In The Eyes Of…

November 17th, 2021 · Joanne John · Experiment 3 No comments

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Group Members: Anantha C, Prayag Ichangimath, and Joanne John.

Concept Statement

In The Eyes Of aims to showcase how cities can be experienced by people with various visual impairments. We specifically look at Low Vision, Macular Degeneration (MD), Glaucoma, and Chromesthesia. Both full blindness, and MD cause limited vision which can result in the inability to see peripheries, facial expressions, and low-light environments. Similarly, glaucoma results in patchy blind spots in both peripheral, and central visions and can also cause tunnel vision. In contrast, whilst chromesthesia is more a perceptual phenomenon than an impairment, it occurs when a person is able to visualize color and light in conjunction with sound. With this project, our aim is to engage with these visual impairments, and to bring about an awareness of these unfamiliar experiences by means of a touch interface.

The system consists of a display and a touch pad (the tangible interface) – which holds five different pathways, each of which have protrusions reminiscent of braille blocks that are present in the city. The display then responds to the path that is interacted with on the interface. By doing so, we emulate what someone with a visual impairment would see and feel as they traverse through the city.

Scaling down the pattern, a similar effect is provided to your fingers as it walks down the path and controls the video. Thus, as the finger moves forwards, the video reflects the selected experience of each path, whilst allowing the user to become familiar with the grooves and indentations of braille blocks.

Through this project, we aim to bring awareness to the structures that exist in our cities that make them more accessible, as well as to bring empathy and understanding to the various perspectives and visions of those around us.

Experience Video // How it Works Video // Arduino Link // Processing Link

final images

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