• Second Life Story Exhibit

    Second Life Exhibit

    The Second Life Exhibit is a part of Mary Anne Funk’s Master’s in Multimedia Journalism Defense at the University of Oregon in Portland, Oregon. Mary Anne’s defense focused on accessibility in media and the ways in which we can share our stories across multiple platforms.

    Mary Anne’s original defense was set for March 2020, however, due to social distancing measures put in place because of Covid-19, her defense was rescheduled. As a result, what was meant to be an in-person exhibit during her defense to show the use of story stations as a way to share our stories across multiple platforms, Mary Anne began the process of adapting her in-person story exhibit and immersive audio experience to Second Life with a presentation on Zoom. Second Life is a computer based virtual world platform.

    Abby's Dream Journey Exhibit in Second Life
    Entrance into Abby’s Dream Journey on Ethnographia Island in Second Life

    Abby’s Dream Journey story exhibit in Second Life focuses on the memories that Abby Griffith has of her life before she lost her sight, the memory of the day it happened, her visual dreams that help her remember her life before she went blind, and the journey that took us back to where it all began, in Ethiopia.

    Opening Information Station for Abby's Dream Journey in Second Life
    Mary Anne’s digital self, Ailgif, standing in front of the information station at the beginning of the exhibit.

    Visitors begin Abby’s Dream Journey at the information station in the front of the exhibit where they receive a note card introducing them to Abby’s story and the exhibit space.

    After reading the note card, attendees, head to the center of the exhibit to listen to Abby’s story, Memories and Dreams .

    Screen Capture from Abby's Dream Journey opening day exhibit during Mary Anne's Masters of Multimedia Journalism Defense
    Attendees gather around the immersive story station that Mary Anne built in Second Life for sharing Abby’s story, “Memories and Dreams.” The immersive story station is a replica of the in person interactive story station built by Mary Anne’s husband.
    Mary Anne’s digital self, Ailgif, looks at the story box that Mary Anne created in Second Life. it is a replica of the story box her husband made.
    The interactive story box that Mary Anne's husband Mark created for the in-person story exhibit has headphones attached, a push button to listen to the story and a poster with braille overlay for people who are blind to read what the audio story is about.
    An interactive story box was created for an in person story exhibit

    After listening to Abby’s Memories and Dreams story, attendees were welcome to move around the exhibit in any way they would like to.

    Message only scripts were added to all of the photos in the exhibit to provide details about the image and additional information about Abby’s story. Blind users are able to view the image through Radegast, which reads the Message only script

    Mary Anne built the exhibit from the ground up with advice and support from Professor Donna Davis. iSkye, Mermaid Celene and Gentle Heron, community members from Virtual Ability, Inc and Ethnographia Island in Second Life, provided feedback and assistance to make the exhibit and story accessible to people who are blind and deaf.

    an information station in the corner of Abby's Dream Journey provides in-depth information about Abby's story.
    Information stands were placed throughout the exhibit to provide story content.

    The exhibit in Second Life and the multimedia story online were created with accessibility in mind.

    Mary Anne's avatar stands looking at an interactive sound map of Ethiopia inside Abby's Dream Journey's Second Life story exhibit
    An audio button on a map provides a link to immersive sounds online that Mary Anne recorded throughout Ethiopia with binaural and ambisonic audio mics.

    Sign language videos were added to the Ethiopian Sound Journey and were made possible through the University of Oregon’s Accessible Education Center and The University of Oregon’s School of Journalism.

    At the top of the stairs, visitors learn about the making of Abby’s Dream Journey and about the memories that Abby and Mary Anne experienced while in Ethiopia.

    Visitors can experience the interactive story in the Second Life Exhibit through August 2020

    After the exhibit, Ethnographia Island is providing a Skybox to Mary Anne to create an extended exhibit. At that time, Mary Anne is going to create an interactive experience titled Seeing Through Hearing. It will include moments through Abby’s Memories and Dreams.

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  • Abby’s Dream Journey Exhibit

    Mary Anne takes a picture from above the three sided story station
    Looking down on the inside of the sound station for Abby’s Dream Journey. Inside there are three solid state audio players. Each audio player holds the audio story on a SD card and is activated by an external push button on the sound station.

    Abby’s Dream Journey is an immersive audio story and sound exhibit that tells the story of a woman who lost her sight at the age of eight while playing with friends in the fields along the river’s edge, in the central Ethiopian city of Areka.

    Abby’s Dream Journey focuses on the memories that Abby Griffith has of her life before she lost her sight, the memory of the day it happened, her visual dreams that help her remember her life before she went blind, and the journey that took us back to where it all began, in Ethiopia.

    The in person tactile and immersive sound experience includes a three sided audio story station with push button activation.

    Side view of Abby's Dream journey's audio story station.
    The three sided story station with headphones, has the same story on all three sides for three people to listen to it at the same time. A poster illustration attached to each side of the story station with braille overlay lets the listener know what they will hear when they push the button. Immersive sounds of Ethiopia can be heard throughout the story.

    Abby’s Dream Journey will be premiered at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism in Portland, Oregon.

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  • Ethiopian women in prayer

    Women in Prayer

    Monday, October 10th:
    We were woken up at 4 A.M. this morning with the sounds of talking and laughter in the backyard. I grabbed the gear and we headed outside. It was completely dark with the only light coming from the fire that was started to cook food and to make coffee.

    Traditional Ethiopian Coffee is prepared over an open fire
    Abby’s niece uses a knife to move the beans around the pan over an open fire to roast the beans for traditional ethiopian coffee. Photo by Mary Anne Funk

    This morning was a special morning. Every Monday, the women in the village take turns going to each other’s home for prayer. This morning, the women gathered at Abu’s home. Abby’s sister Marta, her female nieces and her female cousins worked on preparing the food and coffee. There are no indoor kitchens in the village of Areka.

    I asked Abby what time the women show up for prayer. She said her mother told her that the women arrive when the birds begin to sing.

    As the birds began to sing, just as Abby said, the women began to arrive. 

    Below, hear a binaural audio recording of the pastor praying with women during the women’s weekly prayer followed by women singing. Wear headphones

    Audio Recording of women in prayer

    For anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing: see sign language interpretation of women in prayer in video below. No Sound only sign interpretation.

    Sign Language interpretive video for Women in Prayer recording. No sound. Sign Language Interpretation by Logan Porter

    Hearing the birds in Abu’s backyard made me think about Abby’s love for birds.

    Below, hear immersive audio recording of the birds singing in Abu’s backyard. Wear headphones

    Blended audio recording of the birds singing in Abu’s back yard. Recording mixed with ambisonic microphone recordings and directional mic recording. Recording by Mary Anne Funk. Sound blend by Israel Gonzales

    For anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing: Below: see sign language interpretation of the birds singing in Abu’s backyard. No Sound only sign interpretation.

    Logan Porter uses sign language to interpret the sounds of birds. No sound only sign language for the hearing impaired.
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