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switch operated web cams

by Paul Nisbet :: Rate this Message:

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Looking for advice here:

A teacher asked me if it would be possible to set up a web cam for a pupil with high spinal injury who is reclined and has very limited head control, so that he could see more around him. He has a laptop and is an expert chin joystick (mini point it) user. I wasn’t entirely convinced about the whole idea but I got a Logitech Sphere AF camera (£60 from CPC) which has pan and tilt motors and installed it on the laptop. I’m still not sure if it helps him see around, but it was fantastic fun because he could use the joystick to operate the controls on screen to swivel the camera, zoom in, take photos and videos, open and edit them in Picasa etc. Opportunities for fun and education are immense.

You need to have a mouse or pointing device though, and I was thinking it would be nice if switch users could use the camera as well. You can control the pan and tilt with arrow keys (=> switches), but there’s no keyboard control of the buttons for taking photos and the motor control is a separate window, and I think HotSpots can only do one window.

I think it could be done by creating macros and then assigning macro playback keystrokes to switches, so has anyone got suggestions for a good free/cheap macro program for Windows XP? There seems to be a zillion available

Paul

_______________________________________________

Paul D. Nisbet

Senior Research Fellow

Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning (CALL) Scotland

Moray House School of Education

University of Edinburgh

Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road

Edinburgh EH8 8AQ

Tel. 0131 651 6236 Fax 0131 651 6234

email Paul.Nisbet@...

CALL Scotland: http://www.callscotland.org.uk