Founded in 1987, Personal Data
Systems, Inc. is located in Campbell,
CA.
Through our commitment, experience,
and expertise Personal Data Systems, Inc. has established a business
relationship with our customers that will last a
lifetime!
Noel Runyan is the primary
consultant at Personal Data Systems
Current
Projects
National Braille Press's Center for
Braille Innovation
Noel's main interest is as a member
of the National Braille Press's Center for Braille Innovation,
focusing world-wide on facilitating the development of new braille
display technologies, such as full page braille display
systems.
Voting
Systems
Since 2003 Noel has been seriously
studying and testing the accessibility and usability of all the
major voting systems used in this country. He has worked with
the Santa Clara County Voter Access Advisory Committee, ACCURATE
advisory committee, voting rights advocates, and manufacturers to
make voting systems more accessible for all folks with disabilities
or special language needs.
In addition to donating his time as
a voting systems consultant, he has given testimony as an expert
witness in 6 separate court cases, challenging the shoddy access
features of many of the voting systems and pressing for meaningful
rather than mere token
accessibility.
He testified at the PFAW Forum on
Election Systems, testified to the US House Administration
Subcommittee on Election Reform, testified to the Texas State House
Committee on Voting Systems, and led the access testing teams for
the California Secretary of State's Top-To-Bottom Reviews of voting
machines.
Background
With his degree in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science, Noel Runyan has been working in
human-factors engineering since 1974, primarily developing access
technologies for helping persons with visual impairments use
computers and other electronic devices. He has experience with
microprocessors, digital logic, analog circuits, speech output,
systems architecture, human interface design, and development of
access technology.
As Director of R&D for the
startup company, Talking Solutions, he helped develop talking
Internet radios and medical products such as talking pill bottles,
exercise monitors, and blood pressure
meters.
After founding Personal Data
Systems, Inc. to supply access technologies, he designed and
manufactured the Audapter speech synthesizer, to enable computers to
talk to visually impaired users. Noel also authored the
EasyScan, BuckScan, and PicTac programs that made it easier for
visually impaired users to read print books, identify dollar bills,
and convert print pictures into raised line tactile drawings.
To help their visually impaired customers access and make use of
computer systems, Noel and his wife, Deborah, have personally built
over 500 custom-integrated personal computers with speech, braille,
and large print interfaces.
While at Telesensory Systems, from
1978 to 1982, he worked on the development of the original
VersaBraille, the first American braille laptop computer, and he
also led development of the TeleBraille communicator for deaf-blind
users and the VOCA (Voice Output Communications Aid) for people with
severe speech impairments.
While at IBM, from 1973 -
1978, he co-led the Nonvisual Display research project, developed
the first text-to-speech program ever used on microprocessors,
co-invented the first talking touch screen/tablet systems, and
developed talking terminal and talking typewriter prototypes.
Additionally, he worked on design of magnetic bubble memory chips
and interface circuits, and the design and testing of magnetic
stripe card security systems for ATMs and BART ticket
machines. |