On January 13, 2010, we visited the ROM with a blind user (herein referred to as U1) to discuss what blind users look for in a museum experience, particularly about kiosk accessibility. Some direct questions from us are indicated in purple.
ROM lobby kiosk/interactive
- Re: ROM lobby kiosk/interactive:
- Doesn't give an idea of what's on there or what it contains, from a blind user's point of view; nothing to indicate its function
- Nothing to indicate its use: no borders, buttons, or any tangible physical pieces to indicate where the kiosk elements are
- This kiosk is "useless to me [U1]"
- Ideally there would be physical buttons, and even then, U1 would need to "hunt and peck"
- There needs to be a logic of where and how to begin
- Buttons or some other tactile element would be U1's starting point
- Audio instructions of "start here, do this" would be helpful
- How would you know what buttons do what?
- U1 would look for one button that stood out alone, and start by pressing that one
- That lone button would possibly sit above or below all the others
- Tactile elements on the button itself (embossments), such as a dot on the button (as on many 'F' and 'J' keys on keyboards, or the number '5' on a keypad) would help to indicate significance
ROM totem pole kiosk
- Re: ROM totem pole kiosk
- This kiosk served just one function: playing a video, which was activated by selecting a language
- Similarily unusable without buttons or another indicator of what it offers
- Content has audio commentary; this is useful
- Physically, the kiosk is much smaller than the lobby kiosk--easier to feel the borders
- Straightforward use, few options, makes it easy
- Could have made this kiosk very easily blind-user accessible by having a raised button to activate it
- Placing the buttons along the border of the kiosk display would have been good
ROM Schad Gallery kiosk
- Re: ROM Schad Gallery kiosk
- This kiosk presented a multitude of videos, selectable via touch screen with a 4x5 grid of video thumbnails
- How would we make this accessible?
- Automated telephone system-like would be easy
- Navigate through the videos with a numeric keypad
- "For English, press 1. Pour le francais, appuillez sur le 2."
- "For video on ____, press 1," etc.
- Navigate through the videos via voice (again, a la automated telephone system)
- Or, "For English, press the left switch", etc.
- Audio instructions on how to navigate/use the system
General questions and notes
- What do you think of the iPhone model of touchscreen accessibility?
- "Not my first choice. I prefer buttons."
- "I'm not a techie."
- "But[, in the end,] could I make it work? Probably."
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