Say hello or ask general questions

[Joan Horvath]

Hello group members-
We realized that there wasn't a good place to say hello, introduce yourself if you want to, and ask questions you may have. Just jump on in!

[jmcdo...@gmail.com]

Hi

I'm Jessica - a TVI/COMS working in Marin County CA with school age students. I am hoping we get a 3D printer at our county Tech Resource Center! 

http://trcmarin.org

Looking forward to exploring and learning more!

best

Jessica

[Joan Horvath]

Hello Jessica-
Great to meet you!
If you can think of models your students are going to need, go ahead and post a description. Meanwhile you can see what the other asks are like, and the two that have been fulfilled (Braille tiles and constant-volume objects.)
-Joan

[Abhijit Patwardhan]

Hi

This is Abhi. I am developing 3d printed learning aids for the visually impaired. http://3dprintoutnow.com/category/learning

The files are free to download. 

My team and me developed this in conjunction with the Pathlight School in Singapore.  I am now at Stanford working on setting up a social venture to scale this project. Need some help from educators to understand their needs.

Regards

Abhi

On Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 11:04:45 AM UTC-7, Joan Horvath wrote:

[Joan Horvath]

Hello Abhi-
We are so happy to have you here!
Take a look at the requests if you have time and feel free to post a link to any of your models that are a fit.
-Joan

[Elliot Krause]

Hello my name is Elliot Krause, I'm with a group at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill called Feelin DNA. We've been in the process of designing 3D models for the blind to help with STEM education, more specifically with biology. So far we've created a DNA model and some heart models, but right now we're mostly trying to figure out what goes into a good model for a visually impaired student. I read your blog on what 'Makes a good model', and thought it was really interesting. Many of the ideas, such as simplicity over detail, the use of accompanying material to further illustrate the design, are relevant. My questions to you though is this: what are the hallmarks of a quality design for a visually impaired student? For context, I am looking to give a large group of students(a class of engineering students) design projects centered around building VI models, however I'm not sure how to best describe what traits a good model looks like. I'm hoping you can help me answer this question from your experience.

Thank you,

Elliot Krause

sekr...@live.unc.edu

[Joan Horvath]

Hello Elliot-
Glad you are here! We can certainly use the help. There are no easy answers to your questions, as you've presumably already ascertained. There are two pieces to your answer, I think:

1. What makes  good math or science 3D printable teaching model, and
2. Is the answer different for a visually-impaired student?

We have found so far that (1) is the harder part. Our  3D Printed Science Projects book might help; we have a section in each chapter entitled "Learning Like a Maker" in which we talk about the road we took to create that model. We are working on a Volume 2 with a focus on physics, engineering and geology models. 

We actually have created an online class through LERN network to address how to create a good math or science model; it runs next in March. Details and registration here: http://www.yougotclass.org/courses.cfm/MatterHackers/3D-Printed-Science-and-Math:-Visualizations-and-Experiments

For (2) the Hackaday project linked above chronicled our progress with our models to date. I think the key findings were that simple is good and that orientation cues are important. The TVIs we have interviewed have by and large discouraged Braille labels, since it is relatively easy to add them later. If you do use Braille labels, see our discussion about that and be sure to print Braille on a vertical surface so it does not peel right off.

As for (2) there are a lot of teachers of the visually impaired in this group. What I'd suggest is that you post what you're thinking about, or any prototype, and let them comment. That's what we've done with our models we have done here. As with any software project early and frequent interaction with the user or their surrogate is the best way to get a good product!

Feel free, too, to look at the request out there and see if your students can fulfill any of them.  Maybe the phospholipid bilayer?
-Joan

[Alexa Siu]

Hello! My name is Alexa Siu, I’m with the shape lab at Stanford University. We are interested in the design of tangible user interfaces that can help empower the blind and visually impaired in making things from prototyping, to art, to designing 3D models. We are currently investigating accessible tools for designing and producing 3D models. I am wondering what are available tools? I’ve only heard of OpenSCAD which allows for text-based modeling. Lastly, I am also interested in collaborating with people who enjoy making things and would like to share their experience to co-design new tools or methods!

Alexa

af...@stanford.edu

On Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 11:04:45 AM UTC-7, Joan Horvath wrote:

[Joan Horvath]

Hi Alexa!
Great to meet you. To answer your immediate question, OpenSCAD has a command-line interface, so it is possible for someone blind to use it without needing to navigate a visual interface. It seems to be the most commonly-used language, and also has the virtue that it's very good for math and science equation-based modeling. (We use it in our science projects books, for example.)  I'll send you more off-list, but welcome!
What we're about here in this group (mostly) is that teachers of the visually impaired post models they'd like someone to design for them, and the idea is that someone out there claims the model and makes it. (Not necessarily in any particular software, but just posted as an STL in some repository, preferably open source.)
 
-Joan
www.nonscriptum.com

[ahawk...@gmail.com]

Hi, just introducing myself - 

Alexis Hawks, I work as a TVI (still in school) and O&M Specialist for Monterey County in CA. I just watched the Perkins webinar (missed the live session) and found it so informative, and thanks for all the additional resources. 

I don't have access to a 3D printer yet, but hoping I can make the push to get one purchased!  Excited to tinker around with software in the meantime. Do you know of any (affordable) options for outsourcing prints?

Thanks!

On Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 11:04:45 AM UTC-7, Joan Horvath wrote:

[Sandeep Parekh]

Hello all,

Thanks for creating this group and sharing all the great information. My son Shaan is a high schooler in Houston and is trying to set up working on a social service project for the visually impaired, in U.S and in under-developed and developing countries. He has already reached out to an organization for serving the blind that are into Braille printing to see what their needs are. 

He is trying to understand the process. For example, a few questions he has are:

1. What is involved in creating a model or 3D product for the blind, such as braille books? What are the components, requirements, raw material etc.,?

2. Where can I find out about the cost involved with setting this up so he can put together a proposal? Cost of a printer, the material, quantity of material that would be required for printing braille books.

3. How can he learn (resources and procedure) to design models so that he can get into forming a volunteering group with his fellow school mates to continue with helping to develop models?

Please let me know if anyone has any advice or suggestions. He would like to develop a long term plan to continue helping the communities in other parts of the world by assisting social/charitable organizations. Thanks for any advice, recommendations and support.

Regards, Sandeep Parekh

[Erica Compton]

Hi Joan! I am getting ready to launch a project statewide in Idaho to get 3d models printed for the students at Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind (ISDB). We are going to reach out to the 100+ educators in Idaho who have received training and a 3d printer through our workshops over the past 3 years to assist. Looks like you have some of the processes in place we need to get this going here. I will spend some time looking at the different resources and let you know how it goes! Hope you are well!

[Wendy Voorn]

Hello,

I'm Wendy Voorn, project manager at Royal Dutch Visio, expert centre for visually impaired people. I work at education and do lotst of work with the 3D printer.

Visio justed finished a international (europian) project called UBIS; universal information containers for blind and visually impaired students. The last details are being completed at the database and then you can join of just have a look. We would like to at as many models for the education for VI students at this database as we can.
And I would love to share information about models, the use of 3D printing and more. So, I would like to join this group.

with regards, Wendy

Op dinsdag 6 september 2016 20:04:45 UTC+2 schreef Joan Horvath: