UbiDuo-- the next fad!

gnarlydorkette

gnarlydorkette

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I am surprised nobody wrote about it... and I am usually behind in the Deaf news!

I saw UbiDuo at this year's NAD in Palm Desert and I WISHED I had it when I was in Turkey so I don't have to use the interpreters!!!

http://www.scommonline.com/
"Help eliminate frustration in face-to-face communication and facilitate quicker, easier face-to-face rapport between people who are hearing and people who are deaf."
"Provide portable, easy to use, wireless devices that enable face-to-face communication between deaf or hard of hearing people with hearing people freely."
"Give freedom of communication to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, even with total strangers."
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The old and tried paper-and-pen method has been digitialized!! You have two mini-laptops where you can type back and forth in live time. It is portable and it even can be used to call TTY-users (and Ubiduo-users as well!) No need to have an internet connection or having an interpreter to voice/sign for you (and the struggle to find an AVAILABLE interpreter just for a five-minute interaction??).

I fell in love with this product because I envision that if I use this, it can give me personal interactions with hearing friends who are slowly learning signs (or my classmates !) rather than using an interpreter which seems to scare off hearing people or twist my words around because they couldn't understand me (and never ask me to clarify!). I don't want to struggle to find the RIGHT interpreter who knows how to do the job... and Usually I just want to ask ONE simple question! Why bother to bring on all the troubles???

It is expensive at the moment but they said (I met the owner's hearing wife) they are hoping that the government grants can help them out to sell it cheap for everybody to use.

Check out the website...! Keep us posted if you can find a cheaper Ubiduo. I def will buy it (so I can use it for doctor appt and many more where I want to have privacy than having an interpreter)

Pane-ubi.jpg
 
Well, I've seen it around, but I didn't think it was news. I've caught it at the St. Louis DeafNation and I've met the owner a few times. The price that was quoted is pretty pricey for a device that is only for your communication.

To be fair, for the same price, you can get 2 Dell laptops with wireless cards that can communicate with each other and the internet.

The target audience for this is schools and organizations that don't want to "pay by the hour" for an interpreter and instead pay a one-time fee for some fairly expensive technology. I understand their target price is around $2000.

So, you have 1 interpreter who can provide 40 hours of interpreting at $50 a hour, or a pair of Ubis at $2000.

40 hours of interpreting is a lot, that's about a 1 hour college class meeting 3 times a week for 13 weeks / 1 semester.
 
Hmm... that looks interesting. If only the company could distribute business cards to some people and those people could hand one to businesses when necessary, not as advertisement for everyone... but like to one person who has a problem communicating with us.
 
And it can be used by "broken" interpreters (those who cannot sign anymore due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or whatever health issue that affects their ability to interpret) by voicing out what the Deaf client is typing (or signing!) and then type/speak into a laptop where a VoiceRecognition program can covert to text.

So this type of service may be more available at many universities because you can use it as notetaking as well because you can keep the transcripts of what is being typed/voiced into the laptop. So you still retain your able to sign freely if necessary and know the exactly words your professor use (so you know what will be on the tests!) and whatnot.

I love ASL but I think it helps just to KNOW what exactly your professor says because each intepreters has their own choices of words that is just WAY off... they are not students so they don't really know which is more important, the concept or WORDS (for example, art history-- i need to know NAMES and DATES. usually fingerspelling names or clarifying the date are the worst things you can ask from an interpreter, even those with years of experience).

Just my two cents. I will definitely use the UbiDuo for some lecture classes where the exams are heavily relied on what the professor says and for some studio art class where interpreters just sat around and went "doo-doo"... my university always bitch about saving money so they can just get me an UbiDuo for my studio art classes and be happy because now they can dispatch the interpreters to other lecture classes.
 
gnarlydorkette said:
And it can be used by "broken" interpreters (those who cannot sign anymore due to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or whatever health issue that affects their ability to interpret) by voicing out what the Deaf client is typing (or signing!) and then type/speak into a laptop where a VoiceRecognition program can covert to text.
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I'd like to know what you're smoking today. :lol: A person with CTS would not be able to use a computer keyboard that extensively, to begin with!

But, there is another problem with your logic behind the UbiDuo in a interpretive setting; the speed differential between voicing and typing. An average person will talk around 120-150 words per minute. Even the most skilled typist will manage upwards to 60-80 words per minute. Using the UbiDuo will quickly prove impractical for many types of conversations, save for shorter ones usually encountered in less formal settings.
So this type of service may be more available at many universities because you can use it as notetaking as well because you can keep the transcripts of what is being typed/voiced into the laptop. So you still retain your able to sign freely if necessary and know the exactly words your professor use (so you know what will be on the tests!) and whatnot.
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This would be similiar to a CART service. Your mileage may vary, and it's just better to use a plain vanilla networked laptop for this purpose. Even then, the CART typist will not type in everything that's said in a classroom, and roughly 50% or more will be lost.
I will definitely use the UbiDuo for some lecture classes where the exams are heavily relied on what the professor says and for some studio art class where interpreters just sat around and went "doo-doo"...
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While I have never attended art classes of any sort, I would imagine that it would not be a 'lecture-intensive' class, and perhaps, a CART provider using a UbiDuo machine would suffice. But you're pushing it, IMO.

Sounds like you need real-time reporting services for your classes. There would be a stenographer and dedicated keyboards and interfaces put in place for you. A stenographer with a special keyboard can match the speeds attained by voice, overcoming the speed differential, and result in a much better interpretation.

I have seen real-time reporting services and they are okay. They are just like the ones you see on nationally-broadcast newscasts. An occasional glitch, spelling error, etc. will pop up now and then, though. It's not perfect, but far better than CART services.
 
Eyeth said:
Even then, the CART typist will not type in everything that's said in a classroom, and roughly 50% or more will be lost.While I have never attended art classes of any sort, I would imagine that it would not be a 'lecture-intensive' class, and perhaps, a CART provider using a UbiDuo machine would suffice. But you're pushing it, IMO.

Sounds like you need real-time reporting services for your classes. There would be a stenographer and dedicated keyboards and interfaces put in place for you. A stenographer with a special keyboard can match the speeds attained by voice, overcoming the speed differential, and result in a much better interpretation.
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I think you're confusing CART, which is done on a steno keyboard, with Typewell/CPrint, which are not. Some CART reporters do the same sort of summarizing that is used in Typewell, but the ones that do it *right* (and by this, I mean the majority of experienced, certified reporters) do verbatim or nearly verbatim transcription. I've heard figures of 200 wpm as an average speech rate, though some people go as low as 150 or as high as 250. In my experience, the limiting factor with CART isn't speed - it's things like the size and content of the reporter's dictionary, the lag time, the ability of the reporter to recognize content in a field they may not be familiar with, and that kind of thing.
 
Eyeth said:
I'd like to know what you're smoking today. :lol: A person with CTS would not be able to use a computer keyboard that extensively, to begin with!
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I did include: "type/speak" ... there is a such device where you can simply speak into a....muffler, I guess, and the software on the laptop will type for you. :) I have already met several interpreters who chose to venture out in this field this to save their wrists... they do sign if they feel they can, but they know when to stop.

But, there is another problem with your logic behind the UbiDuo in a interpretive setting; the speed differential between voicing and typing. An average person will talk around 120-150 words per minute. Even the most skilled typist will manage upwards to 60-80 words per minute. Using the UbiDuo will quickly prove impractical for many types of conversations, save for shorter ones usually encountered in less formal settings.This would be similiar to a CART service. Your mileage may vary, and it's just better to use a plain vanilla networked laptop for this purpose. Even then, the CART typist will not type in everything that's said in a classroom, and roughly 50% or more will be lost.While I have never attended art classes of any sort, I would imagine that it would not be a 'lecture-intensive' class, and perhaps, a CART provider using a UbiDuo machine would suffice. But you're pushing it, IMO.
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Maybe you envisioned a typical art classroom differently than mine? Usually the only times I need an interpreter is when the professor or a classmate comes to me alone and discuss about my/their art... or even we will have a meeting in their TINY offices where three persons are too crowded. So, imagine that kind of tight space, should I throw in a CART person??? Com'on. In my experience, many interpreters I encountered find art studios too awkward to interpreter because there is no center platform where the professor will stand on. The professor is CONSTANTLY on move... so the interpreter feels LOST in that milieu. And the 'terp never sat close to me to interp what my professor wants to say to me. So would it apply the same to CART since they have to have a PLACE to sit and do their whatever? I have noticed in last three years that most of my professors totally DISSED the interpreters and used the paper-n-pen method with me because they feel the interpreters never really can understand the terminology of art whereas I DO understand so why bother going through a third party?
So if I use an UbiDuo, the professor can have his/her own wherever s/he is at and type away to me to tell me what to do, and what s/he is saying if s/he says something to the classroom widely and whatnot. and I can type my questions et cetera to the professor instead of leaving my art space and scribble soemthing down with paint all over the paper.
I know I don't have to defend myself, but I feel that an UbiDuo will benefit me and my hearing art professors because they feel an interpreter is invasive and inefficient in an art studio.

Sounds like you need real-time reporting services for your classes. There would be a stenographer and dedicated keyboards and interfaces put in place for you. A stenographer with a special keyboard can match the speeds attained by voice, overcoming the speed differential, and result in a much better interpretation.
Click to expand...
The art studio is usually intimate (5 to 10 students to a professor) so to have a stranger typing or speaking into a weird device in far corner of the studio is kind of creepy and in conclusion, alienated me out. Why cannot I use an UbiDuo myself and make the classroom feel like a family? :)
One of my best art professors last semester have personally written me a note to tell me how much he looks forward to my future as an artist and he made a side note saying: "This is much more personal that I can tell you now on this paper than I would with an interpreter."
So if he feels that way, I would rather to use UbiDuo with him, than having a third party being imposed on our student-professor relationship.

So it all boils down to: an annoying third-party. Let it be a CART, interpreter, whoever-- the point is that they are a stranger. They are not familiar with art. They cannot be personal hence they cannot be part of the friendly initimate art studio class. SO they are alienating me out because the peers will know that the reason there is a stranger in the room is ME. I don't want any further stigmas. I just want to get moving on with my art. Ubi-duo is a simple device. No person. No strangers. Nothing. Just... a communication device. Just a fancy way of using a pen and paper....

K.I.S.S.
 
I did mention I wish I had this in Turkey because I have some issues with my two interpreters. If I use an UbiDuo, I won't have to handle with lethargic people who don't want to sign anymore. I won't have to listen to one of interpreters bitching about another interperter. I won't have to share my room with THEM. I won't have to ask them: "Can you interpret that conversation?". I won't have to ask them if they can go out with me to downtown at 11pm. I won't have to ask them to clear up their fingerspelling. They are humans. They cannot work 24-7 or at demand. They need a break.
But an UbiDuo CAN work anytime and it won't cry for a break!! ;-)
 
Dennis said:
Well, I've seen it around, but I didn't think it was news. I've caught it at the St. Louis DeafNation and I've met the owner a few times. The price that was quoted is pretty pricey for a device that is only for your communication.

To be fair, for the same price, you can get 2 Dell laptops with wireless cards that can communicate with each other and the internet.

The target audience for this is schools and organizations that don't want to "pay by the hour" for an interpreter and instead pay a one-time fee for some fairly expensive technology. I understand their target price is around $2000.

So, you have 1 interpreter who can provide 40 hours of interpreting at $50 a hour, or a pair of Ubis at $2000.

40 hours of interpreting is a lot, that's about a 1 hour college class meeting 3 times a week for 13 weeks / 1 semester.
Click to expand...

So, you are willing to carry two laptops that would weigh together anywhere from 12 to 18 lbs and a price range from $1400 to $3500 dollars for two laptops? The UbiDuo weighs 5lbs. BTW, the UbiDuo is considered as one unit. And the cost is $1875.00. They had an introductory price of $1675.00 a few months back to sign up for the UbiDuo early. The UbiDuo is a portable communication device used primarily for face to face conversations. When you turn on a laptop it requires boot up time. That's not the case for UbiDuo. Also, the UbiDuo can communicate with a user who only have a TTY and not a computer connected into the internet. Plus many more. The UbiDuo is NOT a laptop. It's not a computer but a communication device. And it's designed to keep things simple and easy to use and not have the intimadation technology factor that would scare some of the older folks who are used to the crude pen and paper method. It also presents a more small and sleek professional look as well as provide a better quality professional services to deaf/hh people just as it did for front desk employees of the Marriott resort hotel over 5 days during the NAD convention in Palm Springs, CA. See the first link below on that story.

The target audience is mainly for businesses as well as for personal use. It also can be used as a support service for deaf/hh at colleges, universities and government agencies just as Gnarleydork tried to describe her version of it at college.

Now, Would you rather have a complete one to one conversation than to rely on a third party who, oftentimes, paraphrase what you have said? How many times have you said, "Hey, I didn't mean to say it that way!" or "I wasn't saying that." ?

You can learn more about the UbiDuo here - http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/07/ubiduo-and-nad-at-palm-springs.html

Also, here is the explainations on the 6 different modes of communication on the UbiDuo.- http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/05/us-government-approves-ubiduo.html

And, no. I don't get paid to write about this. I just believe in the UbiDuo and what it can do to help narrow the communication gap between deaf and hearing people as well as give them greater independency. Plus, it's good blogging material, too.
 
gnarlydorkette said:
I did mention I wish I had this in Turkey because I have some issues with my two interpreters. If I use an UbiDuo, I won't have to handle with lethargic people who don't want to sign anymore. I won't have to listen to one of interpreters bitching about another interperter. I won't have to share my room with THEM. I won't have to ask them: "Can you interpret that conversation?". I won't have to ask them if they can go out with me to downtown at 11pm. I won't have to ask them to clear up their fingerspelling. They are humans. They cannot work 24-7 or at demand. They need a break.
But an UbiDuo CAN work anytime and it won't cry for a break!! ;-)
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you value true independency depending on the environment and need, then that's exactly what deaf/hh would want to do. Have a communication device that can help with the communication gap. Now, here's the sad part, one guy on my blogsite commented that he depend on his interpreter for social means. Now, granted, the UbiDuo won't replace interpreters. It does, however, give you the means to be more on your own rather than to be limited to the schedule of the interpreter as well as the quality of the interpeter's signing ability.

There's room for this UbiDuo. Lots of room.
 
gnarlydorkette said:
I did include: "type/speak" ... there is a such device where you can simply speak into a....muffler, I guess, and the software on the laptop will type for you. :) I have already met several interpreters who chose to venture out in this field this to save their wrists... they do sign if they feel they can, but they know when to stop.


Maybe you envisioned a typical art classroom differently than mine? Usually the only times I need an interpreter is when the professor or a classmate comes to me alone and discuss about my/their art... or even we will have a meeting in their TINY offices where three persons are too crowded. So, imagine that kind of tight space, should I throw in a CART person??? Com'on. In my experience, many interpreters I encountered find art studios too awkward to interpreter because there is no center platform where the professor will stand on. The professor is CONSTANTLY on move... so the interpreter feels LOST in that milieu. And the 'terp never sat close to me to interp what my professor wants to say to me. So would it apply the same to CART since they have to have a PLACE to sit and do their whatever? I have noticed in last three years that most of my professors totally DISSED the interpreters and used the paper-n-pen method with me because they feel the interpreters never really can understand the terminology of art whereas I DO understand so why bother going through a third party?
So if I use an UbiDuo, the professor can have his/her own wherever s/he is at and type away to me to tell me what to do, and what s/he is saying if s/he says something to the classroom widely and whatnot. and I can type my questions et cetera to the professor instead of leaving my art space and scribble soemthing down with paint all over the paper.
I know I don't have to defend myself, but I feel that an UbiDuo will benefit me and my hearing art professors because they feel an interpreter is invasive and inefficient in an art studio.


The art studio is usually intimate (5 to 10 students to a professor) so to have a stranger typing or speaking into a weird device in far corner of the studio is kind of creepy and in conclusion, alienated me out. Why cannot I use an UbiDuo myself and make the classroom feel like a family? :)
One of my best art professors last semester have personally written me a note to tell me how much he looks forward to my future as an artist and he made a side note saying: "This is much more personal that I can tell you now on this paper than I would with an interpreter."
So if he feels that way, I would rather to use UbiDuo with him, than having a third party being imposed on our student-professor relationship.

So it all boils down to: an annoying third-party. Let it be a CART, interpreter, whoever-- the point is that they are a stranger. They are not familiar with art. They cannot be personal hence they cannot be part of the friendly initimate art studio class. SO they are alienating me out because the peers will know that the reason there is a stranger in the room is ME. I don't want any further stigmas. I just want to get moving on with my art. Ubi-duo is a simple device. No person. No strangers. Nothing. Just... a communication device. Just a fancy way of using a pen and paper....

K.I.S.S.
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Exactly. Keep is simple stupid - K.I.S.S. principle.
 
Mickey-

Welcome to AD.com. I hope you will continue your participation in these forums beyond the UbiDuo.
kokonut said:
Now, Would you rather have a complete one to one conversation than to rely on a third party who, oftentimes, paraphrase what you have said? How many times have you said, "Hey, I didn't mean to say it that way!" or "I wasn't saying that." ?
Click to expand...
That, unfortunately, is a realistic occurence in my usage with ASL interpreters. Thanks to the human element, ASL interpreting does have its strengths and weaknesses. With that in mind, I have learned to accept and live with the resulting translations, correcting the dialogue accordingly and re-affirming certain understandings.

The UbiDuo does show promise, and its strength is based on personal one-on-one communications. But like any other communications solution, it is not without weaknesses. The user still has to type on the unit. While that is a giant step beyond the crude paper/pen method, it requires manual effort and skill, that may not be evident in the human population. (I'd hate to communicate with someone who's a hunt/peck typist!)

Maybe, if the company can get the units subsidized to some extent, I'll be interested in an UbiDuo. Right now, it's still too expensive for something I may only need to use occasionally.
 
Eyeth said:
Mickey-

Welcome to AD.com. I hope you will continue your participation in these forums beyond the UbiDuo.That, unfortunately, is a realistic occurence in my usage with ASL interpreters. Thanks to the human element, ASL interpreting does have its strengths and weaknesses. With that in mind, I have learned to accept and live with the resulting translations, correcting the dialogue accordingly and re-affirming certain understandings.

The UbiDuo does show promise, and its strength is based on personal one-on-one communications. But like any other communications solution, it is not without weaknesses. The user still has to type on the unit. While that is a giant step beyond the crude paper/pen method, it requires manual effort and skill, that may not be evident in the human population. (I'd hate to communicate with someone who's a hunt/peck typist!)

Maybe, if the company can get the units subsidized to some extent, I'll be interested in an UbiDuo. Right now, it's still too expensive for something I may only need to use occasionally.
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Which is why the UbiDuo is mostly oriented towards the business side of things. It's the customer or client interaction. Think big on this one and you'll see exactly what I mean.

As for subsidizing the cost, sComm is keeping an eye out for that hoping for a grant of some kind to help keep cost down for those individual users who need one.
 
I'm not willing to get something that costs $2,000 when I can get by with a 5 cent pen and 2 cent paper. ;)

Secondly, why carry around a big device around when you'll most likely find a paper and pen available where ever you're going. I've gone to Taco Bell and they simply print out a piece of paper from the receipt machine and a pen from under the counter for my deaf friends. I've gone to offices and the secretary has a penholder full of pens and a printer full of paper available.
 
VamPyroX said:
I'm not willing to get something that costs $2,000 when I can get by with a 5 cent pen and 2 cent paper. ;)

Secondly, why carry around a big device around when you'll most likely find a paper and pen available where ever you're going. I've gone to Taco Bell and they simply print out a piece of paper from the receipt machine and a pen from under the counter for my deaf friends. I've gone to offices and the secretary has a penholder full of pens and a printer full of paper available.
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Correct, but ironically my art classes never have any paper that people were WILLING to give up just to write on. ;-)
 
gnarlydorkette said:
Correct, but ironically my art classes never have any paper that people were WILLING to give up just to write on. ;-)
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Hmm... something doesn't make sense.

ART CLASSES!?

When I think of art classes, I think of paper, pen, pencils, erasers, paint, brush, etc.
 
Boult said:
I agree with Dennis though..

What about this one?
ITY-ITY.JPG

http://www.interpretype.com/index.php
* shrug*

and none of them are cross-platform, it is windows only so that sucks.
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Yea I saw "interpretype" at Closing the gap event in few years ago (Specialized equipment fair for physically disabled, blind, deafblind and deaf ppls).

nothing much about ITY, probably slow business schemes.
 
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