[kurosawa]

I'm wondering how as a non-blind person i can actually learn to listen at such high words-per-minute. I don't need to read the screen in general but research papers (pdfs etc.)--while i'm looking at something else; so i can basically multi-task. Or to 'format audio' so that it can be sped-up while the words are distinct and understandable even when spurted-out at high speed--which is different from just changing the playback speed.

I remember articles about echo-location, not only as a means for the visually challenged to navigate the streets but as an additional sense-enhancement tool/technique. I'm thinking of screen-reading having the same function.

I guess an ideal 'environment' for the sort of 'syntopical' style of reading that academic research requires, is something that can involve as many senses at the same time as possible according to some 'sweet-spotting' technique that makes things manageable. I'm thinking: a minority report type interface where i can arrange papers/snippets-of-papers across a large 'space', while having bits (such as the sentences before and after the bits i just snipped) of read out fast to me with some sort of screen-reading. Involving vision, 'touch', sound as well as 'movement' would be awesome. One would need to train a bit of course.

--also imagining how you can do semi-synchronous group work:

Let's think about a scenario where there are like 10 people on a conference call. Usually people speak in turn. What if we 'allowed' sub-groups of people to have their own mini conversations before 'regrouping', but as we do that each person would be played-back the conversations they may have missed in fast form. This would be quite a different dynamic for a conference. A lot more stuff could be discussed in the same amount of time. It would of course come with its own set of problems.