TechSource Gaming, Libraries, and Learning Symposium, Day 2, Part 2

November 4, 2008

The symposium ended a few hours ago, and Day 3's wrap-up is on its way. But before I write that, there are a couple other conversations I had on Day 2 that I'd like to share. (Both were on-video interviews, and I didn't have the energy last night to make the necessary transcriptions.) First was Larry Lewis, Jr. of Flying Blind LLC, who presented "Integrating Non-Visual Access into a Library's Gaming Experience". In his presentation, Lewis demonstrated the Talking Tactile Tablet, a $700 device that connects to a computer and allows visually-impaired users to play multimedia games by incorporating speech, Braille, and tactile sheets with raised representations of on-screen pictures. "With all these ingredients, not only can gaming be made accessible, but it could also be a learning situation that would turn out to be fun and fairly all-inclusive for sighted and vision-impaired library patrons," Lewis said. Lewis suggested that libraries interested in increasing the accessibility of their gaming offerings first take inventory of what they can make accessible without major effort. Then, think in terms of the "ingredients": the type of audio and tactile components that are available. "One point that I really drill home is that it should be inclusive, in that the sighted individual is not left out of the process," Lewis noted. The goal is to get all users to the same place, rather than having a sighted way of gaming and a separate vision-impaired way. Second is Rick Bolton of Library Mini Golf, a charitable foundation that produces mini-golf fundraisers to support libraries. Symposium attendees could play on a scaled-down version of a Library Mini Golf course on Monday evening after the symposium sessions. Libraries pick a day to host the fundraiser, and Library Mini Golf turns the library into a course, working with the layout to weave the holes through the stacks. Most of the revenue comes from sponsors; Library Mini Golf will solicit local businesses to sponsor a hole or a tee for a few hundred dollars. Libraries can also run additional fundraising activities such as raffles, silent auctions, or food sales concurrently. "Every time I've done this two things have happened: It's been the biggest event in the library's history and it's raised a minimum of $10,000 for the library," Bolton said.

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