TALKING HISTORY
Museum of Work & Culture improves access for blind, visually impaired
WOONSOCKET- The Museum of Work Culture at Market Square is an interesting place to learn about how people came to the lackstone 9alley and built new lives with new jobs in the region’s textile mills, so long as you don’t happen to be visually impaired or blind.
That is because most of the exhibits relating that history are meant to be viewed, or read, as visitors make their way around its two-level layout. There are audio programs, including speeches by key figures such as a nun in a parochial school classroom or the hiring agent of a mill, worked into the museum’s story along with other audio recollections of those who lived the area’s history, but a visually impaired person would still need some form of a guide to enjoy the museum’s offerings to the fullest.
That all could be changing with the help of a new computer-based technology called Aira that pairs up a visually impaired person’s cellphone with online databases and a human assistant to improve access to the museum’s story line and physical layout.
Aira allows the visually impaired or blind to navigate the exhibits and even get a verbal description of what is before them as they do.
The addition of the new technology which generally involves the licensing of the museum as location giving Aira access to anyone loading the app on their phone was made possible with a grant from the 5hode Island Foundation and the museum’s own fundraising.
Anne Conway, the museum’s director, noted the R.I. Historical Society
had been looking for a way to improve access to the Woonsocket museum and also its John Brown House Museum in Providence for people who are visually impaired.
“We started that about two years ago and it was a little bit of a difficult process to find the right technology, the right program, that really would give visitors, who are blind or with low vision, the real experience,” Conway said. “So that they could feel how it is to discover and learn history at their own pace with technology that would really work for them but also for the museum,” she added.
The museum worked with the R.I. Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Governor’s Advisory Counsel and Rhode Island chapter of the National Federation of the Blind to address the visual access concern, but the solution proved to be an elusive one, according to Conway.
“Nothing really truly worked for us for the type of museum and the type of information that we wanted to convey,” Conway said. “And then one day we came across a program called Aira and we thought it was pretty amazing.” she said.
After looking into Aira more, the museum found out that it is also going online at the Smithsonian Institutions and actually could work for the local affiliated organization as well.
Sarah Carr, the museum’s assistant director, was able to write a grant winning help for the effort from the Rhode Island Foundation and also secured the support of representatives of organizations for the visually impaired.
“It’s been difficult to find the technology that was going to give visitors what we were hoping for, which was autonomy,” Carr explained. “We didn’t want to have to create a product or use a product that wasn’t going to let people experience the museum the way they wanted to, that we were going to have tell them how to experience the museum,” she said.
Aira, she said, “ended up being a beautiful solution to that challenge and we are very excited to be able to launch it here today.”
As a demonstration of Aira given by the company’s representative, Kevin Phelan, got under way, the listening audience was shown how to open the Aira app on a cellphone and to call in for assistance from the program and its staffed Aira agents.
“Aira stands for Artificial Intelligence Remote Assistance. And what that means is that it uses AI and some of the latest greatest technology coupled with remote assistance which is a human,” he said.
“So it’s human centered AI that essentially allows any person on their own terms to access information. We’re not a replacement for a guide dog, we’re not a replacement for a white cane, we are another tool in the tool kit that allows anyone to find the front door of this facility, to enjoy the exhibits, to find the restrooms, just to access information and again all on their terms,” Phelan said.
After detailing how to download the Aira app and open it on a phone, Phelan called into an Aira agent named Emma who then started describing the Museum’s ITU Union Hall via the front camera phone pointed at the space.
“It looks like you are sitting in front of a few rows of people sitting in folding chairs. I am able to see, and, oops, this gentleman is walking by right in front of you,” Emma said while drawing a laugh from her listeners.
She went on to describe the wall behind the stage with its many old advertisements from local businesses before also noting the American Flag at the edge of the stage.
Phelan said Emma and similar representatives of the company work out of their homes across the 50 states and can help with many aspects of a visually impaired person’s experience either through direct observation or by reviewing database information.
The grant funding and support by the museum allows the program to be provided free to anyone accessing it from the museum, but it can also be used by the visually impaired in general life through a subscription fee or on the initial trial option for a short period of access when needed.
The program ended with the museum staff showing their visitors tactile art projects and a 3D map of the Blackstone Valley and Rhode Island industrial landmarks, that were created by Woonsocket students, and placed on display as part of the museum’s new visually impaired access focus.