Allison interviews Mary Jo Barry from Dolphin about their products that help those with visual impairment more easily access their computers.
Mary Jo first describes their SuperNova product, which provides screen magnification and screen reading with optional braille support in one package for Windows computers. For touch-sensitive Windows displays, SuperNova supports touch control of the magnified screen, including pan and zoom functions.
Next, she describes Dolphin Kiosks, an operating system designed to make self-service, public kiosks more accessible to people with low vision. Similar to SuperNova, Dolphin Kiosks adds magnification, zoom, and pan control to kiosk displays for easier control by people with low vision. Dolphin Kiosks also includes tap-to-talk technology, allowing the user to click on a word or phrase so they can hear it read to them.
Mary Jo concludes by describing GuideConnect, a computer interface designed for people with visual impairments, those who may be tech bashful, or people with cognitive challenges. The GuideConnect operating system is a simplified interface that keeps the user in a closed environment, yet contains all the functions they need to accomplish on a computer. GuideConnect includes a remote that allows the user to control and navigate the computer if they prefer that method over traditional keyboard/mouse control.
Learn more at https://www.yourdolphin.com/
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Transcript of Interview:
Allison: Well, I came to this booth because Mary Jo Barry was giving dolphin balloons away to children, but it’s actually a company that’s doing some interesting work helping with people who have trouble with print media on computing devices. And you’ve got kind of three different things we’re going to talk about. Where do you want to start?
Mary Jo Barry: We’ll start with Supernova. Supernova is our magnification, magnification in speech, and magnification in screen reading software. It’s all one product, so not different products glued together. And as people need more support, sometimes people have a chronic eye disease that worsens over time, they can step into the next level.
Allison: And this is specifically for Windows PCs with touchscreens, correct?
Mary Jo Barry: It doesn’t need to be on a touchscreen, but for magnification users, it does have a very unique feature in that we’re the only magnification software that has true touchscreen capability. So my finger is the mouse, and I, students, older students, college, university students really like being able to use a Surface Pro, a light computer. We use a lot less resources than a lot of competitors, so they love that feature.
Allison: So what she’s been doing is pinching and zooming to go in and out on the screen. And this product is called Dolphin…
Mary Jo Barry: Supernova.
Allison: Okay. And now you’ve got a kiosk here. What is this product?
Mary Jo Barry: So we’ve taken our core technology, Supernova, and put it in a kiosk format. Everyone encounters self-service kiosks these days. Just saw one at the airport.
Allison: Exactly.
Mary Jo Barry: The trouble is, more and more we’re starting to see that they’re equipped for people who are blind. So a person who’s blind would come to a kiosk, they would bring their own earbuds, they would know to plug into this Storm navigation pad, and then they explore the screen by using arrow keys while the buttons are read to them.
Allison: So that’s not part of your product.
Mary Jo Barry: It is. Oh, it is.
Allison: Okay.
Mary Jo Barry: It’s part of screen reading. It’s pretty arduous, and it over-accommodates the 95% of people who just have low vision. So we’ve used our magnification in the case of interactive kiosks so that more people can use a kiosk independently. Again, she’s using her fingers to pinch to zoom around on the screen on a kiosk.
Allison: So instead of having to start with something that maybe if you’re just low vision, you don’t even have that capability.
Mary Jo Barry: Correct. We also have a tap-to-talk technology. So if I click on a word, and our speakers aren’t working, of course, because you’re filming, but if you click on a word, you can hear it read or a piece of text. That way, people who are dyslexic or neurodivergent, people who might be second language speakers or even low literacy environments can interact in an independent way with self-service kiosks.
Allison: Wow, that’s really cool because you’re encompassing everybody.
Mary Jo Barry: That’s right. It’s like one group.
Allison: Casting a wider net.
Mary Jo Barry: There we go.
Allison: So we’re going to slide across over here to what is this final product called?
Mary Jo Barry: Yeah. So this is a product called Guide Connect, and it’s aimed at the aging population. People who we call might be tech bashful. They’re not real comfortable with technology.
Allison: Oh, I like that. Tech bashful. That’s a great phrase.
Mary Jo Barry: Well, they’re not native technology users. So when they’re losing their vision or even struggling, you know, with things like cognitively, with dementia or the like, we keep them in a closed environment so they’re not out in the wild on the windows, home screen, opening and closing applications. All the things that they would normally do in separate applications are kept in this closed environment.
Allison: I’m going to describe this a little bit. So it’s great big blocks. So there’s a big block that says emails, letters and documents, websites, scanner and camera. So they’re big categories. And again, this is probably a touchscreen, so it’d be easy to click.
Mary Jo Barry: It is. Yep. They can increase the size. She’s pinching and zooming again. And every time they make a decision, so if they want to send an email, oh, this is another great thing. We found that folks are way more comfortable with a remote control than a keyboard.
Allison: So she’s got a really pretty… So they can do anything on this remote. She’s got a really pretty blue dolphin remote.
Mary Jo Barry: Yeah. Looks a little bit reminiscent of an Apple TV remote.
Allison: Yeah, yeah. It’s very simple. So you’re saying they’re better at that?
Mary Jo Barry: Yep. They’re very good at that. So every time they make a decision, let’s say we want to send an email, we’re on email and we could have speech on, but it’s loud. So we’re opting out of that. I make a selection. It says, okay, email. Now what do you want to do? Do you want to write one? Do you want to read your inbox? Do you want to go to a draft that you’re working on? So if I go to my inbox, I might not have it set up, but every time I make a choice, I’m given the next choice. It’s limited sets each time.
Allison: Small chunks of…
Mary Jo Barry: Yeah. So it’s not overwhelming. Very successful.
Allison: Exactly. Yeah. All right. So Dolphin is well known in the European market, but you’re still a global company, but how would people find out more about the Dolphin products?
Mary Jo Barry: They visit our website at yourdolphin.com. Y-O-U-R-D-O-L-P-H-I-N.com.
Allison: All right. And you get free Dolphin balloons if you come to see some.
Mary Jo Barry: If you come see me, I will give you one. And you’re less than two feet tall.
Allison: Yes. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Mary Jo Barry: Thank you.