A few notes to a colleague on an alt text project I worked on, thinking about what it means to write alt text from blind/low-vision optics, processing, and perception. May eventually turn this into something

Sketch for a sunbreaker (the reflection was creating a glare spot on my monitor)

A few images from pre-thesis work (2023). One of the sketches, which later became central, was taking these cards which had terms from architecture and disability studies felt to me like areas of alignment, and then shuffling them to create unlikely pairs that were more challenging to imagine.

on the topic of sketching, I have been enjoying filling up this little black paper sketchbook. Here is a sketch for my Access//Making map of where making happens in Toronto and what forms of access are provided. The dataset currently includes about 500 points! Time to do some auditing soon :-)

A notebook page features a white ink sketch of a webpage layout with sections labeled ACCESS II MAKING, ABOUT, ADULT, KEY, LIST, and T MAP? along with various handwritten notes and diagrams.

Sketch for a murphy bed

This is the room I am staying in and there is a mattress that I've propped up against the window. It is blocking the light. It is not a conventional sketch, but I called it a sketch because it is like sketching out ideas IRL with real-world stuff. Anyways, it is an idea for a murphy bed that can be folded up to block light once the sun wakes you up and you need to stop the glare. But it is also just a floor mattress propped up against a window so there is something funny and trashy about it. OK, this alt text got way too long. PEACE.

I don’t always bother complaining to Apple anymore, but having three voice reading features and none of them able to read a book got me to submit a complaint. Maybe at the end of the year I will review of complaints I sent. Pending title: “A Year of Complaining”?

Another drawing from around this time with details

Old drawing from 2017. One observation is that I had a tendency to use lots of information and exploration as strategies for holding attention. Now I’m more likely to use meaning and ambiguity.

Audio journal from tonight.

Transcript

Some annotation on Kenneth Frampton’s essay: Intimations and Tactility. I disagreed with a lot but there are moments it feels like the foundation of a blind architecture, not just a sensuous, tactile one (a trap too easy to fall into, I believe).

My sister made this. “Infinite entertainment: the Italian house.”

Added 400 photos to my LoRes collection

Here’s a teaching experiment. 1.5 hours audio recording recorded at the Wave Organ. The recording (very slowly) introduces a close listening exercise and is meant to be consumed passively, in the background of one’s day.

Hannah and I with eyeball masks. Hers is Kirby. Mine is a wikki stix rainbow

To remember: my bedroom has been my workspace for the last couple of years, sadly. I’ve been staying/working in another bedroom this month. I like that the window wakes me up. When I work there’s no glare, but there’s still soft changing light behind me so my circadian rhythm doesn’t get messed up.

Headshot taken by Mel Taing

Some new notes on disability aesthetics: the love-hate relationship with functionality

Quick photo taken of the Ed Roberts ramp, and got a tour of the LightHouse from Chris. Checking out a some more playful spaces for my list days in SF and still on the list are Magical Bridge, the Exploratorium, the sensory garden over Salesforce Transit Center, and the Wave Organ…

Also made this eyeball mask

Things I’m currentlyl thinking about - circulation design in dark levels in video games