Gray Visual Description Weekly Update

On this page

  1. Update 1: Project Goals 
  2. Update 2: Artwork Selection (Mentor Meeting)
  3. Update 3: Pilot Survey
  4. Update 4: Literature Review (Mentor Meeting)
  5. Update 5: Survey Distribution Preparation
  6. Update 6: Midterm Preparation
  7. Update 7: Survey Response Analysis (Mentor Meeting)
  8. Update 8: User Testing 
  9. Update 9: Meeting with the National Gallery of Art
  10. Update 10

Weekly Update 10: 4/25/23

  • We met with Lorena Bradford from the National Gallery of Art! She is in charge of creating visual descriptions at the NGA. Laurie and Leah joined us as well.
  • Important takeaways from our meeting:
    • If something is hard to decipher, mention that in the description
      • Describe what makes it hard to figure out
    • The first sentence should always include an overview that can act as alt text: not too specific or vague
    • There’s a lack of VD process consistency in the field
      • The process is just as important as the product
    • Use more active language
    • All descriptions are necessarily subjective
      • Writers are making decisions

Next steps:

  • Work on the Grey Gallery’s Visual Descriptions handbook for our final deliverable!
    • Google Docs for ease of access

Weekly Update 9: 4/18/23

tasks of the week: 

  • User Testing
    • Saturday April 15th user testing was done at a Grey Gallery Event
    • We asked visitors of the Gallery to “reverse engineer” our visual descriptions
    • We completed 6/10 user tests and need to conduct testing for the rest
  • Finished first drafts of 10 visual descriptions
  • Created mock website to test voice over software on our visual descriptions
  • Conducted informal audit on Grey Gallery current website accessibility
  • Updated Leah and Laurie on our progress

Next steps:

  • Complete User Testing
  • Revise / Finalize visual descriptions based on user feedback in usability tests
  • Finalize Template / Guidelines

Weekly Update 8: 4/11/23

tasks of the week: 

  • Gather more responses: currently at 23, aiming to receive 11 more
    • 4 artworks only have 1 response each
  • Conduct more competitive reviews of guidelines from other museums:
    • We looked at:
      • National Gallery of Art
      • Krannert Art Museum
      • Accessible Arts!
      • Cooper Hewitt
    • We then created a working guideline from common themes:
      • 1. Begin with a general overview and medium
      • 1a. Technique and process (only if it is essential to understanding the work or visible on the surface)
      • 2. Colors, shapes, and textures (interchangeable, depending on the work)
      • 3. Orientation & relationship 
        • Use multiple angles for 3D if available
  • Human-computer interaction research and tests
    • Determine how the visual descriptions will translate as voiceovers
    • Brainstorm the most accessible way to display descriptions
      • Display up front with other important information so that no extra navigation is required
      • Follow the logical flow of information on a page with limited horizontal navigation
  • Create visual descriptions of all 10 works using best practices and guidelines to be sent to Leah and Laurie on Wednesday
    • Test descriptions with Midjourney and Dall-E
  • Prepare for usability testing
    • Refine the research plan 
    • Begin recruiting participants, specifically beginners with no art background

Next steps:

  • Create a journey map of the visual description process for Grey Gallery’s interns
  • Refine our visual descriptions 
  • Edit FAQ and guidelines document

Weekly Update 7: 4/4/23

SURVEY RESPONSE ANALYSIS:

  • We began analyzing survey responses for artworks that received at least two responses 
  • Assessed the approaches and challenges of creating visual descriptions 
  • From the insights,
    • Identified three main steps used by the respondents:
      • 1. Identify what is prominent in the artwork
      • 2. Decide on the order of describing
      • 3. Determine the level of detail
    • Found three main challenges
      • 1. Objective vs. subjective interpretation
      • 2. Determining the order and amount of detail 
      • 3. More abstract artworks were harder to describe and find words for 

Next Steps:

  • Meet with Leah and Laurie at the Grey Gallery on Wednesday, April 5
  • Gather 11 more responses 
  • Formulate our own visual descriptions and templates
  • Research solutions to challenges found from insights 
  • Create and test iterations

Timeline Update:

  • 4/12: Iterate on templates and guidelines
  • 4/18: Organize a workshop for usability testing with students from other programs

Weekly Update 6: 3/28/23

tasks

  • Midterm presentation:
    • Individually created audio recordings of slides to be embedded into the powerpoint- this way, those who refer to the slides without the video have the option to hear a voiceover
    • Exported with subtitles through YouTube
  • Distributed surveys to participants
    • Currently, we have 23 visual descriptions created by the NYU community and Grey Gallery staff

to-do:

  • Survey analysis
  • Review feedback from Midterm presentation

Weekly Update 5: 3/21/23

Tasks

  • Began the survey process by inviting the Grey Art Gallery team to create visual descriptions 
    • Provided two artworks with one as optional 
  • Sent out sign-up sheet for the upcoming visual descriptions survey
    • Distribution channels:
      • IDM (Slack, Whatsapp, Discord)
      • Museum Accessibility Class (Google Spaces)
      • Ability Project (Google Spaces)
      • Occupational Therapy students (Prof. Anita Perr)
  • Prepared ten versions of the visual descriptions survey with one artwork each
    • Made adjustments based on feedback from Leah
  • Conducted a literature review on visual descriptions, important guidelines, and best practices

Next Steps:

  • Analyze the visual descriptions created by the Grey Gallery team
  • Distribute surveys according to the sign-up sheet

Weekly Update 4: 3/7/23

Goals:

  • Analyze response data and feedback
    • We aimed to break down the responses into similarities, differences, and patterns
    • Our findings were documented into a spreadsheet to be analyzed later
    • We plan to color code each response to identify patterns for our final survey
      • ex: if a respondent mentions background we would highlight that yellow, blue if they mention subject, purple for colors etc
  • Preform literature reviews to answer questions we may not need to answer ourselves
    • We each picked 2+ sources to read and take notes on our findings and important takeaways
  • Prepare findings and plans to meet with the Grey Gallery on Monday 3/6

Meeting

The in-person meeting with the Gray Gallery (Leah and Laurie) went well! They had some feedback and ideas to incorporate in our next steps, but they love the direction we are going and are trusting us to take the lead.

  • Some takeaways from our meeting:
    • Leah had run an activity similar to our plan to run usability testing for our visual descriptions (but more fun). Fun activities like these can foster community and get people interested in learning about accessibility.
    • How will we involve the Grey Art Gallery Community?
      • Questionnaire for community members might be too steep a learning curve
      • Voting on final visual descriptions
      • Fun activity like the one Leah introduced
      • User testing (original plan)
      • New version of AAA “Image Description Practice Form”
    • To incorporate more stakeholders we will have The Grey Art Gallery staff and interns take our survey
    • The artworks we have chosen are “diverse, representative, and thoughtful”
    • They had some feedback on the survey
        • Add our contact information in case survey respondents would like to reach out to learn more about our project
          • Add “tombstone” of pieces to the survey to avoid confusion about medium (painting, sculpture, photograph)
          • Evaluation: (to ask survey respondents)
            • Was your interaction successful and what was your starting point? (beginner, art appreciator, expert etc)

Next Steps:

  • Get contact info for grey staff
  • Finalize survey to send out

Weekly Update 3: 2/28/23 (pilot survey)

PILOT SURVEY

  • We prototyped a pilot survey with three variations, testing the alt text and long description:
  • We tested each tested these surveys and sent them out to 2-3 participants. 
  • The analysis will include looking for patterns (if any) to figure out the most effective and practical way to structure visual descriptions. We are looking to send out the finalized survey on 3/9 or 3/10, tentative to the mailing schedule of the Grey Gallery. 

Survey structure 

  • To distribute the task, there will be at least 5-10 different versions of the survey, depending on whether 1 or 2 works will be assigned to each respondent. There are two possible options for distribution that we are considering:
    • 1. Manually send one version of the survey to participants who sign up with their email
    • 2. Share a Google spreadsheet where participants can choose the first available survey version on a list, greying out the survey they check off.

Results

  • We were able to gather 12 survey responses and feedback from our pilot test

Feedback 

  • Feedback from the participants:
    • “It was easy and straightforward but only a little confusing because I just repeated what I wrote and fluffed to add more details for the second one.” 
    • “It says to do the one above so I thought I needed to do the Obama one.”
      • the participant resubmitted after I explained it was the other artwork -> maybe we can clarify to add a visual description for Hand, etc
    • “Every question made sense and the format was easy to follow. The example of the portrait of Michelle Obama and its description helped me shape the response that I wanted to give. It allowed me to put my thoughts together and form an accurate response.”
    • “I thought the survey was easy. I felt like since the artwork was complex and left for interpretation by the artist it was easier for me to describe it. All I had to do was explain what I thought the artwork was using my imagination. However, if the artwork was much more direct and obvious and clear I would’ve struggled. I felt that if you told me to explain the painting of Michelle Obama I would have had a much more difficult time.”

Next Steps:

  • Survey analysis 
  • Present plan and progress to Grey Art Gallery
  • Literature Reviews

Weekly Update 2: 2/21/23 (Artwork selection)

  • Our two primary goals for this week were to:
    • 1. Establish the milestones and timeline with specific dates
    • 2. Select the 10 artworks for visual descriptions
      • 5 from the NYU Collection & 5 from the Abbey Grey Collection
  • We met with the Grey Gallery Touch Objects team and discussed the potential of working on the same artwork. 
    • We decided to select one artwork together to understand how multiple sensory interpretations might work together in synergy.
  • How do we measure the success of a visual description?

10 Artworks

Artwork Selection Criteria

Milestones and Timeline

Dates Milestone
2/14 Kick-off meeting
2/24 Pilot survey
3/7 Launch Survey (subject to change based on Gallery’s newsletter distribution dates)
SPRING BREAK  
3/21 Begin survey analysis
3/28 Midterm Presentation
Early April Workshop (tentative)
5/2 Final Presentation

 

Weekly Update 1: 2/14/23 (Goals)

  • Team Name (describe how this was a collaborative process) 
    • Prometheus – We established that our values and mission as a group were to bring to the light and awareness of the necessity of assistive technology in museums and galleries to the general public. We were searching for a symbolic or metephorical representation of “the bringing to light” when Amy noted that Promethus, the Titan god of fire in Greek mythology, signified “forethought”. Prometheus is said to have brought fire, stolen from the Gods, to humanity, as a representation of technology, knowledge, and the arts and sciences. The mythology could be reimagined as a metaphor for the redistribution of the exclusive wealth of technology back into society – especially into the margins.
  • Select the student who will be the main point of contact for the group to schedule meetings, and manage email
    • Amy Loo
  • Overview of team member responsibilities
    • Amy Loo – Point of Contact / Meeting Facilitator
    • J Sparer – Blog Updates
    •  Kristin Kweon – Blog Updates, Slack Coordinator
  • Schedule for regular meetings throughout the semester
    • Check in Feb 28th
    • Monthly + as needed basis via zoom or in person
  • Description of the project
    • Create visual descriptions of 10 artifacts for Grey Art Gallery using best pratcies for accessability. Source visual descriptions from the student or public body to asses variations and establish guidelines for the Gallery to use in the future. 
  • What tools / expertise will you leverage to complete the project?
    • What does your team already have a good understanding of
    • What additional tools / expertise will you need to complete the project?
  • What is your timeline?
    1. Finalize our plan of action by Feb 21st
    2. Pick 10 artifacts from the Grey Gallery archive
    3. Establish methodology for survey by Feb 28th
    4. Souce a group for survey questions and distribute by March
    5. Distribute during week of Feb 28th and aim for completed survey questions
    6. Extract data from survey

We had an in-person kickoff meeting on 2/14 with Leah and Laurie to learn about the Grey Gallery collection, goals, current practices, align our expectations on deliverables, confirm methodology, milestones/schedule, and communication preferences. This is a summary of the info covered:

  • Deliverables
      1. What are the deliverables you would like for this project? Where would visual descriptions be placed?
        1. Guidelines for the future?
        2. Something tangible in the gallery / online
        3. Assessment for accessibility
        4. Exhibitions in the future
      2. Which 10 works would you like us to cover?
        1. Online vs. in person
      3. If not in particular, do you have any preferences?
      4. Will we need backend access to the website or will someone with access be adding our descriptions?
        1. Website will not be ready this semester
      5. If visual descriptions will be added to the physical gallery space, how will they be accessible? Braille placards, added to audio description tour, etc.
      6. Should we aim to create an effective and reliable formula for visual descriptions that can be replicated by future students/contributors?
  • Methodology
    1. Currently, our method is to crowdsource visual descriptions from class, museum studies class, etc. We will edit them based on our expertise from Museum Accessibility class content and present options for you to review. Is this something that sounds right to you?
    2. For both crowdsourcing and checking the visual descriptions in terms of accuracy and whether they translate the essence of artwork, we would like to consult art or museum studies students. Could you connect us with a few who might be willing to volunteer?
    3. We are also considering garnering responses from people outside of NYU for diversity.
      1. Do you have any thoughts? Suggestions for recruiting respondents outside of Grey Gallery (such as sending out survey through the gallery’s mailing list)
      2. Is there any compensation plan for survey respondents? Is there any perks that we can provide (such as free admission to gallery) if they are outside of NYU?
      3. Mara Mills: Center for Dis Studies – Access and Tech Course
    4. Any consideration about using ChatGPT or other AI-generated text in the future?
  • Schedule/Milestones
      1. We hope to draft a timeline and work plan after this meeting and would like to know your thoughts about milestones and deadlines. Are there any deadlines or milestones that we should keep in mind?
      2. Potential milestones:
        1. Setting up and circulating surveys for crowdsourcing
        2. Consolidating and editing visual descriptions 
        3. Grey Gallery review V1
        4. Edit and present V2 to Grey Gallery 
      3. Regular status update meetings or request appointments? any breaks/holidays we should be aware of?
      4. Would it be more convenient for you to meet remotely or in person?
  • Communication channels: Slack, email, Google Chat 
      1. Would you like us to communicate with you through email, Slack, or Google Chat?
      2. Case by case 
  • Study Materials 
      1. Do you have any reading materials or references you would like us to review before officially launching the project?