(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05)
Walker, Bruce N.; Davison, Benjamin K.
Members of the ICAD community might contend that auditory interfaces and even just well-designed sound in computer interfaces could be used more often than is currently the case. However, it is not entirely clear where, when, and how sound is actually being employed in everyday software. We discuss the development of a long-term research project aimed at identifying and categorizing sound use in software. Our mixed- methods approach explores software artifacts from three perspectives: detailed program behavior, source code word count of audio terms, and audio infrastructure. These complementary approaches could provide a deeper understanding of sound use today and, we hope, lead to predicting, guiding, and improving the future trajectory of its use.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-04-07)
Walker, Bruce N.
Zoos and aquaria are in the business of educating and entertaining the visiting public. However, as the number of people with disabilities living in the community has grown, and as public environments have become more accessible to them, such informal learning environments (ILEs) are faced with accommodating an increasingly diverse visitor population with varying physical and sensory needs. This is even more challenging for ILEs with dynamic exhibits, where the movements, changes, and interactions are extremely difficult to describe to individuals who lack vision. The GT Accessible Aquarium Project is an interdisciplinary team effort to make dynamic exhibits such as those at museums, science centers, zoos and aquaria more engaging and accessible for visitors with vision impairments by providing real-time interpretations of the exhibits using innovative tracking, music, narrations, and adaptive sonification.