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RESEARCH STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

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Greetings,

My name is Everett Woolsoncroft and I am a design researcher from the Berkeley Disability Lab at the University of California, Berkeley.
I am writing to invite you to participate in a research study about how people with disabilities go about navigating the world around them with a smartphone. If you decide to participate in this study, you will be asked to take part in a series of interviews which will take place over Zoom.

Topics will include: How to use your smartphone to navigate, How you navigate the world, What information resources you frequently use to gain accessibility information, your experiences with accessibility on UC Berkeley’s campus, and your thoughts on some navigation interface designers. Interviews are anticipated to last between thirty (30) and ninety (90) minutes.

While there is no direct benefit, the results of this study may benefit you and society. Participation is completely voluntary. You can choose to be in the study or not.

If you’d like to participate, have any questions about the study, or know anyone who may be interested in taking part, please email or contact me at everett_wool@berkeley.edu or (818) 450-6743. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
Everett Woolsoncroft

Rad Mad in the time of Covid

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With the shutdown in place due to the coronavirus, to say that we live in strange times is an understatement. 

Before and After pictures of our Lab meetings as we moved from the live meetings (with lunch) to the new normal of “faces in boxes” zoom gatherings.

Lab Meetings before the Shelter-in-Place (with lunch)
The now all too familiar picture of “callers in boxes” phenomenon of zoom

[Image description: Zoom meeting with 10 people including Karen Nakamura, Nate Tilton, Hari Srinivasan, Christian Leycam.]

In addition to the public health stresses, the shutdown has brought about challenges unique to college campuses as many students had to relocate back to their home or other places in the middle of the semester – all this at almost a moment’s notice. These disruptions have significantly impacted the amount of time many of the URAP’ers (Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program) in the Lab could dedicate to their respective projects in the lab. 

What the Rad Mad Disability lab has done this semester can almost be split into what had was started and planned at the beginning of the semester and what the teams have been able to do to the limitations of the shutdown. 

The RadMad Lab had started off the beginning of the semester brainstorming on project ideas and forming teams to take on different projects. Two of our teams from last semester Sense-Able Input P3 and Sense-Able Output Apple Pi came together as a single team Sense-Able Computing. Team Propaganda formed last semester continued as on the documentation and social media front. Two new teams were formed this semester to tackle new problems – Radical Mapping and Light Sensitivity. The shutdown has impacted some teams more than others due the physicality of the project or access to campus resources.  

  • Team Light Sensitivity: Tyler Johnson, Sumbal Ghafoor, Brian Liu.
  • Sense-able Computing: Christian Leycam, Irlanda Gonzalez, Kitty Gu, Karen Nakamura (Student) and Ewan Seo.
  • Team Radical Mapping: Nate Tilton (Lab Manager), Kate Allison, Everett Woolsoncroft and Raga Kavari. 
  • Team Propaganda: Hari Srinivasan 

The lab did manage to visit the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Imparied in San Francisco, on 3/4/2020. This was a mere few days before the social distancing measures came into effect in the Bay Area.

Rad Mad Lab Team at Lighthouse

Lighthouse was able to give valuable feedback and input on all the projects. The  lab teams were later able to do follow up zoom calls with Lighthouse for additional input and direction. 

[Image description: five presenters, one sitting with a dog behind them on their chair.]

The team also spent time looking at the features at Lighthouse which made it not just accessible but aesthetic and interesting for the Blind.

Nate and Karen looking at braille signage
Braille Signage

[Image description: Nate and Karen looking at braille signage in a well lit hallway. A colorful patchwork quilt is on the wall behind them.]

Water fountain with a Braille Math Book as the Back splash
Desk with a Cane Holder

THE NAKAMURA DISABILITY LAB @ CAL

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A WELL KEPT SECRET

The Nakamura Disability Lab is one of UC Berkeley’s well-kept secrets tucked away inside one end of the Hearst Annex complex. With its mission of “Making Better Crips,” the lab has been operational since 2018 and led by Prof. Karen Nakamura who is the endowed chair for Disability Studies and Professor of Anthropology.

  • URAPers listen to Prof. Karen Nakamura.
    URAPers listen to Prof. Karen Nakamura.
  • Prof. Karen Nakamura at the lab
    Prof. Karen Nakamura at the lab

The group of student URAPers (Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program) at the lab include lab manager Nate Tilton and URAP researchers Olivia Cheng, Gloria Kunder, Irlanda Gonzalez, Josh Lavine, Chris Moreno, Ewan Seo, Mimi Shalf, Hari Srinivasan, Enrico Cruvinel, Christian Leycam, and Kristie Diep.

CURRENT TEAMS AT WORK

● Team Thumbless
● Team Pi^3 (Sense-Able Computing Input)
● Team Apple Pi (Sense-Able Computing Output)
● Team Propaganda.

Karen’s service dog, Momo, a grey and white beagle.
Karen’s service dog, Momo, a grey and white beagle.

LOW-COST TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

An important focus for the lab has also been finding low-cost technology solutions for people disabilities.

Community members and other guest speakers have also attended the weekly Wednesday meetings to speak on the work they were doing or add their input to what the lab was doing.

  • Rad Mad Lab meeting
  • Rad Mad Lab meeting