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From: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Screen readers: AI vs. Config
Message-ID: <19156@bunker.isc-br.com>
Date: 4 May 91 04:09:29 GMT
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[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 EB> It seems to me that one way to reduce the problem of "having to
 EB> know the application inside-out in order to configure it" is
 EB> for a screen reader to include features that make it easy for
 EB> the user to explore the layout of an application's screen.  I'd
 EB> like to think that I've put some such features in Tinytalk, but
 EB> I'm sure there are more that can be thought of.  Anybody got
 EB> any suggestions?

 EB> One consideration is that some of these features can take up
 EB> extra memory. Ideally, the more memory-intensive exploration
 EB> features could be put into an "add-on" module that you would
 EB> load only when you needed to explore a new application.

 EB> I do agree that some configuration features should be automated
 EB> (as long as the user can change the automatically-determined
 EB> settings if he so desires).

Eric,  As usual you make some good points.  As you know, there has been much
discussion of late about automatic programs using so-called artifical
intelligence techniques, versus configurable programs.  At this point, it does
seem to be basically one way or the other, but as programs develop, I am sure
that will change.  Automatic things can help with new things, but configurations
can fine-tune response etc.  One thing I have noticed while using ASAP is that
with complex screens in particular, I don't always know what it is doing or why.

It can be somewhat more unpredictable then a more basic program.  You can miss
things and not know it.  It also tends to be too chatty with some programs.
AI is an interesting development, and time will tell.

... David Andrews

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