By Catharine McNally
Significant gains and advancements have occurred in worldwide arts access, particularly for individuals with hearing or visual disabilities. Innovative developments grant individuals with the benefit of touring an art exhibit; prestigious institutions have similar visions in providing accessible methods and are catalysts for improvement. Hopefully this ripple effect I speak of will become an eventual wave in the way galleries and museums approach accessibility in D.C., not as a burden but an asset. The technologies I will introduce are aurally and visually appealing, for such methods can be customizable to echo the exhibit design and theme. These handheld devices are largely the innovation of Antenna Audio, a Discovery Media Company, which has reached over 800 sites around the world.
I intend to briefly introduce some of the advancements that have been tested and developed out in the field. The prospects are extraordinary; I hope these technologies will soon become affordable for most institutions on both a micro and macro scale.
The Tate (Modern) Museum in London provided a video-recording of a sign language interpreter that was presented on a PDA device in which a deaf or hard of hearing patron carries around the museum (instead of an audio guide). One could assume that a cued speech interpreter recording is also possible or even a visual of someone speaking for those who rely on lip-reading. The Tate has voiced commitment in providing interpretation tools for the museums in London.
On a side note, museums usually need a few days notice for providing an interpreter at a gallery lecture or discussion. While that is a gracious and courteous service to provide, it is problematic for travelers or those with spontaneous urges to attend on any given day. Perhaps, this visual interpreter could be made available for the more routine gallery presentations, thus eliminating the need for advance notice.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is currently presenting two special exhibits, Picasso and American Art and Brice Marden: A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings on either an Antennae Audio X-plorer or Apple fifth-generation iPod for a $2 dollar rental fee. If the current Apple iPod technology supports video formats, then it should be possible and affordable to have a visual interpreter of choice made available. Podcasts have great potential and I believe that this could greatly diversify the pool of gallery visitors while securing the continued future of arts education. Conclusively, I do not foresee any significant challenges with utilizing an iPod or personal digital assistant (PDA) for accommodation by employing supplemental visual platforms.
Although technological milestones have occurred in the last five years, I wanted to provide a visual of such a hand-held device platform that can easily be customizable to tailor the exhibit design. In December of 2002, IBM partnered with CultNat to launch a portable information service for visitors at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In addition, IBM has developed a speech-to-text program called Embedded ViaVoice, which converts synthesized speech into text into mobile devices such as PDAs. Perhaps this is the future of real-time captioning, but that is a topic for another discussion. This brings me back to my point about the iPod/PDA possibilities, but unfortunately IBM and Apple aren’t exactly on the same side of the competition. Perhaps Apple is developing (or has developed) a similar speech-to-text software.
A screenshot of the Digital Guide at the Egyptian Museum
While this is an exciting development that has taken place in the last five years, one must consider the implications it has on gallery attendance. It also brings in to question, where do we draw the line on technology? A mini-screen should not serve as a substitute for looking at the original work of art; hopefully it provides a platform for enhanced understanding of the art – without, of course, taking away from the personal opportunity for individual interpretation and analysis.
Education is your freedom. The opportunity for a deaf child to read information, view an interpreter on a PDA or the use of such device for alternate learning styles for learning disabilities provides them with ample opportunities for understanding the numerous movements in art. It’s a visual history and one can gain tremendous benefit from the alternate learning environment if given equal opportunities supplemented with accessible use by PDAs or iPods.
Last but not least, Antenna Audio also has visual-descriptive tours for patrons with visual impairments. The future of arts access looks bright. May the ripple effect begin today here in Washington, D.C.
Catharine McNally, a graduate of Wake Forest University recently moved to D.C. from North Carolina. An avid traveler, Catharine takes great delight in learning about new cultures and seeing works of art, which frequently provide her with inspiration. She can be found playing tennis with her older brother in Arlington, popping in and out of local museums, or in her kitchen preparing for a dinner party.
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12 Comments
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I really enjoyed reading this and the options available for Deaf individuals in museums! I’ll have to check out the Tate the next time I’m in London.
This is one aspect of technology and progress that is actually beneficial to Deaf folks.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post. You are right, these technological advancements are beneficial– I, too, would love to go back over to the Tate and check it out. Perhaps I’ll get a better explanation of how some of the artwork is considered art. A black line on a white canvas will take some convincing, but hopefully these handheld devices might guide us with the interpertation! Have you been to Tate Modern? The building itself is an art statement. (An old power plant)
Yes, I’ve been to the Tate, but didn’t spend as much time there as I wanted. Your post has inspired me to spend a lot more time there! London is awesome and I just love walking by the river.
Thank you so much for the information. Oh I am so inspired!
Good to see museums innovating on the use of gadgets to improve accessibility. Does the Smithsonian have any similar plans for accessibility features like these? That is, if they don’t already have some set up. I know the Spy Museum here in DC has this nifty little device that will enable captioning depending on your proximity to a TV.
Hmm! I want to see this at my local museums… Any suggestions on how I can get this kind of tech implemented?
Hi Josh & Deaf Pundit, The Smithsonian does not have this set up yet, and I do not know of any developing plans, either. I work over at the Smithsonian Freer + Sackler Gallery and I hope to propose these methods in the near future. Perhaps we can organize a trial run–but finding the funds is the trick. Doesn’t it make you wish that money grew on trees?
I hope to gather a local consensus that will provide a voice for support. I want to be able to propose an idea with confidence that deaf people will use it and make the spending worth it. What are YOUR suggestions for getting the ball rolling?
WOW!
This really does sound interesting, and it just further enhances my desire to get over for a visit to the British Isles. I have a friend (although hearing) who lives in England, and maybe I could ask her to just check it out. For that matter, I did have Deaf contacts in England, although I haven’t talked to any of them for awhile. Wonder if any of us know individuals who might be willing to check these gadgets out and report back to us?
I agree with both Josh and Deaf Pundit - I’d love to see these devices at various sites such as the Smithsonian. Hmmmm…we have the Lincoln Museum here in Springfield where I live - might be worthwhile to see if they would like to look into such devices. I might check into that.
My only little concern, and I apologize for being a “party pooper” in bringing this up - but what about the possibility of people walking out of the building with these things? Or is there really any point to doing so? Could a techno-geek find a way to reprogram these things to use them for other purposes or what?
Sorry to sound so cynical, just that I recall when I went to some tourist site with an interpreter friend who asked for one of their hand-held “tape recorders” that contained a recorded description of the various sights, etc. on the “do-it-yourself” tour, we were told they were no longer available, because people kept leaving with them instead of returning them. Guess they wanted to keep the recorded information as a souvenir!
True. That came to mind. What if the devices were some how alarmed? The anti-theft ink at clothing stores seemed to work “back then.” Surely something discreet like a magnetically enabled alarm could be triggered upon exiting a building. Or something simple like handing over a credit card or some kind of deposit.
Requiring driver’s ID or credit card or both as a deposit can magically reduce missing tour-guide things.
Just one thing -
what sign language are they using at the Tate? BSL is a completely different language. I’m more interested in seeing English text translations of presentations.
Hello Catharine:
My wife and I were in NYC recently and had the opportunity to attend the Broadway play “Wicked.” In exchange for my driver’s license, I was given a podcast much like what you have pictured above. All spoken/sung words popped up pretty much as the actors spoke/sang them. I don’t know exactly how they got the timing down if it was all pre-recorded but it WAS very cool and I didn’t miss too much of the play. This brings to mind Shane’s earlier article on accessibility technology for deaf people going to the movies… I’d hate to have to hold a podcast while watching a movie but I’d gladly accept it if nothing else were available… (otherwise I think I’d prefer open captioning or rear-captioning).
Good article! Welcome to DeafDC!