A Proposal for an Automated Method to Produce Embossed Graphics for Blind Persons

摘要

The aim of this paper is to provide examples illustrating the conditions for effectively functionalizing the "method of converting graphics into a form that can be perceived using senses other than sight" in the field of HCI. Specifically, it is shown that advantages that method are fully achieved with the implementation of a prototype embossed graphics output function for the statistical analysis software R. In attempting to generate automated tactile graphics from the output of any kind of graphics software, the strategy described below will be useful: a. To investigate whether the intermediate graphics format used in the relevant software consists of primitive vector format drawing commands and character printing commands that handle characters as codes, and b. If the latter conditions are fulfilled, to perform conversion to tactile graphics at the stage of graphics data expressed as that intermediate format.