Of the thoudands of emails messages I read a month, this is the best I've read in years. GREAT job.
On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 7:45 AM, Esther <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Mark, > > M AUSTEN wrote: > > > I am registered Blind and have been asked to investigate the accessibility > of the iPod Touch for Blind and Partially sighted visitors to museums in the > UK. > > So the question is has anyone with sight loss had any success using the > iPod Touch and are there any downloadable Apps? > > Many thanks, > > Mark > Audio Guide Auditor > Alternative Design > > > You could probably get more extensive responses from the roughly 350 > members of the VIPhone list: > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone > > However, the answer to your question is that the iPod Touch is usable by > the visually impaired. For more background specifically on the iPod Touch, > you can check the most recent Screenless Switchers podcast and the Serotalk > podcasts from mid-September and mid-October, or the latest Mac-cessibility > podcast. Also, check the archived list post on Podcasts and resources about > VoiceOver on the iPhone and iPod Touch: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg10679.html > > Incidentally, Serotek released an iPhone/iPod touch app aimed at the > visaully impaired (i Blink Radio), and reported over a thousand downloads. > > You don't mention what type of museums you're targeting (art museums?, the > British Museum?) or whether the type of envisioned use is similar to simple > podcast downloads. The most extensive effort I'm aware of by art museums > to offer work for the blind was by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which > released several downloadable podcasts describing artwork in their > collection some years ago. See, for example, the description in this > article on "Art for the Blind": > > http://www.artagogo.com/commentary/artforblind/artforblind.htm > > Since your question I checked a few museum apps on the iPod Touch. (These > are limited to apps that either are currently free, or were free earlier and > downloaded to an iPod Touch that I could check; download links at iTunes app > store follow each entry): > > • Love Art: National Gallery, London by Antenna Audio, Inc. (was free, > currently $2.99) > > http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=314566159&mt=8 > This seems to be entirely accessible. Note that if you want to interrupt > the spoken dialogs midstream you have to double-tap anywhere on the screen > to get the "back arrow", and you may need to actually touch the back arrow > at the upper left with split tap or double tap to navigate back to the > previous screen. (Not necessary if the dialog has finished speaking - just > double-tap anywhere if the "Back arrow" has focus). > > • Yours, Vincent The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh by Antenna Audio, Inc. > (free) > > http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=334681106&mt=8 > This app is also entirely accessible. Since it provides biographical > information about the life of Vincent van Gogh, including dramatic readings > of his letters, that is meant to supplement the information in the exhibits > of the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, this works better as an app for the > visually impaired than the National Gallery app, which talks about the > subject of artwork without descriptive context. The Metropolitan Museum of > Art's older podcasts were the only ones that I felt were truly designed for > the totally blind -- explaining theme, layout, the unique qualities of the > artist, etc. > > • Rick Steves' Orsay Museum Tour by Ubermind, Inc. (was free, now $4.99) > > http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=318764321&mt=8 > The Info button (General information, museum hours, how to get there, free > entry times, museum pass, etc.) is a simple list, and the pages of info are > accessible. The main tour entry for this app is not accessible. The app > opens on a page labeled "Points of Interest" with two buttons (Info and List > View). The List View just "boinks" (no response), even with a pass-through > gesture. If you toggle VoiceOver off, you can touch the screen and select > from the list view, but you wont know which entry is being selected. These > pages are read by VoiceOver , but there appear to be embedded recording > buttons which are not found when you flick through. Also, the button to > return to previous screen is announced as "map view", which suggests the > navigation is designed for a visual interface. > > • I couldn't find a free app for the British Museum. There's one for $4.99 > by Way2GoGuides (London: British Museum Guide & Audio). I tried out the free > app: "London Highlights" by the same company. It's only partly accessible. > Movie/audio links work, but selecting a link, like "The Rosetta Stone" just > gave a page with no VoiceOver readable content. The embedded links are just > announced as "link" as you flick through, but they do play if you double-tap > them. > > http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=317452154&mt=8 > (link is for the free "London Highlights" -- I assume Way2GoGuides > excerpted parts from their "British Museum" app). > > As you probably know, there's a distressing tendency for museums (and other > institutions) to use inaccessible flash web page designs. (For example, > although I know this isn't a UK museum, consider the National Library of > Ireland's William Butler Yeats exhibit, which was entirely in flash -- the > only way to listen to their description of the poet's work, "Sailing to > Byzantium", is to find the YouTube video.) > > You could probably do something nice and accessible with a good iPod > Touch/iPhone app. > > HTH > > Cheers, > > Esther > > > > > > > -- Check out our web site, www.giantdolphin.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
