Seminar Overview: Doug Baldwin
Welcome to all of you who attended one of the four Regional Seminars on "Advances in Wayfinding Technology," to those of you who attended the World Congress in Baltimore in 2005, and to all of you arriving here for the first time. These seminars were sponsored by the Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation, with funding support from NEC Foundation of America.
I have tried in various ways to articulate the changes in technology that are enabling new tools for wayfinding. These attempts go into different depths and cover different aspects of the developments. However, the overlap in each presentation is extensive. Anyway, here are some internal links that explore the subject:
1. Draft of an article (a long and short version).
2. Presentation prepared for the Pacific AER/IIBN Northwest regional seminar
3. From the Wayfinding Textbook
4. Presentation under "Institute Philosophy" (an early attempt at a comphrehensive discussion)
This is a very significant time, especially for a small non-profit organization called the Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation. It was my dream, as the director of IIBN, to bring the issue of wayfinding technology to the table, to get it on the agendas of the major organizations within the profession of blind rehabilitation. We were very honored and pleased to present these seminars in our regional series on Advances in Wayfinding Technology.
On our end of the planning, we thank Ed Piotrowski, the seminar coordinator for IIBN. Ed was the front line organizer for the first four seminars. He worked with all the presenters to make the gatherings successful.
We also thank the NEC Foundation of America and their director Sylvia Clark for providing the grants that made the regional seminars and the World Congress a reality. Sylvia went out of her way to help us craft our proposals and worked with us through final drafts. Without her help and the support of the NEC Foundation of America Board of Directors, this multi-year, multi-agency national effort would not have happened.
We are also very grateful to our long list of presenters. We picked key individuals within several important organizations and we asked them to speak as representatives of their agencies or groups. We are lucky and we are honored that these leaders agreed to come together and to share their insights.
Finally, we are very grateful to all of you who attended the seminars and the World Congress. We came together to examine issues that will have profound implications for consumers, for teachers, for administrators, for those concerned with laws and ethics, and for college professors and their students, all of our lives will be impacted. We cannot ignore the tidal wave that is approaching our common boat. It is good that we assembled and considered the challenges and possibilities. Thank you very much for coming.
Somewhere between the current reality and future speculation there awaits a collection of tools that can vastly improve the ability of blind individuals to travel safely and efficiently. Lets look at all three layers:
We have some usable tools. We have the cane (it's cheap, easy to use, light weight). We have some obstacle detection systems, some old (Pathsounder, Mowat, Laser Cane), some newer (Pathfinder, MiniGuide). We have emerging GPS tools, thanks primarily to Mike May. We have a rich history of vision substitution research, with new endeavors under development or "on the market" (The vOICe, Kaspa, Bach-y-Rita's work). And we have a skeptical public and wary professionals who declare the present technologies to be too costly, too ugly, too heavy, too unreliable, requiring too long a learning curve, or overkill (using normal senses under routine conditions is sufficient for most travel). Also, there is not enough time in a working day to address (to learn about, or teach the use of) the tools we now have.
Someday soon, computers will see. They already talk, just not very well. Someday, however, computers that see will also be able to direct navigation. These seeing machines will be embedded either in helper robots or they will be embedded in our clothing.
Someday soon, the spaces we move through will be intelligent. Intelligent machines will know where we are at all times and will be able to assist with navigation when we ask for help. Intelligent pathways will be GPS enabled, all the objects will have speech capability (talking signage), the internet will be ubquitious. Just push the large (red) button on the front of your cell phone, the "where am I button."
Someday soon, we will implant silicon chips into the human body. Just like the cochlear implants that help hearing impaired persons use their auditory system, so we will have vision chips that "restore" various aspects of seeing.
Someday soon, we will be able to repair or replace damaged or aged tissues. We will repair eyes and restore vision.
Someday soon, the future will arrive and things will be "better"..........
Somewhere between the failed and inadequate technology of the present, and the wild west hope of the "all seeing" future, there lies a thick pile of high tech tools. With these tools, we can create the future. We can define what it means to "navigate blind, efficiently and safely." We can define what is helpful and what is invasive. Every individual can define for themselves what it means to use technology to assist with their navigation. The tools lie before us, on the floor, ready to be assembled, ready to create "someday." So, why aren't we picking up the tools and getting the job done?"
The answer is that the tools are arriving at our doorstep faster than our institutions can assimilate them.
What tools?
There are entire industries pumping out products (and new technologies) in areas that could be tapped for blind navigation.
There is a wearable computing industry, fueled by fashion, medical products, the military, and recreation. This industry is embedding computers and sensors in clothing. These technologies could be adjusted to provide a "blind suit" for vision substitution and for navigating blind. A blind suit was exhibited at one of the first international wearble computing fashion shows.
There is a huge robotics industry, mostly in Japan, but also in other industrial nations. I-Robot in the United States is a good example. This industry is creating robots for entertainment, military use, for the disabled, for search and rescue, and for house chores. The robots are full of sensors and computers that could be modified to assist with blind navigation or with vision substitution.
Transportation experts (cars, trucks, buses, planes, boats), the signage industry (people who create directional signs to control traffic flow indoors and out), the travel industry, people who own businesses, and the rehabilitation industry, all of these specialists are creating smart spaces; embedding intelligence in pathways, intersections, in the hallways and rooms of public buildings, and inside specialized spaces (the interior of vehicles, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.). There is a wealth of knowledge and an explosion of new technologies within these industries that could be adapted for use with blind navigation and vision substitution.
The idea of increasingly "smart spaces" is so important for blind consumers and for mobility specialists that it would be wise for us all to think of this as the "Age of Intelligent Space."
Huge changes in technology require huge changes in thought; new language is created, new concepts develop, new potentials and novel challenges emerge. Huge changes in thought and understanding require huge changes in responsibility. There arises a need to create new institututions and to allocate funds along new channels. One thing is clear. Business as usual is not smart. Technology is forcing us to change.
Our culture spends tens of millions of dollars on "atom smashers", space tools; health research, sports, transportation, etc. We can send a man to the moon and get him home safely. Doesn't it seem like we should be able to "solve" problems like blind navigation and "vision subsititution"? At the least, there should be an all out, focused effort to do a better job adapting and applying the technologies that sit at our feet.
What we lack is a common effort and a common resolve.