Projects
Audiom Map of Smith-Kettlewell
An Audiom map of the main Smith-Kettlewell building at 2318 Fillmore St., San Francisco has been created by Brandon Biggs. This is an audio-visual map that allows users to explore a detailed map of the building with or without vision. The map runs in any browser and is available to anyone who visits the building.
Crowd-Sourced Description for Web-Based Video (CSD)
The Descriptive Video Exchange Project (funded by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health, (grant # R01 EY020925-01) focuses on crowd-sourced techniques for describing DVD media. CSD will expand DVX to include Internet-based media such as YouTube, iTunes U, and other streamed video found on a wide variety of web sites. Many streamed Internet-based video sources provide well-defined, public APIs for accessing all the information DVX requires. Using these APIs will allow the VDRDC to expand DVX to include streamed content so that seamless, simple, crowd-sourced descriptions can be added to Internet-based video by volunteers or professionals anywhere.
MapIO: a Gestural and Conversational Interface for Tactile Maps
For individuals who are blind or have low vision, tactile maps provide essential spatial information but are limited in the amount of data they can convey. Digitally augmented tactile maps enhance these capabilities with audio feedback, thereby combining the tactile feedback provided by the map with an audio description of the touched elements. In this context, we explore an embodied interaction paradigm to augment tactile maps with conversational interaction based on Large Language Models, thus enabling users to obtain answers to arbitrary questions regarding the map. We analyze the type of…
Using VR to Help Train Visually Impaired Users to Aim a Camera
People with visual impairments increasingly rely on camera-enabled smartphone apps for tasks like photography, navigation, and text recognition. Despite the growing use of these applications, precise camera aiming remains a significant challenge. This project explores the impact of virtual reality (VR) exploration in the context of learning to use a camera-based app. So far we have studied this approach in the context of training a visually impaired person to use walk-light detector app at traffic intersections.
