Today’s Tactile Keypad: Thank you John E. Karlin
Posted on February 15, 2013
Tactile keypads are a crucial element of accessibility for people who are blind and visually impaired. Apple has shown that a touchscreen can be made accessible, but in the absence of tactile keypads, significant swaths of today’s technology and electronics are off limits to persons who cannot see, and to others with disabilities as well.
As with many ubiquitous elements of the built environment, we often fail to appreciate the origins — or the originator– of the technology we rely on. This is certainly true for tactile keypads, or it was true until a fascinating obituary of a post-war engineer named John E. Karlin was published in the New York Times earlier this month. Mr. Karlin deserves credit for birthing today’s tactile keypad.
According to the Times, “Mr. Karlin, associated from 1945 until his retirement in 1977 with Bell Labs . . . was widely considered the father of human-factors engineering in American industry.” In that capacity, he helped identify and solve many issues related to the telephone: how long should the phone cord be? What is the best layout for the numbers on a rotary-dial phone? How can the process [...]