We are VocalEyes, a non-profit business (i.e. a registered charity) working
in the arts and heritage sector. We believe that blind and partially
sighted people should have an equal opportunity to access arts and cultural
heritage and we do various things to help achieve this.
We’re running a research project to investigate UK museums website access
information, and in particular, what they say that they offer for blind and
partially sighted people. Most people’s visit to a museum or heritage site
begins with a visit to the venue’s website to find out what’s on or what’s
of interest. A blind or partially sighted person will also want reassurance
that they have been considered, and the venue offers large print or braille
guides, or even audio-described tours. How good this information is can
mean the start of a great visit, or the decision that the museum isn’t for
them.
*We’re looking for volunteers*. We’ll send you a list of around 100
museums; you find their website access page (if they have one) and complete
a short Google form (mostly with check box options) about what it contains.
It takes about 3 minutes per website. Our target to complete the research
is the end of May, so you can spread it out.
We’re looking for around 7 people (to join the magnificent 7 already signed
up from the MA Museums, Galleries and Contemporary Culture course at the
University of Westminster). I would recommend doing it with PC and keyboard
rather than handheld/touch device, so you can easily move between
windows/tabs for website, form and spreadsheet. (I’m doing some myself!).
We’ll produce a report on the findings, together with guidelines for what
we believe should be best practice. All volunteers will be credited as
research assistants in the report and guidance, and anyone interested in
contributing to the report is also welcome.
[Note, this will not be a ‘web accessibility’ audit or report, but a review
of how well museums demonstrate that they have considered blind and
partially sighted visitors in their website content.]
If you are interested, or would like to ask more, please contact me,
[log in to unmask] or on 020 7375 1043.
Matthew Cock, Chief Executive, VocalEyes
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