Podcast for Vision 70, February/March 2014RNIB audio logo: RNIB – supporting people with sight loss

1. NICKY: Hello and welcome to the February 2015 podcast for Vision – the magazine for members of RNIB. My name is Nicky Barranger and I present the audio version of the magazine. This is just a taste of Vision which is produced as a 78 minute long radio-style programme on CD. Vision includes news, features, competitions and letters from members of RNIB. In this podcast our partially sighted technology expert, Robin Spinks, tells us how digital assistants on smartphones can help people with sight loss. And we visit Buckingham Palace with a group of blind and partially sighted people!

We currently have an offer for a free nine month trial of membership and it’s easy to join, just sign up at rnib.org.uk/membership or call the membership team on 0303 1234 555. You’ll receive regular copies of Vision magazine and a range of other member benefits. At the end of this podcast, you’ll also find an information directory with all the key contacts for RNIB and a section listing some of the free guides that are available to help you live independently and make the most out of life.

2. ALEC IDENT: LIFESTYLE: VISIT TO QUEEN'S GALLERY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

3. NICKY: About twice a year the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace puts on an exhibition featuring artefacts once used by the royal household. The Music Advisory Service at RNIB joined forces with the Royal Collection Trust for a special event looking at items from the Royal Georgian Household. The exhibition was called: “The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760. Vision Editor, Clare Conley, joined a group of blind and partially sighted people at the Palace.

4. Amy:I am Amy Stocker. I am Royal Collection Trusts Access and Inclusion Manager.

RNIB – supporting blind and partially sighted peopleRegistered charity number 226227

Clare:And what's going to happen here today?

Amy:This event, in partnership with the RNIB's Music Advisory Service, is to introduce blind and partially sighted people to Georgian royal life to give them a flavour of court.

We've structured it with four short talks on different themes and then a little bit of handling to give a sense of some of the pieces in the exhibition, and then we're moving into the gallery where John Henry is going to play our Shudi harpsichord for us.

Clare:You've already had one event so far today. What did people seem to like best this morning?

Amy:I think they enjoyed discovering a bit more about the Georgian kings; it's probably one of the lesser known periods in our history. John was also a big hit in the gallery playing the harpsichord, and an opportunity to handle some of the items. We've been lucky enough to have a sugar caster and a couple of snuff boxes for people to feel.

Clare:Hello, could you tell us your name and where you've come from today?

Jenny:I'm Jenny Revel and I've come up from Hertfordshire with my husband Mike and my new guide dog Andy.

Clare:Can you just tell us briefly about what level of sight you have?

Jenny:I don't really have any level of sight at all.

Clare:What made you want to come today?

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Jenny:We've been regularly coming to the Buckingham Palace workshops for oh, about seven years. We didn't release this was going to be in conjunction with the RNIB as well, so this is great because there's so many people here and we're looking forward to hearing music as well.

Clare: And what do you like about the workshops?

Jenny:We like the fact that we can often actually feel things. Last time we came the Queen had loaned this wonderful bronze statue of the girl - the Aesop's fable story of the girl sitting on a lion. It was wonderful because we just had gloves on and you could just actually feel the thing. Of course, the descriptions of the paintings, it's made it so much more real when someone's been able to describe them and then we've had discussions about them afterwards.

Clare:Okay, great. I will try to catch you as we're going around then, Jenny. Thanks very much.

Jenny:Thank you.

Participant:Is it that painting that you were describing?

Jenny:It's actually in the gallery yes, the Queen's gallery.

Participant:Yes I know. I actually like [unclear], I like it a lot.

Clare:Can I ask you to say what your name is?

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Kasia:Hi, my name is Kasia.

Clare: And what is it that you just had the opportunity to touch?

Kasia:From what I gather, it was like parts of the frame of a painting, because at that time the frames were I think a piece of art in themselves, yeah.

Clare:What was it that made you come today? What were you most interested in?

Kasia: I think some music. Music, and in some - a description of the customs of that period.

Clare:Describe what you feel as you feel - it's Clare.

Jenny:Yes. Oh, hello Clare. This is some decorative moulding and this is made of plaster and then we've also seen a selection of snuff boxes. There was one made of ebony and there was one made actually of gold, not of gilt, of actual gold. It was really interesting because the description gives you an idea in your mind of what it looks like but it's not until you actually pick them up that you've got the actual weight of it and the size of it and the depth of it, and you can actually feel the wavy carvings that they've got on the tops. It's all very tactile.

Clare:So does that help you get more of a picture of just how ornate the Georgians like their décor?

Jenny:Yes. So this really gives an idea of the luxury of everything, that even things as - well, the simplest things were so ornately carved

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and that - imagine the amount of time and effort it must have taken for the people to do it.

Clare: Could I come to you and ask you what your name is?

Peter:My name is Peter [Sands].

Clare:What made you want to come today? What are you most interested in?

Peter:Well, I'm interested in the architecture, art and architecture of the period. Of course, later Georgian houses are some of the finest houses in London and very interesting. You've got to understand that for both of us, because we could both see perfectly well up until a few years ago, there is a kind of bitter sweet quality to this, a kind of feeling of regret when we hear paintings described because we used to enjoy looking at them ourselves and now we have to try to get a kind of second-hand experience. There is always a slight sense of regret about it, you know, though of course we do enjoy it very much. It's better than not being able to access it at all.

Clare:Can you still draw on your imagination and your memories of the paintings and architecture?

Peter:Very much so, yeah. I can still describe them quite vividly with quite a lot of detail, some of my favourite paintings. The thing that appealed to me most about coming here was we were told about the music that was going to be held, but I'm also very interested in the customs. This idea that being able to go and watch the royal family eating seems very curious now, doesn't it?

Clare:Yeah [laughs]. I think we go on to the music next, so that will be your bit that you enjoy most. Thanks very much. Thank you.

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Amy:This is the Nash Gallery and it gives me very great pleasure to introduce you and to hand you over now to John Henry. Thank you.

Professor John Henry:Thank you.

[Music playing]

Clare:So can you tell us your name?

John Henry:My name is John Henry.

Clare:Could you just tell us briefly of your sight loss?

John Henry:I always tell people I was blind as a bat because I hear like a bat as well not seeing like one, as it were. I'm sure many blind people would agree that we use sound a lot in getting around. But I've been blind since birth, so I just get around using the long cane, myself.

Clare:And what will you be doing here today, John?

John Henry:Well, Claire, I'm very honoured to have been asked to play and talk about a very special 1740 Shudi harpsichord which was imported from Kew Palace to this exhibition. It was owned and commissioned by Frederick, Prince of Wales, who was the eldest son of George II. A bit of an interesting rogue, actually.

Clare:Did you start playing music from an early age?

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John Henry:I did, and strangely enough my first instrument was the ukulele and not the piano, and the harpsichord being a plucked instrument maybe I should have seen that a foreshadowing of things to come.

Clare:And is this a specialty, to play it here in the Queen's Gallery?

John Henry:It's a special opportunity, particularly because of the instrument, which has some very special, very particular qualities of sound and touch. Incidentally, as many of your listeners will know, Claire, the harpsichord is plucked, unlike the piano where they're hammered. The plectra on this instrument are ravens' quills from the Tower. How about that?

Clare:So can you just tell us your name and where you've come from?

Billy Saunders:My name is [Billy Saunders] and I've come from Wimbledon.

Clare:Did you enjoy the music?

Billy:Oh, very much, yes. No, that player was amazing; he was very good.

Clare: And I saw you speaking to Professor John Henry. Do you mind if I ask what you were talking to him about?

Billy:I asked him how long he'd been playing the harpsichord. He said - I think he'd been playing for over 40 years, which is incredible. I play the piano, and I've been playing for about 20 years.

Clare:So getting some…

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Billy:I'm a fellow musician so that's why I was interested.

Clare:What else did you enjoy about today?

Billy:Well, it was interesting to feel all the tactile art. I didn't realise that they ate so much in those days, you know. It was a great day and I'm glad I came.

5 Nicky:. For information on future accessible events organised by the Royal Collection Trust, please email learning@royalcollection.org.uk or call 020 7766 7323. For general information about how to enjoy museums and galleries if you have sight loss– there’s a section on RNIB’s website called “Information for everyday living”. Just put theatre, museum or art gallery into the search box - or you can call the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999. Also, there are organisations which specialise in audio description for theatre, galleries, and museums. VocalEyes has a calendar of audio-described performances on its website at vocaleyes.co.uk You can sign up for a regular enewsletter or call them on 020 7375 1043 to receive an alternative format.

6 ALEC: IDENT:TECHNOLOGY – DIGITAL ASSISTANTS ON SMARTPHONES

7 NICKY: In our technology column, Robin Spinks, Senior Manager for RNIB Digital Accessibility Consultancy - talked to Vision Editor, Clare Conley, about digital assistants on smart phones and how they can help people with sight loss.

Robin Spinks:What is a digital assistant? Well, a digital assistant is a very clever intelligent assistant that exists in the form of software inside a mobile phone.

Possibly the most popular digital assistant that people have heard of is Siri, and Siri is the digital assistant that lives inside the iPhone.

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Clare:How are digital assistants different from a screen reader or speech facility on your phone?

Robin:A digital assistant is not designed specifically for blind or partially sighted people - it’s a mainstream feature. It’s of interest because it allows you to do all sorts of really simple things with your phone by using the greatest instrument that you were born with - that’s your voice.

Clare:What exactly can these digital assistants do?

Robin:All sorts of potentially really helpful tasks so sending a message, sending an email, posting to Twitter or Facebook, perhaps opening an application, so all the kinds of things that you might do with a device normally either by using your vision or by using a screen reader and flicking through to the appropriate setting, you can actually do those using your voice.

I’m just going to show you one or two simple things that we can do using a voice assistant so first of all we can use it to set an alarm, set an alarm for 6.30am.

Voice: Your alarm is set for 6:30.

Robin:We might also set it as a reminder. So I can say here, remind me to buy milk when I leave the office.

Voice: Here’s your reminder for today at 18:30 – shall I create it?

Robin:Yes

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Voice: OK, I’ll remind you

Robin:So it makes it quicker for me to do certain tasks and also it’s just easier as well, so if I want to send a message to a person I can do that really easily just by using my voice, so in this case we’ve got an iphone here running a voiceover and I’m going to use my voice to send a message to you Clare.

Send a message to Clare Conley

Voice:OK, what do you want to say to Clare Conley?

Robin:Hi Clare, hope you’re having a good day? Looking forward to recording the column about digital assistants.

Voice:Your message to Clare Conley says, Hi Clare, hope you’re having a good day? Looking forward to recording the column about digital assistants. Ready to send it?Robin:Yes

Clare:So are all the three digital assistants the same?

Robin:It’s possibly helpful to think of digital assistants as being a little bit like a personal butler in your pocket and each of the smart phone platforms has its own butler, so for apple devices, the iphone, we’ve got Siri - that’s your personal butler there. For Google devices we have Google Now and on Microsoft Windows phone devices we have possibly the most personable digital assistant so far by the name of Cortana.

Each of the digital assistants is quite different: Siri’s been around probably the longest followed by Google Now and Cortana is the newest kid on the block. Siri has a particular personality and

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Google Now’s probably the one that will give you the most sophisticated information right now if we ask for quite complex information. Where we need the web, Google Now is probably the fastest so I’m just going to ask the question to Google Now and I’m going to see what comes back.

Who is the Prime Minister of Canada?

Voice:Steven Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada.

Robin:What age is Kylie Minogue?

Voice:Kylie Minogue is 46 years old

Clare:What other things would you use it for though in everyday life?Robin:Well what we could also do is we could ask any of the digital assistants what does my calendar look like today? So I’m going to ask Cortana, what does my calendar look like Monday?

Voice:I found six events Monday - here they are

Robin:Now what’s happened here, and this is quite important, I’ve been presented with a large font calendar for Monday.

Now if I had narrator the screen reader running I would be able to read what those were by touching, just in the same way that people would use voiceover on the iphone so voice assistants, digital assistants can be used alongside a screen reader, it’s not a replacement for a screen reader, it’s an additional bit of functionality that can allow you to do really practical things.

We can also ask the phone to give us really useful walking directions, so if I stepped outside I could ask Siri, give me walking directions to wherever I want to go to, so worth thinking about is

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the fact that the digital assistant is an addition to the screen reader – it’s not a replacement for it.

Clare:What sort of feedback are you getting from blind and partially sighted people about digital assistants?

Robin:We know of many blind and partially sighted people who are already using a digital assistant on their smart phone so it’s one other way in which technology is actually making it easier for us to get out and about, to interact with our environment and to do basic productivity tasks: I’ve been experimenting with dictation in my tablet device and I’ve actually been really encouraged with the results that I’ve had just in terms of accuracy and the ability to save time that I would have spent normally typing.

Clare:And you said that the companies are almost testing this on customers as they go as it’s a big development area?

Robin:Absolutely: RNIB works closely with Microsoft on mobile devices and also we’ve been doing work with Google and with Apple in fact, all of the major players to push customer feedback and also often to consult for those companies on future product iterations and we’re delighted to hear from users who would like to get involved in any testing. We have a pool of testers which if you’re listening and you’d like to be added to that, we’d be really happy to hear from you and to add you to that pool.

Clare:So how easy is it to learn how to use a digital assistant?

Robin:It’s very easy to learn how to use a digital assistant - it’s simply a case of being shown how to use it and then practicing, and you’ll develop a bit of confidence. Let me also stress that it is wonderful but not perfect!

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10 NICKY: Thanks to Robin Spinks and Clare Conley. You can visit rnib.org.uk/technology for information and advice on accessible technology and to sign up for regular updates. And our Technology Support Squad of volunteers can help you set up new equipment, fix problems and help you use your technology and gadgets – you can contact them via the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email them at technologysquad@rnib.org.uk

11. ALEC: RNIB INFORMATION DIRECTORY

12.NICKY: Here is a directory to help you get the information and services you need from RNIB more easily. You can find out more about Vision magazine at rnib.org.uk/Visionmagazine or email us at Visionmagazine@rnib.org.uk Here’s Alec Sabin:

13.ALEC: The membership team is on 0303 1234 555, email membership@rnib.org.uk or visit rnib.org.uk/membership

14.NICKY: Helpline – get eye health information, emotional support, benefits advice and product information. Call 0303 123 9999, email helpline@rnib.org.uk or visit rnib.org.uk/ask Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.45am – 5.30pm and calls cost no more than a standard rate call to an 01 or 02 number.

15.ALEC: Fundraising – find out how you can support our work. Call 0845 345 0054, email fundraising@rnib.org.uk or visit rnib.org.uk/donate

16. NICKY: Volunteering – give a little time, make a big difference. Call 0845 603 0575, email volunteering@rnib.org.uk or visit rnib.org.uk/volunteering

17.ALEC: Campaigning – campaign on the issues that matter to you. Call 020 7391 2123, email campaign@rnib.org.uk or visit rnib.org.uk/campaigning

18.ALEC: FREE GUIDES AVAILABLE FROM RNIB

19.NICKY: We have a range of guides that you can order in your preferred format free of charge. Call the Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or email helpline@rnib.org.uk

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20. ALEC: The “Understanding” series is for people who want to understand more about their eye condition. Titles in this series include: cataracts; Charles Bonnet Syndrome; dry eye; eye conditions related to diabetes; glaucoma; nystagmus; posterior vitreous detachment; retinal detachment; retinitis pigmentosa.

21. NICKY: The “Starting Out” series is for people who have recently been diagnosed with an eye condition. Titles in the series include: Benefits, concessions and registration; Education; Emotional support; Help from social services; Housing; Making the most of your sight.

22. ALEC: The “Confident Living” series is for people who want to make the most of living with sight loss. Titles in the series include: Leisure; Living Safely; Managing your money; Reading; Shopping; Technology; Travel.

23. Nicky: Well that’s it for this edition of the Vision podcast. We hope you enjoyed this taster of Vision magazine. If you’d like to join RNIB as a member and get the full 78 minute magazine on CD or in an another format, six times a year, plus a range of other benefits, please visit rnib.org.uk/membership or call the membership team on 0303 1234 555.

Vision magazine is edited by Clare Conley, the audio producer is Kim Normanton and the sound engineer is Richard Armstrong.

Copyright RNIB February 2015.Registered charity number 226 227

RNIB NEW AUDIO LOGO: RNIB – Supporting people with sight loss

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