Preparing the Eclipse Soundscapes Mobile Application for 2023: Applying
Lessons Learned from 2017 to Guide Language Choices that Improve the
Accessibility and Inclusiveness of the App’s’s Scientific Content to
Make Eclipses More Engaging for Everyone!
Abstract
The Eclipse Soundscapes Project originally launched to make the “Great
American Eclipse” of 2017 accessible to everyone, with a special focus
on users who are blind or have low vision (BLV). Its first project was a
mobile application (app). The app includes illustrative audio
descriptions of eclipses, as well as an interactive “rumble map” that
allows users to conceptualize an eclipse through touch and sound.
Development of the Eclipse Soundscapes (ES) mobile application is led by
the Advanced Research in Inclusion and STEAM Accessibility (ARISA) Lab
team with the support of NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team.
One of the lessons learned in the original 2017 ES mobile application
(ES 1.0) development was a greater understanding of how language choices
impact accessibility and inclusion. It is clear that sharing information
in text, in audio, and in a tactile way not only makes information more
accessible and inclusive but also more impactful for everyone! With GBH
National Center Accessible Media (NCAM) and Subject Matter Experts
(SME), scientific annular eclipse descriptions were transformed into
accessible descriptions that focused on utilizing tactilely relevant
vocabulary. In conjunction with the tactile elements of the ES mobile
app, this more inclusive language created an opportunity for more
members of the BLV community to experience the 2017 total solar eclipse
autonomously. However, with this success, a new challenge was
discovered. We created more linguistically accessible descriptions, but
they read at a very high level - often university level. This created a
new inclusion and accessibility challenge when trying to reach the
general public. In this presentation we will discuss how we addressed
this challenge as we worked on ES 2.0 via collaborations with SMEs,
accessibility partners, AND educators to create scientifically accurate
annular eclipse descriptions that are linguistically appropriate for the
BLV community as well as at a readability level to support a more
diverse audience. This work was supported by a subaward from NASA
Heliophysics Education Activation Team, supported by NASA under
cooperative agreement number NNH15ZDA004C.