arisia | Access: FM receivers and accessible art at Arisia '10

1. The New England Folk Festival has offered Arisia the loan of two hearing-
assistance transmitter/receiver sets, which will be made available to attendees on a first come, first served basis.
However, if people have their own FM receivers, they can bring those and they'll be
able to pick up the transmission.
We are working on a list of panels and GOH events at which these transmitters might be of the most use, but if attendees have specific requests, please feel free to send them to access@arisia.org and we will do our best to make it happen.
Note: the transmitters can only be set up in rooms with augmented sound (microphones, amplification, etc.).

2. We are also working on offering an accessible tour of the art show, including providing description and the ability to touch the art. Arisia will be providing cotton gloves for anyone attending this event, and we'll have more details closer to con. If possible, it would be great to get an approximation of how many people would be interested in attending this tour so that we can provide enough gloves. You can e-mail us at access@arisia.org .

Also, I wanted to thank all the artists who graciously agreed to participate in this event: thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's awesome. Thank you so much for doing the incredibly painstaking work involved in accessibility.

I can think of two people who would probably like those gloves - Moria923 and Thorbol.

Thank you, but really, all the different departments have really done most of the work in improving access, I mostly go around and just ask if something would be possible. It's been pretty awesome.
I know Moria9 and Thorbol read my LJ, and I've cross-posted this announcement there, so I'm hoping the word will spread to the various margins of LJ and Dreamwidth. I should add, feel free to forward this information.

Ooh, this sounds like a really good idea. At the risk of being a bit rude, I have to ask - when it comes to touching the art, has this been specifically cleared with artists (I note that you thanked participating artists, so my assumption is that you've either got volunteers already or are asking for volunteers)? My jewelry is often tied or pinned to cloth in the display, which is why I typically include a note asking people not to touch as it will mess up the whole thing. If there's a specific time scheduled for the tour, will it be published somewhere easily found? I would be happy to go in beforehand to unpin/untie everything, I just would need a heads-up.

The e-mail I received from the art show organizers said that "most" of the artists agreed to participate in the tactile aspect of the tour. We have not solidified a time yet, but my thought was to make it a 30-45 minute tour and have it on Saturday afternoon before dinnertime. I am hoping to have the day and time confirmed in the next week or two, and will be posting it here and also on the Access Services Web page at http://2010.arisia.org/Access . I'm also going to make sure that the Info Desk has this information, so people can ask about it at the con.

Very cool. Thank you! I'll be keeping up with the updates.

As one of the artists who said "yes", there's something I haven't asked the Art Show directors that I probably should. It's a general checkbox sort of "yes" for participation at the time you sign up for space, but it's not by individual piece. There are some pieces I'm uncertain about. I'm hoping there's going to be some way to say "yes, this is a awesome great idea and there's no problem for showing off #1, #2, and #4 this way, but maybe not #3 please, sorry."

I can definitely understand how fragile some displays would be. Any pieces which have a "Do not touch" sign will be respected. If there is a piece which is available to be touched, and you feel that there might be some confusion between this one and the others, I would say using a business card or index card with a message like "Touch allowed" would help us distinguish one from the other.
I am in contact with the head of the art show and the person leading the tour, and I plan on being in the tour. so we can make sure these guidelines get followed. The time I am looking at for the tour at this point is Sat. 4-5, and I'll announce this here and on the access Web page as soon as we confirm it.

Argh, my longer post just disappeared intot he ether, so this is a repost.
I understand that some displays are just too fragile for touching. Any signs saying "Don't touch" will be respected. If you have an item which is available for touching, and you think the difference might be confusing, would it be possible to make a small sign from an index card or the back of a business card saying "Touchable"?
I will be attending the tour and am in contact with the tour guide, so we can make sure guidelines get followed. Also, while the time has not been confirmed yet, I'm currently planning on Sat. 4-5 for the tour, and artists are welcome to be present if they would like to describe their work.

Thank you! That sounds perfect ^_^

I have a Conversor (an FM listening system for telecoil compatible hearing aids), and I'm willing to loan it to Arisia or a private person if necessary.

Just to clarify, the systems that NEFFA is lending Arisia are short-range, low-power (legal) FM transmitters that broadcast in the commercial band. So, they can be picked up with any walkman-style FM radio that's tuned to the correct frequency. They are NOT commercial Assisted Listening Devices (ALDs), and they have a very limited range -- generally speaking, one large room up to about 150 feet on a side (if the transmitter is in the center)(which is about the same range as the Conversor and probably all systems that don't require licenses). Whether they can be used with a hearing aid or not depends on the radio receiver and its headphones/earbuds/whatnot.

--Mike Bergman
NEFFA Sound Committee Chair

Thank you very much for posting those details, Mike, and please convey our thanks to NEFFA for loaning us the devices.

Access: FM receivers and accessible art at Arisia '10

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Touch/don't touch items

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