Accessible Test

MagneTachers for Large Print Labels

(Completed)
Purpose

To provide a magnetic label for canned goods or other metal surfaces that will hold large print letters made with bold-line pens or markers up to a half-inch in height

Project Staff

Mary T. (Terrie) Terlau, Project Leader

David McGee, Manufacturing Specialist
Background

Persons who can no longer read labels on canned food products frequently make large print labels on file cards and attach these cards to cans with a rubber band. Large print label-making devices can also be used. However, each of these methods is problematic. Rubber bands can slip off of round cans and can also become entangled with cards on neighboring cans on the cupboard shelf. Label makers are expensive and may not make print large enough for some persons with low vision. A strip of magnetized vinyl with a paper surface would allow persons with low vision to write labels and reuse them on other cans of the same food.

During FY 2007, MagneTachers for such labels that were 1-inch tall were already being developed. However, a large number of persons with low vision read print that is one-half-inch tall or smaller. Using larger labels can be cumbersome. To meet the needs of persons with low vision who can read smaller handwriting, the appropriate magnetic vinyl was located, and plans to produce a half-inch tall, 120-inch roll of MagneTachers for Large Print were made.
During FY 2008, internal expert review of materials and instructions was conducted and the product was made available for sale. However, the project leader noticed that large print labels on the finished product did not adhere well to the sides of metal cans. A search for vinyl incorporating a stronger magnetic material was undertaken.
Work during FY 2009

It was anticipated that an engineering change would be needed to acquire and use a stronger magnetic vinyl. However, additional in-house expert review of the final product showed that its vinyl held well to the sides of metal cans and that the problem had been restricted to pre-production samples. Therefore, the product was itself not changed.

Work planned for FY 2010

Because MagneTachers for Large Print labels required no changes and are available for sale, no additional development is anticipated in 2010. Information about MagneTachers for Large Print Labels can be found at http://www.aph.org/advisory/2008adv01.html#P3

MiniBook

(Continued)
Purpose

To provide a quick and easy method for jotting down short braille notes

Project Staff

Rosanne Hoffmann, Project Leader

Mary T. (Terrie) Terlau, Project Leader

Fred Gissoni, Project Assistant

Background

When persons who can see need to write down a phone number or other small note, they quickly pull a pen from their pocket and are writing on a Post-it® pad, or other available paper within seconds. The quick note can be later transferred to a planner or other more permanent storage. APH provides several products that involve small notebooks and small slates; such products allow a person who is blind to carry braille-writing materials with them in a large pocket or bag. However, when using these materials, it can take 30 seconds or more to get a slate out of a pouch or notebook pocket, put it onto a small piece of paper, get the stylus in a hand, and be ready to write. Frequently, a person who is blind must ask a speaker to repeat information because of the time it takes to get such braille-writing materials ready to write.

The MiniBook offers a solution to this problem because it is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, can hold a slate fastened to the first blank page in the book, and offers a stylus that can be easily removed from a pocket in the binder. During FY 2006, the size of the notebook was resolved and an appropriate-sized slate mold was ordered. Small twin-looped notebooks with detachable pages were added to materials under consideration for inclusion in the MiniBook kit.
During FY 2007, prototype materials were developed as follows: small 2-ring notebooks; drilled paper packs; small spiral notebooks with perforated pages for easy page removal; a customized, 4-line, 15-cell slate; a brief guidebook for using the MiniBook materials; tall and short APH flat styli. Field review was undertaken with 32 adult consumers, half of whom were frequent and half of whom were occasional slate-and-stylus users. Each of these groups was divided into two equal parts—one part testing the spiral notebook first, and the other testing the binder first.
During FY 2008, field test responses were collected from 29 of the 32 initial testers; two infrequent slate users and one frequent slate user did not complete and return assessment materials. Seven frequent slate users evaluated the binder first and then the notebook, and eight frequent slate users evaluated the notebook first and then the binder. Eight infrequent slate users evaluated the binder first and then the notebook, and six infrequent slate users evaluated the notebook first and then the binder. Although group size was too small to allow for application of rigorous analyses, comparisons of average group scores on evaluation and performance questions suggests that the frequency of slate use and the order in which components were tested were not related to testers' evaluations of the components.
Testers expressed strong preferences for a slate with notches in the top rectangle of the cell to help guide the stylus into appropriate dot positions; and a significant number experienced pain or discomfort when using the flat styli. As a result of this feedback, changes to the slate mold were initiated, and substitution of a saddle stylus for the APH flat stylus was made.
Work during FY 2009

The initial slate prototype was redesigned, field testing on the redesigned slate was conducted, and additional slate design changes have been made. After the initial design changes (adding dot indentations to the top cell rectangles) were made, slates made by the Rapid Prototype manufacturing method were received, in-house expert review was undertaken, recommendations for additional changes were received, and a new set of slates were obtained meeting the new design specifications.

Six of the original MiniBook field reviewers, selected according to their ability to articulate their responses, and balanced for their strong opinions for or against slate design changes, tested new prototype slates for two weeks and returned evaluation forms. Based on these evaluations, one more change is to be made to slate drawings, one more rapid prototype will be created, and then the final mold will be made.
Continued analysis of field test data indicated that testers found the binder rings to be very difficult to open and close. The 2-ring set used in the binder prototype does not have an opener tab; and the smallest ring set with this feature is approximately one half inch longer than the prototype ring set. Twenty-eight of the original 29 field testers were asked by email if they would trade up half an inch in binder size in exchange for rings that could be opened easily; one tester did not have an email address and was omitted from this sample. Six messages were returned as undeliverable, and four additional emails received no response.
Sixteen testers expressed a strong preference for rings that opened more easily and indicated that they could tolerate a half-inch increase in binder size to obtain this feature. One respondent had no preference, and another wanted both binders to be offered. Based on these results, the slightly larger binder with the ring-opener tab was selected for use in the final product.
Field testers expressed a variety of preferences about components that should be included in the final MiniBook kit; in the absence of consensus on this point, it was decided that components would be sold separately so that consumers and professionals could select the specific components that would work well for them. Final components will include: the redesigned MiniSlate and saddle stylus; the MiniBinder; filler paper; and a pack of two MiniSpirals.
Work planned for FY 2010

One more set of prototype drawings will be used to construct one more rapid prototype slate and the final mold will then be made. The production binders with the new ring set will be made, paper will be cut and drilled, and spiral notebooks will also be made. All parts of the kit―binder and filler paper, slate and stylus, and notebooks—will be sold separately so that consumers can purchase the combination that will meet their unique needs. It is anticipated that the MiniBook will be produced and become available for sale in FY 2010.