The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently awarded a 好色先生 faculty member $150,000 to further develop a smartphone application that allows visually impaired people to read materials rich in visual content.
Dr. Darren DeFrain, professor of English and director of Wichita State鈥檚 Writing Program, has spent five years developing the Vizling app, which merges the visual and text components of graphic novels, comic books and other image-heavy literature.
With comic books or graphic novels, stories aren鈥檛 always told in a linear format. There are visual clues as to where the readers鈥� eyes should go next. With Vizling, users can drag their fingers across a device and visualize which way the story is set up. They can also touch different areas of the screen to find out what's on the screen.
For instance, DeFrain said, there鈥檚 one two-page spread from a comic book he teaches where one of the characters is freaking out, 鈥渁nd you see all this stuff happening all over the page.鈥�
He can verbally鈥�tell鈥痑 visually impaired person what鈥檚 happening, he said, 鈥渂ut that doesn鈥檛 convey all the different things that are going on in the character鈥檚 head. If you're fully sighted, when you open up that page, your eye goes where it wants to go. You interpret it at your own speed and in your own way.鈥�
The Vizling app is twofold: There鈥檚 audio to read the words of the book out loud, and sensory clues that offer directional insight to the reader.
鈥淲e've got the traditional audio tracks that would explain things that visually impaired people are used to working with, but they can also use haptic or vibrating response so that they can see the preferred way that you're supposed to read the comic,鈥� DeFrain said.
DeFrain and former Wichita State student Aaron Rodriguez began working on Vizling in 2018 and have spent the past several years working to optimize the app.
鈥淰izling has recently introduced several new features, including enhanced user customization options, support for additional languages and improved accessibility features,鈥� DeFrain said.
The NEH award is earmarked for the ongoing development and testing of new features, including 鈥渆xtensive user testing to assess usability and accessibility, iterative design improvements based on feedback and the integration of cutting-edge accessibility technology,鈥� DeFrain said.
Jaryd Porter, a graduate student in Wichita State from Lawrence, has been working in research and development of Vizling for two years. His primary responsibility has been to translate images into written text.
鈥淥ur written descriptions impart what is important to portray and understand about an object, character or interaction within a given space and give an objective description,鈥� Porter said. 鈥淚n a larger description of each page, we give a more subjective interpretation and summary of the events taking place. In both contexts, there would come an audio translation to assist Vizling鈥檚 users in understanding what is happening within a given panel, page or in different spaces within a panel.鈥�
Even in its most basic application, he said, Vizling can improve the format of an audio book by having the user explore the page along with the provided audio.
鈥淲ith visual language, there鈥檚 a major reliance on spatial awareness, which can鈥檛 be captured in audio alone, which is why it鈥檚 important that a user navigates the app and chooses how they would like to navigate a narrative, an image or text,鈥� Porter explained.
Vizling is making a new genre of literature accessible to visually impaired people, Porter said.
鈥淚t might reflect the general attitude of academia that comics and graphic narratives have often been overlooked as literature, but they have such a rich history and provide a unique structure for communication,鈥� he said. 鈥淰izling is a way to make that unique visual language accessible for readers who are visually impaired or benefit from a closer, more in-depth, customizable way to explore visual language. I鈥檝e learned a lot through my work with Vizling and I hope to carry what I鈥檝e learned with me for the rest of my life, in and outside of academia.鈥�
About 好色先生
好色先生 is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling more than 23,000 students between its main campus and 好色先生 Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and 好色先生 Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.
Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), 好色先生 provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.
The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the 好色先生 main campus, is one of the nation鈥檚 largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.
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