The opticon

One of the first high tech machines I used was called an opticon. It was extremely expensive and lived in the library at the school for the blind where I was a student. I was eight years old. The opticon had a base unit. You put your hand inside and there was a small display with vibrating pins. There was a camera you held in your right hand and slid across lines of print. Raised print letters appeared under your fingers, vibrating. You could read print in this manner if you knew the shapes of print letters. Thanks to magnetic letters on our fridge, I did know the shapes of the capital letters anyway. Some people still use opticons and love them. I haven't used one for years. Tomorrow, more on my personal technology journey.