[nagdu] Virtual Guide Dog

[Jewel S.]

Hi, an update on this!

I have started playing Second Life using the Radegast client. This
client is text-based, and is really awesome. It's a sep in the right
direction for accessibility to virtual worlds for the disabled. I had
an avatar from my sighted days already, so I did not experience making
a new avatar, but had to learn how to use the Radegast client. A lady
by the SL name of Dianna Muircastle showed me the ropes in what may be
considered a Second Life Orientation and Mobility lesson. She provided
me with scripts that allow me to do a list of commands, including /2
doing, which tells me if I am standing or sitting, /2 where, which
tells me where I am by xyz coordinates, and /3 go name=<name or object
name> which lets me go to a person or object.

Now, on the subjecto fo the virtual guide dog, I came across a rather
interesting note provided to me by Dianna Muircastle, which brings up
a very real consideration with this virtual guide dog.

Essentially, it was an explanation of why she and her group "Sight
Unseen" does not put their navigation script in a canine body, but
will place it in another object, such as a bracelet, a shoulder pet,
or in my cae, a white cane I created (basically a long tube that's the
right height for my avi, with a red tube imposed over the end, and a
small sphere attached to the end).

She says the reason they do not use canines for the navigaation is
that it may present a concern for the RL equivalents. If people see
virtual guide dogs, they may get the wrong idea about guide dogs,
including that the guide dog (in SL, the virtual guide dog leads the
person with commands including the go name=<name> stated above. So,
essentially, giving it a command like go name=grocery store door would
bring you to the door of the grocery store in that sim. People might
think this is how guide dogs work in real life.

Another concern is that people might see the guide dog as a toy or
object, rather than the real living being and team player that a guide
dog is. In SL, objects in the shape of pets and animals can be
manipulated, left in inventory when not wanted, or given away without
a second thought, and many people code these pets to play and do
fantastic fetes. The note said that they were concerned that people
would see guide dogs in the real world, like in SL, as just objects to
be left behind at will and to be played with even when in harness.

The final concern was that because there is no problem with avatars
interacting with virtual guide dogs, they may assume that the same
holds true for real guide dogs. And we all know how much a problem
that is.

With this in light, what thoughts do you have on this virtual guide
dog in Second Life? I think the concerns, while real, are a little out
of proportion, but that's just my opinion

~Jewel

On 3/24/10, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:
> What a cool idea.
> I used to game back as a teenager and with text games.
> I haven't done it in years and don't think that this is how I want to
> spend my time mainly because now the games can take literally all your
> time to participate fully.
> Still, this is a neat concept.
> Jewel, I'm glad you found a way to keep playing and hope you can get in
> touch with your friends again.
> You know, maybe until the text interface gets off the ground you can
> have someone read the screen, maybe another second life person? You
> could even do this via webcam.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Jewel S.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:18 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] Virtual Guide Dog
>
> Hi all! I came across a most interesting thing today....a little
> background first.
>
> I used to play Second Life, before my injury that took my vision. I
> loved the ability to build, program, and converse. I was a member of
> many virtual groups, with both real-world interests (like military
> wives) and virtual interests (like learning how to program items to do
> this and that and everything). I absolutely loved Second Life.
>
> However, in 2008 when I lost my vision, there was no alternative way
> for blind people to play Second Life. So, when my vision went from
> 20/70 to 20/200 to 20/600, I said good-bye to all my friends on Second
> Life. My virtual family (a few friends who considered me like a
> sister/daughter) cried when I left, and while I knew some of them as
> their real-life selves, since they were in another part of the world,
> continuing contact was difficult (many of them were British).
>
> I found a text SL program recently (<textsl.org/>) that is for blind
> and VI players of Second Life. So, I looked into SL for the blind
> more.
>
> I came across an article about a player of SL, VI herself, who is
> programming a virtual guide dog, named Max, who will help blind
> players navigate Second Life. Currently, it just looks good (with its
> harness on a lovely sled dog type dog) and allows the avatar to follow
> another avatar who acts as a sorted of sighted guide. But they are
> working on the programming. The website is
> <http://www.virtualguidedog.com/>
>
> What do you all think of this?
>
> ~Jewel
>
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