"There are an estimated 285 million vision impaired people worldwide. Sadly, the consequences of sight loss are often poverty, isolation and depression. Of the estimated two million people living with sight loss in the UK, almost half say they would like to leave their home more often.
Overcoming these challenges starts with enabling independent travel, which catalyses both individual and societal change.
What if vision impaired people were empowered to navigate independently using the smart phone they already have in their pocket?
With limited or no vision, navigating an unfamiliar environment means you are wholly reliant on auditory cues or a sighted guide for directions. Emerging technologies such as smartphones and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons point to a future of independent navigation for blind people. There is a pressing need to develop a consistent standard to be implemented across wayfinding systems. This will open up a world where vision impaired people are no longer held back by their sight loss.
Overcoming these challenges starts with enabling independent travel, which catalyses both individual and societal change.
What if vision impaired people were empowered to navigate independently using the smart phone they already have in their pocket?
With limited or no vision, navigating an unfamiliar environment means you are wholly reliant on auditory cues or a sighted guide for directions. Emerging technologies such as smartphones and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons point to a future of independent navigation for blind people. There is a pressing need to develop a consistent standard to be implemented across wayfinding systems. This will open up a world where vision impaired people are no longer held back by their sight loss.
Wayfindr is the first open standard for audio-based navigation.
Built into the Wayfindr standard is a determination to create social, economic and personal value for users. During our trials we have seen an increase in the confidence of our participants. Every time a vision impaired person independently reaches their desired destination using Wayfindr it changes their perceptions of their own abilities."
http://awards.ixda.org/entry/2016/wayfindr-independent-travel-for-blind-people/
21 Balancoires (21 Swings)
Built into the Wayfindr standard is a determination to create social, economic and personal value for users. During our trials we have seen an increase in the confidence of our participants. Every time a vision impaired person independently reaches their desired destination using Wayfindr it changes their perceptions of their own abilities."
http://awards.ixda.org/entry/2016/wayfindr-independent-travel-for-blind-people/
21 Balancoires (21 Swings)
The notes that are played are determined by how high a person swings. The color of the swing indicates the instrument it plays: piano, harp, guitar, vibraphone. The instruments are distributed differently within each set of three swings to create different musical configurations.
When multiple swings move in synchronicity, a mini scale is played, revealing more notes and melodies. When all swings are in use, a secret musical mode is activated to give a special reward to players a synthesizer sound plays on all swings and transforms the experience.
The result is a giant collective instrument that stimulates ownership of the space, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds, and creating a place for playing and exchanging in the middle of the city centre."
"The swings were quickly adopted by Montrealers and transformed a transit space into a public place. This instinctive way of creating music using one’s entire body stimulates people to play, to experiment and leads people to become aware of each other’s experience, to converse and exchange.
- Old people, young people, couples, punks, skateboarders all played on the swings.
- Families from all over the city took over a set of swings for a long time, sometimes having a picnic.
- Strangers engaged in conversation around the swings.
- Passing drivers stopped and got out to see the swings.
"The swings interface was chosen because people are naturally attracted to them and immediately know what to do. Swings create a sense of nostalgia, throwing people back to their childhood."
http://awards.ixda.org/entry/2013/21-balancoires/
The Lowdown
http://bestawards.co.nz/entries/public-good/the-lowdown/
Ward+Robes - Redesigned Hospital Gowns
"These designers are letting young patients throw a bit of style into their hospital stay."
"Nobody likes wearing hospital gowns, but for most of us it’s a pretty temporary arrangement. For some unlucky kids however, hospital gowns are a permanent fixture in their wardrobe, but thanks to a project called Ward+Robes, boring and ugly hospital clothes might soon be a thing of the past.
Several fashion designers have teamed up with a nonprofit organization called Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada to redesign hospital gowns in order to give sick kids 'a chance to be themselves'. 'Wearing a hospital gown is like being in a hospital,' explains one girl in the video below. 'There’s nothing good about it.' Another young patient reveals that 'It sort of makes me feel like my identify’s been stripped away from me.'"
https://www.facebook.com/HuffingtonPost/videos/10154091988031130/
http://www.boredpanda.com/fashionable-hospital-gowns-starlight-children-foundation-canada/?
The High Line
"Parks in large cities are usually thought of as refuges, as islands of green amid seas of concrete and steel. When you approach the High Line in the Chelsea neighbourhood on the lower west side of Manhattan, what you see first is the kind of thing urban parks were created to get away from—a harsh, heavy, black steel structure supporting an elevated rail line that once brought freight cars right into factories and warehouses and that looks, at least from a distance, more like an abandoned relic than an urban oasis."
"Never have public officials been so wrong. Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country. The black steel columns that once supported abandoned train tracks now hold up an elevated park—part promenade, part town square, part botanical garden. The southern third, which begins at Gansevoort Street and extends to West 20th Street, crossing Tenth Avenue along the way, opened in the summer of 2009. This spring a second section will open, extending the park ten more blocks, roughly a half mile, to 30th Street. Eventually, supporters hope, the park will cover the rest of the High Line."
The High Line
"Parks in large cities are usually thought of as refuges, as islands of green amid seas of concrete and steel. When you approach the High Line in the Chelsea neighbourhood on the lower west side of Manhattan, what you see first is the kind of thing urban parks were created to get away from—a harsh, heavy, black steel structure supporting an elevated rail line that once brought freight cars right into factories and warehouses and that looks, at least from a distance, more like an abandoned relic than an urban oasis."
"Never have public officials been so wrong. Almost a decade after the Giuliani administration tried to tear the High Line down, it has been turned into one of the most innovative and inviting public spaces in New York City and perhaps the entire country. The black steel columns that once supported abandoned train tracks now hold up an elevated park—part promenade, part town square, part botanical garden. The southern third, which begins at Gansevoort Street and extends to West 20th Street, crossing Tenth Avenue along the way, opened in the summer of 2009. This spring a second section will open, extending the park ten more blocks, roughly a half mile, to 30th Street. Eventually, supporters hope, the park will cover the rest of the High Line."
"Walking on the High Line is unlike any other experience in New York. You float about 25 feet above the ground, at once connected to street life and far away from it. You can sit surrounded by carefully tended plantings and take in the sun and the Hudson River views, or you can walk the line as it slices between old buildings and past striking new ones. I have walked the High Line dozens of times, and its vantage point, different from that of any street, sidewalk, or park, never ceases to surprise and delight. Not the least of the remarkable things about the High Line is the way, without streets to cross or traffic lights to wait for, ten blocks pass as quickly as two."
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/04/ny-high-line/goldberger-text
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