This week I spent most of the time trying to troubleshoot the conversion from an app to a web based app. With the move the issues about how a person without sight or with hindered sight became more apparent. There were parts of the app that could have been crafted to allow someone with impaired vision to use it with a basic model. I can do some of the same things with the web based version but each time the person uses or opens page it will be reset to the basic version.
My plan was to have the letters bigger and the screen very simple so if someone had sight but it wasn’t clear, they could make out the portions they needed. Now I have to figure out how to host that. It is possible that I will make a second version of the site that can be accessed via a QR code that is separate but I don’t know how many of these versions can be held on my limited plan.
One of the problems I am now running into is the issue of funding. I am doing all these apps with my own money and eventually I will run out of slots to use and have to pay for each one, which would be transferred to the history center in theory. The obvious problem with that is since it is a government entity it won’t be easy to get a monthly fund for that and especially with Amendment 3 passing it will be hard to justify paying for an application or website that not many people will use.
I am convinced that when the app is done, or the web version of it, that it can be THE asset for the history center going forward. There are many families and groups that come into the building and just wander around on their own. There are volunteers who can help some but most of the time they have to stay put and act as the help desk or greeter. There simply are not enough people for constant docents. So the app will be the docent and the help desk. That is a value to the history center, but unless it is created and used it will remain a concept and those don’t get funded well.
During my meeting with my supervisor we came up with a timeline and game plan for what to do next. She will be going over the exhibits in detail and decide what we highlight. We will use pictures or scans of the objects in a menu contained within each section in each room. So a guest will click the map and they will have to figure out what room they are in based on the exhibits in it, for now. Then they can click the exhibit and see a gallery of images of the artifacts and click on them for further information. The AR/AI reader overlay would cost far too much money to use the coding for each month. So this is the cheap way and right now in public history, the cheap way is the only way forward it seems. While not as fancy it will be easy to use.
