learning the ropes

Test 1: Selecting the “DreamRodes” voice using multiple presses of the “+1/YES” button

Buttons:
“+1/YES”, to be abbreviated [+1]
“-1/NO”, to be abbreviated [-1]

Notation: [+1 \ /]*52 / 10s [-1 \ /]*2 / 1s = 54 operations / 11s

Quality: While pressing [Y] rapidly, I found it was easy to overshoot the desired voice. I would like to try this with someone who is unfamiliar with the instrument as I have grown accustomed to the names of the instruments which precede “DreamRodes”

Note: The video segment lasts longer than the reported 11 seconds because I found later that I could press the button more rapidly than I did while filming and still read the name of the voice.

I built a base for the clock last night and asked Kelly to try reading the time. We learned several things in the process:
- Tracing a circle is difficult when you can’t see. Kelly didn’t have a sense of the size of the outer ring with her eyes closed, so her fingers went off the ring several times. Each time, she had to return to the 12 o’clock index marker and start again.

- I built a prototype with a visual mapping that doesn’t correspond with the way we speak the time. Since Kelly and I have been using clocks for a long time (although she can read the non-digital ones much more quickly), we expect the longer hand to always point to the number of minutes. When I designed this clock, I thought the outer ring should also represent the minutes in order to mimic the way we’re used to seeing a clock. This would be a positive thing for a visually impaired person with memories of clock faces. For a person blind from birth, however, this visual/spatial mapping doesn’t exist. The way we speak the time, “four forty-nine, pm” rather than “eleven minutes to five o’clock, pm” defines a mental sequence: hours, then minutes. With this mental sequence, it makes sense that the outer ring is the hours and the inner ring the minutes. Despite our visual/spatial maps, Kelly and I both found our minds wanted to use the outer ring to represent hours when our eyes were closed.

- 12 != 1 != 0 (or twelve doesn’t equal one doesn’t equal zero). Another problem of the traditional clock face is tied to starting with twelve. Kelly experienced difficulty remapping the 12 o’clock position as zero when she couldn’t see the clock face. I realized that it doesn’t make sense if you haven’t grown up looking at a clock. My instructions to her were to “trace clockwise around the circle, counting each depression until you reach the raised marker.” I could either clarify my instructions or try another prototype which addresses some of these issues.

I began to experience firsthand some of the blocks we put in place as we consider designs. I stereotyped the user of my clock (in this case a visually impaired or completely blind person) as a sighted person in several key areas.

I started with another approach to the clock design. I wanted to try prototyping a tactile clock face that would eliminate the need for a talking clock. Allistar noted in his blog that “[s]tyle is something that’s also apparent – never assume because someone is blind they don’t embrace style. After all others can see us.”

I wanted to see if I could propose something more stylish that would be enjoyable for both sighted and blind people.

To tell time using this clock, the user begins by locating the raised marker at the 12 o’clock position on the outer rim of the clock face. They move their finger toward the center of the clock (moving up two levels) until they find the depressions on the hours layer. Starting at the 12 o’clock position, they will trace clockwise around the circle, counting each depression until they reach the raised hour marker. To determine the number of minutes, they return to the 12 o’clock marker on the outter rim and move their finger toward the center of the clock (moving up one level) until they find the depressions on the minutes layer. Starting at the 12 o’clock position, they will track clockwise around the circle, counting each depression until they reach the raised minute marker.

In class on Tuesday evening, we were given a problem to solve in ten minutes: design a clock for a blind person. This short exercise became the first assignment of the class. Although I played with several concepts, only one stayed with me through the end of the ten minute brainstorming period. I proposed a talking clock.

I began by brainstorming what I believed to be the user’s needs:
- Telling time on demand
- Waking up at a specific time
- Easily setting the time

As I started sketching from there, other needs emerged:
- Reliable power source (AC line voltage + battery backup) so the blind person should be able to obtain the current time under either battery or main power failure conditions
- Volume control in order to avoid unnecessarily disturbing others
- Automatic time setting radio signal

When I returned to the problem yesterday afternoon, I researched current products marketed to the blind and visually impaired:

Pyramid talking clock

Talking Thermometer Clock I wonder how the blind or visually impaired person will know where to aim the infrared remote.

Keychain clock Seems similar to a product that might be used to “remember everything”

Simple clock

My initial impression was that few appeared to have been designed specifically with this market in mind. I did find a another design feature to inform my previous brainstorming:
- A heavy base with non-slip feet might be useful for the blind

I researched braille numbers in order to see other possible ways to design the clock.