Meet Ofer
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Ofer Green is a talented composer of electronic music (you can hear some of his music in the video above, and also
here). His groovy Tech-House tracks make people dance in clubs - but Ofer himself can't move a muscle. Ofer began his musical life as a drummer and a singer in his school's choir. His future looked bright, but at the age of 14 he began losing control over his muscles, and a bit later over his voice. This is how he found out that he was suffering from a rare condition called the
Majado-Joseph disease: a cureless neurological disorder similar to ALS.
Clinging to music, clinging to life
Being the stubborn and passionate musician that he is, Ofer didn't give up on music. When he couldn't drum or sing anymore, he started creating his music using a computer. He produced numerous dance tracks and remixes, and even got some of them signed in various US-based dance music labels. But MJD is a cruel disease, and over the years his condition worsened.
Today, Ofer cannot use his hands even to control a mouse or turn a knob. To communicate with the world he uses a sophisticated system that tracks his eye movement and converts it to mouse position on the computer screen. However, that system is not sensitive enough for the fine tuning of knobs and sliders, which is crucial for the creation of electronic music.
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Gentlemen, we have the technology
We are a group of Ofer's friends, family and music teachers, and we want to create a set of software tools that will allow him, and other disabled musicians around the globe, to tune knobs and sliders, to play, record and create music. This can be done by combining the existing gaze-tracking technology with the MIDI protocol, which controls music software. In order to achieve this goal, we need a computer programer to sit with Ofer and design the tools that will make it easy to control the software. Here you can see some sketches that we’ve drawn, with ideas for such interfaces:
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The best things in life (should be) free
Once we design the tools we will open the code’s source so other disabled musicians can use it to create their music. We need your help to fund a good programer who will realize offer’s ideas and help him and countless musicians to create new music.
* Spread the word!
* Offer your services as a coder!