On Sunday, November 2nd, while others were resting, the Dev5 office was brighter than ever. Braille transcriber Lee Min-jung had come to visit us.

Dev5 is currently developing two braille technologies. Braillify is a Rust-based high-performance Korean-to-braille real-time transcription system developed in full compliance with the 2024 Revised Korean Braille Code, serving as an open-source braille engine deployable across multiple platforms including Rust (Cargo), Node.js (npm), and Python (pip). Building upon this foundation, we are developing Touching Memory, a cloud-based collaborative braille document editing platform. While existing braille software required installation on specific PCs and limited users to solo work, Touching Memory is designed to enable multiple users to simultaneously edit braille documents via the web. To refine these technologies further, expert consultation from professionals actively engaged in braille transcription work was essential.

Ms. Lee Min-jung represents far more than a consultant to us. She has provided invaluable direct and indirect assistance to the open-source Braillify project for converting Korean to braille, and even discovered a braille notation bug in Android, opening the path for Dev5 to officially report the issue to Google. She has served as a bridge, closing the gap between those who develop technology and those who actually use it.

During this meeting, we exchanged highly practical and valuable insights on what perspectives and approaches software engineers should adopt when implementing braille technology to truly benefit actual users. The discussion covered a wide range of topics: nuanced aspects of user experience that developers might overlook, technical requirements for improving braille notation accuracy, and practical considerations when handling braille documents in collaborative platforms. We received particularly concrete feedback on how braille transcribers actually divide and merge work in the real-time collaborative environment that Touching Memory aims to provide, and which features should be prioritized.

Technology is not complete in itself—it gains meaning only through dialogue with users. This meeting marked a crucial turning point, moving Dev5's braille technology development beyond mere functional operation toward a direction that can provide practical assistance in the daily lives and work of visually impaired individuals.

Dev5 will continue to actively seek advice from field experts, including braille transcriber Lee Min-jung, as we advance the refinement of Braillify and the development of Touching Memory. We believe that technological completeness is not determined solely by developer capability, but achieves true value only when combined with the experience and insights of actual users and experts. Through such collaboration, we will continue to expand the environment where software engineering can contribute to society.

Join the braille project: https://braillify.kr

We welcome participation from all software developers who love open source.