All In One
At my meeting with my supervisor it became very clear that the app I worked on last semester for my internship will be the place to host all the things for the visually impaired or even hearing impaired. This is helpful because I can continue to smooth out the issues with the app while incorporating the new stuff.
The 3d printing and haptic feedback gloves are great ideas that can really make a difference but they are not the only options. My supervisor, Savannah, and I spoke about how to deal with the QR code problems I was having with the app. The same issues had been preventing me from taking it to the next step. The issues are that of wifi and surfaces. To have the QR codes work all the time you would need to have the guests download the app with all the information on it. That takes up too much space for an app of this type, so we need to have the QR code send them to a webpage or access something temporary, which requires that the building which was constructed in the Edwardian age be full of wifi signals, which it is not.
The second issue and the one that really kept me from progressing is the issue of the surfaces in the history center. QR codes need to be accessible to guests to use, so they can’t be far behind glass or out of the way, so they would need to physically be stuck on something and adding so many stickers all over the museum will make several problems for the future.
The first problem is that of sticking, just getting the thing to stick. If they use really strong adhesive, that would be great but it would cause issues if they need to replace the code or remove it. It would rip paint or damage old wood or in some cases require a new surface be put down so the code could be mounted, like on the iron railings for example.
The second problem is that of clutter. I was going to have QR codes for many artifacts for the exhibition tour, but then there would be some for the architectural and historical tour and the court room tours. So a guest would walk into a space and see all these different colored QR codes everywhere and be overwhelmed and it would look pretty bad.
The last problem with that approach is that these codes will fade or get damaged and need to be changed out too often, so the solution is to have 1 code per room which can be put in a space that is easily changed and allows the guests to learn about the artifacts at their pace or all at once in a sort of guided tour. We were brainstorming ideas for that, whether or not the guests should be on speaker phone or have it to their ears or what not. We don’t want guests disturbing others but we do think it would be good, especially for the visually impaired, to have an audio tour of the rooms and exhibits so they don’t miss out. We will pick up on this next week and figure out once and for all how we are going to proceed so we can start the process.
