Judy Dixon
Over the past several years, the San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired has become more and more involved with the creation and production of tactile graphics. At the heart of these efforts is the Media and Accessible Design lab (MAD Lab), a group of highly skilled people who create and produce a variety of tactile graphics and other accessible media with lots of amazing equipment.
They have now launched several ongoing projects featuring their tactile graphics including Touching The News, TMAP, and the tactile graphics sold by Adaptations, the retail store associated with the San Francisco LightHouse.
For blind and visually impaired people who are eager to learn about the images that people who are sighted view regularly, these tactile graphics are nothing short of magical. These virtual eye-openers now give blind people the chance to get a very good idea of what the Mars helicopter that everyone is talking about actually looks like. And where exactly did that ship get stuck in the Suez Canal? They never say on the news, they just show a map.
Touching the News
In the early days of television news, the newscaster sat at a desk and read the news out loud. They did have occasional cutaways to maps or still photographs, but the presentation was, by and large, quite static. In 1941, WNBT, the New York CBS affiliate, interrupted regular programming to announce the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This was the first instance of a newscaster standing in front of a map. In this case, he was showing viewers where the attacks had occurred.
Until the 1990s, graphics on television news continued to be largely static. Graphics were presented with over-the-shoulder overlays. In recent years, these overlaid boxes have been joined by large floor-to-ceiling "video walls," which means that television news has more presentation options to choose from with even more stunning, attention-grabbing graphics.
The straightforward, traditional styles of 30-minute blocks of news-sports-weather have evolved into fast-paced, longer presentations with many more news stories. Today, there is a wide variety of news sources. Some news is still broadcast on television in the evening. But now, we have cable channels devoted entirely to news that air 24 hours a day. Most channels stream their content on their websites and also maintain Facebook and Twitter accounts to share late-breaking news.
Along with all this news comes loads of graphics to maintain visual interest. Maps, stock market graphics, and a wide variety of other graphical content dominate news programming. And, while blind people are beginning to enjoy more and more audio description as part of television series and movies, the news is not described because the newscasters are talking continuously.
In addition, newspapers and magazines are filled with graphical elements to illustrate the points being made. They include photographs of people, places, and objects; maps; charts and graphs; comic strips; cartoons; and even games like crossword puzzles and Sudoku. Occasionally, some of these images may be described on a radio reading service but as more and more of us are reading our newspapers from Newsline or the internet, we don't have the luxury of having any of the rich imagery described.
With all this information being disseminated in the form of graphics in the news, people who could not visually view the news were not able to consume this content. Now, thanks to the San Francisco LightHouse, it is possible for blind people to, literally, touch the news.
In early 2021, the LightHouse began offering a series of downloadable tactile graphics they called "Touching the News." The first tactile graphic available from Touching the News was the Suez Canal. This was at the time that the cargo ship, the Ever Given, was stuck there so its appearance was very much appreciated by blind users. It consisted of two maps. One showed the Canal with the Mediterranean Sea at its north end and the Red Sea at its south end. The location where the Ever Given had been stuck was clearly marked just at the very southern end of the canal.
The other map was titled "Alternative Route for Shipping while Suez Canal blocked." It showed a route from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Rotterdam, Netherlands. This map illustrated how a ship would have to go all the way down around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa, and how much longer this route would be if the Suez Canal wasn't available.
Since then, the graphics available from Touching the News have included: a map of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an Antarctic iceberg, the International Space Station, the Mars helicopter, and even the Harriet Tubman $20 bill and an NBA basketball court. Some of the images aren't directly related to current news but are frequently seen by sighted people, like emojis and zodiac signs.
Graphics such as these can be made tactile in either of two ways, depending on the equipment that is available. It is possible to emboss tactile graphics using certain models of braille embossers with manufacturer's software created for this purpose. Alternatively, graphics can be printed or copied onto special paper called microcapsule or swell paper. This paper is then fed through a microcapsule fuser which is a special machine that raises the dark parts of the tactile graphic on the microcapsule paper. The fuser usually has a halogen bulb that supplies the heat needed to raise the gray and black areas on microcapsule paper. Several models of microcapsule fusers are available for purchase. See the Resources section at the end of this article for information on where to obtain these devices.
The Touching the News tactile graphics are downloadable as ZIP files that include file formats suitable for embossing on ViewPlus Columbia/Delta or APH Pixblaster embossers, or for printing on swell paper for use with a microcapsule fuser. Swell paper can be printed with an ordinary printer or copied with a photocopier. An inkjet printer tends to work better than a laser printer because the printing process doesn't heat the paper and start the raising process prematurely.
The graphics are created for 8-1/2 by 11 inch paper and include braille labels, and sometimes print reference information. For individuals and organizations who have access to the necessary equipment, the downloadable files are free.
Every two weeks, the LightHouse publishes a poll of three items they are considering for the next graphic to be created for Touching the News. The winner of this poll becomes the graphic produced the next week. You can receive e-mails telling you when a new poll is available and when new graphics are available for download by signing up on the LightHouse website.
Presently, subscribers to Touching the News are emailed a link to a digital tactile graphic file every two weeks, and they must print the graphic on their own. However, the LightHouse is aware that the average blind person still can't get their hands on these tactile images. Very few people have access to a graphics embosser or swell machine at home. They are exploring how to distribute these images by US Mail as hard copy tactile graphics, embossed on paper. They are conducting a survey to help determine potential funding sources and distribution logistics. Those interested in receiving embossed versions of the Touching the News graphics are encouraged to take the survey. If you would like a free Touching the News tactile graphic sample, send Touching the News an email with an address, and they will get one in the mail to you.
TMAP
In 2018, the LightHouse began offering TMAP, which stands for Tactile Maps Automated Production. These are tactile street maps covering an area of several blocks surrounding a given address. TMAP is a collaborative effort between the LightHouse and the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute.
By supplying a specific street address, you can order an embossed TMAP from Adaptations, phone: 1-888-400-8933. The cost is $26.25. The TMAP package includes: an introductory page, a tactile map key, two maps of the same address, a zoomed-out overview map, and, if the data is available, a zoomed-in detail map showing streets, paths, and buildings. All materials are embossed on 11-by-11.5 inch paper and include large print labels in addition to braille.
If you prefer to create your own TMAP, you can request a free account by sending an e-mail to TMAP. If you create your own, you have a great deal of flexibility as to how much area is covered by your map and how much detail it contains. A TMAP can range from a few blocks to a few miles wide, depending on the map scale and paper size. TMAP can generate maps at six different zoom levels, from 1:1500 to 1:50000.
The LightHouse advises that TMAP works best for maps of North America. It can generate maps of addresses anywhere in the world, but sometimes the results are not as good as what is normally expected. The most frequent problem I have observed for addresses outside North America is that street names are sometimes not available.
When you download your TMAP, you will find a ZIP file with a PDF and 4 (or more) SVG files. The SVG files are Tactile Map page, Print Map page, Tactile Legend page(s), Print Legend page(s). The PDF combines these SVG files. TMAP files are designed to print on ViewPlus embossers, or on capsule paper for raising with a microcapsule fuser. See the Resources section at the end of this article for information on where to obtain these devices.
Other Tactile Graphics
Adaptations sells other tactile graphics products including greeting cards, a book of intersection maps to illustrate the concepts associated with intersecting streets, the movement of cars and pedestrians, and the function of traffic lights. They also offer tactile maps of the San Francisco area, the state of California, and maps of the United States as well as a training book to teach braille readers how to use tactile maps.
MAD Lab also produces custom tactile maps such as campus maps, building floor plans, and the like.
Resources
Tactile Graphics: A How To Guide Describes methods and equipment for producing tactile graphics.
Printing Instructions for TTN Graphics Provides detailed information on file formats and supported embossers.
Pixblaster from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Supplier of PixBlaster, a braille and tactile graphics embosser.
ViewPlus Braille Embossers Suppliers of several models of embossers capable of producing tactile graphics.
PIAF from HumanWare, Inc. Supplier of Pictures in a Flash (PIAF) microcapsule fuser. Manufactured by Harpo and sold in the U.S. by HumanWare
Swell Form Graphics Machine from the American Thermoform Corporation (ATC) Supplier of the Swell Form Graphics machine. Manufactured by Zychem and sold in the US by ATC.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
