Thread Subject: FW: RESNA SIG-11 Dist List - Virtual Worlds Open Up to Blind

From: Gregg Vanderheiden
Date: Sat, Sep 22 2007 3:25 PM

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Gregg
-- ------------------------------
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.


-----Original Message-----
From: David L. Jaffe [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 5:45 PM
To: RESNA SIG-11 E-mail Distribution List
Subject: RESNA SIG-11 Dist List - Virtual Worlds Open Up to Blind

Virtual Worlds Open Up to Blind
From: BBC News - 09/18/2007
By: Geoff Adams-Spink

Students participating in Extreme Blue in Ireland, hosted by IBM, are
conducting research that could lead to online virtual worlds accessible to
blind people. Some estimates predict that 80 percent of active Internet
users
will participate in virtual worlds in four years, and IBM says they want to
ensure that blind people are not excluded. The student researchers have
developed an audio equivalent of the virtual world that uses 3D sound to
create a sense of space. For the project, known as Accessibility In Virtual
Worlds, the researchers used the online environments in Active Worlds
because
it provided greater flexibility than Second Life, which was used to make the
world more hospitable to the blind. "When the user comes into the world, the
items are described as well as their positions," says Colm O'Brien, one of
the four researchers who worked on the project. "There is also sound
attached - for example, if there's a tree nearby you will hear a rustling of
leaves." The project also focused on developing tools that use text to
speech
software to read any text conversations that users have in the virtual
world.
Avatars in the virtual world can have a "sonar" attached to them so the user
gets an audible cue that another user is approaching.

Read the entire article at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6993739.stm

Links:
Extreme Blue
http://www-913.ibm.com/employment/us/extremeblue/

Home of the 3D Chat, Virtual Reality Building Platform
http://www.activeworlds.com/

IBM Brings Virtual Worlds To The Blind
http://metaversed.com/

IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center
http://www-03.ibm.com/able/index.html

Extreme Blue Programme kicked off June 11th
http://www.ibm.com/news/ie/en/2007/07/ie_en_news_20070713.html

Avatars For The Blind + 12 Hip Trends for the Blind
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/blind-avatars/

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