[Script Info] Title: [Events] Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was about three or four years old, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I remember my mum reading a story to me Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my two big brothers, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I remember putting up my hands Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to feel the page of the book Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to feel the picture they were discussing. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my mum said, "Darling, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remember that you can't see Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can't feel the picture Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you can't feel the print on the page." Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I thought to myself, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"But that's what I want to do. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I love stories. I want to read." Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Little did I know Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I would be part of a technological revolution Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that would make that dream come true. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was born premature by about 10 weeks, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which resulted in my blindness some 64 years ago. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The condition is known as retrolental fibroplasia, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's now very rare in the developed world. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Little did I know, lying curled up Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in my prim baby humidicrib in 1948 Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I'd been born at the right place Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the right time, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I was in a country where I could participate Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the technological revolution. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are 37 million totally blind people on our planet,b Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but those of us who've shared in the technological changes Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mainly come from North America, Europe, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Japan, and other developed parts of the world. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Computers have changed the lives of us all in this room Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and around the world, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I think they've changed the lives Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of we blind people more than any other group. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so I want to tell you about the interaction Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between computer-based adaptive technology Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the many volunteers who helped me over the years Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to become the person I am today. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's an interaction between volunteers, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,passionate inventors, and technology, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's a story that many other blind people could tell. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But let me tell you a little bit about it today. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was five, I went to school and I learned braille. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's an ingenious system of six dots Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are punched into paper, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I can feel them with my fingers. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, I think they are putting up my grade six report. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know where Julian Morrow got that from. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was pretty good in reading, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but religion and musical appreciation needed more work. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you leave the opera house, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you'll find there's braille signage in the lifts. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look for it. Have you noticed it? Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I do. I look for it all the time. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was at school, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the books were transcribed by transcribers, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,voluntary people who punched one dot at a time Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I'd have volumes to read, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that had been going on, mainly by women, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,since the late 19th century in this country, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it was the only way I could read. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was in high school, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I got my first Philips Reel-to-Reel tape recorder, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and tape recorders became my sort of pre-computer Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,medium of learning. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I could have family and friends read me material, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I could then read it back Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as many times as I needed. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it brought me into contact Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with volunteers and helpers. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For example, when I studied at graduate school Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at Queen's University in Canada, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the prisoners at the Collins Bay jail agreed to help me. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I gave them a tape recorder, and they read into it. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As one of them said to me, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Ron, we ain't going anywhere at the moment." Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But think of it. These men, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who hadn't had the educational opportunities I'd had, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,helped me gain post-graduate qualifications in law Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by their dedicated help. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, I went back and became an academic Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at Melbourne's Monash University, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for those 25 years, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tape recorders were everything to me. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, in my office in 1990, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had 18 miles of tape. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Students, family, and friends all read me material. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mrs. Lois Dowery, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whom I later came to call my surrogate mom, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,read me many thousands of hours of the tape. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the reasons I agreed to give this talk today Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was that I was hoping that Lois would be here Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I could introduce you to her and publicly thank her. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But sadly, her health hasn't permitted her to come today. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I thank you here, Lois, from this platform. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saw my first Apple Computer in 1984, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I thought to myself, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"This thing's got a glass screen, not much use to me." Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How very wrong I was. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1987, in the month our eldest son Jared was born, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I got my first blind computer, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's actually here. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,See it up there? Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you see it has no, what do you call it, no screen. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a blind computer. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a Keynote Gold 84k, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the 84k stands for it had 84 kilobytes of memory. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Don't laugh, it cost me 4,000 dollars at the time. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think there's more memory in my watch. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was invented by Russell Smith, a passionate inventor Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in New Zealand who was trying to help blind people. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sadly, he died in a light plane crash in 2005, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but his memory lives on in my heart. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It meant, for the first time, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I could read back what I had typed into it. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It had a speech synthesizer. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd written my first co-authored [unclear] book Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a typewriter in 1979 purely from memory. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This now allowed me to read back what I'd written Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to enter the computer world, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even with its 84k of memory. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1974, the great Ray Kurzweil, the American inventor, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,worked on building a machine that would scan books Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and read them out in synthetic speech. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Optical character recognition units then Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only operated usually on one font, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but by using charged couple device flatbed scanners Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and speech synthesizers, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he developed a machine that could read any font. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And his machine, which was as big as a washing machine, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was launched on the 13th of January, 1976. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I saw my first commercially available Kurzweil Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in March, 1989, and it blew me away, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in September 1989, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the month that my associate professorship Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at Monash University was announced, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the law school bought one, and I could use it. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the first time, I could read what I wanted to read Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by putting a book on the scanner. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I didn't have to be nice to people! Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I no longer would be censored. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For example, I was too shy then, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'm actually too shy now, to ask anybody Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to read me out loud sexually explicit material. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, you know, I could pop a book on in the middle of the night, and -- Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause) Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, the Kurzweil Reader is simply Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a program on my laptop. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's what it's shrunk to. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now I can scan the latest novel Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not wait to get it into talking book libraries. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can keep up with my friends. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are many people who have helped me in my life, Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and many that I haven't met. Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One is another American inventor Ted Hentna.