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<pictures are temporary dropped>
Preparing user test
I've visited the Henri Viscardi School last Thursday to test my second prototype. Before I met K, I prepared a switch, a pieace of velcro for attaching it to a wheelchair, a mount for wheelchair that a gorilla tripod would be attached to.
K was so excited and he looked carefully whole preparation I did.
* Here are some pictures he took using the camera and some pictures were taken by me. All pictures in this entry were permitted to use. I couldn't post wonderful pictures of him with a full of smile. I hope I can get a permission later. The pictures he took were just resized and not retouched.
Start taking a picture
 
* the very first picture K took. * I asked him to take me. (Thank you K)
He couldn't wait to take pictures. Just right after I finished setting, he started to press the switch for releasing a shutter before I gave him instructions how to use it.
Different pictures of the same model
 
* moved toward a model
After taking the left picture, I said to him how about took larger portrait of her. Then, he moved toward her and adjusted a right and left direction.
Taking a Portrait
* portrait of his operational therapist (even though I got a permission, I mosaicked.)
To take this picture, he tried found a good background and asked her to sit. The bendable tripod on the mount and the blue switch on the left side were shown in this picture.
Learning a technique for better picture
 
* shaken * unshaken
He was so excited that he didn't stop moving his body after releasing the shutter. Since an actual releasing the shutter happens two seconds after pressing a switch for avoiding the shaking, the pictures were shaken. I told him keep calm for a better quality picture and he followed it well.
Testing a mobility
 
* (resized and mosaicked) * the picture he took
K, his operational therapist, his physical therapist and I walked around in the school with him to take pictures. The one of main concerns of this project was a mobility, and it was successful. Many students who encountered with us also loved the camera system.
Stepping closer to his wish
* His favorite pictures of the day.
One of hallways was a little crowded but he tried to take this picture. The camera system didn't have move up and down function yet so I raised the angle for him. After whole picture-taking tour with him, he asked me to send this picture to his email account. (He had a verbal disability so it also took long time to catch what he wanted.) His OT said, he was expressing he had his wish.
After photographing
After he took lots of pictures, we downloaded them to a laptop and looked through the pictures together. He used a joystick to move forward and back to see photos as never stopping his smile.
User tesing continued
I also tested with three other students. Because I used the bendable tripod and a standard socket for switches, the system was able to use by all of them.
 
* front side * back side
Not only K but every students were enjoying to take pictures especially of their teachers. One of them wanted to take one of her teachers and we needed to move around the school to find her.
Feedback
1. Students as well as teachers were so happy and one of them said she was totally speechless.
2. Now the system has just one switch. If I add a zoom function, the number of buttons will become three (or two). And, the moving up-and-down functions also need additional buttons. The therapists recommended me to use fewer switches because too many switches were not good for most students. So I should consider the trade-off of functions and usability.
3. When I said a motor would be one of solutions for moving camera up-and-down, they recommended me to use a lower tech device such as mechanical one rather than electrical one. Using low tech means a better device for maintenance .
4. They requested the instructions how they make the same system such as a model of camera and a remote controller. And, they asked me a lot about the remote controller hacking part.
As I wrote the previous entry, I will use gentled devices for a future system because the therapists of the school wanted a sustainable product rather than an one-time product.
Future Plan
1. test gentled
2. build viewer software
3. finish auto-files-download script
4. combine #2 and #3 software in a single program
5. make multiple user version of #4 program
6. make a professional version of whole system. (using Canon SDK including various functions such as white balance, aperture, exposure and ISO)
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Final project idea - improving communication aids device
For final project of Designing for Constraints class, I'm thinking about improving or redesigning communication aids device(communicator). Since I'm taking Developing Assistive Technology class this semester, I'm interested in Assistive Technology (AT).
In the AT class, I've been to Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center and Rusk Medical Center as field trips. I saw several communication helpers that are devices developed or adapted for use by people with severe communication impairments, for example, DynaVox.
 
(Communication aids device at Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center)
Unfortunately, I couldn't have a chance to observe how children use this device, but I found several problems.
1. Expensive (about 15 grand)
2. Slow response
3. Heavy and Big, even for me. That means a lack of portability.
4. Difficult to navigate in the program. It may slows conversation down.
5. Impossible to create new sentence. It has pre-programmed sentences so there is a limitation to express.
Before dig more into this existing device that needs improve, I gave thought to communication itself to loot at everything around this issue and to think another option. Here are two of many thoughts.
1. How can we communicate with an alien? I mean the alien from other universe, but natives in new world or people from other civilization might be an alien in terms of conversation.
Propagators used translator who could speak both languages, or just jumped into new world and then learn each other's language.
2. For me, since English is a second language, I would like to say I have some levels of communication disabilities in English. Sometimes I can't understand what people say, or can't catch the sentence at all. In addition, I have to look a thesaurus while I write because I know possible words but can't figure out appropriate words quickly.
3. What we need in communication? Verbal messages, facial expressions, body languages. What else?
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Commented by John S at 2007/04/24 15:29 
