2022 Progress Report on Accessibility at the FDR Memorial
In 2021, I visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Memorial located on the National Mall in Washington D.C, and I documented accessibility concerns for people who are blind or have low vision. Recently, I produced a second report that describes new, accessible, exhibits that were installed by the National Park Service, NPS, the federal agency […]
Accessibility in Astronomy
In 2019, I was introduced to a community of astronomers who are representing data with sound. This is called sonification. I wrote about a software program developed by the Space Science Telescope Institute that adds an audio component to visual graphs in this post titled Hearing the Light. In spring 2020 with shelter in place […]
Summer Road Trip
Summer is a time when many people take vacations, and historic sites are some of the attractions visited by tourists. Unfortunately, exhibits at many sites are not accessible to blind people because they lack tactile models and information presented in braille, large print, or audio formats. Occasionally, I learn of sites that provide some accessible […]
Art Museums Do Not Boost My Mood
From time to time, I will post short commentaries on work produced by others. I will list the work and state my reaction to it. 3 Reasons Why Visiting an Art Museum Can Boost Your Mood This post appeared on the Social Instincts blog, Psychology Today, April 19, 2022. The Social Instincts blog is a […]
Please Touch Tour at Macculloch Hall
I am glad to publicize a cool project that I worked on—the Please Touch Tour at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown New Jersey.
Audio Description
My last post focused on alt text, image description for web sites and social media posts. In this post, I will discuss audio description for videos and performances. The Ultimate Guide to Audio Description explains it this way. “Audio description is an audio track that narrates the relevant visual information in media. Audio description assumes […]
What is Alt Text And Why Is It Important?
On February 18, 2022, the New York Times published an article that explained how blind people learned about images on web pages and in social media posts. The solution is to add brief descriptions to images that can be read aloud by screen readers.
The Sound of Tennis
During the last week of January 2022, I read several articles about a system that produced 3D sound tracking the movements of a tennis ball in motion. Action Audio transforms spatial data from the Australian Open’s real time ball monitoring technology into 3D sound. This FAQ explains how the system works. The first item on […]
Braille is Essential
Braille is a system of raised dots that are grouped into tactile symbols representing letters and numbers. Braille is a proven literacy tool that enriches the lives of blind people. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly declared that World Braille Day would be celebrated on January 4th, the birthday of the inventor Louis Braille. […]