Google Glass – A blind perspective

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Over the past few weeks, I have been playing around with Google Glass. It has been a wonderful experience, and I incredibly hopeful for the future opportunitIes that Glass can offer. As soon as I placed Glass on my face, I was reminded of the sensation of wearing glasses. The weight is similar to wearing a pair of prescription glasses. I quickly snapped a photo and was amazed with the simplicity of the hands free use.

Outdoors with Glass I had my first experience of navigation. I was able to issue a voice command and have the directions read aloud through the bone conduction ear piece. It was a nice hands off experience of navigating, while it is visually obvious I am wearing Glass, I felt this usage made me blend into the crowd. I didn’t have to remove a phone from my pocket and clumsily type a location or issue a voice command, I could seamlessly walk down the street and issue commands. This is powerful for the visually impaired. As using a phone with a guide dog or cane is impossible. Gestures often require two hands, so I need to drop the dogs harness, stand still and begin the process of multiple taps and gestures to find the app and input the location. With Glass however, I have hands free operation, I can control Glass while continuing my walk down the street. read more

Visually Impaired runner? Want to learn to be a running guide? Come join us!

simon Uncategorized 6 Comments

Recently Braddan and I began a guide running project – guiderunning.UK. The simple goal is to raise awareness, point people towards guide running information and training and ultimately to connect as many visually impaired runners with guides as possible.

To promote the launch of guiderunning.uk we want to recruit a team of visually impaired runners and guides to compete in a 24-hour relay race. Don’t panic – this is definitely a sociable experience and not an all-out endurance competition. Pace and experience are certainly not an issue.

The race takes place in London over a 6-mile multi terrain route. It is not incredibly demanding. Trails are well maintained and relatively flat. More information about the even can be found at Spitfire Scramble

In true Spitfire spirit, guiderunning.uk needs YOU! – Just leave a comment below or contact me if you are interested. read more

Airport navigation systems

simon Life Comment

Last year I was invited into the technology innovation centre of a major airline. I was presented with a key issue for the airline and asked for input. I came up with a number of ideas which focussed around iterative technology changes or what I believed to be breakthrough technologies that could deliver innovative solutions.

My suggestions for iterative changes revolved around the customer experience of media while on the plane. I had suggested that this experience could be extended to the lounge area, through simple changes, be that loaning devices to passengers or delivered through a mobile app. This was an easy solution to implement and something that would grow the customer experience.

The major idea I delivered focussed on the terminal. Airport terminals are vastly large spaces which can often be difficult to navigate. I suggested that a mobile app that aided with this problem would be of great benefit. Not only could it navigate customers through the terminal but also direct them to points of interest such as shops, restaurants, facilities and the required gate. The added nenefit of this would be navigation for the visually impaired, which supported my general message on accessibility. Develop a product that delivers value to the sighted while at the same time adding value to the none sighted. read more

Faceless

simon Life Comment

A couple of years ago I lost the ability to see faces on a daily basis. This happened so gradually I hardly noticed it was happening at all. For with people I have known a long time, I would fill in what they look like. So it was more apparent when I met someone new.

I found whenever I met someone knew I was creating a mental picture of what they looked like. But what was I basing this picture on? As how can I imagine what a stranger, I have never seen looks like?

These questions were brought to the forefront when I was working with a fellow student at university. I had worked with them on and off for over 2 years, so I knew their voice well. I could easily pick it out from a crowd of voices. Due to the familiarity of the voice I had begun to assign a mental representation. But rather than specific features it was just a feeling. While working with her one day I turned round and I got a brief flash of her face. For that brief moment all the conditions required for me to see were fulfilled to perfection. This is such a rare occurrence that to this day I have only seen my eldest sons face a handful of times and yet to see my youngest. read more

Outside

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After borrowing a GoPro camera from a friend and a suitable harness from another, I headed out today to film my classic running route. I was filming the route to add some additional content to an interview I gave a few weeks ago. It was an interesting run as it saw the return to running outside.

Since the birth of my second son I haven’t ran outside, this is mainly due to time constraints. In order to run outside my wife has to drop me off. With another child in the house this was proving difficult, so I had decided to conduct most of my running indoors. The result being a little over 7 months since I ran my traditional route. So there was a nagging question in my mind, could I still run the route? Had it changed? How many things would I run into? – The answers, yes, yes and none.

In order to demonstrate the first time I stepped out onto the dual carriageway I began my run at the closed road. This seemed incredibly apt, for a return to running outdoors. I would begin at the very same spot it did a few years ago. The closed road is simple, you just have to keep one foot on the line and run. It is far easier to only keep your outside foot on the line, this is because if you run central to the lines its difficult to read both feet on opposite lines. Often you can become confused and drift far more than you do with one line to follow. So I quickly breezed up and down the road and returned to the dual carriageway. read more

Hardmoors Osmotherly Half Trail Race Report

simon running 2 Comments

When I first entertained the thought of running at the ultra distance, I told myself I would only ever run on the road. There is one problem with this however, as not many ultras are run on the road – they are predominantly trail-based events. I avoided the idea of running on trails for as long as I could. But the longer you dream of ultras the idea of running trails comes to the forefront. I decided to bite the bullet and enter a trail race, the SDW50 – a 50 mile run across the South Downs Way.

So I could get used to running trails I decided to enter a half trail marathon – the Osmotherly half trail marathon. After speaking to the race director he assured me the trail could be easily run by a blind runner. Encouraged by this, I linked up with a guide runner from down south and we had arranged to run this race together. I have never run a true trail event, and Braddan had never acted as a guide runner, so this was going to be a true challenge for both of us. read more

Like The Wind Magazine

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I consider myself an emotional runner. As it is my emotional state that appears to dictate how far I can run. Whether it is riding the crest of a high, where running seems as simple as breathing, or the depths where another step seems a daunting task. It is perhaps those depths that offer the most interesting moments of running. The opportunity to overcome and push despite being emotionally and physically depleted. While in those depths I motivate myself by allowing my mind to wander. I recall stories of other runners that in the past have inspired and motivated me. It is those stories that pull me from the depths and allow me to continue.

So when I was asked to contribute to a new running magazine “Like The Wind” with a focus on runner’s stories, I jumped at the chance to contribute. I wrote a short piece that told the story of my initial steps into running solo. After submitting the article, I was asked if I had any photos of myself running. I rarely retain photos of myself, as I don’t particularly have a need for photos. Instead it was suggested that an illustrator could take my piece and use it as the basis for a drawing. I thought this a great idea as it would allow them to add their own take on my story. read more

Navigating the unknown

simon Life 3 Comments

During my heavy revision period, the tram I take to university was undergoing some maintenance. This meant I could no longer use my normal tram stop, instead relying on the replacement bus service to take me to the next stop.

This worked great until one evening when I was travelling alone. I realised I had no idea how to get from the tram to the replacement bus service. I thought Ascot might just go with the flow and guide me to the bus stop. Nope! – instead he went with the flow that took me to a road. I thought to myself – if someone can point me in the right direction to Meadowhall, I can figure it out from there!. I asked around and a kind lady offered to guide the way, so me and Ascot followed along. The kind lady dropped us off at Debenhams and was on her way. Now the challenge was getting from here to the train station, I had never walked this route before. read more

Passing an exam

simon Life, Uncategorized Comment

Last semester I took the brave decision to add Visual Perception as one of my modules. The line between brave and stupid is often quite blurry. I thought the module would offer me a great insight into how the visual system works and it really did. But it meant some very special preparation in order to pass the exam.

The majority of the concepts were described diagrammatically on the course, something which meant I would have to take a slightly different angle to learning in order to achieve a greater understanding of visual perception as well as pass the exam. I had to try and visualise the concepts that were being described something that became quite challenging when you have never seen them represented in the real world. For example the visual illusions – I was fortunate enough to have seen some of these illusions while I had sight. But for others the concept of a visual illusion without actually being able to perceive it is quite odd. read more

My 2013 top 3 books

simon Life 2 Comments

During 2013 I began to read at in increased rate. This was mainly due to the Kindle iOS app allowing VoiceOver. So for the first time since losing my vision I could read again. The only problem being not all books are available on Kindle yet so I often become annoyed that there are still a whole host of books I am unable to read. If I have a special interest in the book however, then I spend time converting it to make a digital copy.

My reading is shaped by my current interests, running, psychology and business. In order to expand my reading list I thought I would post my favourite reads of 2013 in the hope others would share theirs.

Priceless

Priceless is a fantastic insight into the psychology of pricing. As I read throughout the book I was amazed at just how many of the psychological tricks I have fallen prey too. The books covers everything from the psychology of mobile phone contracts to the size of a box of cereal. It really is a fascinating read on behavioural decision theory. read more