Material and Resources | Museum Accessibility

– Regarding Accessibility
http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/accessibility – useful information for planning your visit if you have a disability.
http://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/programs-for-visitors-with-disabilities – Programs for visitors with disabilities
http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/plan-your-visit/group-visits/disabilities – for coordinating Group visits

Research Tools on the Website

– Libraries
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/libraries-and-study-centers – links to the Met’s various libraries.
The Watson Library is the primary entry point for accessing the Met’s vast collection of physical, print resources. Advanced free registration required for access: http://library.metmuseum.org/selfreg

– MetPublications
http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications
Access to Purchase, Read online, or download for free, the Met’s entire back catalog of publications

Out-of-print publications are available for free download.

– The Timeline of Art History
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
Thematic Essays, Timelines, and Maps. Uses a subset of all Met objects. Also has a good controlled vocabulary, and lots of hand-indexing has created a quality data set.

– 82nd and 5th

http://82nd-and-fifth.metmuseum.org/
A series of audo/video episodes, where each one is a single curator talking about a single important work. Very personal and high-production value presentations.

– Connections
http://www.metmuseum.org/connections/
Various Met staff talking about themes in art that are of personal interest to them. These are not all curators speaking, but staff from all parts of the museum. The goal here is to show a personal, perspective on the collection, from people that work at the Met.

– The Collections
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections
This is the (almost) All of the Met’s objects, online and searchable. There are various faceted search options available for digging around. For a more machine-friendly approach to data access, see http://scrapi.org
– Individual Object Pages
Example: http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/83340

large-scale images are available for free download: click the image for “fullscreen” view, then click the download button in the lower right.
Note the controlled vocabularies listed under “see also” these can be useful, as those terms are consistently applied across the collection.
“Add to My Met” – you can create “Collections” of objects for later perusal. Like a shopping cart.
Share: LOTS of sharing options from the “Share” link
Related Content : from here you can find related artworks, events, and links in the Timeline of Art History

Other Resources:

– SCRAPI
http://scrapi.org/
This is a webservice that retrieves information from the Met’s collections page, and reformats into valid JSON. You can use it to get lists of objects for search terms, full information on objects, or random objects. You can specify that you only want it to return objects that have images.

– The Met’s objects on Thingiverse
http://www.thingiverse.com/met/designs

This is a collection of around 40 objects in the Met collection that have been scanned using 123D Catch. The models aren’t replica-quality, but are useful for prototyping and modification.
Notice that many of these objects have “remixes,” which are modifications or mashups that people have made to some of the objects, and re-uploaded.
The thingiverse page also has a built-in 3D viewer for each object.
You can also search on thingiverse for terms like “Met3d” or “museum” for other art objects on thingiverse.

– The Museum MediaLab Meetup
www.meetup.com/NYC-Museum-MediaLab-Meetup/

– The Met on Social Media

Useful resources
– Tech@LEAD
www.techatlead.com
Ellis, K. and Kent, M. (2011). Disability and New Media. New York: Routledge.

– W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Guidelines and online validation tools. See also the section on Designing for Inclusion.http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ and http://www.w3.org/WAI/

– National Center for Accessible Media
http://ncam.wgbh.org/

– Jodi Mattes Trust for Accessible Digital Culture
www.jodiawards.org.uk/

– iPads, iPod Touches, and iPhones as Assistive Technology in Education. See http://techlearning.com/article/37742

– Touch Graphics
www.touchgraphics.com/

– New York Beyond Sight
www.nybeyondsight.org/

– iMap Project from Tate
www.tate.org.uk/imap/

– Open Glass
http://www.openglass.us/

– Step-Hear navigation system
http://www.step-hear.com/

– IBM Think Exhibit
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/thinkexhibit/

– BBC Future Media Standards and Guidelines: Mobile Accessibility
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/accessibility/mobile_access.shtml

– NEA webinar
https://events-na7.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1100909356/en/events/event/shared/1216039387/event_landing.html?sco-id=1249676634

– Apps for people with learning disabilities
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/google-apps-helping-those-with-a-learning-disability-1.1247913

– The Museum Access Consortium (MAC): http://www.cityaccessny.org/mac.php

Bibliography

Online Sign Language resources relating to museums:

Whitney Museum of American Art

http://whitney.org/Education/Access/Vlogs

Smithsonian American Art Museum: Art Signs Online

http://americanart.si.edu/education/asl/

The British Museum http://www.britishmuseum.org/learning/schools_and_teachers/school_projects/bsl_project.aspx

Royal Collection

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/vandabsl/MicroSection.asp?themeid=732

Historic Royal Palaces

http://www.hrp.org.uk/discoverthepalaces/MediaPlayerhomepage/BSLplaylists.aspx

This blog concerns Accessibility for the Deaf Community in Art Museums. http://museumaccess4deaf.blogspot.com/

Signes de Sens. http://signesdesens.org/-English-version-.html

Art & ASL, a glossary of art historical terms in American Sign Language. http://artasl.com/

The William J. Marra Museum of Deaf History and Deaf Culture. http://www.kansastravel.org/olathe/deafculturalmuseum.htm. One of several museums around

the world relating to Deaf culture.

Museums and people with dementia

The Alzheimer’s Association website contains useful information about Alzheimer’s Disease, including definitions, facts and figures, and a tour of the brain. See http://www.alz.org/index.asp

Meet Me: The MoMA Alzheimer’s Project: Making Art Accessible to People with Dementia. See http://www.moma.org/meetme/index

National Center for Creative Aging. http://www.creativeaging.org/

Aging and Creativity. http://www.agingandcreativity.com/

The Creativity and Aging Study. http://www.nea.gov/resources/Accessibility/CnA-Rep4-30-06.pdf

Presentation from the Mini-conference on Creativity and Aging in America, May 2005. http://www.nea.gov/resources/Accessibility/aa/present.html

Cohen, G. (2005). The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain. Basic Books. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JW-E4s398vQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=aging+and+creativity+Gene+Cohen&ots=FjeSdxMhdN&sig=nClSOsgDSotIL97xOJRQp7bu9N8#v=onepage&q=aging%20and%20creativity%20Gene%20Cohen&f=false

McGinnis, R. (2009) “Museums for Everyone: Including People with Disabilities” in The Educative Contribution of Museums to Society, conference proceedings of an International Symposium on Museum Education, Museo de Arte de Ponce, pp. 63-79.

ADA and Universal Design

Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, SUNY Buffalo

http://idea.ap.buffalo.edu/

Steinfeld, Edward and Jordana Maisel (2012). Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments. Wiley.

Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human Centered Design, on redefining disability and Universal Design http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmt4qTD70BY

Institute for Human Centered Design www.adaptenv.org/index.php?option=Content&Itemid=1 especially the sections on Universal Design and the World Health Organization’s new definition of disability at http://www.adaptenv.org/index.php?option=Content&Itemid=3 See also the Resources section of this website.

The Center for Universal Design, North Carolina State University

http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/

Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design

http://accessible.si.edu/pdf/Smithsonian%20Guidelines%20for%20accessible%20design.pdf

Salmen, J. (1998). Everyone’s Welcome: The Americans with Disabilities Act and Museums. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums. Free pdf: http://www.universaldesign.com/resources/media/Everyone’s%20Welcome%20-%20The%20Book.pdf Interprets the ADA for a museum setting, also offering some best practice guidance as well as ADA compliance. Note that this publication has not been updated to reflect the 2010 changes to ADAAG.

Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator’s Handbook. National Endowment for the Arts. PDF can be downloaded free at http://www.arts.gov/resources/Accessibility/pubs/DesignAccessibility.html. Read the See especially: Foreword and Goal of the Handbook; Timeline: Civil Rights for People with Disabilities: Framing the Discussion; and Chapter 1: Planning with Inclusion as the Goal.

The Association for Science Technology Centers (ASTC) website contains a wealth of information about accessibility in museums. http://www.astc.org/resource/access/index.htm Find information on assistive listening devices: http://www.astc.org/resource/access/medald.htm

ADA documentary trailer “Invisible Voices” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvcefOXvUQ0

Overview of the ADA produced by the Chapel Hill Training –Outreach Project http://vimeo.com/6248976

U.S. Department of Justice ADA Homepage http://www.ada.gov/

U.S. Department of Justice 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (ADAAG) http://www.ada.gov/2010ADAstandards_index.htm

U.S. Access Board ADA Standards Homepage http://www.access-board.gov/ada/index.htm

U. S. Access Board

www.access-board.gov

The Museum Experience

Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

See also articles on Multimedia and Multiple Intelligences sand Technology and Multiple Intelligences at http://www.howardgardner.com/MI/mi.html

Silverman, L. (2002) “The Therapeutic Potential of Museums as Pathways to Inclusion” in Museums, Society, Inequality. Sandell, R. ed. London: Routlegde, pp. 69-83.

McGinnis, R. “Enabling Education: Including People with Disabilities in Art Museum Programming” in From Periphery to Center: Art Museum Education in the 21st Century, ed. Pat Villenueve, National Art Education Association, 2008, pp.138-149.

Hubard, O. (2007). Complete engagement: Embodied response in art museum education. Art Education, (60)6.

CAST: Universal Design for Learning. See http://www.cast.org/

Axel, E. and Levent, N. eds. (2003). Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity and Visual Impairment. New York: American Foundation for the Blind Press and Art Education for the Blind, Inc. Read Seidman, K. “Understanding Visual Impairments”, pp. 50-57 and Section 3: “Touch vs. Vision: Theory and Research”, pp. 74-135.

Disability Rights, Disability Studies

Dodd, J., Sandell, R., Jolly, D. and Jones, C. eds. (2008). Rethinking Disability Representation in Museums and Galleries. Leicester: Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester. See especially “The Social Model of Disability”, page 7 and “Introduction”, pp. 9-12.

Johnstone, D. (2001). An Introduction to Disability Studies, Second Edition. London: David Fulton Publishers. See especially chapter 1: Why study disability? Some explanatory beginnings, pp. 5-25.

TED Talk – Aimee Mullins: “The opportunity of adversity” http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_the_opportunity_of_adversity.html

Other TED talks by Aimee Mullins may also be of interest.

Clip from “Talk” by the Disability Rights Commission (UK) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3AeIFup1qY&playnext=1&list=PL961CE6A2D1A552BE