Accessible Oceans

Co-design sessions with oceanographers are helping elicit the aspects of visualized oceanography data that are crucial to convey to BVI and novice audiences.

Project Description

Accessible Oceans: Exploring Ocean Data Through Sound is a pilots & feasibility study in the NSF’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program (NSF AISL #2115751). The interdisciplinary project team is exploring how oceanography Data from the Ocean Observatories Initiative can be sonified and made interactive in a museum exhibit tailored to visually impaired learners.

The project is a collaboration between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), Your Ocean Consulting, the University of Oregon, and Georgia Tech.

Visit the project website here.

Publications & Presentations

Roberts, J., Lowy, R., Li, H., Bellona, J., Smith, L., and Bower, J. (2023). Breaking Down the Visual Barrier: Designing Data Interactions for the Visually Impaired in Informal Learning Settings. Paper presented at the annual conference of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL 2023). Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Read the paper here. View our lit review dataset here.
Bower, A., J. Bellona, J. Roberts, L. Smith 2023. Accessible Oceans: Exploring Ocean Data Through Sound, presented at 2023 Sonification World Chat Meeting, 23 May. Online.
Bower, A., J. Bellona, J. Roberts, L. Smith, 2022. Accessible Oceans: Exploring Ocean Data Through Sound (ED12A-03), presented at 2022 AGU Fall Meeting, 12-16 December.
Braun, R., L. Karlstrom, A.S. Bower, M.O. Archer, 2022. Listening to Our World: Sonification Applications in Research, Education, and Outreach Town Hall (TH13H), presented at 2022 AGU Fall Meeting, 12-16 December.

Project Team

Dr. Amy Bower, WHOI [PI]
Dr. Jon Bellona, U Oregon [co-PI]
Dr. Jessica Roberts, Georgia Tech [co-PI]
Dr. Leslie Smith, Your Ocean Consulting, LLC [key personnel]
Huaigu Li, CS PhD student
Rachel Lowy, HCC PhD student
Haisley Kim, MS-HCI student
Joy Ying, CS undergraduate student