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Week One: June 2 - June 8
I moved into my apartment for the summer on Sunday. I met my roommates, Courtney Pharr and Megan Hofmann, who are also DREU students. On Monday, I met with my mentor, Dr. Amy Hurst. She talked to us about some logistical information, and then we had a meeting with the rest of the Prototyping and Design Lab. After the meeting, UMBC treated all of us to lunch. Then, I met with just the people on my research team, Dr. Hurst, Dr. Shaun Kane, and Caroline Galbraith. They told me about the project and what I would be doing. However, before I could get started with the research I had to complete my IRB training. In the afternoon we had our "Tea Time" meeting with the whole department where we introduced ourselves and had snacks. On Tuesday, I finished my IRB training, read their papers about the research, and transcribed videos of the previous study, where a sighted companion led the blind person to different parts of the UMBC campus. This will help determine what kind and how much information about navigation and the surroundings is useful for independent exploration. On Wednesday, I continued transcribing. Then we decided that I should simply watch the videos for the next couple of days to expedite familiarizing myself with the previous study. On Thursday, we had a meeting with the research team and representatives from the company supporting our research. Courtney, Megan, and I went to the Inner Harbor on Saturday. We walked around, went paddle boating, and visited the Maryland Science Center.
Week Two: June 9 - June 15
On Monday I started off the day with coding. Coding consists of watching the videos from the previous study and using a key to give a code to certain actions. For example, if the sighted companion gives a simple direction like "turn left," the code is 3A. Then at 11, we had the weekly lab meeting. I continued coding for the rest of the day except during the department meeting at 3 where we discussed our goals for the summer. I coded more on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, I coded in the morning and then at 1 we had our research team meeting. We discussed the coding Caroline and I have done, the equipment that we received for the next study, and plans for the upcoming week. After the meeting, Caroline and I opened the Bluetooth headsets and tried to find applications that we could use for our next study. The study will have the blind participants walking around in the mall looking for certain places and/or items. They will believe they have an actual prototype of the navigation device, but they will actually be communicating with a "wizard" who will simply know all of the information that the device would be able to give. The participants will have a headset so they can hear a "wizard" use a computerized voice to give directions to the participants and possibly answer their questions. So, the participants have to be able to talk to the "wizard," and the "wizard" has to be able to communicate to the participants. Additionally, all of the communications should be recorded, and the observer who is videotaping the study should be able to hear the communications. On Friday, I did some coding in the morning, and then again tried to figure out how we would use the equipment (bluetooth, microphones, recorder, and iPad/computer) to accomplish what we wanted to in the upcoming study. There's a picture below of the drawings Dr. Kane and Caroline drew on the board to visualize what equipment we needed. In the evening I took the bus to New York, and I went home to Long Island for the weekend. Daisy, my friend from college who has an internship in NYC for the summer, stayed with me for the weekend. On Saturday, I spent time with friends. And on Sunday, I celebrated Father's Day with my family.
Week Three: June 16 - June 22
On Monday, we had the regular lab meeting and then during the department meeting we heard a PhD student practice a talk about the potential of 3D printing in the home. In the morning on Tuesday, the whole lab tested (or played with) different air dry clay for a project someone is doing to see if people can successful create what they want to 3D print with clay instead of CAD software. In the afternoon, we had our project meeting where we prepared for when the representative from the company supporting our research comes on Thursday. On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon, Caroline and I tested the equipment (iPad, microphones, recorders, etc.). I also coded from Monday to Wednesday. Then on Thursday, the company representative came. Caroline, Dr. Kane, Dr. Hurst, and I met with her in the Pad lab and discussed what we've already coded, shared our ideas for the new study, and demonstrated the equipment.Then we ordered lunch and moved to the room where we would video call with the other representatives who did not come to Baltimore. We wrote our ideas somewhat clearly on the white board and answered any other questions the representative had. After organizing our thoughts, we had a video call with four other people from the company. On Friday, the team went to the Inner Harbor to plan our next study. We walked around the mall to determine the route for the participants. On this trip, we answered a lot of questions but raised many new ones. Below is a picture of me communicating to Caroline through text to speech on the iPad to play an automated voice to the receiver Caroline had. We were testing how communication between the "wizard" and blind participant would work and also having fun!
Week Four: June 23 - June 29
Throughout the week I did a lot of planning for the new study. I worked on developing a script and specific route based on our visit to the Inner Harbor for the study. On Monday, during "Tea Time" we talked about graduate school and whether we should get a Master's or PhD. On Tuesday we did some equipment testing in the buildilng. We had another student close his eyes and walk around while Caroline gave him directions through the iPad. On Wednesday, I taught John, another undergraduate working on the project, how to code. I also learned how to use the laser cutter and made a picture frame for my friend, Allison, and later painted it. Then on Thursday, Caroline and I went to the Inner Harbor again to further plan the route. We videoed the entire route, so that we could look back at it and know exactly what obstacles and building features the participants would pass. Below is a picture of me with the GoPro on and throwing a coin in a fountain, as the participants would. I went home (to New York) after work. I worked from home on Friday and made a document organizing the discrepancies among the researchers' plans for the study and questions that still needed to be answered. I also found additional equipment we will need for the study, including another GoPro, bags for equipment, and headphones that enable you to also hear the surroundings (very important for blind people who rely heavily on sound to understand the environment). I spent the weekend home with friends and family.
Week Five: June 30 - July 6
This week, I continued to plan the new study. We narrowed down the search for the perfect app to two, Talkingtiles and Proloquo2Go. I tested them to see which would enable us to provide faster and clearer instructions to the participants. Caroline and I practiced giving directions to people in the hallway. Megan and two other students, Kevin and Jeremy, closed their eyes and we navigated them around the hallway with the different apps. We decided Proloquo2Go would work better for our purposes because it gave us access to more instructions on one screen. No one came to the lab on Thursday for July Fourth (Friday), so I worked from home and went to visit my friend, Leyth, in Washington, D.C. for the weekend. We went to a parade and watched fireworks at the National Mall for July 4th.
Week Six: July 7 - July 13
Most of the new equipment had arrived by Monday. We got bone conduction headphones and AirDrive headphones. Both of these go outside the ear and would enable the participants to hear the information from the iPad without blocking the surrounding sounds. We will probably give the participants the option of which headphones they will use. The "wizard" will use the pair the participant doesn't choose and another headset that goes inside the ears because she needs to hear both the iPad and the participant. This week I continued to work on the script and tested equipment. Dr. Anke Brock is a researcher in France who is collaborating with Dr. Kane on a different project. She gave a talk about her research in interactive maps for blind people at the department meeting on Monday. On Tuesday, Courtney, Megan, and I went to a networking event in Washington, D.C. where John Douglass, the Head of Social Research at Google, gave a talk entitled "Make Your Ideas Stick." On Wednesday, we heard Aqueasha Martin, a PhD candidate, give a talk about her research in developing a device to help elderly people select the proper over-the-counter drug for them. On Thursday, I worked on interview questions for the participants. Caroline and I tried to make a demo video of what each mode of the device would look like in the hallway with Jeremy as the user. There were several logistical problems in these videos that we worked out on Friday to make a cleaner demo video with me as the user.
Week Seven: July 14 - July 20
This week I continued to work on the new study. I edited the interview questions, recruitment email, the researcher script, and the iPad script. I had several other students in the lab go through the interview questions and get their feedback on the questions. On Tuesday, I also helped Megan and Courtney with their programs. I tested Courtney's program for her research with Parkinson's patients and Megan's program for making pen grips for kids with different physical impairments. I also submitted my UMBC Summer Undergraduate Research Fest (SURF) application. SURF is where undergraduate students who did research over the summer present about their work. I also worked on the protocol for the new study. Then on Thursday, Caroline, John, and I ran a pilot study with a sighted person. The Navigation Mode went smoothly, but there were several problems with the other modes that required the device to provide more information. We need to run through it and practice more. Additionally, Caroline (the "wizard") could not always hear the participant. On Friday, we worked on making some improvements based on the pilot. For example we rearranged the buttons in Proloquo to make it faster to name the stores. I went to Baltimore to go to Artscape, the largest free art festival in the nation, over the weekend with Courtney and Megan (Megan's cousin also joined us for one of the two days we went).
Week Eight: July 21 - July 27
This week I worked on finishing up making changes from the sighted pilot, conducting the blind pilot, and then making changes from the blind pilot. We did the blind pilot with Ali, a graduate student here, on Tuesday. It went pretty well (some problems with equipment), and he gave us great feedback. He really liked the Tour Guide Mode because he wants to know what's around him but feels bad constantly asking his wife to describe the surroundings. This was surprising; we thought the Tour Guide Mode would be annoying because it was constantly giving information. For the rest of the week I wrote a document summarizing the general thoughts, problems and how to fix them, and things that went well from the pilot; put the video together; made edits to the iPad script; and tried to fix the equipment problems. I also managed to make time for playing with the laser cutter. I went home to New York for the weekend.
Week Nine: July 28 - August 3
This week the team made some changes to the protocol in order to shorten it by about an hour. We eliminated Explore Mode and shortened the route. We fixed other problems that we found in the pilot. I then made changes to several documents (research script, survey, protocol document, and monthly update) accounting for these changes. On Monday, we had a department meeting where we asked questions and received advice about networking. On Tuesday, Caroline and I went to the Inner Harbor to pilot the new protocol with Kevin. I finalized and submitted a poster to the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest at UMBC on Wednesday. I also finished the picture frame I laser cut and painted for my mom. At the end of the day on Wednesday, some high school kids came to the lab as part of a tour of colleges. Megan and I talked to them about the lab and college in general. I started making a picture frame for my friend, Alexxa, on Thursday. The lab went to see Guardians of the Galaxy together on Friday, and we had lunch together after. Caroline and I came back to the lab after and did some work. Dr. Hurst took Megan, Courtney, Caroline, Erin (the graduate student working with Megan, and me out to dinner in Baltimore celebrating all the work we did over the summer.
Week Ten: August 4 - August 9
On Monday, I contacted participants, and then we ran three participants during the rest of the week. We ran our last participant on Friday. Dr. Hurst, Caroline, and I had lunch before the participant came, and then Caroline and I enjoyed our last Rita's after the study. Throughout the week I also worked on documents, made matching picture frames for Alexxa and me, and 3D printed several dreidels that had the winning letter on all sides. On Wednesday, I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fest poster session and presented about the research I was doing (picture below). Caroline, Kevin, and I went to AVAM's (American Visionary Art Museum) Flick From the Hill on Thursday. They had a free, outdoors movie screening. They showed the movie on a huge screen and everyone (and many dogs) sat on the hill to watch.
