Supported by the National Science Foundation, the Global Soundscapes! Big Data, Big Screens, Open Ears project employs a variety of informal learning experiences to present the physics of sound and the new science of soundscape ecology. The interdisciplinary science of soundscape ecology analyzes sounds over time in different ecosystems around the world. The major components of the Global Soundscapes project are an educator-led interactive giant-screen theater show, group activities, and websites. All components are designed with both sighted and visually impaired students in mind. Multimedia
The overall purpose of the Kinetic City (KC) Empower project was to examine how informal science activities can be made accessible for students with disabilities. The premise of this project was that all students, including those with disabilities, are interested in and capable of engaging in science learning experiences, if these experiences are accessible to them. Drawing on resources from Kinetic City, a large collection of science experiments, games, and projects developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the project researched and adapted five after
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bob HirshonLaureen SummersBabette MoellerWendy Martin
Creating Museum Media for Everyone is an NSF-funded collaborative project of the Museum of Science, the WGBH National Center for Accessible Media, Ideum, and Audience Viewpoints, to further the science museum field's understanding of ways to research, develop, and evaluate digital interactives that are inclusive of all people. As a part of this effort to enable museums to integrate more accessible media into their exhibits to make them more welcoming and educational for visitors with disabilities as well as general audiences, this paper provides an overview of approaches to media accessibility
The Universally Designed Museum Programming project was envisioned as a way to create public programs that are more inclusive of people with disabilities. We used the concepts of universal design and Universal Design for Learning as well as our prior experiences with these topics in exhibition design and nanotechnology programming as a foundation for our work. Through this project, we gained insight into building a community of interest, facilitating a charrette in an inclusive way, using universal design guidelines to develop programs, and measuring the effectiveness of our process.
This report presents findings from a joint study carried out by the Museum of Science, Boston Research and Evaluation Department (MOS) and Art Beyond Sight (ABS, formerly Art Education for the Blind) with museum visitors who are blind or have low vision. The purpose of this study was to gather information that can inform the development of pilot museum programs that meet the needs and interests of visitors who are blind or have low vision and to provide professional development for museum professionals. Focus groups were used as the primary data collection method, as they enable idea sharing
Multi-Touch technology provides a successful gesture based Human Computer Interface. The contact and gesture recognition algorithms of this interface are based on full hand function and, therefore, are not accessible to many people with physical disability. In this paper, we design a set of command-like gestures for users with limited range and function in their digits and wrist. Trajectory and angle features are extracted from these gestures and passed to a recurrent neural network for recognition. Experiments are performed to test the feasibility of gesture recognition system and determine
Inclusion, Disabilities, and Informal Science Learning, a report by the CAISE Access Inquiry Group, sets forth a framework for changing this inequity. This white paper offers a theoretical framework for thinking about inclusion of people with disabilities in informal science education (ISE), then reviews current practice in museums (broadly defined), in media and technology, and in youth and community programs. While "investigations located a number of projects, initiatives, and organizations that have sought greater inclusion of people with disabilities in ISE," the report concludes, "these