NFB Youth Slam!

Yesterday we were given the opportunity to tour the Jernigan Institute. We were sorted by track and put into different sessions. The session you went to depended on the track you were in. We of the News Crew had the session, History of Technology.

Ms. Anne Taylor and Mr. Steve Booth took us on a trip through the past, talking about how far blindness technology has come, from room-size computers in the 60’s, to mini-laptops in mid-2009. And of course we were sitting in the blind technology center which has more physical examples of that technology than any other place on earth. . Mr. Booth talked us through Ray Kurzweil’s invention of the optical character scanner, and even his help in creating some aspects of Xerox copying machines. He took us decade by decade from the 60’s up until now, showing what a rich background the NFB has in nearly all aspects of blind access technology. .
Mr. Booth mentioned how over time decreasing size of computers translated into decreasing cost. .
After an enthralling hour hearing about all the wonderful steps technology has made, we all began talking about what the future of technology may or may not hold, and the role of organized blind people to help advance it. Our dream and goal was looking forward to the accessible car that will be available for an acceptable price one day.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 7:35 am and is filed under My Journal, NFB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.