[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] articles- mixed bag

[Shelley L. Rhodes]

Usually for car raleys they use brailled out directions not really a "map" 
but more like "turn right at 5th" and so on for the navigators to read off.


Shelley L. Rhodes and Judson, guiding golden
juddysbuddy at velocity.net
Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
Graduate Advisory Council
www.guidedogs.com

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to
stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.

      -- Vance Havner
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisa Yayla" <fnugg at online.no>
To: <art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org>; 
<art_beyond_sight_advocacy at nfbnet.org>; <artbeyondsightmuseums at nfbnet.org>; 
<art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org>; 
<art_beyond_sight_educators at nfbnet.org>; <accessibleimage at freelists.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 5:07 PM
Subject: [Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] articles- mixed bag


Hi,
Sending a mixed bag of articles.
The subjects included are
-an artist who is completely color blind and the aid that
helps him differentiate color
-an article about a blind photographer
-article about a blind sculptor
-an article about rapid prototyping technology research
-have included an article about comic books because it
mentions blind young boys love for them (have not included
text but link)
-a reminder about the 1st international haptics conference
and call for papers,
-an article about the Helen Keller International Award show
in Scotland bi-annual competition to encourage art on the
subject of deaf blindness
-an article about the Art Of The Eye II" exhibit, kids and
art class (link from Art Beyond Sight list) -article about a
car rally - I'm interested in finding out how the maps are
made, anyone have an idea?
-an article that is I guess off subject but thought it would
be of interest, about fortune telling as an occupation in
Korea for blind
-and an article about a project about color and sound (from
Art Beyond Sight list)
-and a link to an article about students developing a more
accessible downtown .
Links follow, with text of articles following link list.
Good reading and best wishes,
Lisa


Eyes opened to sound of socks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&targetRule=10&xml=/health/2005/01/12/hcolor12.xml

Loss of Sight Focuses His Artistic Vision
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-blind6jan06,1,3332144.story?coll=la-news-state&ctrack=1&cset=true

Eyesight not required for artistic vision Sculptor's
imagination 'as fertile as ever' after she became blind

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/irving/stories/010905dnirveyes.5aadf.html

Penn State senior's digital photos may aid blind
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/newssummary/s_291602.html

comic-book collector's paradise
http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4746~2645411,00.html


http://www.worldhaptics.com/

Once more, this time with feeling
http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=60852005

"Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At Joel's
http://www.easterneronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/17/41edd7ff13f78

School for Blind students express themselves through art
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/10698871.htm

CAR RALLY
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=113547

Lacking vision, but seeing the future
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200501/13/200501132123394579900091009101.html


http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/509358/
Blind Engineering Student 'Reads' Color as Sound

Sylvania: Safety committee hears presentation from robotics
team
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050106/NEWS18/501060349/-1/NEWS

Articles

Penn State senior's digital photos may aid blind
By Larry Seben
VND correspondent
Monday, January 10, 2005

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Jason Donnell
of Sarver must be a close relative.
The 22-year-old senior in electrical engineering at Penn
State the Behrend College in Erie has become the primary
inventor of a process that might eventually enable the blind
to "see" digital photographs. It was not something Donnell
set out to do but, like many inventions, came about through
a long set of circumstances.

"About a year ago, I was looking at trying to get an
internship and was going through the Career Development
Center at school," said Donnell. "They send out a lot of
emails about a lot of different things, and there was one
for a 10-week program called Research Experience for
Undergraduates."

"I had been applying for just about everything, so I thought
I would take a stab at it," said Donnell.


The application process itself proved to be a major
challenge, including writing multiple papers, numerous
letters of reference, a resume and transcripts.

"I applied in early February, and didn't hear anything from
them for a long time. Then in late April, I got word that I
was among the 10 students selected from around the country,"
said Donnell. "I was still in the dark about exactly what I
was going to be doing."

The 10-week program was to be held at the Milwaukee School
of Engineering (MSOE) starting on June 6. Donnell drove the
600 hundred miles and spent the first week getting
acquainted with the other students and their advisors. At
the end of that week, his advisor, Dr. Larry Fennigkoh, a
MSOE professor, gave him his research assignment.

"My project was called 'Photographs for the Blind,' and it
was something really different," said Donnell.

While the blind have Braille for reading and specially made
maps with raised lines, there is nothing of the sort for
pictures and images.

"It was really kind of controversial too, because there were
a lot of people saying why do the blind need to 'see' a
photograph, when they don't know what a tree ever looked
like," said Donnell. "But there were others who say that a
lot of blind people were not born blind, and they would know
what things look like, and would like to see pictures of
their kids."

The project would involve using a process called rapid
prototyping, a state-of-the-art system that takes computer
aided design programs and actually produces a three
dimensional product. The process, Donnell said, was largely
funded by major corporations like Milwaukee-based Harley
Davidson.

"With a Word document, you output to a printer," explained
Donnell. "With rapid prototyping, the output is to a machine
that uses a special type of paper, wax or plastic. So, for
example, if Harley Davidson has something they want to
include on a bike, but is not too sure about, they can input
the information and it will produce an exact sized copy of
the item."

Donnell said one of the most promising future uses for rapid
prototyping will be the ability to take an MRI image of a
damaged knee or similar body part, and be able to produce an
individualized replica for replacement.

For Donnell, the big challenge was to figure out a system
that would raise a digital photograph into a three
dimensional piece so that a blind person could run there
fingers over it and 'read' the image. While existing
computer aided design programs worked with three dimensional
objects, there was nothing that would take a two dimensional
photograph and make it three dimensions.

"I dilly dallied around for about four weeks working with
different ideas, and I thought there would be a program out
there I could use," said Donnell. "I didn't realize there
was really nothing available and that I was going to have to
write a program. There were really a lot of issues to deal
with. I had opened up a can of worms."

Fortunately for Donnell, another student in the program
discovered some help did exist, though crude and untried.

"Josh Mueller, a senior computer science major at MSOE found
this program that had been put on the Internet that we could
partially use," said Donnell. "Ironically, it had been
developed by a professor at Carnegie Mellon right here in
Pittsburgh."

The program itself had been something that was partially
developed but was full of bugs. It only dealt with portions
of the process Donnell was working on, so he was faced with
filling in the holes and trying to get the bugs out.

"It covered about two thirds of what I needed, so I wrote
the processing part myself," said Donnell. "Josh is a really
brilliant guy, and he helped with parts of it as well."

After a lot of hours of writing and re-writing, Donnell had
his program. But because of the short time frame of the
project, he was only able to produce and test three
examples.

"The tests on a simple picture of a playing card were pretty
good," said Donnell. "But the pictures of a tree and of a
ghost town were very tough and showed the need for more
work."

Donnell said he came up with an idea to add an embedded
circuit powered by a miniature battery, enabling the picture
to essentially "talk" to the reader. Unfortunately, the ten
week project was virtually over and such ideas would have to
wait.

"The program is something that MSOE is very interested in
pursuing," said Donnell. "They are trying to get a
development grant from the National Health Foundation."

As primary inventor, MSOE has asked Donnell to make a
presentation before the National Institute of Health in
Virginia in an effort to secure funding for further
development.

If successful in getting money, Donnell said he would like
to continue working on the project, but would only do so
from school in Erie or home in Pittsburgh.

"I really don't want to move to Milwaukee," said Donnell.
"My home and my roots are here, and I would like to stay
here, so I will probably have limited involvement going
forward."



Eyes opened to sound of socks
(Filed: 12/01/2005)

Red or green? Facts about colour blindness

A bizarre invention has changed the life of a colour-blind
artist. Bryony Gordon reports

Neil Harbisson is, quite literally, a man who has always
viewed life in black and white. The 22-year-old Spaniard,
who moved to Totnes in south Devon in 2003, was born with
achromatopsia, a rare condition that affects only one person
in 33,000 and causes monochromatism, or complete colour
blindness.

Neil Harbisson: I now see my art as composing music on
canvas

But last year, he was able to see - or, more accurately,
hear - colours for the first time. Harbisson has been fitted
with a machine that turns colours into soundwaves, with a
different sound representing each hue. The Eye-Borg, as it
is known, features a head-mounted digital camera that reads
the colours in front of Harbisson and converts them, via a
laptop he carries in a backpack, into sound.

A scale of musical tones represents the spectrum of colours
- light hues are high-pitched, while darker colours sound
bolder. It is, in a way, forced synaesthesia; its creator,
23-year-old digital multimedia expert Adam Montandon,
describes the invention as "like hearing a colour wheel".

Harbisson has worn the Eye-Borg for every waking moment
since last March, when he became the first person to be
fitted with one. It even features in his passport
photograph. Previously, it was as difficult for him to
comprehend being surrounded by colour as it is for us to
understand what it would be like to live in a black and
white world.

"I always felt I was missing out during conversations," he
says. "People do not realise how often they use colour when
they are talking."

Simple acts, such as eating breakfast, were difficult, too.
"If a foodstuff was not in its traditional shape, I couldn't
distinguish it," he says. "I used to get jam mixed up with
tomato sauce, and orange juice confused with apple juice. I
had to ask people what a particular food was, or smell it,
and when I was young, lots of people thought that was
slightly odd behaviour."

At school, he was teased by classmates, who thought he was
just being lazy every time he asked one of them to pass the
red paint in an art class, or pick out a blue pen from his
pencil case. He dressed exclusively in black and white.
"What was the point in wearing something I couldn't
appreciate?" he asks.

When we meet, Harbisson is wearing a bright orange jumper.
Red socks poke out from under his jeans. These, he says,
were the first colourful clothes he bought.

"I walked past them in a shop, and thought, 'I like the
sound of those socks, I'll buy them'," he smiles.

The most dramatic impact of the Eye-Borg has been on his
work. Remarkably, Harbisson chose to study art when he moved
to Devon. Until he was fitted with Montandon's invention,
his canvases were daubed with only black, white and
charcoals. Now, he has a palette of brightly coloured
paints, and his work is full of bold and vibrant tones.

"I now see my art as composing music on canvas," says
Harbisson, who also now "hears colours" when listening to
music - he recently went to a concert where the female
performer sang shades of yellow and, he says, the whirr of
his Hoover is red. "Before, I was slightly afraid of my art.
But now, it's completely different. I am having so much fun
with it, painting masses of objects that all have sounds."

His favourite new painting features only a blue sky and a
garden full of green grass. It is the simplest, most
childish creation of all, and yet, for Harbisson, it
illustrates the enormous improvement the Eye-Borg has made
to his life.

It has also helped him to appreciate other people's art.
"Without the Eye-Borg, it was very hard for me to understand
an artist's use of colour," he says. "If I looked at a
painting, it seemed to be missing a layer. Now, I have that
layer."

He has started to enjoy the paintings of Joan Miró, whose
work in clear colour tones had always confused him. And on a
visit to his home town of Barcelona, he was delighted by the
work of Gaudi. "I walk around the city and listen to his
architecture and it is amazing."

Before he was fitted with the Eye-Borg, he says he "hated
the very existence of colour". But now, he has a favourite
shade - red, a tone that sounds as bold as it looks -
although he is not very fond of brown or the so-called
"middle-range" shades of blue, green and turquoise that,
interestingly, many people who aren't colour-blind find
confusing.

The most dramatic moment came when he realised that colour
was everywhere, even in corners of rooms. "My friends had
always pointed at the middle of a wall and said, 'That's
blue', and I never realised that the blue extended right to
both ends of the wall."

He is very excited about the possibilities that the
invention holds for other visually impaired people. "One
day, blind people could paint through sound, and perhaps
even the deaf could compose music using colour."

In the meantime, he intends to wear the Eye-Borg all day,
every day. "The Eye-Borg is amazing. Nothing is missing any
more and I have grown in confidence. Now, I want to
experience colour as much as possible."

Red or green? Facts about colour blindness

What is achromatopsia?

Achromatopsia is a hereditary vision disorder that stops the
cones - the receptor cells - in the retina from functioning.
This results in total colour blindness combined with
hypersensitivity to bright light and poor visual acuity.

How common is the condition?

In most parts of the world, it is extremely rare. Yet on the
Pacific island of Pingelap, there is a high incidence of it.
This is because a typhoon wiped out 90 per cent of the
island's inhabitants in 1775. One survivor had the recessive
gene that caused achromatopsia, and passed it on to his
ancestors. Today, six per cent of Pingelap's population are
completely colour-blind.

What are the other types of colour blindness?

The most common type is red-green colour blindness. In one
form, red is indistinct to sufferers; in the second form,
those affected are unable to tell the difference between
reds, greens, browns and oranges. Red-green colour blindness
affects more men than women, because the gene that causes it
is carried on the X chromosome and a woman's second X
chromosome masks the effects of this gene. Females can,
however, pass the gene on to offspring.

Are all types of colour blindness hereditary?

Most colour-blind people are born with the condition. There
are, however, factors that can cause it to develop. These
include head trauma, illnesses such as diabetes and multiple
sclerosis, and some drugs, including chloroquine, an
anti-malarial medication.


Reminder
First Joint  EUROHAPTICS CONFERENCE   and SYMPOSIUM ON
HAPTIC INTERFACES  FOR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT AND TELEOPERATOR
SYSTEMS
Pisa, Italy
March 18-20, 2005

 In cooperation with IEEE Computer Society
 vgtc - IEEE Visualization & Graphics Technical Committee

 NOTICE: Posters and Hands-On Demo deadline still open

Although the deadline for paper submissions is closed, it is
still possible to submit Posters and
 Hands-On Demos by January 22, 2005.

"WorldHaptics"

After a series of x successful conferences and events
separately organized in the U.S. and Europe, the Symposium
on Haptic
Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems
and the EuroHaptics Conference will be held jointly for the
first
time in 2005 in Pisa, Italy.

This is a great chance to create a truly global community in
haptics, capable of answering the challenges, and grab the
opportunities, offered by the growing demand of better
interfaces to remote and virtual environments.

Call for papers

The Call for Participation can be downloaded here .
The WHC PostCard can be downloaded here

Notes

As in the recent past, the Haptics Symposium will be closely
linked to the IEEE Virtual Reality Conference. In 2005, IEEE
VR
will be held in Bonn, on March 13-16. There are direct
connection flights from Bonn to Pisa, by which attendees to
IEEE VR
can reach the WHC venue conveniently on March 17.


Important dates

November 15, 2004: Deadline for Long and Short Manuscript
Submission
December 19, 2005: Notification of Acceptance
January 9, 2005: Final Manuscript Submission
January 15, 2005: Deadline for Poster and Hands-On Demo
Submission
 February 15, 2005: Notification of Acceptance for Posters
and Demos
February 15, 2005: Arrangement of Industrial Exhibits
(please contact the organizers directly)

Conference Topics

Haptic interfaces are devices that allow human-machine
interaction through force and touch. The conference will
address all
aspects related to such interaction - from the basic
scientific underpinnings, to the technological developments,
to the different
realizations and applications.

Accordingly, papers will be accepted in three main areas:

     Science of Haptic Perception
     Technology of Haptic Interfaces
     Applications of Haptic Interfaces and Teleoperation
Systems


Antonio Bicchi & Massimo Bergamasco
WorldHaptics General Chairs
email: info at worldhaptics.com



 Once more, this time with feeling

 ANDREW EATON

 AS A RULE, one doesnâ?Tt touch things in art galleries. Art
is pricey, precious stuff,  and can easily be damaged.
Itâ?Ts always refreshing, then, to visit a show that
encourages you to touch.

 There is usually, after all, no other way for blind people
to experience visual art,  which is one of the ideas at the
heart of this yearâ?Ts Helen Keller International Award
show, Sense Scotlandâ?Ts bi-annual competition to encourage
art on the  subject of deaf-blindness.

Lindsay Mitchell, Sense Scotlandâ?Ts arts manager, seems
delighted, saying this makes for a more inclusive show:
"Weâ?Tre moving much more towards a  competition where
artists ask how the work might be accessible to someone with
visual impairment."

For example, Colin Harkinsonâ?Ts Sound and Vision: The 20th
Century Obsession,is a sculpture of a car steering wheel and
wing-mirror, with a loud, tootable horn.
 Grace Newmanâ?Ts The Conversation consists of seven hands
suspended on poles, apparently communicating with each other
by gestures. Add your own hand andyou become part of the
conversation, and part of the art. Hands, in fact, are
everywhere this year, whether talking in sign language or
just acting as a simple, potent symbol - as in Indian artist
Safiya F Ummuâ?Ts painting My Hand, a hand where a head
should be.

Some history: the Helen Keller award began in 1933 as an
essay competition,  after the famous American campaigner
visited Scotland, and has been an art award since 1992.
Anyone can enter, as long as the art is on the subject of
deaf-blindness; this year over 200 entries were sent from
across the world. To create a level playing field, the
judging panel - including, this year, sculptor Kenny Hunter
- arenâ?Tt told which artists are deaf or blind, both or
neither.

 This presents challenges, both for the judges and the
organisers. This year,ironically, one piece didnâ?Tt make
the short-list because the judges felt it
didnâ?Ttspecifically represent the deaf-blind experience -
yet it was made by a deaf-blind artist. Meanwhile, an award
which prides itself on accessibility - all
work sent is in the show, even if this means drastic
variations in quality - now risks growing beyond Sense
Scotlandâ?Ts budget and control. "It would be lovely to
think we could fill an enormous venue but we have to think
about the practicalities," warns Mitchell. A victim of its
own success, an award which is partly
about combating discrimination may soon have to discriminate
to survive.

The Helen Keller International Award is at the Collins
Gallery, Glasgow, until 12 February.



"Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At Joel's

by Brandon Hansen
January 17, 2005

Art of the Eye II, an exhibit of works by the visually
impaired, will be on display at the Gallery at Joel's in
Spokane Feb. 4 through Feb. 25.

The exhibit is free to the public.

Art of the Eye II is the second collection by artists who
are blind or have visual impairments. The exhibit educates
the public about vision as it relates to the artist's
perception and how vision plays inspirationally in the
creative process.

Art of the Eye II contains 42 mixed media works, created by
10 of the artists from the original exhibit, Art of the Eye.

Delta Gamma Alumni Chair of the Spokane Chapter, Michelle
Hagan, said she has been working on the exhibit for 18
months.

"The goal of our chapter is to help the public redefine
sight," Hagan said. "And in doing so, change the perception
that seeing to be an artist, to create, its not important to
have sight. Some of our artists have partial sight, some are
completely blind."

Hagan said a fundraising goal has been set at $20,000 with
$16,500 already raised. The proceeds go to a program helping
sight-impaired individuals in northern Idaho.

"We had to raise $5,000 to bring it here, and we're doing a
special event for children at Woodridge Elementary School,"
Hagan said.

On President's Day, Woodridge Elementary School children
will travel to The Gallery At Joel's and interact with a
seeing eye dog, she said.

Art of the Eye was conceived by Scott Nelson, a sculptor
with retinitis pigmentosa, in January 1986.

Hagan said that Nelson will use the "Delmonico Technique,"
which allows people to experience art without focusing on
sight.

"They put themselves in the place of the artist," Hagan
said.

The collection was purchased in 1990 by the George Gund
Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio and presented as a gift to the
Delta Gamma Foundation because of Delta Gamma's history of
service and strong commitment to sight preservation and to
assisting those who are visually impaired or blind.

Art of the Eye II was developed in 1997 by the Delta Gamma
Foundation using 10 previous Art of the Eye creators.

Art of the Eye II is a project, which utilizes the
international network of Delta Gamma alumni and collegians
and accomplishes goals in all three areas of the Delta Gamma
Foundation: Awareness, Service and Fundraising.

The Delta Gamma Foundation promotes the Art of the Eye
exhibits for numerous reasons including recognizing that
vision exists beyond the physical capability to see,
educating and sensitizing Delta Gammas and the general
public regarding the nature of visual impairment,
demonstrating through the exhibits the talents and abilities
of persons who are visually impaired, increasing member and
public awareness of the aims of the Delta Gamma Foundation,
and inspiring greater effort to "do good."

Both exhibits increase knowledge of the Delta Gamma
Foundation's mission and provide the opportunity to share in
its success.

Art of the Eye II features works in a variety of media
including painting, sculpture, ceramics, mixed media and
photography by artists who are blind or have visual
impairments such as double vision, macular degeneration,
retinal detachment, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, diabetic
retinopathy, monocular vision and retrolental fibroplasias.

Historically, visual disorders have affected many famous
artists including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Honore
Daumier, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Titian
and Edgar Degas.

If people want to delve into Art of the Eye II, special
guest and curator of the exhibit Scott Nelson will be
available for interviews by phone or in person Feb. 4-6.

Nelson is an accomplished artist and lecturer whose
sculptural tripod sighting instruments have been exhibited
in art galleries and museums throughout the country since
1975.

Nelson has played key parts in both of the exhibits on
vision.

Art of the Eye II, a compilation of 42 mixed media works,
will be an artistic expression of vision, not to be missed.

Original Art of the Eye works are still for sale with pieces
shown on Delta Gamma's Web site or through contacting
Kathleen Williams at 614-481-8169 ext. 324.



"Art Of The Eye II" exhibit returns to The Gallery At
Joel's

Posted on Fri, Jan. 21, 2005


 School for Blind students express  themselves through art


 First project making molds with clay

 By Bill E. Wambeke

 American News Writer


 Even those challenged by the loss of their eyesight can
express themselves through art.

  Northern State University professor Ruth McKinney and her
two NSU student assistants  Cassie Houston and Katie Kaiser
are teaching art to high school-aged students at the South
Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

 The goal is for the visually impaired students to create
works of art every Tuesday until the end of the current
school semester.

 This week, the first art class of the semester, McKinney
and her assistants were helping the children put clay on
plastic faces to make molds.

 "Right now they're exploring texture. We're giving them a
new material to work with," said McKinney.

 With the clay that the students were putting over the
masks, in the following weeks they are going to add features
to resemble or exaggerate their own faces.

 In the school, one hall is designated for art pieces done
by freshmen art students at NSU as  part of their freshmen
requirements. The pieces have different textures that allow
the blind students to feel them.

 "You get to have fun with it and do something outside of
the box," Kaiser said.

 This is not the first art class for the students, as in the
past they have had pottery and papier
mache classes through the city's parks and recreation
department.

In the future Houston would like to give a presentation on
fibers at the School for the Blind,
 while Kaiser would like to do painting. Eventually in May
they would like to have an art show
 comprised of works created by the school's students.
 Kaiser, whose mother is the superintendant of the school,
feels working with the students gives
her a chance to broaden her teaching horizons.

 "In the art education department, you don't get the chance
to work with challenged kids. We
feel really good about what we're doing with them."

 Kaiser said that she would like to teach painting by giving
each student a block of Masonite. They would paint on it
what they wanted and create a mosaic from the blocks. With
the varying  levels of sight in the class, she would try and
give them a common theme to paint about.

 "Ruth kind of had the idea for this, and I was looking to
fill my professional credits," Kaiser said about her work at
the School for the Blind.

 She added that working with the visually impaired kids will
give her needed teaching experience.

 Kaiser is a junior art education major at NSU and would
like to teach secondary art when she
graduates.

  "These kids haven't had the chance to work with art a
whole lot. This is providing them with an
  opportunity to express themselves."



CAR RALLY
Surat holds car rally for blind
Express News Service

Surat, January 10: The eighth car rally for the blind
organised by the Surat Round Table-135 concluded on Sunday
with about 86 car rallyists participating in the 76 km
rally. The rally was flagged-off from the Indoor Stadium by
Additional Commissioner of Police (administration), Meera
Ramnivas on Sunday morning. The blind rallyists who were
guiding the navigators using a Braille map, began the 76 km
drive from Athwalines and covered Rander, Barbodhan, Dandhi,
Kachla and Setula areas.

The members of Surat Round Table-135 have been organising
the car rally for the past eight years.
The aim of the rally is to boost self-confidence among the
blind and give them a chance to prove their abilities.
Chairman of the Surat Round Table-135, Jitendra Patel said,
''We have been organising the event since last eight years."

He added, "The participants are provided with the braille
map of the entire route and they have to guide the
navigators accompanying them.''

Patel added, ''Our main aim behind the car rally is to boost
their self- confidence,''he added.



January 14, 2005 ¤Ñ In the Miari area of northeastern Seoul,
a couple of streets are lined with houses bearing such signs
as Yeeonga (Prophet), Cheolhakwon (Philosophy House) and
Jakmyeongso (Name-Making House).
The area is rather dreary. That may be simply because it is
poorer than other parts of Seoul, or because it was the site
of a cemetery during Japanese colonial rule and was the
first place in Seoul to be invaded by the North when the
Korean War began. Miari Hill used to be called the "Hill of
Tears" because of the historical traumas it suffered.
Now, these streets have become a "fortune tellers' village."
Yet, what particularly sets them apart is that all of the
fortune tellers there are blind.
Lee Do-byeong, 63, was the first one to settle in the area.
"I lost my vision when I was only two years old, from
cataracts. I met a teacher who taught me how to read Braille
and how to predict people's fortunes, when I was 15," he
says. After completing his lessons, he moved to Miari and
opened a fortune-telling business in 1966. "The rent was
cheap, since the area was not so popular," he says.
Mr. Lee became well-known, and the number of customers rose.
"Since I became famous, more blind people gathered in the
area and started the same business," he says.
There were more than 100 fortune tellers in the area in the
1980s, when the economy was booming, but the number has
dropped to around 60 now, and they find making a living much
more difficult.
Demand for fortune-telling services traditionally grows in
the spring and fall, when many people marry or move. Around
the time of the College Scholastic Ability Test in the fall,
the fortune tellers used to see as many as 10 customers a
day, Mr. Lee says. Now, he scarcely has one customer a day,
regardless of the season, because of the weak economy.
"Usually, a bad economy increases the number of customers,
who want to know when the situation will improve," he says.
"But the economy has been stagnant for so long, people don't
want to spend money that way."
The growing number of "modern" fortune-telling shops in
other areas of Seoul, such as Sinchon and Apgujeong, does
not help the situation either, he says.

A serious financial struggle
Mr. Lee adds that life as a blind person involves serious
financial struggle. "In Japan, the United States and Europe,
the blind receive decent financial support from the
government. In Korea, only extremely poor ones without any
family members to support them get about 400,000 won ($380)
a month.
"That money is not enough to make a decent living, and it is
not so easy to get it," he adds. Therefore, fortune telling
is a way for blind people to earn a living.
The fortune tellers in the area use books called
"Cheonseryeok (Life Map)" and "Jakmyeong (Name-Making
Book)," written in Braille, and a calculator or abacus to
forecast a client's fate. "The books come from ancient China
and were written based on the belief that humans have cycles
and seasons just like nature," Mr. Lee says.
"When you were born you received a certain energy, based on
the time, date and year of your birth. They determine your
physical and mental tendencies and strong and weak points."
he says.
Even though society has modernized and relatively few young
people follow these customs, fortune telling persists, and
the reasons for visiting fortune tellers are as varied as
the people who go to them.
According to Lee Seon-bok, another fortune teller in the
area, some customers seek guidance about their jobs, life
goals or the overall blueprint of their future. Mothers ask
about how well their children will do on tests. Single women
ask about when they will meet "Mr. Right," and some couples
come to seek the best name for their newborn baby because it
has been a traditional Korean belief that a person's name
affects his destiny.
One of the most common questions, says Ms. Lee, is about
gunghap, or "marital harmony," often asked by single people
who want to know whether their boyfriend or girlfriend would
make a good spouse. Since some Koreans are strong believers
in destiny and fortune telling, there are even cases of
people who break up with their partners after getting a
negative prophecy, she says.

Destiny can change
Ms. Lee says a person's destiny can change if he knows when
to be careful and when to be bold. "My prophecies might not
be 100 percent accurate either, because there are too many
factors that affect people's decisions," she says. But some
people are surprised at how accurate the fortune tellers
are, and keep coming back to them, she adds.
Kim Min-jung, 26, who lives in Suyu-dong, said she went to a
fortune teller in Miari recently. "I went with a friend, and
the fortune teller described each of our jobs correctly.
There was no way that he could have guessed by observing us,
because he was blind. He told us the specific names of our
jobs, not a broad category. I'm still waiting to see if his
prophecy on my future will be correct, as well."
Han Min-gyu, 39, who lives in Sinchon, said he went to one
of the fortune tellers in the area a few years ago. "At that
time I was planning on opening a business. The fortune
teller said that my business would go very well, ¡®like fire
on a match.'"
Soon, he started the business he planned. "Even though I
didn't believe what the fortune teller said entirely, things
seemed to be going perfectly at first. But I later went
bankrupt, after extending my business too much."
Mr. Lee notes that fortune telling has been a part of Korean
culture throughout history.
"Fortune telling started in the Goryeo Dynasty a thousand
years ago, and became very common among blind people in the
Joseon Dynasty," he says. "But under Japanese rule, fortune
telling was considered to be merely ¡®superstitious.'"
Mr. Lee says he has learned wisdom in life through fortune
telling.
"My predictions may not be correct all the time, but I'm
sure about one thing through my experience," he says. "When
you are going through a bad time, it means you possess too
many unnecessary things. You have to be extra generous to
others in order not to get ill.
"When you are sick, get involved in charities, or start
giving what you have to others," says Mr. Lee. "You will get
better after that."


by Choi Sun-young <sunyoung78 at joongang.co.kr>

A visit to a Miari fortune teller costs around 30,000 won
($28). The village is about a five-minute walk from Sungshin
Womans University subway station on line No. 4, exit 7. No
reservations are needed.




Blind Engineering Student 'Reads' Color as Sound
Libraries
Science News
Contact Information


Victor Wong, a blind Cornell University graduate engineering
student from Hong Kong, is helping to develop innovative
software that translates color into sound to enable him to
read color weather maps.

Newswise - A melody of staccato piano notes sings out from
the speakers of Victor K. Wong's desktop computer. But it is
not a melody made by Bach, or Liberace, or even Alicia Keys.
It is the melody of color.

Wong, a Cornell University graduate student from Hong Kong
who lost his sight in a road accident at age seven, is
helping to develop innovative software that translates color
into sound. "Color is something that does not exist in the
world of a blind person," explains Wong. "I could see
before, so I know what it is. But there is no way that I can
think of to give an exact idea of color to someone who has
never seen before."

He helped develop the software in Cornell's Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) with undergraduate
engineering student Ankur Moitra and research associate
James Ferwerda from the Program of Computer Graphics.

The inspiration for using image-to-sound software came in
early 2004 when Wong realized his problems in reading
color-scaled weather maps of the Earth's upper atmosphere --
a task that is a necessary part of his doctoral work in
Professor Mike Kelley's ECE research group.

It is a field dubbed "space weather," which attempts to
predict weather patterns high over the equator for use by
Global Positioning System and other satellite
communications. A space weather map might show altitude in
the vertical direction (along the "y" axis), time in the
horizontal direction (along the "x" axis), and represent
density with different colors.

As a scientist, Wong needs to know more than just the
general shape of an image. He needs to explore minute
fluctuations and discern the numerical values of the pixels
so that he can create mathematical models that match the
image. "Color is an extra dimension," explains Wong.

At first, the team tried everything from having Kelley
verbally describe the maps to Wong to attempting to print
the maps in Braille. When none of those methods provided the
detail and resolution Wong needed, he and Ferwerda began
investigating software. Moitra later became their project
programmer."We started with the basic research question of
how to represent a detailed color-scaled image to someone
who is blind," recalls Ferwerda. "The most natural approach
was to try sound, since color and pitch can be directly
related and sensitivity to changes in pitch is quite good."

Over the summer of 2004, Moitra wrote a Java computer code
that could translate images into sound, and in August he
unveiled a rudimentary software program capable of
converting pixels of various colors into piano notes of
various tones.

Wong test-drove the software by exploring a color photograph
of a parrot. He used a rectangular Wacom tablet and stylus
-- a computer input device used as an alternative to the
mouse -- which gives an absolute reference to the computer
screen, with the bottom left-hand corner of the tablet
always corresponding to the bottom left-hand corner of the
screen.

As Wong guided the stylus about the tablet, piano notes
began to sing out. The full range of keys on a piano was
employed, allowing color resolution in 88 gradations,
ranging from blue for the lowest notes to red for the
highest.

The software also has an image-to-speech feature that reads
aloud the numerical values of the x and y coordinates as
well as the value associated with a color at any given point
on the image. "In principle I could turn off the music and
just have the software read out the value of each point. I
would know what the gradient is in a more absolute sense,
but it would get annoying after some time. It keeps reading
out 200.1, 200.8, 200.5, and so on," says Wong.

One of the biggest challenges of the project is the
so-called "land-and-sea" problem. "Sometimes I just want to
know where is the land and where is the sea," says Wong --
meaning that he would like to have an idea where the major
boundaries in an image lie, such as the boundary between the
parrot and the background. The problem hinges on shape
recognition, which for Wong can be difficult.

In the simplest situation, the right half of an image would
be completely blue and the left half completely red. To find
the boundary Wong has to move the stylus continuously back
and forth from one color to the next along the length of the
tablet, which is both time-consuming and error prone.

To solve the land-and-sea problem, Wong, Moitra and Ferwerda
tried printing the major boundary lines of an image in
Braille and then laying the printed sheet over the Wacom
tablet, combining both audio and tactile detection. However,
they are still working to develop software that can
effectively pick out the important boundaries in an image so
that it can be printed.

"It is also important that there is no time delay between
notes," says Moitra. "That is something we need to improve.
Otherwise the image will become shifted and distorted in
Victor's mind."

One of the major issues facing the project is funding. "The
initial work was done on a shoestring as a side project to
grants Kelley and I have received," says Ferwerda, who is
preparing a proposal to the National Science Foundation to
extend this work and explore other ideas for making images
and other technical content accessible to blind scientists
and engineers.

Says Wong: "Tackling complex color images is only one
problem out of many that blind scientists are facing. But I
think this is a pretty important idea."


January 6, 2005 E-mail story   Print   Most E-Mailed


Loss of Sight Focuses His Artistic Vision
Mostly blind, a Studio City photographer has found a new way
of seeing the world.

By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer

It wasn't until he went blind that Michael Richard found his
photographic vision.

That's how the Studio City photographer describes what
happened after he lost virtually all his sight three years
ago.

Surgery to remove a tumor behind one of his eyes left him
able to see only gauzy, indistinct shapes. Richard, 57, felt
that his days as a scenic and documentary photographer were
over.

"I figured photography was out of the picture. I couldn't
see to focus. So how could I shoot photos?" he reasoned.

But a visit to the Braille Institute in Los Angeles to learn
to use his white cane unexpectedly led to his becoming an
acclaimed abstract-art photographer.

Richard was startled to find that the Vermont Avenue agency
offered a photography class. On a whim, he signed up.

"You sure don't think of photography when you think of the
Braille Institute," he said. "I was thinking that it would
probably be a lecture course, something covering the history
of photography."

Richard, whose primary occupation is as a musician, had
specialized in nature photography before surgery in early
2002 to remove a malignant tumor left him sightless in his
right eye. Born with a condition called acute amblyopia that
made his left eye basically nonfunctional, he suddenly found
himself unable to see anything distinctly.

For a visual artist, it was devastating.

Richard could only make out shapes with his left eye.
Objects in front of him were ethereal and diffused, as if
viewed through glass smeared with petroleum jelly.

"It's like the world is a very Impressionistic painting," he
said. "Only the broadest of lines are shown - it's like the
most extreme soft-focus photo that you can imagine."

So he wasn't expecting much when he enrolled in the photo
class taught by former Life magazine photographer Jack
Birns.

"I was anticipating that this was going to be a joke,"
Richard said. "How can the blind take pictures?"

Birns was quick to build confidence among his 10 students.
They could use automatic-focus cameras and commercial film
processing, he promised. They would find plenty of pleasure
in pointing and shooting.

Richard remembers being pleased when he got his first roll
of film back. There were lines and forms that even he could
make out.

Sighted viewers of his pictures praised their composition.
He'd not lost his feel for photography, they assured him.

Richard's wife, graphic artist Patrice Hughes, began driving
him around Los Angeles to potential photo sites. From the
start, he decided to leave his white cane at home when
carrying his camera.

He had learned through a self-defense class at the Braille
Institute that blind people are often targeted by thieves,
Richard said.

"You can't run from anybody trying to rob you," he said.
"You can't chase anybody, either."

Richard carries a magnifying glass to help him adjust the
settings on his Nikon 35-mm camera. A magnified monocular
helps him find distant subjects to photograph. He often
paces off the distance between them and his camera in order
to set the proper focus.

He develops black-and-white film himself and prints his own
20-by-24-inch enlargements at a Burbank photo lab that is
open to the public.

"I have to use both my monocular and my magnifier just to
see if the negative is in the enlarger's carrier. I find a
sharp edge in the picture and get in real close on the easel
with my magnifier to focus the enlarger. Sighted people who
use the lab have learned not to walk too close to me in the
darkroom," he said.

His blow-up prints depicting such things as shadows from a
window falling across a tile floor, balconies marching in
rows across the side of a skyscraper and rain puddles on
pavement show Richard's skills at powerful abstract
composition.

During the last two years, his photographs have been shown
in nearly a dozen exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco
and Philadelphia.

"He's learned to adapt to his loss," said Christine Leahey,
director of the Santa Monica-based "The View From Here"
organization, which showcases art of the visually impaired.
She estimates that 100 such photographers are working in the
state.

It was Richard and his photographs that motivated her to
start the nonprofit group, Leahey said.

"Michael not only has a beautiful, mature portfolio but he
has a sensitivity to the issue of disability," she said. "He
looks at lighting and composition in a much different way
than before. The camera has allowed him to reassert his
independence."

Altadena art director Les Sechler purchased one of Richard's
photographs after seeing it in an exhibition. "I was
astounded, blown away," by his pictures, Sechler said.

For his part, Richard acknowledges that his work is
"inspired and perhaps even enhanced by my visual
disability."

Several of his images will be on display beginning Jan. 26
at the UC Berkeley Art Museum. His photographs are also
scheduled to be included in exhibitions later this year in
Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

"To think that a visual impairment could stimulate a
photographic career," he said.

"I'm letting the camera be my eyes."



Eyesight not required for artistic vision

Sculptor's imagination 'as fertile as ever' after she became
blind


05:52 PM CST on Saturday, January 8, 2005


By DEBORAH FLECK / The Dallas Morning News


Gisela-Heidi Strunck did not let going blind prevent her
from continuing to be an artist. A little more than a year
after an operation to remove a brain tumor, the sculptor has
new works on display at Irving Bible Church.

"It is a blessing to be able to work," Ms. Strunck said. But
at first she held little hope of doing what she loves.

"My first thought was, 'Oh my God, I can't work,' " she said
about waking up in the dark. "I was pretty miserable."

Although her tumor was benign, it disturbed nerves. Not only
did she lose her sight but also her sense of taste and
smell, and a little bit of feeling.

But her memory and talent were not lost.

"Her imagination and creative energies are as fertile as
ever," wrote Marcie Inman in a guide to the exhibit. Curator
of the galleries at the Irving Arts Center, Ms. Inman has
known the artist for a long time.

"She is amazing," Ms. Inman said about Ms. Strunck's
resiliency. "She is still an avid explorer, eager student
and tireless worker. She rewards us [in this exhibit] with
her obvious love of life and making art."

Ms. Strunck couldn't imagine a life without art. Born in
Germany in 1945, she left home at a young age to study
painting in Madrid, Athens, Florence and Oslo. She came to
the states in the late '60s to visit a man she had met on a
Greek island.

Romance blossomed and Juergen Strunck became her husband.
Also an artist, Mr. Strunck joined the faculty at the
University of Dallas in 1968 and still teaches at the
liberal arts college in east Irving. The couple resides in
Southlake.

Ms. Strunck worked in ceramics at the university and tried
sculpture in the early '70s. Her first sculpture exhibit was
at the university in 1975. She has had solo exhibits
throughout Texas at colleges, galleries and art centers and
group exhibits not only in Texas but also in Indiana,
Arkansas, Kansas and Washington, D.C.

At first she didn't like Texas, but she admits she now is
fond of her home. While living here, she continued to travel
and made several trips to India in the '90s. "I love
traveling," she said, and she draws inspiration from the
places she's visited.

She uses exotic woods, such as purpleheart, yellowheart,
lacewood and zebrawood, adding metallic floss that flows
from the woods and fixtures.

About half of the pieces in the exhibit were created after
she lost her sight. She credits her friends and fellow
artists with encouraging her not to give up.

"People said you are strong and you can handle this," but
she did not want to believe them. "Everyone has been so
special. They have helped me realize being blind is not the
worst thing," she said.

Most of the encouragement and assistance, however, comes
from her husband. "Being an artist he was able to help in
many ways," she said. He made a guiding device to help her
separate the spools of floss so she can choose and combine
colors.

Although she cannot see her work as she creates it, she
guides her hands along the piece to feel if it flows and
comes together.

One of her new pieces is called Prayer Posts, a display of
seven 84-inch tall totems in an omega shape. Ms. Inman
describes the work as "occupying and engaging space more
actively with modular characteristics" than her earlier
works.

Ms. Strunck's work reflects a strong spiritual influence as
well as inner strength and rich vision. But she wants her
story to be about the power of art and "not about me."

Art has lessened her pain. "Art is soothing and calming,"
she said. "I am thankful to do what I do. I have a very good
life."

E-mail dfleck at dallasnews.com

IF YOU GO


Exhibit: "Seeing and Imagining: Gisela-Heidi Strunck
Sculptures"

When: through Jan. 16

Where: Irving Bible Church, lower level hall, 2435 Kinwest
Parkway

Call: 972-560-4600
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