Dear list members
We run events aimed at blind and vision impaired children, and are
always looking at ways to increase access and attract visitors with a
variety of access needs - especially cost-effective ways that could be
used within small or large organisations alike.
Inspired by the work Paul Sullivan and his team have been doing in
Bristol, we've been testing a pilot of the use of the RNIB PenFriends
within Hove Museum's 'My Favourite Toy' exhibition - we ran user
testing sessions with different blind and vision impaired (VI)
visitors - and we wanted to share our findings with any interested
parties.
In case you haven't heard of it, the PenFriend was originally created
for blind and VI people to label everyday objects such as tins of food
or CD cases - but applied to museum cases they've been a great success
as they are a really cheap and easy way to create audio labels for
museum exhibits:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/shop/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?category=labelling_penfriend&productID=DL7601
They enable the visitor to explore different layers of information
relating to an object: whether that's different sound-effects,
different voices or different points of view - it's really up to you,
the scope is very broad. Overall they've been a fantastic success in
increasing access to the museum for blind and VI visitors, as well as
for many others including those with learning difficulties.
If you are interested in running a pilot using the PenFriends to
increase access within your organisation please get in touch, I'd be
happy to discuss our approach, our findings and any ideas off-list.
Kind regards
Shelley Boden
Director Enable (UK)
Tel: 01273 722199
Mob: 07813 796393
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.enableuk.co.uk
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