Hi everyone, I am pleased to share a bumper list of posts from the Australia
and New Zealand Accessible Graphics Group over December. Wishing you a happy
World Braille Day today, Leona
Australia and New ZealandAccessible Graphics Group
Facebook Group Activity
December 2021
TheANZAGG facebook group is located at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ANZAGG/.
Anyonewith an interest in accessible graphics is invited to join the group,
share theirnews and contribute to discussions. The group currently has 320
members.
Touch
Firebird Software
Firebird is afree graphics program from APH that can be used to create embossed
graphicswith a Romeo 60, Juliet 120, Phoenix or Pageblaster embosser.
https://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/creating-tactile-graphics-firebird-software
Invisible Heritage virtual conference
Invisible Heritageis a Polish-Ukrainian project exploring art accessibility via
touch. Part twoof the closing conference will be in English and available on
YouTube from 9December at 16:00 CET.
See the commentsfor a list of presenters.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9o7kDfBcC5PJzH5z7KPm2w/featured
List of presenters:
Message fromSabriye Temberken (Germany, India)
Leona Holloway MonashUniversity (Australia): 3D Printing to Create Inclusive
Touch Models inGalleries and Museums: Research and Strategies from Australia
Katrin Terton andGeoff Munck (Australia): Beyond Sight, Beyond Barriers - the
blind teaching thesighted to see
John M. Kennedy(University of Toronto (Canada): ESREF ARMAGAN and the abilities
of touch:Drawings of cubes and Brunelleschi's Baptistry without visual input
Ann Cunningham andZach Wolfson (USA): A tactile artist’s path to universal art
HoëlleCorvest-Morel and Dorine in ‘t Veld (The Netherlands): Library of tactile
andhigh contrast images of art historical works
Bernat Franquesa(Spain): Tactile graphics and audio-tactile graphics for
multisensoryinterpretation
Willem Boshoff(South Africa): The Blind Alphabet Project (ongoing 1993 …)
Urvi Jangam:Aesthetic of the Non-Visual
Marta Wnuczko(University of Prince Edward Island), John M Kennedy & Selene
Carboni(University of Toronto): Tactile Pictures Theory: Scribbles, Regions,
Shapesand Directions
Lorena Julio andSebasian Flores (Argentina): Promoting the rights of persons
with disabilitiesthrough accessible art in Latin America
Aishwarya Pillai(India): A blind artist’s way to creating tactile 3D paintings
Duncan Meerding:(Australia -Tasmania): Lights and Shadows: Where craftsmanship
and art meet
Bogusław ’Bob’ Marek(Poland): Before a child born blind becomes an adult art
lover
Accessible art:Interesting initiatives in snapshots (Kenya, Japan, Nepal,
India, Uganda,Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic)
Les Doigts Que Revent
Dreaming Fingers have added another quality tactile book totheir collection.
Scritch, Scratch, Dip.
[NEW]
ScritchScratch Dip Clapote! by Kitty Crowther
Finallyadapted to illustrated touch album!
Allthe info: https://ldqr.org/catalogue/scritch-scratch-dip-clapote/
Refreshable Graphics Display indevelopment by APH and Humanware
Greg Stilson spoke at Sight Tech Global this week about theAPH project to
develop a refreshable graphics display by the end of 2023. Can'twait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EXpPy93_Dw
Update to APH Tactile GraphicsImage Library
The APH Tactile Graphics Image Library (TGIL) has beenrefreshed and is now much
easier to use. It is free and gives access tothousands of tactile graphics
files.
https://imagelibrary.aph.org/portals/aphb/
Thinkable tactile drawing aids
Interview with ThinkAble CEO, Jaap Breider. He says ofdesigning tactile drawing
aids as a blind man, "I am my bestcustomer". He also explains how to understand
3 dimensions and perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho_Lg3yekKE
New guidelines on other methodsfor creating 3D models
New to the ANZAGGweb pages: Other methods (besides 3D printing) for creating 3D
models.
Do you have anyfurther suggestions?
https://printdisability.org/about-us/accessible-graphics/3d-printing/other-methods/
Comment: Withthanks to the many ANZAGG members who contributed to this page by
sharing theirexperiences, wisdom and images.
Ferdinand the Bull Story Box
An excellent example of using story box items to supportmeaning and tactile
exploration for the story of Ferdinand the Bull.
https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/strategies/making-ferdinand-bull-accessible
Tactile Graphicacy Learning Progression from ChildsPly Vision
Inspired by yet anothersuggestion from the Queensland team who recently
published the inspirationalqld-braille-learning-progression-assessment-tool,
childsPly has created atactile graphicacy learning progression tool. Recently
listed on the childsPlywebsite catalogue, our new "Tactile Graphics Primer"
portrays afamiliar object fixed to a page in a realistic 3D relief
representation invacuum formed HIPS plastic. The graphic is then simplified to
a contourstylized relief representation where the edges of each contour match
the lines inthe final 2D tactile graphic.
And for the earlybirds, there's a beautiful complementary scallop shell care of
an equallybeautiful friend who sourced said shells, somewhat in excess of my
needs, in myhour of need.
https://www.facebook.com/childsplyvision
“I Read with my Hands” tactile books
"I readwith my hands" quality handmade cloth tactile books for beginner
touchreaders, available in English, French or Italian with clear print and
uncontractedbraille.
http://www.tactilegraphics.co.za/index.html
Audio
Sonification World Chat presentations
The SonificationWorld YouTube channel has presentations from researchers,
astronomers, musiciansand more on their work using audio sonification for
accessibility.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_pFRNR2M4_6UA83dBb7nfA
Data Sonification Archive
The Data Sonification Archive has been growing rapidly.Search for your area of
interest and then follow the links to thesonifications.
https://sonification.design/ ;
Audible Universe
Audio Universe is an immersive audio tour of the universe,with narration by
blind astronomer Nic Bonne. The full show is available fordownload.
https://www.audiouniverse.org/ ;
Audio cocktails
3D audio enhanced cocktail recipes!
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-grey-goose-garden-bar-smooth-sounds-of/id1597035501
Description
Audio-described ballet
As an earlyChristmas present from the Royal New Zealand Ballet, an audio
describedbroadcast of A Midsummer Night's Dream is available free and worldwide
thisweek from Thursday 8 - Sunday 11 December (NZST). Follow the link to
register.
https://rnzb.org.nz/access/a-midsummer-nights-dream-audio-described-broadcast/
Accessible Memes and Jokes
For some Christmascheer ...
Memes and Jokes forBlind Folks is a Facebook group providing excellent text
descriptions foraccessibility of memes and jokes.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/330979497677712
Mathpix
Mathpix quicklyand easily converts from images of maths equations, tables and
chemistry structuresto LaTeX or MathML for accessibility.
https://mathpix.com/use-cases/accessibility
Alt Text in Microsoft Office
I updated Officeand was pleased to see that it now provides tips for writing
effective alttext. Every little step helps towards more widespread
accessibility.
Screen shot description:
Alt Text. How would you describe this object andits context to someone who is
blind or low vision?
-The subject(s) in detail
- The setting
- The actions or interactions
- Other relevant information
(1-2 detailed sentences recommended)
Audio-described New Year’s Eve celebrations
Bringin the new year with live visual interpretations of the festivities in
SydneyHarbour (beginning 11.30pm AEDT) and New York Times Square (beginning
11.5pmEastern Time).
ForAira Live, open your Aira app, go to the Live tab and tap on the Sydney
Harboror New York City New Year's Eve Celebration.
Tojoin via Zoom, go to https://aira.zoom.us/j/86331055443...
Passcode:8351934
