• ASCII is the standard system to encode and represent English characters asnumbers, (for example, upper case L is 76

• ASCII code numerically represents alphabet letters, but also signs such as “%”or “@” or even some actions such as “backspace” or “delete”

• ASCII is a simple “raw” format that any computer can understand (plain text,no formatting)

• the standard ASCII character set uses 7 bits for each character (though somenon-English letters and graphic symbols use 8 bits)

• ASCII has 128 characters (each character is assigned a number from 0 – 127e.g. L is 760.

Award [1] for identifying each feature of ASCII up to a maximum of [2].

One-to-one interviews

• Umair could have spoken with visually impaired people, individually, asking themabout their experience or about their own particular needs from a Braille keyboard. At the very beginning of the development of his system, this could have helped him define and refine the specification, as they are the target users.

Focus groups

• Umair could have spoken with a small group of visually impaired people, askingthem to test and compare different versions of the overlay he was producing,discussing their advantages and advantages at the same time, encouraging themto share ideas and speak with one another.

Surveys

• Umair could have carried out some quantitative research, with questionnaires inBraille, asking questions to a number of visually impaired people in order tocollect data from a larger sample, more representative of the population ofvisually impaired people who may be the end users of his Braille keyboard.

Direct observation

• Umair could have visited a place where visually impaired individuals use thesystem to observe how it is used, how it can be improved and make notes onwhat features would be appropriate for the new system. In other words, observepeople using a braille keyboard

Award [1] for identifying each method Umair could have used to gather data from visually impaired people during the development of his system and [1] for description of that method up to a maximum of [2].

Mark as [2] + [2].

• Umair seems more motivated by “doing good” and helping visually impaired people than by making a profit

• the software could be gradually and freely improved by other experts, for example creating versions in different languages

• open source community is more active than a company’s helpdesk, offering accessible and timely support

• the software may evolve/update more rapidly than if it was a commercial product

• the time taken to register the software and gain patents may lead to other software developers creating similar software that would reduce the impact of Umair’s software if it became proprietary

• open source software is generally supplied free of charge making it more accessible to a wider range of people (e.g. schools, charities, people on low incomes etc.)

• open source software can be published under one of the Creative Common licenses, which are free to use. Proprietary software may require more complex and costly methods (e.g. patenting) to protect Umair’s intellectual property rights.

Reasons for Umair continuing to develop the software for his Braille keyboard using crowdfunding

• the Braille keyboard and associated software is very much Umair’s vision and hemay not want to relinquish control of it as he may have an emotional attachment tothe software

• using crowdfunding would allow Umair to remain true to his principles such as usingopen source software

• Umair may be able to develop working relationships with other like-mindedindividuals who may be willing to fund his development work without him having tochange his vision

• the use of crowd funding may lead to a relatively cheap product which may help toreduce the digital divide between sighted and visually impaired people

• crowdsourcing may enable more rapid development of the software and overlay

• Umair would lose any revenue from the software

• AssistivIT may increase the price of the software and make it inaccessible to manyof the potential customers Umair was intending his low-tech solution for.

Reasons for Umair selling the IP for his software and keyboard to AssistivIT

• Umair may have gone as far as he can with developing the software and overlayandmay realise that investing any more of his time and money in the venture will bringlittle additional benefits

• developments in both hardware and software may lead to solutions of a similarstandard being developed more cheaply than Umair will be able to

• Umair may realise that his strengths lie in the development of innovate solutionsrather than selling them, so he may have to accept that his head must rule his heart

• Umair may see the payment from AssistivIT as funding to start his next initiative

• AssistivIT will be able to provide reliable ongoing funds (e.g. for development /maintenance)

• AssistivIT may have a larger development team that can develop the software morerapidly than Umair would be able to do so alone.

Note to examiners: The bullet points above concentrate mostly on positive reasons for each decision. Examiners should give credit for valid reasons expressed as negatives.

Refer to generic markband information sheet