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Tactile Graphics
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These are the proceedings of the First International Conference on Tactile
Diagrams, Maps and Pictures, held at the Fielder Centre, Hatfield UK, 9th-10th
October 2000.
All my Crag Art pictures are hand drawn, individually painted and produced in a Tactile format, so that visually impaired and blind people can appreciate and share art in their homes with family and friends. Subjects include landscapes, wildlife, buildings, and commissions are also taken for 'one off' originals, maybe a scene from childhood, a holiday or a picture of your guide dog. In addition several of the pictures are supplied with a taped description that includes relevant sounds. A mountain range described in a gale; or woodland glade with birds going to roost - a truly 'Talking Picture' in more senses than one. Calendars and Personalised Greetings cards for every occasion depict a selection of country scenes in a tactile way in black and white.
The paper will centre on the findings of a four year research project by the author working with a group of adventitiously and congenitally blind adults in Japan. The research centred on finding ways of making museums, collections of art and artefacts cognitively accessible through verbal description and raised images with a concentration on two dimensional work of art. A new form of raised image in colour with transparent ink overlay was developed by the author to overcome the limitations of the conventional black and white microcapsule image. They were used for the catalogue and accompanying audio guide at an exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art with which the author was involved.
It might seem trite to state that the sense of touch is vastly different from that of sight. Nevertheless, it seems that the designers of some tactile diagrams do not bear this in mind. Thus, the diagrams they produce may look good - but are most impractical to explore manually. We are deriving guidelines for tactile design to ensure that the right amount of information is available to the user through the fingertips. This should lead to tactile diagrams which are much easier to use - though they may be harder to interpret visually.
Whereas most people have some idea of their visual ability, few could say whether their tactile sense was above or below average. This can be a problem in research; if the results of testing a tactile device or interaction are exceptionally bad (or good) is that the fault of the design or of the tester? There is thus a need for a standard test of tactile ability that could be applied as a pre-test before any such evaluation is carried out. A tactile aptitude test has been devised which has been designed to provide baseline measurements within three specific areas of interaction: point symbols, raised lines and areal symbols. The process of creating this tactile aptitude test has also produced a number of design guidelines for creating tactile symbols which are likely to be of benefit to general tactile diagram design.
There are hundreds of UK organisations producing and lending materials in
alternative formats, but most visually impaired people are aware of only a few
of them. A comprehensive and readily accessible database, named Reveal, is currently
being developed by Share The Vision, as part of a government-funded programme
of work to improve library services for visually impaired people. This paper
will describe the progress to date on the project; the scope of the database;
what it will contain; and how it will be managed. We will also encourage producers
of tactile diagrams to support the project and use the database.
This presentation describes Graphics Research and Standards Project (GRASP), a joint research and development project of the Canadian Braille Authority (CBA) and Braille Authority of North America (BANA). The goals of the project are to evaluate readability of tactile graphics and to develop standards and guidelines for the production of tactile graphics in educational materials throughout North America. Students who are braille readers will evaluate and compare readability of materials including the clarity of design components and production techniques. Evaluation materials present variations of lines, areas, point symbols, graphs, legends/keys/labels and pictures/diagrams.
The presentation will describe the use of some software called Centre Soundbook which uses a 'concept keyboard'. It has been used with young and developmentally young children who are blind. When particular areas of the concept keyboard are pressed a digitised sound can be heard. A number of tactile overlays have been designed to be placed upon the concept keyboard. Children can move their fingers along the tactile path, and when they press 'nodes' the computer plays appropriate musical sequences, listening to chunks of a story, and predicting animal and transport sounds. The design and use of these resources will be described.
For something to be classified as a picture of a specific object, the picture elements must be arranged in the same way as in the object represented. This means that an object can be reproduced in a number of ways, but that all of them still represent the same object. Because of the differences between tactile and visual perception, changes are necessary when visual pictures and maps are transferred to the tactile medium. The organization and interrelation of the individual elements of the tactile picture will normally coincide with the composition of the visual picture. In the presentation I will discuss the relation between visual and tactile representation.
This scheme is designed not only to introduce literacy and develop skills
needed for Braille work, but to set the child on the path towards constructive
exploration, interpretation and understanding of tactile diagrams. The scheme
consists of around eighty swell-paper exercises, covering tracking, line discrimination,
texture discrimination, matching and orientation, organised around the story
of Snow-White. The books have been developed by two people who have many years
of experience working with pre-braillists and the introduction of 2-D representations
to young children.
TACIS (Tactile Acoustic Computer Interaction System) is a new, powerful computer
tool that allows users with a visual impairment to examine graphical information
through a combination of three media: tactile, tonescapes and speech. The TACIS
Project, supported by the European TIDE Programme developed this device and
powerful software tools, which enable the easy creation and use of tactile graphics
and maps. The TANDEM project aims to create an environment for making accessible
computer graphics and interactive database information to people with a visual
impairment, in particular children of all ages, and further develop the TACIS
technology and applications.
With reference to ongoing research, recent development of tactile map design for education and recreation, in areas of managed countryside, will be presented. The work was undertaken in close collaboration with visually impaired people, and the presentation will be illustrated with a wide range of vacuum-formed maps, all of which have been used successfully in the field. The need for further research and development in the realms of environmental perception, symbol standardisation, map production, map use in the field, and map user groups has been highlighted during this work. Ann has recently been awarded the British Cartographic Society's Ordnance Survey Award for creativity and innovation in map design for her Castleshaw contour map.
The TIGER Advantage tactile graphics and braille embosser for network and
personal use prints directly from Windows, preserving document formatting and
graphics. For the first time, braille can be easily printed along with graphics,
while maintaining document formatting. And with a capacity for printing up to
50 inches long and 17 inches wide, the implications for educational and professional
use are astounding. Print maps, complete with braille labelling and key. Easily
create an accessible printout of the Periodic Table. The possibilities are endless!
Text is automatically converted to braille. Anyone who can print from a Windows
application can use the TIGER Advantage.
Tate Modern shows art from 1900 to the present day. Artworks range from the
representations to the abstract in 2D, 3D, installation and video formats. Traditionally
touch tours for visually impaired visitors at Tate involved touching artworks
robust enough to be handled which although worthwhile, limited tours to a particular
type of art. With the aim of providing visually impaired visitors with full
intellectual access, Tate Modern has devised a new form of tour that integrates
handling objects, raised images, 'touchable artworks' and discussion. Caro Howell
will talk about her research and development of these tours and her initial
findings.
The Dog Rose Trust is involved in research and development of tactile and
sound interpretation of all environments for people who are blind and visually
impaired. Their work focuses on Universal Design and its benefits to all. It
is the aim of the Trust that their sound design, models, plans and other raised
work are for everyone. Research into the technology that will produce sound
and tactile forms has been a key factor. The suitability of design, techniques
and materials is an important part of the acceptance of plans, maps and other
images into all environments, especially historic ones.
The aim of the paper is to give an introduction to the work of the Maps and
Diagrams Department at RNIB Peterborough, and the services that can be offered
for tactile diagrams. Topics that will be covered: who are our customers; the
scope and variety of our work; how do we design and make tactile images; what
materials do we use; what services we can offer.
The famous tactile picture of a London bus drawn by a totally blind child,
who depicted the essential (accessible) parts of the vehicle with just three
lines - one for the step, one for the vertical pole she held on to while boarding
the bus and one for the seat reveals a number of problems which a sighted designer
of tactile graphics must anticipate to ensure that the diagrams, drawings and
maps will make sense to a blind user with little or no prior exposure to tactile
graphics. The paper is an overview of potential problems and of possible solutions
connected with using tactile graphics for explaining spatial relations and visual
concepts to young congenitally blind children.
This paper reports on four years of research into the design of tactile maps
of a University campus. Sighted students taking a Third year mapping course
have compiled maps of the campus area, using multi-method research. They have
interviewed visually impaired staff and students, surveyed routes and areas,
evaluated symbols, compiled base maps, compared production technologies and
completed tactile mapping packages of routes and areas across the campus of
the University of Manchester. Completed map packages have been critically evaluated
and made available to visually impaired users. The implications of involving
sighted students in the design of tactile mapping are discussed, and best practice
in the design of campus maps using microcapsule and thermoform technologies
is evaluated. It is concluded that active feedback from map users can play an
important part in the design process.
Tactile books are an undeniably good thing for young visually-impaired children
- and for older V.I. children with learning difficulties. They give a great
deal of pleasure as well as promoting tactile, language, comprehension and literacy
skills. They provide the first step towards an understanding of more complex
tactile material. To date almost all tactile books have been hand-made by parents
and teachers for individual children. Recent initiatives in the mass-production
of tactile books give cause for hope that in future V.I. children will not have
to rely solely on the creativity and craft talents of those around them.
The Database of Tactile Symbols (DOTS) is a concept web project being developed
to assist tactile map designers. As a dynamic catalogue of international tactile
map symbols, it is intended to bring together cartographic principles, processes
and practitioners compiling tactile maps today. At its heart is the international
register of tactile map symbols. As this area of cartography matures it is hoped
that we can progress towards internationally accepted standards of tactile map
symbology.
Despite the gradually increasing ease of production and availability of
tactile maps, a widespread pessimism can be noted among practitioners regarding
their potential benefits. This may be due to an assumption that early blind
people lack the spatial ability to make sense of tactile maps, or that anything
but the simplest tactile map contains too much information for such people to
interpret. In this paper I argue that, although many blind people do indeed
have difficulty reading tactile maps, this cannot be attributed to a lack of
ability: it may be that they have simply not acquired appropriate strategies
for processing map information.
There are three non-visual alternatives to music notation: braille music,
Talking Scores and playing-by-ear. Each have associated difficulties and, in
particular, braille music and Talking Scores present a large amount of information
in a serial fashion with no facility for the reader to filter out information
that is unwanted for a particular task. Furthermore, all three approaches share
a common problem in that a person cannot obtain a quick impression of the piece's
structure. Weasel is a computer-based system which uses tactile overlays on
a touchpad input device to provide an interactive overview of a page of music.
The reader is then able to directly select one or more bars and hear the musical
content as audio or a spoken description. The amount of information which is
presented can be set to suit the requirement of a particular task.
The workshop aims at acquainting teachers of visually impaired children with
a set of educational tools for explaining the connection between spatial relations
and tactile graphics. The relation between three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional
graphics will be presented, as well as a series of exercises and activities
for increasing the children's confidence with 'managing space'. The activities,
which can involve touch pads, are seen as an important element of the children's
education, preparing them for their first meaningful contact with tactile maps
and diagrams used in different subjects (geography, geometry, science, art).
Although collage is the standard method for the production of fact and reliable
thermoform masters, learning the more difficult methods of APH diagramming foil
and the artistic sculpture methods allow producers a wider range of options
and increase the tactile effectiveness of some types of diagrams. This workshop
will explore the pros and cons of these advanced thermoform master techniques
and will look at a variety of diagrams produced using these methods. An initial
lesson in the use of APH foil is included.
The aim of the workshop is to give a general overview of the concepts and
principles that need to be considered when designing and making tactile maps.
Issues to be covered: how the design of a map directly affects its purpose;
hand-held/portable maps versus in-situ/static maps; design of street maps; design
of static maps; design of building plans; design of geographical maps.
Panellists:
Professor Helen Petrie, National Centre for Tactile Diagrams
Constance Craig, Tactile Department, Canadian National Institute for the Blind,
Library for the Blind, Canada
Lucia Hasty, Director, Colorado Instructional Materials Centre for the VI, United
States
Dr. Andrew Tatham, Head of Information Resources, Royal Geographical Society
Panellists:
Dr. Sarah Morley, Assistant Director, National Centre for Tactile Diagrams
Dave Gunn, Technical Manager, National Centre for Tactile Diagrams
Sue King, Customer Liaison, RNIB Maps and Diagrams
John Gardner, President & CEO of ViewPlus Technologies, and Professor of
Physics, Oregon State University, USA
Nick Tasker, imagen solutions Ltd, and Chairman of the Society of Cartographers
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