[accessibleimage] photography in India, eye tracking, exhibit


Hi,
Articles, and links. An interesting article about eye tracking and the potential the results may have on design for websites and accessibility. 
Regards,
Lisa


Braille to touch

http://www.gadgetrepublic.com/news/item/463/mobile/researchers-bring-braille-to-touch-screen-technology/


article

FRIDAY - A touching display
Art was never meant to be solely a visual medium, but to engage all the senses. See with more than just your eyes at “Art Beyond Sight” at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery at 136 State St. in Portsmouth during the month of April.
This exhibit allows people who are blind or have low vision (as well as those with 20/20 vision) to experience art on a multi-sensory level. All artwork will accessible in 3-D tactile or 2-D high contrast form with visual descriptions in Braille and large print. Simply put, this is one exhibit where you won’t get yelled at for touching the art. A public reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. The gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, noon-4 p.m. Call 431-4230 or visit www.nhartassociation.org for details. 

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090330/COLUMNISTS53/303309961/-1/columnists


excerpt
Research to determine whether art is in the eye of the beholder
"This is exploratory work in which we are looking for patterns in the way people look at different visual elements," said Dr Jay.
"We can't yet say if there's a definitive order that people look at things. But this may help us to understand how and why people focus on particular areas in sequence, what attracts them and what is the deciding factor for this sequencing.
"It may be that with portraits people are drawn to the eyes, for example, but we don't know. And with abstracts we don't know whether there will be any similarity between the eye tracks at all.
"The findings will help us decide the order in which we present things. If people do experience these in similar ways then there is a design message. This may inform the design of websites."
Dr Harper and Dr Jay believe the findings of this ViSAS research (Visual Serialisation for Auditory Sequencing) could be of particular relevance to work on the 'translating' of web pages into an audio-described resource for blind users or for sites designed for mobile phone users.
Dr Harper said: "Common sense suggests that sighted and blind users of the World Wide Web do not share similar user experiences. However we propose the opposite and suggest that the user experiences of these two groups are directly linked.
"If sighted users focus of areas of a Web page in sequence, then understanding and predicting this sequence can allow a conversion from vision to audio via text-to-speech technology; and therefore create an equivalent experience between sighted and blind people." 

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=4531



excerpt


Blind Sight
Why would a group of visually impaired people walk the streets of Mumbai trying to capture its famous landmarks? Why would they risk capturing images that they can never see? And why indeed, would they want to romance photography, an essentially visual medium? Maybe renowned Paris-based photographer, Evgen Bavcar, who is also visually impaired, has the most potent answer to tehse questions. Having taken a picture of a girl who he was in love with, he had famously stated that it was the pleasure of capturing something that did not belong to him, of possessing something that he could not see, that drove him to photography....Why would a group of visually impaired people walk the streets of Mumbai trying to capture its famous landmarks? Why would they risk capturing images that they can never see? And why indeed, would they want to romance photography, an essentially visual medium? Maybe renowned Paris-based photographer, Evgen Bavcar, who is also visually impaired, has the most potent answer to tehse questions. Having taken a picture of a girl who he was in love with, he had famously stated that it was the pleasure of capturing something that did not belong to him, of possessing something that he could not see, that drove him to photography. 

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/blind-sight/440728/


excerpt
Egg Artists’ Show introduces ‘a world’ of art
“I’ve been an artist all my life, and I’m color blind,” he said. “This show is a smaller show and we all feel like family. It’s a gratifying thing to be with your family and to come here and introduce people to the art. ... Once you start, you become addicted and I’ve been addicted to this since about three seconds after I started.” 

http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x549584209/Egg-Artists-Show-introduces-a-whole-new-world-of-art




article
If you think being blind means living in a world of darkness, then get ready to have that impression changed forever. The Minneapolis Phillips Eye Institute is now home to a rare collection of photographs and artwork creatred to demonstrate what different forms of blindness might look like to the sighted. The unique window is called Blind/Sight
http://www.kare11.com/news/newsatfour/newsatfour_article.aspx?storyid=542661&catid=323

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