The Note Taker

Principal researcher

Project details

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Description: Students with mild to severe (but not complete) visual loss, routinely encounter problems of accessibility. When taking notes in an academic setting, most low-vision students must use optics capable of significant zoom. Invariably, however, these preclude them from convenient access to their notepads. Time is lost between zooming, finding and focusing on a spot on the board, looking down and recording whatever is remembered, and then finding and refocusing on the same information. Monoculars and head-mounted cameras-the staple assistive technologies-all suffer from this problem. Note-taking services are also typically provided for these students across the country; however, there are significant disadvantages to these services which make the student less self-reliant and less engaged in the learning process. Something better is needed, something that allows low-vision students to work independently of a service and to view both the board and notes near-simultaneously without a change in context. We are developing a portable note-taking device that is neither handheld nor head-mounted, and that doesn't require any additional classroom infrastructure. This note-taking device involves a tablet PC, zoom camera, and electronic pan/tilt mechanism. From the tablet PC, a user will take notes with digital ink while simultaneously viewing the board through a live camera feed. The camera's position is adjusted by commands issued to the pan/tilt from within the same interface. This simple prototype is being used by students with low-vision. The current interface narrows the gap between low-vision and fully-sighted students in classroom setting, however we intend to further close this gap by developing computer vision algorithms that will automate much of the process.

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Last updated: 15/04/2008