Most Recent Research Effort:
The Wayfinding Project
: Fundamental Issues in Wayfinding Technology, funded by the
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
(NIDRR (now NIDILRR)).
This is a joint project with PI's and investigators from the
Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (PI John Brabyn),
Accessible Design for the Blind,
and UCSB (Co PI Jim Marston). This work is unique in that it
moves away from typical research using able-bodied human subjects with no usable
vision, to include those with hearing loss, the elderly, and those with some
useful, but restricted vision.
My main research is in:
-
Survey of Needs: Designing question to elicit
user feedback on their travel activities and frequency, what barriers and problems
they face, and their opinions on what constitutes successful travel. Those answers
will help us with the next two studies
-
Travel Planning Studies: Understanding how this population
pre-plans trips and makes adjustments while traveling. Soliciting user feedback
on various options, including large print maps, raised line Braille maps, and
computer generated navigation instructions, along with various assistive devices
located in the environment, such as audio information about locations, transit,
and street intersections and signals.
-
Measures of Travel Performance: Developing a comprehensive
toolkit to assist experimenters and assistive technology developers to accurately
and fairly measure performance when evaluating the blind and vision impaired.
Prior Research Efforts
UCSB Personal Guidance System (2001-2007) with
Jack Loomis (departmental bio page),
Reginald Golledge (wikipedia) and
Roberta Klatzky (departmental bio page)
on a GPS based Personnel Guidance System for the Blind and Visually
Impaired. This was a five year grant from the National Institute on Disability
and Rehabilitation Research entitled "Wayfinding Technologies for People
with Visual Impairments: Research and Development of an Integrated Platform."
The consortium of universities, a research lab, and the private sector is headed
by Mike May from the Sendero Group. For more information see:
UCSB Personal Guidance System and
Sendero Wayfinding Group.
Ph.D. (2002)
UCSB in
Geography with an Emphasis in
Cognitive Science.
Dissertation "Towards an Accessible City: Empirical Measurement and Modeling of Access to Urban Opportunities for Those with Vision Impairments, Using Remote Infrared Audible Signage."
M.A. (1994) University of Illinois at Chicago in Geography. Emphasis on Urban Geography with major interest in transportation management and research on transit systems.
Thesis: "Implications of the Number of Workers Per Household on Travel Behavior." NPTS data of over 17,000 households with 2 or more workers were examined.
B.A. (1992) University of Illinois at Chicago in Sociology.
