Research Task 1 (06/22/15 - 07/03/15)

Mobile Apps for the Visually Impaired

1. Tap Tap See iPhone app for blind and visually impaired, YouTube. An interesting mobile app to help blind and visually impaired to see.
2. iPhone apps for the blind and visually impaired, YouTube. An hour-long video includes such a variety of useful tools that we could get inspiration from.
3. Interview recording with Dorrie Rush. Could Team 8 & 9 work together to summarize what we have learned from Ms. Dorrie Rush, including the perspectives, experiences, needs, suggestions, etc. You can get more videos/audios from Lola, Julian and Lithu.
4. You might just browse through the internet to find more info about other apps for the blind and visually impaired. 

At the end of this effort, please make a spreadsheet table (Team 8 & 9 work together) about the existing mobile apps for the blind and visually impaired. The table should include columns such as app name, platform, functions, company, price, website, etc. You will also create another table of apps of anticipated functions and descriptions based on your research. Then, Team 8 & 9 should conduct brainstorming and discussion to propose four apps topics to work on initially. Two of them should utilize the FeelScreen technology. We will discuss those topics in our upcoming summer meeting.

FeelScreen Technology

1. Senseg Technology, Senseg. A very light introduction of Senseg technology.
2. Seung-Chan Kim, Ali Israr, and Ivan Poupyrev, “Tactile Rendering of 3D Features onTouch Surfaces”, UIST’13, October  2013. The paper presents a tactile rendering algorithm for rendering 3D geometric shapes on a touch screen surface by modulating friction force between user's finger and the touch screen.  

Java and Android Studio / Swift and XCode

1. Use the resource posted in the 2nd Dimension blog to continue learning Java and Android Studio. If you prefer to build apps on iOS platform (non-FeelScreen), you should start learning a new language called Swift through a series of video tutorials [40 videos]. Document your progress and taking notes!

Please take electronic notes while you are studying the materials, watching the videos, or browsing through the web. Each team will present their learning later in the summer meeting.