I remember my mum reading a story to me

當我大約三到四歲大的時候，

and my two big brothers,

我記得母親唸了一個故事

and I remember putting up my hands

給我和兩個哥哥聽，

to feel the page of the book,

我記得我把雙手放在

to feel the picture they were discussing.

書本上碰觸頁面的感覺，

And my mum said, "Darling,

想像他們正在討論的畫面。

remember that you can't see

我的母親說：「親愛的，

and you can't feel the picture

你要記得，你不能看、

and you can't feel the print on the page."

不能對圖片有感觸，

And I thought to myself,

也無法感覺頁面上的印刷。」

"But that's what I want to do.

我暗自在心裡想：

I love stories. I want to read."

「可是那是我想要的啊！

Little did I know

我熱愛故事，我想要閱讀。」

that I would be part of a technological revolution

我一點也不知道，

that would make that dream come true.

我會成為科技革命的一分子，

I was born premature by about 10 weeks,

那是會讓我夢想成真的一場革命。

which resulted in my blindness, some 64 years ago.

我早產大約十週，

The condition is known as retrolental fibroplasia,

那讓我在 64 年前就失明了。

and it's now very rare in the developed world.

就是所謂的晶狀體後纖維增生症 (retrolental fibroplasia)，

Little did I know, lying curled up

這個疾病現在在 已開發國家已經很少見了。

in my prim baby humidicrib in 1948

我一點也不知道，我蜷縮地躺在

that I'd been born at the right place

嬰兒保溫箱中的 1948 年，

and the right time,

其實我就出生在對的地方

that I was in a country where I could participate

和對的時間。

in the technological revolution.

我生在一個國家，那是一個能讓我參與

There are 37 million totally blind people on our planet,

科技革命的地方。

but those of us who've shared in the technological changes

世界上有 3,700 萬人全盲，

mainly come from North America, Europe,

但是我們獲得的科技革新

Japan and other developed parts of the world.

主要來自於北美、歐洲、

Computers have changed the lives of us all in this room

日本，以及世界上其它已開發國家。

and around the world,

電腦改變了在座所有人

but I think they've changed the lives

以及全世界的生活。

of we blind people more than any other group.

但是我想電腦對盲人生活的改變，

And so I want to tell you about the interaction

遠大於其他人。

between computer-based adaptive technology

因此我想告訴你不同的互動方式，

and the many volunteers who helped me over the years

包含了運用電腦科技

to become the person I am today.

以及這幾年來幫助我的志工，

It's an interaction between volunteers,

他們讓我成為現在的我。

passionate inventors and technology,

這是與志工、

and it's a story that many other blind people could tell.

熱情的發明家和科技間的互動，

But let me tell you a bit about it today.

這是每一位盲人都能說的故事，

When I was five, I went to school and I learned braille.

就讓我今天和你分享一點吧！

It's an ingenious system of six dots

在我五歲時，我上學去學點字，

that are punched into paper,

那是一種非常巧妙的系統，

and I can feel them with my fingers.

運用打印在紙上的六個小點，

In fact, I think they're putting up my grade six report.

我就能用手指感覺它們。

I don't know where Julian Morrow got that from.

事實上，我想他們正把 我的六年級的成績單放在大螢幕上，

(Laughter)

我不知道朱麗安．莫若是打哪找到這個的。

I was pretty good in reading,

（笑聲）

but religion and musical appreciation needed more work.

我很擅長閱讀，

(Laughter)

但是宗教和音樂賞析就需要多加強。

When you leave the opera house,

（笑聲）

you'll find there's braille signage in the lifts.

當你離開歌劇院，

Look for it. Have you noticed it?

你會發現電梯裡有點字板。

I do. I look for it all the time.

找找看，你有注意過嗎？

(Laughter)

我有，我無時無刻都在找它。

When I was at school,

（笑聲）

the books were transcribed by transcribers,

當我還在學的時候，

voluntary people who punched one dot at a time

會有人謄錄書本，

so I'd have volumes to read,

志工每次打印一個點，

and that had been going on, mainly by women,

而我因此能有許多書可以讀，

since the late 19th century in this country,

這項工作通常由女性來做，

but it was the only way I could read.

早在我國 19 世紀末時就開始了，

When I was in high school,

但那是我當時唯一可以閱讀的方式。

I got my first Philips reel-to-reel tape recorder,

當我讀中學時，

and tape recorders became my sort of pre-computer

我得到第一台飛利普磁盤式錄音機，

medium of learning.

自此之後，錄音機就成了我的

I could have family and friends read me material,

電腦前學習方式。

and I could then read it back

我可以請親友幫我讀點東西，

as many times as I needed.

然後我可以跟著

And it brought me into contact

要唸幾次就唸幾次。

with volunteers and helpers.

這讓我開始接觸

For example, when I studied at graduate school

志工和其他幫助我的人。

at Queen's University in Canada,

比如說，當我就讀

the prisoners at the Collins Bay jail agreed to help me.

加拿大皇后大學的研究所時，

I gave them a tape recorder, and they read into it.

哥蓮士灣監獄 (Collins Bay Jail) 的囚犯答應要幫我。

As one of them said to me,

我把錄音機交給他們， 然後他們把內容錄進去。

"Ron, we ain't going anywhere at the moment."

其中有一個人告訴我：

(Laughter)

「朗，我們現在哪兒也不去。」

But think of it. These men,

（笑聲）

who hadn't had the educational opportunities I'd had,

但你想想，這些人，

helped me gain post-graduate qualifications in law

他們沒有和我擁有同樣的教育機會，

by their dedicated help.

卻幫助我取得法律碩士學位，

Well, I went back and became an academic

全力以赴。

at Melbourne's Monash University,

嗯，我回來後任教於

and for those 25 years,

墨爾本的蒙納許大學 (Monash University) 。

tape recorders were everything to me.

在那 25 年裡，

In fact, in my office in 1990,

錄音機是我的一切。

I had 18 miles of tape.

事實上，1990 年時，我在辦公室裡

Students, family and friends all read me material.

就有 18 哩長的錄音帶。

Mrs. Lois Doery,

學生、家人和朋友都幫我唸各種東西。

whom I later came to call my surrogate mum,

露易絲．桃蕊 (Lois Doery) 女士

read me many thousands of hours onto tape.

我後來視她如母親一般，

One of the reasons I agreed to give this talk today

幫我錄了上千小時的書。

was that I was hoping that Lois would be here

我同意今天演講的原因之一

so I could introduce you to her and publicly thank her.

是因為我希望露易絲能在這，

But sadly, her health hasn't permitted her to come today.

如此一來，我就能向你們介紹她， 並公開向她致謝。

But I thank you here, Lois, from this platform.

但可惜的是，她今天 身體不太舒服，無法前來。

(Applause)

不過露易絲，我還是想在 這個舞台上向跟你說聲謝謝。

I saw my first Apple computer in 1984,

（掌聲）

and I thought to myself,

我在 1984 年時看到我的第一台蘋果電腦，

"This thing's got a glass screen, not much use to me."

我心裡想：

How very wrong I was.

「這個東西有一面玻璃螢幕， 對我來說沒什麼用。」

In 1987, in the month our eldest son Gerard was born,

我真是大錯特錯。

I got my first blind computer,

我的長子傑拉德在 1987 年出生的那個月，

and it's actually here.

我得到了第一台盲用電腦，

See it up there?

其實它就在這裡。

And you see it has no, what do you call it, no screen.

有看到嗎？

(Laughter)

你可以看到它沒有…嗯， 你們是怎麼說的？螢幕？

It's a blind computer.

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

畢竟這是一台盲用電腦。

It's a Keynote Gold 84k,

（笑聲）

and the 84k stands for it had 84 kilobytes of memory.

這是 Keynote Gold 84k，

(Laughter)

84k 指的是有 84 千位元組的記憶體。

Don't laugh, it cost me 4,000 dollars at the time. (Laughter)

（笑聲）

I think there's more memory in my watch.

別笑，當時我花了 4,000 美元才買到。

It was invented by Russell Smith, a passionate inventor

我的錶也有很多回憶，

in New Zealand who was trying to help blind people.

這支錶是由一位熱情的發明家 羅素．史密斯 (Russell Smith) 所發明的，

Sadly, he died in a light plane crash in 2005,

他一直在紐西蘭試著幫助盲人。

but his memory lives on in my heart.

讓人難過的是，他在 2005 年時 逝世於輕航機空難。

It meant, for the first time,

但是他的回憶將永存我心。

I could read back what I had typed into it.

對我來說，這是第一次

It had a speech synthesizer.

我打出來的文字能夠被讀出來，

I'd written my first coauthored labor law book

他有語音合成器。

on a typewriter in 1979 purely from memory.

我用打字機完成了第一本 勞工法令的合著書籍，

This now allowed me to read back what I'd written

那是在 1979 年時，全憑記憶。

and to enter the computer world,

現在我能夠聽取我之前寫的東西，

even with its 84k of memory.

然後把它輸入電腦世界，

In 1974, the great Ray Kurzweil, the American inventor,

即使它只有 84k 的記憶體。

worked on building a machine that would scan books

在 1974 年時，一位美國偉大的發明家 雷蒙德．庫茨魏爾 (Ray Kurzweil)，

and read them out in synthetic speech.

設計了一台能夠掃描書本的機器，

Optical character recognition units then

並透過合成語音把書讀出來。

only operated usually on one font,

光學辨識裝置

but by using charge-coupled device flatbed scanners

當時只能在一種字型中運作，

and speech synthesizers,

但是透過電聯裝置的平台式掃描器

he developed a machine that could read any font.

和語音合成器，

And his machine, which was as big as a washing machine,

他設計了能夠讀取任何字體的機器。

was launched on the 13th of January, 1976.

他的機器就跟洗衣機一樣大，

I saw my first commercially available Kurzweil

在 1976 年 1 月 13 日發行。

in March 1989, and it blew me away,

我第一次接觸到在市面上販賣的庫茨魏爾的機器，

and in September 1989,

是在 1989 年 3月時，當時我震撼不已。

the month that my associate professorship

在 1989 年 9 月時，

at Monash University was announced,

我的副教授同事

the law school got one, and I could use it.

在蒙納許大學宣佈

For the first time, I could read what I wanted to read

法學院有一台，我可以使用。

by putting a book on the scanner.

那是第一次，我可以想讀什麼就讀什麼，

I didn't have to be nice to people!

我只需要將書放上掃描機就可以了。

(Laughter)

我不需要再討好人了！

I no longer would be censored.

（笑聲）

For example, I was too shy then,

我不再會被檢視。

and I'm actually too shy now, to ask anybody

舉例來說，我很害羞，

to read me out loud sexually explicit material.

其實我現在還是 很不好意思去請任何人

(Laughter)

詳細地為我唸出關於性方面的資料。

But, you know, I could pop a book on in the middle of the night, and --

（笑聲）

(Laughter) (Applause)

但是，你知道，我可以在 深夜裡把書放上，然後…

Now, the Kurzweil reader is simply

（笑聲）（掌聲）

a program on my laptop.

現在庫茨魏爾閱讀機只是

That's what it's shrunk to.

我筆電上的一個程式而已。

And now I can scan the latest novel

它已經縮小成這樣了。

and not wait to get it into talking book libraries.

現在，我可以掃描最新的小說，

I can keep up with my friends.

不需要再等待它出現在有聲書圖書館裡，

There are many people who have helped me in my life,

我可以跟上朋友的流行腳步。

and many that I haven't met.

在我的生命裡，有許多人曾幫助我，

One is another American inventor Ted Henter.

很多與我是從未見過面的。

Ted was a motorcycle racer,

其中一位是美國的發明家 泰德．亨特 (Ted Hunter)，

but in 1978 he had a car accident and lost his sight,

泰德是摩托車賽車手，

which is devastating if you're trying to ride motorbikes.

但是 1978 年時，他出了車禍而失明了。

He then turned to being a waterskier

這還蠻嚇人的，如果你正打算騎機車。

and was a champion disabled waterskier.

然後他轉身成為滑水運動員，

But in 1989, he teamed up with Bill Joyce

並且成為滑水運動身障者的冠軍。

to develop a program that would read out

但是在 1989 年，他和 比爾喬依絲 (Bill Joyce) 合作，

what was on the computer screen

開發了一個電腦程式，能夠唸出

from the Net or from what was on the computer.

電腦螢幕上的東西，

It's called JAWS, Job Access With Speech,

透過從網路或是電腦螢幕上的東西。

and it sounds like this.

它稱為 JAWS，意即透過語音工作，

(JAWS speaking)

聽起來就像這樣。

Ron McCallum: Isn't that slow?

（JAWS 語音）

(Laughter)

朗：會不會太慢？

You see, if I read like that, I'd fall asleep.

（笑聲）

I slowed it down for you.

你看，如果我用這種速度唸，自己都會睡著。

I'm going to ask that we play it at the speed I read it.

我為了你們慢慢說話。

Can we play that one?

我現在想用我唸的速度來播放，

(JAWS speaking)

請播放。

(Laughter)

（JAWS 語音）

RM: You know, when you're marking student essays,

（笑聲）

you want to get through them fairly quickly.

朗：你知道，當你為 學生的論文打成績時，

(Laughter) (Applause)

你會想飛快地解決它們。

This technology that fascinated me in 1987

（笑聲）（掌聲）

is now on my iPhone and on yours as well.

這項科技在 1987 年時讓我著迷，

But, you know, I find reading with machines

現在它也出現在你、我的 iPhone 裡了。

a very lonely process.

但是，你知道，我發現和機器一起閱讀

I grew up with family, friends, reading to me,

是一個非常寂寞的過程。

and I loved the warmth and the breath

我的生長過程中有家人、朋友陪我閱讀，

and the closeness of people reading.

我喜愛那種人們閱讀時的

Do you love being read to?

溫暖、呼吸和親近感。

And one of my most enduring memories

你喜歡聽他人為你朗讀嗎？

is in 1999, Mary reading to me and the children

我印象中最久遠的回憶之一

down near Manly Beach

是在 1999 年時，瑪麗為我和孩子

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

在曼利海灘 (Manly Beach) 附近

Isn't that a great book?

朗讀了《哈利波特：神秘的魔法石》。

I still love being close to someone reading to me.

那是本很棒的書吧？

But I wouldn't give up the technology,

我到現在還是很喜歡 有個人在我身邊為我朗讀。

because it's allowed me to lead a great life.

但是我不會放棄科技，

Of course, talking books for the blind

因為科技讓我擁有更好的生活。

predated all this technology.

當然，談到為盲人做書的日子

After all, the long-playing record was developed

遠早於這項科技。

in the early 1930s,

畢竟，長時間唱片 (LP) 的發明

and now we put talking books on CDs

是在 1930 年代早期，

using the digital access system known as DAISY.

現在我們把有聲書放在 CD 中，

But when I'm reading with synthetic voices,

運用數位資訊無障礙系統，稱為 DAISY。

I love to come home and read a racy novel

當我用合成語音閱讀時，

with a real voice.

我喜歡在家裡讀言情小說，

Now there are still barriers

用真人的聲音讀。

in front of we people with disabilities.

但是現在還是有障礙

Many websites we can't read using JAWS

在我們這樣的身障者眼前。

and the other technologies.

許多網站不能使用 JAWS

Websites are often very visual,

或是其它的科技來讀。

and there are all these sorts of graphs

網站通常著重視覺效果，

that aren't labeled and buttons that aren't labeled,

但是所有這類的圖片

and that's why the World Wide Web Consortium 3,

都不是標籤和按鈕，

known as W3C, has developed worldwide standards

那也是為什麼全球資訊網協會 (World Wide Web Consortium 3)，

for the Internet.

就是我們熟知的 W3C， 已經開發了世界標準

And we want all Internet users or Internet site owners

的網際網路。

to make their sites compatible so that

我們希望所有的 網路使用者或是網站擁有者

we persons without vision can have a level playing field.

都讓他們的網站與此相容，這樣一來

There are other barriers brought about by our laws.

沒有視覺的人也被公平對待。

For example, Australia,

我們的法令也帶來了許多障礙。

like about one third of the world's countries,

例如在澳洲，

has copyright exceptions which allow books to be brailled

就像世界上其它 1/3 的國家一樣，

or read for we blind persons.

在著作權保護法方面，提供例外給點字法

But those books can't travel across borders.

或是唸書給盲人聽。

For example, in Spain, there are a 100,000

但是這些有聲書不能傳到國外去，

accessible books in Spanish.

例如在西班牙，有十萬本

In Argentina, there are 50,000.

西班牙文的有聲書，

In no other Latin American country

在阿根廷有五萬本，

are there more than a couple of thousand.

在非拉丁美洲的國家中

But it's not legal to transport the books

不過幾千本。

from Spain to Latin America.

但是從西班牙傳送有聲書到阿根廷

There are hundreds of thousands of accessible books

是不合法的。

in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, etc.,

有成千上萬的有聲書

but they can't be transported to the 60 countries

在美國、英國、加拿大和澳洲等國家，

in our world where English is the first and the second language.

但是它們都不能被運送到 世界上的其它 60 個

And remember I was telling you about Harry Potter.

以英語做為第一和第二個語言的國家。

Well, because we can't transport books across borders,

記得我和你提到關於哈利波特的故事，

there had to be separate versions read

因為我們不能傳送有聲書到國外去，

in all the different English-speaking countries:

就必須重複的閱讀製作

Britain, United States, Canada, Australia,

在每個同為英語系的國家：

and New Zealand all had to have