[accessibleimage] Samsung touch camera, BROOKLYN MUSEUM, water water every where


Hi Ike and all,
That was a really interesting article. Sending some more links about it. Raises some questions - could the screen be used for other applications, a larger screen? How good is the transfer of the picture, is there any program to enhance and contrast or adjust the contrast, what about using the tounge instead of the forehead (work from Univ. Wisc-Madison)? Sounds like a really interesting product.
Otherwise sending an article about the Brooklyn Museum and came across 3 articles bit off subject, but interesting. 

Regards,
Lisa
Seoul, Korea -- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announces that it has been honored with three awards in the prestigious 2008 International Design Excellence (IDEA) competition. The awards, which include a coveted gold award and two silver, were announced today by /BusinessWeek /magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), raising Samsung’s five-year total in the competition to an unmatched 15 awards.
Leading Samsung’s charge was the Touch Sight, a revolutionary digital camera designed for visually impaired people. The Touch Sight, designed by Samsung Design China, was honored with a gold award in the Communications Tools Concept category, one of just 35 gold awards from over 1,500 entries. Judges lauded the Touch Sight for its unique features and attention to detail. Product highlights include a feature that records sound for three seconds after pressing the shutter button, allowing the individual to use the sound a reference when reviewing and managing the photos. Touch Sight also possesses a lightweight, flexible Braille display sheet which displays a 3D image by embossing the surface, allowing the user to touch their photo.
“The concept was immediately compelling by raising the potential of greater communication between the visually impaired and family and friends, said Thomas Garvey, associate professor at the Carleton University (Canada) School of Design and one of 20 world-renowned design experts comprising the IDEA jury. “The number of well considered details, the visual approach and the very comprehensive presentation materials lifted this concept easily into the top category.” 

http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=11345&cid=5



http://www.snugd.com/2008/08/18/photos-for-the-blind/
A Chinese designer has designed a new Camera for visually impaired people. The camera named “Touch Sight” has has a lightweight, flexible Braille display sheet which displays a 3D image by embossing the surface, allowing the user to touch their photo. In addition to the Braille display sheet “Touch Sight” includs a unique feature which records sound for three seconds after pressing the shutter button. When taking photographs it should be held against the forehead like a third eye. Its proved that its the optimal position to capture the image. 

http://omenandblaq.blogspot.com/2008/08/touch-sight-camera-for-blind.html

http://sansarcyber.blogspot.com/2008/08/article-about-camera-is-outta-sight.html

http://ffb.ceoxi.com/2008/08/this-camera-is-outta-sight.html
http://community.plus.net/blog/2008/08/14/touch-camera-for-blind-users/
http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/08/13/this-camera-is-outta-sight/
http://www.techravenews.com/2008/08/camera-for-blind-is-interesting-concept/
The Touch Sight concept is a camera for the visually impaired. It records sounds by transferring images with 3D embossing technology so that people who can’t see can have a recording of the sounds of the event. Those who can see use their eyes to view a photo, the blind will use their sense of touch to actually “see” the image.
It’s an innovative idea and so naturally it was one of the winning designs for the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), which honors stand-out designs in products, ecodesign, packaging, research and concepts like this one. It’s absolutely brilliant. 
http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/08/touch-sight-camera-for-the-blind/

http://www.idsa.org/IDEA2008/Enter.html

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Howe’s Brooklyn
Painter, Mentor Brings Artwork of Disabled Adults To Brooklyn Museum
by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), published online 08-13-2008
THE WORLD-RENOWNED BROOKLYN MUSEUM, one of the oldest and largest art museums in the country, has permanent collections ranging from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, representing a wide range of cultures. Now and then, though, curators initiate more unorthodox exhibitions, drawing on the various talents of artists close to home. “Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition,” which ended last weekend, is one such idea. Another is “New York State of Mind,” opening Aug. 14, an offshoot of a four-year collaboration between the museum and Institute for Community Living (ICL), a non-profit agency that serves adults with serious mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.
Bed-Stuy resident DYLAN STANFIELD has been the arts and activities counselor for the disabled adult residents of ICL for four years, since the Art Enhancement Project was initiated to increase tenants’ quality of life. ...... Stanfield visits eight houses on a rotating basis, guiding residents in activities — painting, drawing, clay and photography — to help them express their interpretations of the world.
..........Both Stanfield and his students draw inspiration from their twice-monthly themed fieldtrips to the Brooklyn Museum. For Stanfield those trips are learning experiences in other ways: How, for example, does one take a group of visually impaired adults to an art museum?
“Well, I’m learning that myself,” he says. “It is a lot of explaining art and the concepts that go into it. We might look at tribal masks, feel them, and talk about why they were made and the cultural significance in how they were used.”
The museum is also developing a touch garden, and on occasion holds special open houses where visitors can wear gloves to touch certain sculptures, which is otherwise not allowed.
Stanfield, who moved from Olympia, Wash. 10 years ago, was involved with non-profits before ICL, teaching art in schools and even once painting a mural for one of ICL’s buildings. He was between jobs when ICL had an opening for this position. The artistic growth has since run in both directions, as Stanfield has been pushed by his students and their various needs to increase the mediums he works with.
“I was excited to work with a different population, grow a little, expand my horizons. I had no expectations, and I think that has helped me to appreciate the art in a very art for art’s sake kind of way. Originally I am a painter, but the first day I started at the Jaslow house, where all the residents are blind, I thought ‘I gotta figure this out.’” 

Go to www.brooklynmuseum.org for visiting information.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=18&id=22477

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The Tall Ships Blog
Blind trainees not daunted by the challenge ahead
All the trainees on board the Polish Class B vessel Zawisza Czarny are looking forward to the challenge of taking part in The Tall Ships’ Races. Few of them have been to sea before which means they are complete novices around their ship, but for 16 of them there is an additional challenge to overcome, as they are blind or visually impaired. 
http://www.pabloavanzini.com/?p=94

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Visually impaired teens swim with dolphins!
Twenty-eight teenagers, ages 14 to 18, from Miami Lighthouse for the Blind summer camp will have the opportunity to partake in the Dolphin Encounter of a lifetime on August 7th at 11 a.m. at Miami Seaquarium, 4400 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne (Tel: 305-361-5705).
The teenagers will get a chance to touch dolphins, feed them, play with them and get up-close and personal with these loving creatures. Photo opportunity available. 

http://facts-about-dolphins.blogspot.com/2008/08/visually-impaired-teens-swim-with.html
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Visually impaired children learn how to surf!
For two days on the Dutch coast, 24 blind and visually impaired children took to the ocean and were taught how to surf as part of The Out of Bounds program within The O’Neill Surf Academy. For 10 year old Dion Terlingen, who is completely blind and autistic, it was not only his first time on a surfboard, it was also his first time in the sea, the enjoyment of which he could not hide. “We were encouraging him to stand up on his board,” said O’Neill volunteer Femke Terpstra. “As soon as he stood up, he said ‘I’ve done it, now I want to play in the water’. He was playing around in the waves non-stop for the rest of the day.
Eva Van Den Berg, 17, who is completely blind, arrived at Out of Bounds, shy, her head down, saying she was not good at sports. After two hours in the water, elated from standing on her board, Eva declined a rest: “I can rest for the rest of the holidays,” she said.
Out of Bounds came from the inspiration of Santa Cruz native, Yael Dahan, a photographer and a surfer who worked with O’Neill to create the first program of its kind in Europe. 
http://visually-impaired.blogspot.com/2008/08/visually-impaired-children-learn-how-to.html

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