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<span style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;
line-height: 110%;">OPLIN 4cast #413: Wayfinding
cues for the blind</span><br>
<!-- Make sure you modify the date of the 4Cast in this section -->
<span style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal;
color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-style: italic;
font-family: arial;">November 26th, 2014</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><img
src="cid:part4.04010005.07080004@oplin.org"
alt="blind symbol" align="left" height="110"
width="80">This may not have much to do with
library technology - not yet, anyway - but it's a
cool story nonetheless. Libraries have always been
involved with efforts to open the world of books
to those who have vision impairment, of course,
but it seems like new technologies that could be
useful are often around for years before someone
adapts them for the blind. Wearable technology,
like Google Glass, easily could have become
another example of new technologies ignoring the
visually impaired; but now Microsoft is testing
some wearable technology that has the potential to
significantly enrich the lives of the blind.
</p>
<div> </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/06/microsoft-headset-for-the-visually-impaired/">Microsoft's
bone-conducting headset guides the blind with
audio cues</a> (Endgadget | Mariella Moon)
"Microsoft, for one, is currently testing a new
headset (developed with help from UK charity <a
href="http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/">Guide Dogs</a>)
that uses 3D soundscape technology to guide its
users with audio cues along the way. That
bone-conducting headset can't work alone,
though: it needs to be connected to a
smartphone, as well as to receive information
from Bluetooth and WiFi <a
href="http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/03/sfo-beacons-for-blind-passengers/">beacons</a>
placed in intervals throughout the roads users
take."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://news.microsoft.com/stories/independence-day/">Independence
Day: A new pilot program sets people with
sight loss free to experience cities like
never before</a> (Microsoft/Stories | Jennifer
Warnick) "Microsoft designers worked incredibly
closely with Guide Dogs - its employees,
mobility experts and users like Bottom and
Brewell - to genuinely understand the challenges
of traveling to and fro with vision loss. The
engineers and designers from Microsoft and
mobility experts and users from Guide Dogs spent
countless hours in the field together. In rain
and wind, they patiently tried various
half-baked ideas, experimented with different
approaches to hardware and software, and gave
essential feedback to help shape the technology
every step of the way."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=36846">Blind
Microsoft director offers bold new vision w/
help from father of multi-touch</a> (Daily
Tech | Jason Mick) "After all, dogs can't tell
you where the closest spot to grab a bite to eat
is. A smartphone might tell you that. But even
they fall short. A local public transit
authority might offer vision impaired auditory
clues, for example, and/or release a
well-integrated smartphone app that tells riders
exactly what bus is arriving when. But many city
services lack these kind of accessibility
efforts. And even those that have them, may be
unable to save a vision impaired person from
getting on the wrong bus, if the scheduled bus
on the route is running late, and a different
route is running early."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7164623/microsoft-3d-sound-headset-guide-dogs">Microsoft
had to blindfold me so I could hear the future</a>
(The Verge | Tom Warren) "The real magic of this
system is the 3D audio technology that gives you
a real sense of direction. One feature on the
headset allows you to push a button and hear a
list of nearby places of interest. They're
processed through the headset dependant on the
direction you're facing so that when a store is
read aloud you'll be able to hear the direction
of where it's located. That might be in the rear
left or out in front, but the audio gives you a
clear sense of where that store is along a route
through just sound alone."</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<p style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><small><strong><em>Articles
from <a href="http://ohioweblibrary.org">Ohio
Web Library</a>:</em></strong></small><br>
</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;">
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a1abb00c-7faa-43ee-8b1e-1fb1c6823d8d%40sessionmgr113&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=cph&AN=18977527">Exploring
the functional specifications of a localized
wayfinding verbal aid for blind pedestrians:
Simple and structured urban areas.</a> (<em>Human-Computer
Interaction</em>, Sept. 2005, p267-314 |
Florence Gaunet and Xavier Briffault)</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=61466dd5-bca4-4074-8831-0706b6777abf%40sessionmgr198&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=44252854">An
indoor routing algorithm for the blind:
Development and comparison to a routing
algorithm for the sighted.</a> (<em>International
Journal of Geographical Information Science</em>,
Oct. 2009, p1315-1343 | Martin Swobodzinski
and Martin Raubal)</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=4c3b4eb7-d725-4f0a-b5aa-177981021b12%40sessionmgr113&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=86051772">Toward
a computer vision-based wayfinding aid for
blind persons to access unfamiliar indoor
environments.</a> (<em>Machine Vision &
Applications</em>, April 2013, p521-535 |
YingLi Tian, Xiaodong Yang, Chucai Yi, and
Aries Arditi)</li>
</ul>
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