[Art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research] photography in India, eye tracking, exhibit

[fnugg at online.no]

Hi,

Articles, and links. An interesting article about eye tracking and the 
potential the results may have on design for websites and accessibility.
Regards,
Lisa


Braille to touch

http://www.gadgetrepublic.com/news/item/463/mobile/researchers-bring-braille-to-touch-screen-technology/


article

FRIDAY - A touching display
Art was never meant to be solely a visual medium, but to engage all the 
senses. See with more than just your eyes at “Art Beyond Sight” at the 
Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery at 136 State St. in Portsmouth during the 
month of April.

This exhibit allows people who are blind or have low vision (as well as 
those with 20/20 vision) to experience art on a multi-sensory level. All 
artwork will accessible in 3-D tactile or 2-D high contrast form with 
visual descriptions in Braille and large print. Simply put, this is one 
exhibit where you won’t get yelled at for touching the art.
A public reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. The gallery is open 
Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, noon-4 
p.m. Call 431-4230 or visit www.nhartassociation.org for details.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090330/COLUMNISTS53/303309961/-1/columnists


excerpt
Research to determine whether art is in the eye of the beholder

"This is exploratory work in which we are looking for patterns in the 
way people look at different visual elements," said Dr Jay.

"We can't yet say if there's a definitive order that people look at 
things. But this may help us to understand how and why people focus on 
particular areas in sequence, what attracts them and what is the 
deciding factor for this sequencing.

"It may be that with portraits people are drawn to the eyes, for 
example, but we don't know. And with abstracts we don't know whether 
there will be any similarity between the eye tracks at all.

"The findings will help us decide the order in which we present things. 
If people do experience these in similar ways then there is a design 
message. This may inform the design of websites."

Dr Harper and Dr Jay believe the findings of this ViSAS research (Visual 
Serialisation for Auditory Sequencing) could be of particular relevance 
to work on the 'translating' of web pages into an audio-described 
resource for blind users or for sites designed for mobile phone users.

Dr Harper said: "Common sense suggests that sighted and blind users of 
the World Wide Web do not share similar user experiences. However we 
propose the opposite and suggest that the user experiences of these two 
groups are directly linked.

"If sighted users focus of areas of a Web page in sequence, then 
understanding and predicting this sequence can allow a conversion from 
vision to audio via text-to-speech technology; and therefore create an 
equivalent experience between sighted and blind people."

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=4531



excerpt


Blind Sight



Why would a group of visually impaired people walk the streets of Mumbai 
trying to capture its famous landmarks? Why would they risk capturing 
images that they can never see? And why indeed, would they want to 
romance photography, an essentially visual medium? Maybe renowned 
Paris-based photographer, Evgen Bavcar, who is also visually impaired, 
has the most potent answer to tehse questions. Having taken a picture of 
a girl who he was in love with, he had famously stated that it was the 
pleasure of capturing something that did not belong to him, of 
possessing something that he could not see, that drove him to 
photography....Why would a group of visually impaired people walk the 
streets of Mumbai trying to capture its famous landmarks? Why would they 
risk capturing images that they can never see? And why indeed, would 
they want to romance photography, an essentially visual medium? Maybe 
renowned Paris-based photographer, Evgen Bavcar, who is also visually 
impaired, has the most potent answer to tehse questions. Having taken a 
picture of a girl who he was in love with, he had famously stated that 
it was the pleasure of capturing something that did not belong to him, 
of possessing something that he could not see, that drove him to 
photography.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/blind-sight/440728/


excerpt
Egg Artists’ Show introduces ‘a world’ of art
“I’ve been an artist all my life, and I’m color blind,” he said. “This 
show is a smaller show and we all feel like family. It’s a gratifying 
thing to be with your family and to come here and introduce people to 
the art. ... Once you start, you become addicted and I’ve been addicted 
to this since about three seconds after I started.”

http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x549584209/Egg-Artists-Show-introduces-a-whole-new-world-of-art




article

If you think being blind means living in a world of darkness, then get 
ready to have that impression changed forever. The Minneapolis Phillips 
Eye Institute is now home to a rare collection of photographs and 
artwork creatred to demonstrate what different forms of blindness might 
look like to the sighted. The unique window is called Blind/Sight

http://www.kare11.com/news/newsatfour/newsatfour_article.aspx?storyid=542661&catid=323