Overview
As the only researcher in our department focused on software for the visually impaired it was important to me to recruit others to join the project. I worked pro-bono with a three engineering student teams interested in developing applications for the blind. Their projects focused on two sectors of navigation; physical and cyber.
Physical navigation relates to tools utilized when walking, moving or traversing a physical space. While cyber centers around navigation of virtual world (see SerpUI for more). The cyber navigation project related to virtual navigation of books... pretty cool in my opinion :)
Guide Day
@icon-info-circle A day for engineering students to learn about blindness.
In order to connect students with their end-user I felt it was necessary to recruit field experts and blind individuals to participate in activities and Q&A with the students. We had a day full of O&M (mobility) drills and a panel for discussion.
The lessons learned by our students filled them motivation and a new perspective on how to approach these unique engineering problems.
Here the students are gathered around learning from Valerie and Ka
Source: Guy Meyer
Some of the activies and exercises that were planned for the day (creds: Valerie)
Source: Guy Meyer
Source: Guy Meyer
Thank you Valerie Kitazaki, Ka Li, and Rachel (from W. Ross) for taking your time to share your experiences with our students!
