Enhancing Cultural Accessibility Through Innovative Technologies for Individuals with Visual Impairment at the Tampere Cathedral
Owino, Roselinda Achieng (2025)
2025
Yhteiskuntatutkimuksen maisteriohjelma - Master's Programme in Social Sciences
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-12-04
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025120411255
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025120411255
Tiivistelmä
The thesis focuses on the amplification of cultural interaction for the visually impaired by making use of new technologies in Tampere Cathedral. The research examines the abilities of audio descriptions, tactile graphics, and applications from augmented reality to offer an accessible cultural visit. Through interviews of 10 participants at Tampere Cathedral, the research and findings establish major issues that may enhance or hinder access and interest of the visually impaired to cultural attractions. The findings and discussion emphasised on approaches that can make it easier for more visually impaired people to interact with technology.
The study starts with a literature review of cultural accessibility and assistive technologies. The current review seeks to offer a theoretical perspective when it comes to architectural barriers experienced by low vision people in exploring historical and cultural centers. This is followed by a description of methods adopted in assessment of the efficacy of the adopted technologies. This is with regard to developing and deploying mobile audio guide, touch maps and augmented reality in addressing visually impaired visitors.
A set of interviews were carried out with visually impaired 10 participants in order to obtain additional qualitative data. The outcomes of these preliminary interviews were then employed to extract common theme and to study patterns amongst responses from the participants. Fundamentally, research findings disclosed that the application of multi-sensory modalities positively improves the usability and experience of cultural heritage locations.
The thesis is rounded up with specific policies as guidelines for cultural institutions that want to enhance their accessibility provision. Thus, the mentioned recommendations are focusing more on the aspects that deal with user experience design, continuous engagement with the users and multimodal interactions. The study also opens up other opportunities where other technologies and approaches can be looked at in as to help people with visual impairment have better access to cultures.
The study starts with a literature review of cultural accessibility and assistive technologies. The current review seeks to offer a theoretical perspective when it comes to architectural barriers experienced by low vision people in exploring historical and cultural centers. This is followed by a description of methods adopted in assessment of the efficacy of the adopted technologies. This is with regard to developing and deploying mobile audio guide, touch maps and augmented reality in addressing visually impaired visitors.
A set of interviews were carried out with visually impaired 10 participants in order to obtain additional qualitative data. The outcomes of these preliminary interviews were then employed to extract common theme and to study patterns amongst responses from the participants. Fundamentally, research findings disclosed that the application of multi-sensory modalities positively improves the usability and experience of cultural heritage locations.
The thesis is rounded up with specific policies as guidelines for cultural institutions that want to enhance their accessibility provision. Thus, the mentioned recommendations are focusing more on the aspects that deal with user experience design, continuous engagement with the users and multimodal interactions. The study also opens up other opportunities where other technologies and approaches can be looked at in as to help people with visual impairment have better access to cultures.