final – ENG 381.01 Spring 17

The Smart Bookmark

Ryan Roche

ENG 381-01

The Smart Bookmark

Purpose

In a world filled with distractions, complex assignments and mixed media, there needs to be a way to simplify the reading, studying and learning process. In an effort to smoothly integrate books with computers and people, the Smart Book will allow for information from physical texts to be easily stored, analyzed, transferred and shared using digital means. Readers will be able to know that they saved important, interesting or required information for later use, without the stress or hassle of interrupting the flow of their reading.

The Smart Bookmark will be intended to aid in this streamlining and organizing of the reading process. Students will be able to highlight, note, save, lookup and share key parts of both their required and personal readings quickly and easily. Teachers will be able to approve of it, students will enjoy using it, parents will have no problem buying it and the face of education will be positively changed forever. Though other features may eventually be added in, the tool will remain to true to its purpose, to help keep the attention of readers where it belongs, in the reading.

Audience

When first launched, the primary audience for the Smart Bookmark will be college students, scholars and other recreational as well as professional bibliophiles. It will initially be a tool geared for the serious reader or academic. My invention is fairly niche, but as its popularity grows, price drops and potential is realized by the masses, it will have a much wider mainstream appeal. I envision online communities and forums popping up to allow users to help each other take full advantage of the Smart Bookmark and its features, as well as adding to them.

Early adopters will be a major secondary audience to target, especially at the Smart Bookmark’s time of launch. People willing to give new and radically different technology a try may even be sought out and given a Smart Bookmark in exchange for a review or article discussing the product. Teachers and professors are another secondary audience to target. The Smart Bookmark will be introduced to them at conferences and conventions where demo’s, seminars and sample lesson plans will be available.

Technical specifications (what products are you modeling this on, how will the user interface with the product, and include a mock-up/prototype)

Using military grade nanotechnology, OCR software and Bluetooth signaling, the bookmark will be able to scan text right off the page and send it to your computer. Options to have it open in your browser under a new tab, saved to a folder similar to Zotero, or in an email to be shared with a friend will be included and selected via larger color coded and labeled touch screen buttons on the back of the bookmark. Smaller buttons on the bottom left corner will allow for a Google search of the selected term, a Wikipedia search or a voice annotation.

At the top of the bookmark, on the front, there will be a camera. This will provide real time imaging to the back of the bookmark and is shown through a rectangular text-finder at the top on the back. A green crosshair is centered on this text finder screen and used to select the text the user wants to interact with. Next to the bottom right hand corner of the text finder screen, there is a microphone for use with the voice annotation feature.

In order to keep the bookmark thin enough to fit between pages of a book, the touch screen buttons are heat sensitive and textured rather then click-able. When each button feels the heat of a human finger, its function will be activated. When finished, the bookmark should be paper thin and about 2 inches wide by 5 inches tall.

Most of the technology I want to implement into this smart bookmark will basically be slimmed down and borrowed technology from apple’s iPhone. An iPhone is still a little too bulky to be slipped seamlessly into a book, but has the Bluetooth pairing, camera, voice and touchscreen technology that the bookmark will need in order to be user friendly. Making sure the bookmark is WiFi and Bluetooth compatible is important, since these features are what allow for the information to be transferred from the bookmark to other devices.

I want to make sure the Smart Bookmark is somewhat “future-proofed” in terms of forwards compatibility as well. As smart TV’s, tablets, smart phones and other technologies become more commonplace in our homes and workspaces, the Smart Bookmark should be able to interface with the users platform of choice, whether this means the text is sent to a phone, computer, tablet, TV or other device will be up to the user.

Some technology will be borrowed from existing OCR technology as the bookmark’s processor needs to be able to almost instantly recognize and scan a variety of fonts and font sizes in from many different lighting conditions and angles. Making sure that the scanning takes place quickly will be a major priority and result in most of the bookmarks processing power being dedicated to this task.

Implementation plan (advertising/marketing/long term vision)

I think it makes the most sense for these bookmarks to be advertised towards college students at first, as this is my intended audience. Due to both this demographic and the advanced type of technology that is being advertised, the ad campaign will be almost exclusively digital. Ads should play before YouTube videos start, be featured prominently on social media sidebars, announced on internet radio stations and be featured during demos on college campuses. College students will be identified based on their online clues identified by cookies, browsing history and computer usage, many other companies are doing this and the Smart Bookmark parent company will purchase a list of potential college aged customers from other popular online organizations like Instagram, Goodreads or Pandora radio. If the product is a success, sponsoring academic organizations like Quiz-Bowl or Trivia teams and programs would be the next logical step. Perhaps a Smart Bookmark Scholarship foundation will be setup to help students in need pay for their furthered education. Any publicity will be taken as good publicity as athletes, celebrities, doctors and scholars are invited to use the product in exchange for a review.

In addition to the aggressive digital marketing campaign, college bookstores, local bookstores and larger chain bookstores will all be eligible dealers for the Smart Bookmark. Advertising the bookmarks near the checkout in order to capture the attention of the maximum number of customers will be a company priority. Some professors might even go as far as to make the Smart Bookmark a requirement for their classes in order to help students focus. In order to capture the attention of professor’s and teachers looking to integrate the bookmark into their classes, a team from Smart Bookmark will travel around to most of the major academic conferences and conventions. At target conferences like NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), attendees will be able to borrow Smart Bookmarks to use during other seminars and before eventually attending the Smart Bookmark seminar. The Smart Bookmark seminar will feature sample lesson plans and templates for possible assignments that teachers can adapt for use with their own classes.

In addition to physical, in-class usage, connectivity to web based learning tools such as Hypothesis and Zotero will allow teachers access to student annotations, expanding on the social aspect of the Smart Bookmark. Students will be able to add annotations to groups within their classes to keep notes and assignments organized in addition to making it easy for teachers to find, check and interact with their student’s work.

I want there to be a lot of aftermarket support for the Smart Bookmark to allow for users to tweak it to better suit their needs. The code should remain open source and simple, as well as flexible, letting tech savvy users modify the bookmark to meet unique challenges that may not be possible to overcome from a production standpoint. I picture there being night vision, infrared, x-ray and flashlight add-ons as the technology and community around these bookmarks begin to grow. At the same time however, I want the bookmark to remain true to its purpose and keep the readers flow from being interrupted. Features like web browsing, instant messaging and social media updates will not be supported in order to prevent encroachment from further distractions into the reading process. Smart Bookmark will have a forum page dedicated to users helping users, the creation and sharing of modifications/updates and company support. Keeping user’s happy, the product supported and current will be a major priority.

As the bookmarks become cheaper to produce and improve in quality and popularity, these ads might expand to T.V. channels, magazine pages and nationally syndicated radio. This gradual shift coincides with long term intention for the Smart Bookmark. My long term goal for this product is to have Smart Bookmarks become so easy to use and cheap to produce that they are given out everywhere and extremely common. They will be used by people from all age groups, from elementary schools to nursing homes. Schools will integrate them into classroom usage, linking from the bookmark to school computers in class. Companies will be able to brand them for advertising use like Frisbees, hats and the disposable pens are currently given out and circulated. The Book2.0 revolution will be closely followed by Bookmark2.0.

Works Cited

Davidson, Cathy N. Now you see it: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. New York, Viking, 2011, raley.english.ucsb.edu/wp-content2/uploads/234/CDavidson.pdf. Accessed 1 May 2017.

McCann, Allison “Okay, but How Do Touch Screens Actually Work? » Scienceline.” Scienceline. N.p., 17–17 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 May 2017. http://scienceline.org/2012/01/okay-but-how-do-touch-screens-actually-work/ Accessed 5 May 2017.

Woodford, Chris “How Does OCR Document Scanning Work?” Explain that Stuff. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2017. http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-ocr-works.html Accessed 5 May 2017.

The Pressure Annotating System

Introduction

For a long time, people with disabilities have not been given the same accessibility and attention, as they should. “The American Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation” (ADA.gov). My project specifically targets the visibly impaired which in 1996, changed the copyright laws for equal production and distribution of braille text in digital and print forms.

Copyright laws before the breakthrough weren’t’ favorable for the blind. Anything reproduced for the blind, whether it was a book or an item, was taken one at a time instead of a mass production. The reasoning was because braille text was more expensive and time consuming to produce. Authors and publishers had to and still have to sign off for permission to create a braille text. Many times the process would be delayed for months or eventually, the permission would not go through.

After the law was passed, one of the requirements on copyright permission made way for the future of digital text. “All works which are reproduced or distributed in a specialized format, including Braille, audio, or digital reproductions, must contain a statement that “Further reproduction or distribution in a format other than a specialized format is prohibited.” According to the Library of Congress, this notice must appear both in print (for example, on the label of a recorded disk or cassette) and in the audio, Braille, or digital text itself” (ADA.gov). The steps taken by the U.S government has ensured the future of a universal reading experience.

Purpose

The name of my project is called “The Pressure Annotating System,” it is a physical book that allows the visibly impaired to be able to annotate a text directly in the book and it will have the ability to read that highlighted text back to the user with the braille protruding to indicate the annotated section. I believe that this invention will have a great effect on the visibly impaired community, which can also be used in the classroom.

Audience

As of 2014, an estimated 285 million people globally are visually impaired, and 39 million are blind. About 90 percent of the visually impaired have a low income (World Health Organization, Visual impairment and blindness,). My main audience would be visibly impaired high school and college students. Our job as English students is to be able to read any work critically and closely. What makes this work efficiently is that we are able to see the text in front of us. We can identify the structures and specific diction the author chose to use to create meaning. Around that time, students are beginning to read more text and asked to be able to close read it for a better understanding and to find meaning.

This would also have to extend to teachers who are working with the students on a regular basis. Being able to teach in general is something that has to be constantly worked on, as they have to be someone who can interact well with all students while finding methods and techniques that work. “Johnson characterized learning to teach as “a long-term, complex, developmental process that is the result of participation in the social practices and contexts associated with learning and teaching” (Kristin Davin, Francis Troyan, The Implementation of High-Leverage Teaching Practices).

Technical Specifications

What I want to mix is Text-to-speech technology and pressure sensory. How the book will look and operate is through the pressure applied by the reader. Each page will have to be thicker so that the activation technology can be used on both sides of the page. In the spine, there is a speaker for the text to be spoken. When the reader comes across a word or a phrase that feels important or useful to refer back to, the user simply presses against the braille and it will be said aloud. With the TTS, the page braille on the page will either protrude or change texture to simulate highlighting.

We see text-to-speech used in audiobooks that is accessible to everyone. We see it used in our phones, tablets, kindles, laptops, every piece of established technology. What I really want to develop is the ability to incorporate pressure technology. ”Deep touch pressure refers to a form of tactile sensory input which is often provided by firm holding, firm stroking, cuddling, hugging, and squeezing. Deep touch pressure acts as a calming or focusing agent to increase activity in the parasympathetic division, and lower activity in the sympathetic division of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)” (myjacket.com)

Myjacket.com is a website that makes wearable touch technology vests simulates a hugging feeling. They want to improve the quality of life for people dealing with stress, anxiety, and children with autism, ADHD, and other conditions of that nature.

The Pressure Annotating system would work something like this, but flipped. Instead of the pressure against you, the user will be applying pressure. A certain amount of pressure will have to trigger the annotating process. Reading braille now can vary depending on the individual’s finger sensitivity. Health conditions can make it more difficult to read braille. Some books and magazines have incorporated bigger dots to counteract the lack of feeling in the fingers, but it is very limited (Visionaware.org). The text used for the pressure annotating will use softer paper and dots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yLZRPXJ8lo

A machine called the Refreshable Braille Display is a pad that goes underneath a keyboard so that it can generate braille. The user highlights the line on the computer screen and it turns into text into braille. The pad uses pins to create the dots in each cell. There are eight dots per cell. Six are for braille, and two are to identify the cursor. This technology is similar to what I have envisioned, so I would want to work with the creator to get a better understanding of how this my plan can be achieved and ultimately more beneficial.

Implementation

The target audience may be high school and college scholars, but with high tech hardware, we see today, the students won’t really be the ones to afford it. The Pressure Annotating System will have to be marketed to parents, teachers, and schools, as they are the demographic with the income to afford it. Kevin Carey of The Perkins School for the Blind wrote an article in 2007 on the “Issues of content accessibility in the digital environment” (Kevin Carey, The Opportunities and Challenges of the Digital Age). One of his topics is on the production of print copies of braille text, as it took too long to create which hurt the blind community. “When you think about it, whether you are a student or a voracious reader who likes to discuss new books with friends, a two-year wait for a book is destructively long” (Carey, page 3).

In 2011, Carey promised to cut the price down of the Refreshable Braille Display by 90 percent. He succeeded 5 years later. The device costs $320 to manufacture, and can be bought between $1,300 and $5,000 (Alix Hackett, A low-cost revolution in refreshable braille). With the all the new ways of creating technology now, my design could be something that is quick to manufacture so that users don’t have to wait a long time. It is taking things that have already been created. Incorporating into something new shouldn’t be too difficult.

Email would be a good way of getting attention because of the demographic, and the fact that every person has one. The next big way of marketing this would be through social media and YouTube by hitting relatives and friends of people who are visibly impaired. All it takes is someone with a big enough following to start getting the attention on the product. TV ads could also work because if the individual is old enough, they will probably be more likely to come across it as opposed to the younger generation who doesn’t look at television.

Conclusion

My project idea has a lot of potential to become the next important piece of technology for the visual impaired. The community has come a long way to have equal rights for something that is so important for everyone to know. Being able to read goes towards education, communication, personal growth, and just pure enjoyment. Having all these available outlets now is moving us as a society to becoming more empathetic to all, and hopefully, it will continue to grow with the ability to grasp a complete understanding of a text through The Pressure Annotating System.

Works Cited

Carey, Kevin. “The Opportunities and Challenges of the Digital Age: A Blind User’s Perspective.” Library Trends, vol. 55, no. 4, 2007, pp. 767-784

Davin, Kristin J. and Francis J. Troyan. “The Implementation of High-Leverage Teaching Practices: From the University Classroom to the Field Site.” Foreign Language Annals, vol. 48, no. 1, 2015, pp. 124-142.

Hackett, Alix. “A low-cost revolution in refreshable braille.” Perkins School for the Blind, March 24, 2014, Accessed 5/5/17

“All About Braille”, Visionaware.com, accessed 5/2/17

“New Copyright Law Breakthrough For The Blind” Future Reflections: The National Federation of the Blind Magazine for Parents and Teachers of Blind Children, Vol.16, No.1 1997. Accessed 5/5/17

“Refreshable Braille Displays” American Foundation For the Blind, Accessed 5/5/17

“The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Revised ADA Regulations

Implementing Title II and Title III” ADA.gov, Accessed 5/5/17

“The Science Behind Tjacket”, mytjacket.com, accessed 5/2/17

“Visual impairment and blindness”, World Health Organization, Who.int, August 2014, Accessed 5/5/17

Photos and Videos

Williams, George. “Refreshable Braille Display” Flickr March 8, 2013, Accessed 5/5/17

“Braille Alphabet”, Wikimedia Commons, Accessed 5/5/17

HumanWareTechnologie “HumanWare Brailliant Braille Display” YouTube May 15, 2012, Accessed 5/5/17

Final Reflection

In Authentic Learning in the Digital Age: Engaging Students Through Inquiry, Larissa Pahomov writes, “For student reflection to be meaningful, it must be metacognitive, applicable, and shared with others,” and defines metacognitive reflection as taking the process of reflection “to the next level because it is concerned not with assessment, but with self-improvement: Could this be better? How? What steps should you take?” (read full article here). In light of this assertion, I would like you to write a metacognitive reflection on the final project. This reflection should address the following questions, with an aim to identify how you could improve your work.

What did you learn through the process of creating and presenting this project? How did this project help you synthesize and apply the topics we covered throughout the semester? Do you have suggestions to improve this assignment?
What readings, activities, assignments, and discussions did you find particularly helpful, informative, and engaging in this class this semester? What would you suggest be changed to improve this course next time it is offered?
Bonus question: if we were to rename this course in the future, what should this course be called? What title would appeal to students?

You may expand or add to these guidelines in any way you wish. This is your opportunity to speak directly to me about what you learned in this course.

This will be submitted as a Google Doc (title: finalreflection_yoursection_yourlastname for example finalreflection_381_licastro) that you share with me upon completion. You must invite me as an editor (with privileges to edit, not just read or comment). You will complete this by the day of our scheduled final exam, 5/11 at 4:15pm.

Also, please include this statement at the bottom of the document and fill in your name and response:

I ____________ do/ do not give Dr. Amanda Licastro permission to use my final project as an example in scholarly presentations and publications.

The Future of the Book

Final Assignment

Together we have explored the history of media through theory and practice. For this assignment you will engage in “reflective design,” defined by Hancock et al as “promot[ing] critical inquiry over usability and exploratory prototyping over fully realized productions.” You can do this by beginning with the current state of publishing and then projecting potential solutions – or perhaps evolutions – of these tools to enhance the reading experience in the future. We are specifically concentrating on the tools of publishing for this project, since this course has focused on media we use to communicate. Essentially, it is your job to imagine the future of the book. However, these are meant to be visions of the future – featuring a balance of imagination and practicality

This project will be broken into parts:

Stage 1: The Pitch

Create a proposal for your “design fiction” project ( 450-500 words, 3-5min presentation)
Introduce the product and explain its purpose – this is the time to dream big!
Explain what need this product will fill that is not met by currently available technology and how it builds on current technology(ies)
Prove this item has a customer base, and be specific about your target audience
Imagine the process and materials it would take to manufacture and distribute this product – even if these do not exist yet
Provide evidence of preliminary research – especially evidence that this product does not currently exist already (Use MLA citation formatting for in-text citations and works cited entries)
Present this idea is a “Shark Tank” style pitch in under 5 minutes

Stage 2: Annotated Bibliographies

Using Zotero, you will build a research base for this project
Each person must contribute at least 3 resources to our group library
Each source must include a correctly formatted MLA citation
Each source must be summarized and evaluated in the “notes” section

Stage 3: Final Proposal

Create a dossier for your proposal. This should serve as the complete representation of your product. Create a 5-7 page description that features your research (properly cited in MLA format) and connections to what you have learned in this course.
You paper should include the following:
- Purpose
- Audience
- Technical specifications (what products are you modeling this on, how will the user interface with the product, and include a mock-up/prototype)
- Implementation plan (advertising/marketing/long term vision)
Include some kind of prototype or mock-up of your tool. Use multimedia to your advantage!
Include a full works-cited page for all materials used (including media)

Additional Notes:

Each student must meet with me in pre-scheduled conferences. I am also available to consult with you on your individual product pitches during office hours. This description is subject to change after we discuss your ideas.