Mobile technologies are radically changing the lives of many individuals with disabilities while concurrently becoming ubiquitous in museums and cultural attractions. Smartphones and screen based mobile technologies have the potential to both positively and negatively impact the experiences of individuals with access needs. At the heart of this issue is 1, considering how smartphones are used by individuals with access needs, 2, determining which features of commercial devices and apps are working correctly, and 3, documenting what is already being applied to mobile experiences in museums.
This 'how to' talk is informed by the industry trends outlined in recent mobile surveys and conference discussions, including Museums and Mobile surveys 2009-2013, TechatLead and the Access issue of Curator Magazine, July 2012. For instance, the 2013 Museums and Mobile results identified 70% of the 551 global surveyed institutions as providing a smartphone solution for their general visitors (http://www.museums-mobile.org/survey/). The speakers will discuss these results as well as impart practical tips and outline challenges for using smartphone technology to shape and enrich the experiences of access audiences visiting cultural institutions.
Speakers from Art Beyond Sight, Seattle Art Museum, Antenna International and CogApp will reference their own projects and experiences, consider case studies and developments in the commercial and research communities, and show how institutions can serve access audiences with smartphones. They will look at how devices and apps impact the experience of access audiences visiting in person as well as learning remotely about cultural institutions and heritage sites. The workshop will be supported by findings from surveys conducted by Antenna International in partnership with access advocacy group Art Beyond Sight.
Accessing smartphones - Mobile for all (Universal Crit) Museums and The Web
2. Crit Hosts:
Corey Timpson, Director, Design + New Media and Collections, Canadian Museum for Human Rights
@coreytimpson @cmhr_news
Morgan Holzer, Information Architect, NY Public Library
@msh @nypl
Sina Bahram, President, Prime Access Consulting, Inc.
@SinaBahram
Presenters:
Sofie Andersen, Sr Digital Media Strategist, Antenna International /Antenna Lab
@antenna_lab @sofieny
Annie Leist, Visual Artist & Project Coordinator, Art Beyond Sight
@ArtByndSight @artaccessannie
Joe Baskerville, Chief of Technology, Cogapp
@cogapp @joe_baskerville
Tasia Endo, Assistant Museum Educator for Interpretative Technology, Seattle Art Museum
@iheartSAM @tasiaendo
5. Research:
• 61 individuals with disabilities
• 44 cultural institutions
• 9 access organizations
Individuals skewed towards blind/low vision and
we saw a drop off in some answers.
More to come…..
7. Museums and
Mobile
• 35% museums considering converting from audioguides to smartphones.
• 38% say they are offering mobile devices with access features.
8. Smartphones &
Everyday life
• Device ownership by individuals –disabled population aligns with everyone.
• 60% iPhones, 31% Android phones/tablets and 25% iPads.
• Complex array of daily tasks – wayfinding, social, paying bills etc.
• 65-69% have used audioguide or smartphone to visit.
9. Museums and
Access
• Majority of museums provide access programs and in a variety of ways– 93%.
• Challenges: Dispersed information, ambient noise, exterior locations, complex spaces,
busy environments.
Photo of Annie Leist at MFA Boston (courtesy of NYTimes)
10. Museums and
Access
• 1/3 of individuals come to a museum once a month and 1/3 once a year.
• Spend significant time at museums – come regularly and spend 1-2 hours (64%) or
longer.
11. Mobile
Interpretation
and Access
• Individuals with disabilities highly rated learning and sharing – customization also important.
• No one approach fits all, “If a device with the screen is used, then the screen should be legible
to people of all vision levels, unless an alternative is provided.”
• Museums considering mobile are hindered by funding and uncertain mobile strategy.
13. • Voiceover
• Guided access
• Hearing aid support
• Magnify mode
• Inverted mode
• Assistive touch
• Switch control
Device accessibility features
20. CONTENT AND FUNCTIONALITIES Current
Practices
Screen readers and Text to Speech
Adjustable Font Sizes
Transcripts
Verbal Description Audio
Verbal Description Video
Captions
Signed Videos
Navigation/Geofencing
QR/NFC/AR/IR
UI/Design
Multisensory
21. Screen readers
• Full screen reader in device settings/out of the box & app functionality.
• Text to Speech API’s part of app software/native apps.
• Most used smartphone technology (72%) but apps have to be optimized; many museum
apps don’t currently work with them.
22. Text Control and Magnification Current
Practices
• Ability to adjust size of text with
either a pinch/zoom or toggle
button.
• Audio or label text for visitors
who are deaf or low-vision use
with TTS/screen reader
functionality.
• Adjustable text sizes highly
rated feature (41%).
23. MEDIA- AUDIO+ VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS
• Visual descriptions are highly most highly rated
interpretation (77%), then technical information about
the work.
• Opinions from the public are least important.
24. MEDIA: VIDEO Current
Practices
• Videos captions for the deaf users are also useful for everyone in
noisy environments.
• Sign languages are not static languages, the same idea can be
expressed in multiple ways.
25. WAYFINDING Navigation/
Geofencing
74% of adult Americans use phone for geo-location info (PEW14).
GPS, AR, turn by turn or sensory.
QR/NFC/IR – potential but ‘point and click’ problematic at close range.
Wearable technology – Google Glass, Orcam.
37. Apple Accessibility:
• https://developer.apple.com/accessibility/
Android:
• http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/accessibility.html
• http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/accessibility/apps.html
• http://eyes-
free.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/documentation/android_access/index.
html
Microsoft App Builder:
• http://appdevelopermagazine.com/1268/2014/3/31/Equal-Access-
App-Development:-Create-an-App-with-Assistive-Technology-/
Verbal Description and Museum Experiences for Low-Vision
visitors
• http://www.artbeyondsight.org/
• http://www.artbeyondsight.org/docs/fln%20formatted%20White%20P
aper.pdf
RESOURCES/TOOLS
39. ABS/AI Survey/Research – 2014 & ongoing
https://www.facebook.com/events/642303872497214/?previousaction=joi
n&source=1
PEW Internet and American Life – 2013 & 2014
Museum Mobile 2013- survey and analysis
Wireless Rehabilitation 2013- National Survey and Reports
IBM CSUN 2013 report
AFB 2014 conference papers
CSUN 2014 conference initial reports
RESEARCH REFERENCED
40. All museums and individuals with disabilities participating and
spreading the word about AI14 survey
Co-presenters Annie Leist, Joe Baskerville, Tasia Endo, and
research support from Blaire Moskowitz.
ABS staff Elisabeth Axel, Nina Levant, Ibraheem Fakir.
Sina Bahram, Prime Access Consulting, Inc,.
Tom Babinski of IBM for use of CSUN13 research.
American Foundation for the Blind Technology Lab
Matt Kaplowitz Bridgemultimedia
Museum Access specialists Rebecca McGinnis, Hannah Goodwin,
Beth Ziebarth, Danielle Linzer.
Information videos produced by Lou Giansante for ABS.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With thanks for participation and ongoing research
41. Sofie Andersen
Sr Digital Media Strategist
Antenna International
Twitter: @antenna_lab @sofieny
Blog: www.antennalab.org
sandersen@antennainternational.com