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Preparing the Eclipse Soundscapes Mobile Application for 2023: Applying Lessons Learned from 2017 to Guide Language Choices that Improve the Accessibility and Inclusiveness of the App’s’s Scientific Content to Make Eclipses More Engaging for Everyone!
  • MaryKay Severino,
  • Henry Winter
MaryKay Severino
ARISA Lab, L.L.C.

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Henry Winter
ARISA Lab, L.L.C.
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Abstract

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project originally launched to make the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017 accessible to everyone, with a special focus on users who are blind or have low vision (BLV). Its first project was a mobile application (app). The app includes illustrative audio descriptions of eclipses, as well as an interactive “rumble map” that allows users to conceptualize an eclipse through touch and sound. Development of the Eclipse Soundscapes (ES) mobile application is led by the Advanced Research in Inclusion and STEAM Accessibility (ARISA) Lab team with the support of NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team. One of the lessons learned in the original 2017 ES mobile application (ES 1.0) development was a greater understanding of how language choices impact accessibility and inclusion. It is clear that sharing information in text, in audio, and in a tactile way not only makes information more accessible and inclusive but also more impactful for everyone! With GBH National Center Accessible Media (NCAM) and Subject Matter Experts (SME), scientific annular eclipse descriptions were transformed into accessible descriptions that focused on utilizing tactilely relevant vocabulary. In conjunction with the tactile elements of the ES mobile app, this more inclusive language created an opportunity for more members of the BLV community to experience the 2017 total solar eclipse autonomously. However, with this success, a new challenge was discovered. We created more linguistically accessible descriptions, but they read at a very high level - often university level. This created a new inclusion and accessibility challenge when trying to reach the general public. In this presentation we will discuss how we addressed this challenge as we worked on ES 2.0 via collaborations with SMEs, accessibility partners, AND educators to create scientifically accurate annular eclipse descriptions that are linguistically appropriate for the BLV community as well as at a readability level to support a more diverse audience. This work was supported by a subaward from NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team, supported by NASA under cooperative agreement number NNH15ZDA004C.