Project Description

While scientific datasets including ocean data are increasingly shared via publicly accessible online repositories and web-based interactive exploration tools (e.g. https://www2.purpleair.com/ and https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/) and exhibits at museums and science centers (e.g. Roberts et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2012), these platforms remain difficult for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users to access. Similarly, these materials are inaccessible or difficult to comprehend for sighted individuals with print-related disabilities such as learning disabilities, low visual or text literacy skills, or innumeracy (Roberts et al., 2023).

This project builds off of prior work in data sonification is seeking to create auditory displays representing scientific phenomena for public exploration, including our previous project Accessible Oceans: Exploring Ocean Data through Sound (NSF AISL #2115751) that explored the feasibility of auditory displays for supporting oceanography data interactions by visually impaired visitors in museums. Through a co-design process with oceanographers, teachers of BVI students, and BVI learners, we have created five prototype auditory displays that aimed to support data investigations and communicate oceanography concepts through non-visual representations.

The current Accessible Oceans project is exploring topics of local and regional interest relating to the publicly available data from the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary to create auditory displays of interest for sighted and BVI learners to address the following research questions:

RQ1: How can we design auditory displays to facilitate conversations about issues affecting Georgia’s coastal and marine ecosystems for both sighted and visually impaired learners in informal environments?

RQ2: What human-data interactions with auditory displays contribute to sensemaking by sighted and visually impaired learners around local marine data in informal learning interactions?

We will answer these questions through the creation and study of one or more auditory displays based on publicly available data collected near and within Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS). We worked with local Sea Grant personnel through a co-design process to decide which datasets and phenomena they feel would be most relevant and captivating for their local audience and potentially help to amplify existing outreach materials. We are now creating and refining auditory displays through an iterative design and feedback loop with Sea Grant personnel, BVI individuals, and science educators. This project will result in 1-3 auditory displays comprising data sonifications and contextualizing information (e.g. narrative tracks, curricular materials) that will be made available to educators in schools and science centers throughout Georgia.

References

Ma, J., Liao, I., Ma, K. L., & Frazier, J. (2012). Living liquid: Design and evaluation of an exploratory visualization tool for museum visitors. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 18(12), 2799-2808. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2012.244.

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.

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]
• Stella Quinto Lima, HCC PhD Student
• Emily Amspoker, HCC PhD Student
• Solyane Berge, MS-CS student
• Anuska Giri, Industrial and Product Design undergraduate student
• Rhoney Lee, CS undergraduate student