3.1344 Paperless Office; Scanner/Reader (43)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 2 May 90 17:04:28 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 1344. Wednesday, 2 May 1990.


(1) Date: Wed, 2 May 90 14:07 EDT (25 lines)
From: The Man with the Plan <KEHANDLEY@AMHERST>
Subject: U.S. Navy Declares War on Paper

(2) Date: Wednesday, 2 May 1990 2:22pm CST (18 lines)
From: EIEB360@UTXVM.BITNET
Subject: 3.1337 New Communication Media;

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 2 May 90 14:07 EDT
From: The Man with the Plan <KEHANDLEY@AMHERST>
Subject: U.S. Navy Declares War on Paper

While looking at the PC Week which had the reviews of hand-held scan-
ners, I noticed an news item by Dennis Eskow headlined "U.S. Navy
Declares War on Paper - Manuals are out and PCs are in." The Navy will
in June get rid of most paper on the guided missile frigate Ingraham.
This will reduce its weight by one ton, and provide these benefits:

"improved maneuverability
lower operating costs, due to eliminating the cost of
updating the manuals
reduced need for naval warehouse space
the ability to print manuals on demand
a reduction of errors when looking up technical data
faster searches for information and increased efficiency."

This is from PC Week, April 23, 1990, Vol. 7, No. 16.

Perhaps this is a look at the e-world to come.

Keith Handley
Amherst College Academic Computer Center
kehandley@Amherst.BITNET
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Wednesday, 2 May 1990 2:22pm CST
From: EIEB360@UTXVM.BITNET
Subject: 3.1337 New Communication Media;

Sometime in the next month or so (depending on the speed with which
various administrative mills/wheels turn), I will be acquiring a
Kurzweil Personal Reader. This device consists of a Kurzweil scanner
coupled with a DECtalk speech synthesizer; the whole thing is portable
(luggable, really: about 20 pounds). It's designed to "read aloud" to
visually impaired persons who, like myself, have trouble reading print.
(I have trouble reading print for extended periods; I do better at
reading screens, but there's a lot of stuff out there that ain't in
machine-readable form yet.) At $11,950 the KPR is beyond the budgets of
most of us (myself included: hence my request that the University buy
the machine for my use), but I will gladly report back to HUMANIST on my
experience with it. I once tested a demo model by giving it a couple of
pages from a facsimile ed. of the first ed. of Huck Finn, and I must say
it did beautifully-- though the accent left something to be desired.
Nonetheless... Etc. -- John Slatin