note: this is an old draft this site is nolonger updated. to see the latest version of this proposal go to our new siteThetaThema.org

Introduction to the "ThetaThema Project"

This is a new approach to solving an existing problem which offers to implement an entirely new technology. The proposed method of approach serves as its own explanation. The Project Purpose and Summary provided here are a detailed, accurate, description of my project, including the technical aspects which cause it to differ from any similar existing solutions. This document provides details of my intended implementation:
Document Type: Proposal
Project Title: ThetaThema
Project Description: The ThetaThema Advanced Communication Project

The "ThetaThema Project" is a proposed method of advancing the effectiveness and efficiency of written language. It will increase exponentially the potential rate at which a reader is capable of absorbing information from text. This is achieved by a new approach to displaying information as it is viewed by its reader. To date no such project or any similar projects have been
initiated.

The "CyberFace" (as it has been called) is an advanced GUI or GUI plugin, which will manipulate and reformat the text to eliminate certain "points of resistance" along the flow of information between the text as it has been written and the mind of the reader. The reader interprets the text as it is being viewed by enlisting the advantages of color coding and animation of the text. This approach is radically different from existing "speed reading ". The two methods should not be confused.

Such dramatic changes, however, to our existing method of reading would not go unnoticed by the average reader of conventional text. The final result will look not unlike a series of flashing colored lights "flying at you" paired with a series of tones comparable to the sound of your 56k modem. To the laymen this would appear only as a light show with noise from which they can gather no data unless they know how to read or interpret it.

A transition from the conventional to the advanced system of reading would be impossible without further training or middle ground that would allow the conventional reader an opportunity to "upgrade" his or her reading skills to this new and colorful method. In light of this need, I have incorporated a series of 4 phases which will allow middle ground for the purposes of a smooth and painless transition.

ThetaThema Project

Phase 1: Color coding the Alphabet

Customised Fonts
Although the fonts will be keeping their conventional shape intact for the time being, we are however, going to need to give them a dramatic makeover by individually assigning color values to each letter. When this new color coded font is used each letter of each word in the text appears in its assigned color. This excludes all vowels and punctuation for reasons which we will discuss later. At this stage those items should remain black.

This phase is designed to give the reader an opportunity to begin memory association between the color and the letter. This phase although necessary, will not itself make the reader any "faster" at reading. The only purpose is to prepare the reader for a "color" only type of font which we will begin to introduce in phase 2. It is important however that the reader masters this level before moving on to phase 2.

Colors should be carefully selected to avoid any two hues, tints or shades from becoming indistinguishable from each other at a glance. This is a fine line to walk, however there is ample visible spectrum to work with. The only problem would be for the color blind, who are going to be at a disadvantage during this phase. Accommodations can be made for the visually impaired, and will be addressed in phase 4. Color assignment could be determined by each individual reader (user defined) using an interactive interface which should be developed and integrated into the overall program. However, I believe it would promote unification of global communication if we were to define and use a "standard assigned color scheme".

Phase 2 of ThetaThema Proposal

Try to imagine for a moment a window displayed on screen that contains what appears to be a long and basically round tunnel, grey in color . By moving your mouse forward slightly you discover that the tunnel begins to move toward you giving the illusion that you appear to be moving forward inside it. As you position the mouse a bit further forward and you begin travelling yet faster into this tunnel you begin to see the tunnel is no longer perfectly round but is oval shaped in places and appears to twist a little in places. Stripes or rings of color appear in the distance looking as if they have been painted on the wall but as you continue to move forward the colors going past you each seem to emit a soft but distinct tone as they pass. More stripes are revealed beyond them, one after another they pass you like lights reflected on the ceiling in a subway do, while emitting a tone as they pass. The walls continues to twist clockwise and back again as you continue on your journey into the depths of the tunnel until finally you see a small white light at the end. As you approach it you see that you have indeed found the end of the tunnel, in fact the end of a great book which you by now will never forget.

The example above is a more accurate description of the vision I wish to develop and now with that said allow me to explain a bit of what was experienced in the example in order that you can better understand the conversions and transitions which are required in this phase.

The tunnel itself, grey in color, is the foreground of the interface itself. The stripes or rings of color represent each letter in the alphabet - specifically consonants. The oval shaped portions of the tunnel are the vowels so it can be imagined that most of the ovals would appear between two strips or rings of color. Thus a word would be comprised of both the color of the stripes and shape of the tunnel at that point. This however is not what Phase 2 is. Phase 2 is only the middle ground from which a reader can be trained to move to the above described "tunnel" interface. Mastery of color recognition as well as the shape recognition of the vowels is necessary before making the leap.

Let us move on to the technical aspects of this transition, which is Phase 2. In this Phase we start training in color only on a two dimensional platform (back to conventional reading). Keep in mind that the purpose of these changes is to train the reader to the extent that text can be read and understood while being displayed as described above - a three dimensional platform (CyberFace). The following paragraph should be considered a means to that end. Regardless of how complex it may sound, bear with me. This is where I lose the non geeks among us.

Firstly there is the upgrade from the color coded font discussed in Phase 1.

At Phase 2 these color coded fonts should be traded for "Color only" fonts which means that each letter is represented only by color (no font shape is represented). This is where we get to see how well the student did on Phase 1.

When mastery of Phase 1 is complete, Phase 2, while being somewhat more difficult for the student reader, will not prove to be impossible to master. This can be done by creating a font set of vertically inclined rectangles which are each assigned a specific color depending upon which character they represent. It will be similar to the black outline rectangle usually displayed when text was not formatted correctly when pasted into a text editor. The "color only" font is an important step between conventional text and cybertext and cannot be skipped.

Now let us move on to the vowels. Each vowel is to be assigned an oval shape. There are five different positions in which an oval can be clearly displayed - one position allocated to each of the five vowels. The consonants will be determined by their allocated color and vowels will be determined by the allocated position of the oval. Ovals will have to be of sufficient distortion from "round" that they cannot be confused with a perfect circle.

The allocated positions of the Ovals should be :
horizontal " -- " ( e ),
vertical " | " ( I ),
diagonal " \ " { top to the left (forward slash)} ( a )
diagonal " / " {top to the right (backward slash)} ( U )
perfect circle (technically not an oval) ( O )

Punctuation will remain in standard and conventional form and black in color. When first making the transition to reading in color only fonts and especially with the oval vowels, the reader will actually be slowed down slightly by not having the shape of the conventional letter there as reinforcement, but this will be overcome with a little practice. Should this prove too difficult it may be a good idea to put the conventional vowels back in for a while until the color code is fully mastered. Ideally the program should allow the individual reader to define certain variables for themselves to promote user adaptability. Such variables include but are not limited to color code assignment and vowel replacement. Once the color only fonts in combination with the vowel ovals have been fully mastered the student reader can move onto the animation as briefly described above and as discussed
in Phase 3.


Phase 3: This is the phase where you will begin to see the advantages of the training described in phases 1 and 2.

At this point we will introduce the color only font set of the second phase to an animated cybertext graphic interface called CYBERFACE.

Conventional text will be plugged into the Cyberface and converted to the color only font set. It will then be ready for animated viewing by your newly trained reader. With the click of a button the text will begin to display itself. To understand exactly what this will look like in reality, try to imaging a grey tunnel being displayed on-screen. If you press your mouse button once and move the mouseforward, the tunnel begins to move toward you, push further forward on the mouse and the tunnel begins to move faster. Now the words, which are in color only format, will only appear as stripes on the wall of the tunnel as you pass them. If the reader has sufficiently mastered Phases 1 and 2, the reader will be able to understand and comprehend exactly what is being displayed. The speed increase mentioned on other pages will NOT occur over night but should happen fairly quickly. The learning to read process will be greatly assisted by letters being displayed in a clearer manner, in larger text size, and with the potential to allow the eyes to relax. There will be less restriction to the natural flow of information and the words will be "seen" in much the same way as the spoken word is heard - one word at a time.

The technical aspects of this proposed CYBERFACE are quite simply beyond my grasp of knowledge in the field of computer programming. However, the general idea is to create a GUI or browser plug in which is able to convert standard text into the above described animated bands of color which can be initiated and manipulate by clicking and navigating with the mouse. I am confident that with the resources available including, but not limited to various libraries, programming languages, source code, programmers, developers, editors and just all around great support, this project can and will be evaluated, planned and developed for every OS platform currently available, specifically *linux and *windows. (This abstract was edited on AppleMac OSX)


Phase 4: The audio factor:

I am aware of many approaches to producing audio output from written text and likewise producing text from speech. All attempts so far, as far as I can see, are taking the "natural language" approach, such as the "Dragon Naturally Speaking" for example.
This is a proposition for another method, one which stands more with the ThetaThema tradition. You may know (also in reference to my color coded fonts) each color of light as well as each "note" of sound occurs on a specific frequency (s) where each individual color of light (visible) only occurs on one unique frequency beginning with red (low) frequency and ending with violet (higher) frequency, and with sound each "note" occurs on one specific frequency and all respective "harmonic" frequencies. Due to our ears having a greater range of potential frequency input than our eyes, which are more narrowly tuned for light, we are able to hear several different "octaves" of one single note where as with light we are only able to see one "octave" of the color.

The bottom line (for the purposes of the example) is that light and sound are both just vibrations at different frequency "vectors" on the same electromagnetic spectrum. What this means is that for every color we use in our color coded fonts there is also its respective "harmonic " set of sounds that could be paired with it and sent through the CYBERFACE to the reader. We only need to determine which audible notes pair with each color we have assigned, and poof !, we have ourselves an audio visual interface capable of show and tell in a very big way. Now in reality it would not be necessary to match exactly the "correct " sound to each color, there is another approach which fits the bill. It happens that there are three octaves of seven notes which are easiest for the human ear to hear (I'll let you figure out which they are, but here's a clue "every good boy does fine"). That's right, three octaves of seven notes - that is twenty-one distinct sounds (one for each consonant). Oh, and as for the vowels
how about the sharps and flats. You guessed it, there are five! Almost scary how well the maths works out on this, isn't it?

Some would say it was meant to be.

*dragon naturally speaking *linux and *windows are registered trademarks, these trademarks are not affiliated
with this proposal or any persons involved in the above mentioned project.

This document has copyright (c) under "Open Source" initiative. Meaning all or part of this text may be used
within certain defined guidelines.
I can be contacted by e-mail at llll_llll_lll@yahoo.com with questions, comments, or feedback. - Travis Barker
If you would like to see how we propose to do this click here
--
Written by Travis Barker
Edited by Douglas Reid

To view up to the minute details on Project Development Status at sourceforge.net, click here.

A Slightly revised and condensed version of the Cyber text Communication Project. (Printer friendly version linked below)

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