{"id":71527,"date":"2017-11-30T09:09:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T19:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=71527"},"modified":"2019-03-13T17:11:32","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T03:11:32","slug":"unid-mobile-app-field-tested-at-yosemite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/11\/30\/unid-mobile-app-field-tested-at-yosemite\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile app for visually impaired field tested at Yosemite National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Veronica Hernandez, Joey Ruiz, Nikki Richards, Chenier Derrick, back from left, and Sajja Koirala and Martha Espitia, front from left, testing UniD mobile app in Yosemite, November 2017. Photo by: Jamie Gibson-Barrows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In continuing efforts to “audio describe the world,” researchers at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa<\/a> took part in a project that brought 26 blind and visually impaired people to Yosemite National Park<\/a> for user testing of the UniD mobile app. <\/p>\n

Associate Professor Brett Oppegaard<\/strong><\/a> in the School of Communications<\/a> in the College of Social Sciences<\/a> is the principal investigator of the UniDescription<\/a> project. <\/p>\n

The group tested the new audio description of Yosemite\u2019s brochure featured in the app. The research-instrument app is designed to make brochures at national parks accessible to those who have trouble seeing them.<\/p>\n

The effort was coordinated with the California Council of the Blind\u2019s Fresno chapter, the national American Council of the Blind<\/a> organization and Yosemite National Park<\/a>. <\/p>\n

More about the UniDescription Project<\/h2>\n
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Martha Espitia, Nikki Richards and Sarah Harris testing the UniD mobile app in Yosemite. Photo by: Jamie Gibson-Barrows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UniD app (available for both iOs<\/a> and Android<\/a>) contains audio description of more than 50 National Park Service brochures so far, including those for Everglades National Park, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Volcanoes National Park, the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Yellowstone National Park and the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n

The research team, led by Oppegaard and Megan Conway<\/strong> and Thomas Conway<\/strong><\/a> from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s Center on Disability Studies<\/a>, started the UniDescription project in the fall of 2014 as a way to improve and encourage better audio description. Audio description is the translation of visual media, such as photographs and maps, into acoustic media in an effort to allow the ear to hear what the eye might not be able to see. <\/p>\n