For my dissertation I would like to create a tangible user interface with the research area in relation to the blind and visually impaired.
Where I am coming from?
I wanted to create something in relaiton to education or communication by helping people using interactive media. To communicate information using interactive media that people encounter on a daily basis. So i decided to focus my research area a little more in the direction of interactive media for the visually impaired and blind.
Two area's that really interested me are:
Augmented reality including the areas of augmented clothing or objects.
Tangible User Interface – I like the idea of people being able to physically feel digital information. A TUI would allow me to create something that would represent digital information in a physical form and allow users to communicate back to the media using the physical form.
My first idea was to augment clothing to have sensors that would pick up objects that a person may not know is there and let them know before they bump into it.
I moved away from this idea as there are a few similar ideas out there that people don’t use. I also was considering the fact that people that are visually impaired or blind often have other heightened senses that communicate a substantial amount of information as to what is around them. All of us in our everyday lives have routines and we get used to going to the same places with the same layout so people may be used to knowing where things are in a space.
For my second idea I started off with the idea of communicating exactly what is in a room when you walk into it, by scanning it and communicating through a tactile interface. In the same way a person with perfect eye sight can see everything. This was a bit adventurous so I explored the idea of communicating somebody's face through a tactile interface.
I decided to build on my second idea and think more about where a tactile user interface might be better put to use for a visually impaired person. I really like the idea of a pin press and a tangible user interface.
So my concept idea is to create a tangible user interface along the lines of how a pin press works that will communicate the navigation and text elements of a website. The TUI ought to output the information from the website to the Tangible user interface to the user and allow the user to communicate back to the website using the TUI.
Transforming Objects
The first 3 video clips are a few ideas that have something transforming or coming out of a flat object. The examples transform to resent something else like the way a TUI would.
Kinetic Cube Interface - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFnNKIYljLw
Magnetic Sculpture - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XliOko5xrr0
Amazing Wooden Mirror - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCSbk9JDwPY
Seeing by Touch
These two clips are an insight as to how blind people use touch.
Blind Painter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P84bfFpVWE
Tactile Art - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRX3fQtiLw
It made sense that the lady might not know what a TP was because she would probably have never seen or felt one before.
I thought it was really inspiring to hear her say “nothing is more enriching that when I can access information right under my finger tips.”
So what does my concept do?
It goes to a website and takes the information from the website. It communicates this information to the tactile user interface. The interface transforms to represent the digital information on the website. The user can absorb this information and select what they would like to do on the website through the interface. The interface then needs to communicate to the website what to do and the process starts again.
Going through the steps in more detail I’ll explain what would have to be done for each step.
I would need to create a program that will read and convert HTML into the relevant information to output to the TUI. Then the program needs to be able to communicate to the mechanical mechanism what they should do.
The mechanical mechanisms will need to move to the specified y co-ords to represent the information.
How to achieve this?
There are three main ways that I could achieve this
Idea 1 – solenoids – expensive to make and run
Idea 2 – ball bearings, a gun, and a leather mat to form a vac forming like process to create a braille page.
Idea 3 – Air gun shooting up air under each pin to a specific measurement.
I intend to brainstorm with electronic and mechanical engineers to explore how this could be achieved.
The user feels the information represented on the TUI and selects what they would like to do for example go in to the contact part of the website. There could be some sort of force feedback reactions, vibrations, click feeling or audio to let them know that they have selected something.
There needs to be sensors that will pick up the movement of the pins and communicate this back to the program which send the message to the website to change the page.And the cycle begins again.
A way to pick up the information input needs to be explored. A way to convert the input and send it to the website will need to be figured out.
Here are some examples of other projects I have been looking at.
The VTPlayer has 32 pins in 2 tactile pads. The pins rise and fall as user moves the VTPlayer. User can feel shapes, textures, animations, paths, and objects. USB port.
Optical tracking technology.
The robotic haptic clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B22VLye3loE) at time 01:32 shows the pins moving underneath the finger.
This project used audio feedback to let user know where they were on a newspaper page.
What I found interesting in this project was the method they used for tracking what a person was doing by tracking a symbol on their hand.
This interface allows user to explore and analyse landscape design with a real 3D model that they can touch. The model is made from a ductile clay support. The alterations the user make to the model are recorded in real time using a laser scanner. The interface combines the advantages of physical interaction with the dynamic qualities of graphical displays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0fktwCPjjc
This is an interface that was designing for blind users to explore windows XP using a pin array. This is what I would like to create for website but also allow users to input their selection using the same interface.
So some of the challenges I will face.
- The project is a big project for the time we have so I could possibly focus on a small area of the idea or just one specific website.
- Time, money & knowledge are some limitations I am sure will cause problems.
- I will need to approach the ethics committee to speak approval to work with the visually impaired and blind.
- I am going to be learning many new skills in a short time frame.
I hope to meet with the NCBI (National council for the blind Ireland) in April to make some contacts.
I will be using the Internet, typically the message boards, websites and you tube movies.
I hope to get in contact with the teachers at the blind school in Limerick.
I want to update my blog to get hits from people in relation to blind and visually impaired people.
Interviews – huge factor in determining the needs of users and setting some requirements of the design.
User Testing – major factor in bringing to light all the well executed parts of the design and all of the parts that need more attention, changing or elimination.
Literature – Researching literature to do with previous studies in relation to the visually impaired and blind, previous designs and technologies.
I need to carry out my research.
Look at products on the market for the visually impaired and blind including Braille. Examine the best Audio program for blind and visually impaired people on the market
Examine Problems on the internet that visually impaired and blind people have.
Design a prototype for testing – possibly make up a number of braille sheets that would present what the interface would feel like. Could put these sheets in some sort of a box that would present what the tablet would be like.
Form contacts from now and go from there with user testing and interviews.
Brainstorm with visually impaired, blind, mechanical engineers and electronic engineers.
Figure out what Software and Technologies would suit the project and what has been used before.
Some considerations that I have are:
- What should be represented from the website.
- Possible users – blind, deaf and all.
- Needs of uses – not just from the view point of requirements of a blind person but what do the users want from a TUI.
- Knowledge and skills – it would be beneficial to allow users to transfer the knowledge and skills they have obtained working with currently available tools.
- It would be nice to mimic the layout of the WebPages exactly but it should be remembered to take care when formatting the tangible user interface and not clutter it with information.
My main aim is to create a tangile user interface. It’s a big project so I may end up coming back a bit and doing a small part of the project or change the concept but still create a TUI. The concept could evolve in a direction I’m not aware of presently. With exploration through research I should be able to clarify the exact design of the TUI and how to achieve this.
I hope you enjoyed my presentation. I would really appreciate any comments, suggestions or questions you have so please don’t hesitate to contact me.
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