just a 3d font.

sorry, but braille is much more than "literally jhst a 3d font". Contractions define "shortcuts" for e.g. word endings or whole words. see e.g https://brailleworks-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/brailleworks... for some examples.

> But I guess this sort of human interaction isn't worth the effort, right?

Parent didn't say that. Do you really think adding that ending is making your comment more convincing?

Looking into a mirror can really hurt. Guess what, I dont care. I have been belittled, ignored, swept aside, manhandled, pushed across a street, you name it. I dont feel particularily bad if someone outside of my bubble is confronted with how their priviledged utterings make other people feel.

The problem of sending braille printed text to a blind person and the problem of being able to type braille personally are entirely separate. I can type on a normal keyboard and print out the document as braille. The fact that braille printers are rare is a very sad fact.

The discussion above was not about hand writing (embossing) braille. That is a separate consideration, and I have personally never sent a letter to a friend of any kind, so not being able to send a letter to a blind friend doesn't seem like such a problem to me personally. If I were in the habit of sending hand-written letters to friends and acquaintances, I do think it would be a nice effort to learn braille in case I ever need to send such a letter to a friend.

You're being very disingenuous to assume that we all make decisions like the one being talked about in a vacuum.

I have a gergoplex this is making me want to pull out again

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