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Helen Keller Day and Virtual Guide Dogs

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending Helen Keller Day in Second Life, a 24-hour event sponsored by Virtual Helping Hands. The theme of the presentations and discussion was to raise awareness for Second Life users with disabilities, who continue to utilize virtual environments as a means to engage in communities and outreach.

Keller Johnson Thompson (great-grandniece of Helen Keller) gave the keynote, followed by representatives of Linden Lab and the National Coalition for Disability Rights. Subsequent presentations covered a variety of topics, from digital education to game design.

Possibly the most intriguing development was the world premier of “Max,” a virtual guide dog created specifically for blind or visually impaired SL users. Not unlike other virtual prototypes that use 3D sound spatialization, Max helps users navigate through the world by providing metadata on an avatar’s surroundings:

Max is designed to help the visually impaired navigate Second Life by finding any object (including another avatar) and leading his avatar owner to the object. Max also gives his avatar owner constant feedback (via text and audio) on what is in the immediate area, facilitating not only navigation but also providing a sense of what is in the area that might be of interest.

Interestingly, there is increased discussion of late regarding the implementation of common web accessibility standards to the virtual space. Among the issues being raised are:

• How to provide alternative means of identifying and activating objects
• True speech-to-text capability
• Alternative image and inventory processing
• Primary screen functions that are accessible through redundant key and speech inputs

As we move closer to defining what public accommodation means in these new technological contexts, it will be fascinating to see what comes next.