\nBy the deep Sea, and music in its roar:<\/em>
\nI love not Man the less, but Nature more.<\/em><\/p>\n
Liani Yirka shares a similarity with the early 19th century poet George Gordon, Lord Byron.<\/p>\n
![\"Liani](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/DSC_7335c1_web.jpg\")
Liani Yirka started at the Raleigh museum telling stories to Spanish-speaking audiences. Photo by Julia Jacobs.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cEven as a kid, I was one of those people who would rather be surrounded by nature and animals than by other people,\u201d she says. \u201cI was so painfully shy they tested to see if I was deaf.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result, she was determined to have a hearing impairment at an early age. \u201cI\u2019d sit on the playground playing with worms, anything but other kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
She eventually found her \u201cniche\u201d during high school as a volunteer junior curator at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences<\/a>. \u201cFinally, those were my people,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n More than a decade later, Yirka serves as the museum\u2019s first accessibility and inclusion coordinator \u2014 and has transformed her environment into a leading example for expanding audiences.<\/p>\n In the five years Yirka has been on staff, the Raleigh museum has debuted technologies and programs enabling fully independent navigation for people of varying abilities. All exhibit content is available regardless of visual impairments or hearing loss.<\/p>\n Youth with disabilities from across the nation even swell the museum\u2019s auditorium each year to meet professionals who share in their experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our immediate area, these features can be useful \u2014 and are useful,\u201d says Yirka, who received a 2016 N.C. Governor\u2019s Award for Excellence in efficiency and innovation. \u201cWhy not, at the very least, be a training center so others can see how to implement and use them?\u201d<\/p>\n Put to action, all museum visitors now are capable of experiencing science. \u201cIf our museum can help lead the way in removing a barrier, then by all means \u2014 and we have the means,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n One of Yirka\u2019s first initiatives in 2012 was to update the museum\u2019s audio-tour system that had been in place since 2000.<\/p>\n To find newer and \u201cbetter technology,\u201d Yirka connected with Ed Summers, a SAS Institute software engineer and accessibility specialist who is blind. He was working to make highly visual data \u2014 such as charts, graphs and maps \u2014 accessible to people with visual impairments.<\/p>\n Ed Summers, back left, and other museum guests test a new mobile app that enables independent navigation for visitors with disabilities. Photo by Matt Zeher.<\/p><\/div>\n Together, the partners replaced the museum\u2019s audio system with a mobile app that provides a multimedia guide of the exhibits. The app enables visitors with disabilities to have increased interactions with those exhibits, providing an enhanced experience for visitors who are blind, deaf or have learning disabilities, as well as the general public.<\/p>\n The NC NatSci app is the first of its kind, the N.C. Office of State Human Resources notes. \u201cIt\u2019s really unique because not a lot of apps are created with the idea that people who are blind or deaf want to use them,\u201d Yirka adds.<\/p>\n The software program uses a screen reader, a digital map of the museum\u2019s exhibits, and a map of the structural aspects of the building to facilitate visitor access. Small but special features, such as including captions for all videos available with the screen reader, make the app friendly for varied users.<\/p>\n NC NatSci is free to download for any Apple device. The museum also provides iPod touches for visitors to use.<\/p>\n \u201cTechnologies like these are easily transferrable,\u201d Yirka notes. \u201cI would love to see this at the zoo, the aquarium, even the grocery store. I get lost finding what I need there, too.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2013, innovations continued when Yirka joined with SAS and museum partners to create the STEM Career Showcase for Students with Disabilities<\/a>. The first museum-based conference of its kind, it provides students interested in pursuing STEM fields the chance to meet \u201crock stars in their fields\u201d who also live with disabilities, Yirka explains.<\/p>\n The event is designed to encourage and inspire students to pursue their science interests, regardless of obstacles.<\/p>\n Programs have featured Paralympians, Google engineers and astronomers. Approximately 250 students join in the free event each year, with participants coming from as far as California and Oregon. Countless others are reached online.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to bring in professional role models \u2014 adults who know what it\u2019s like and are willing to have a candid conversation about those challenges \u2014 and in the end, to say \u2018I can do it, you can too,\u2019\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Jack Thigpen, North Carolina Sea Grant extension director, looks forward to more education programming inspired by the museum\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThese initiatives have set a high bar,\u201d Thigpen notes. \u201cWe look to these outstanding examples as we seek opportunities to increase accessibility and inclusion within our organization and across our national network.\u201d<\/p>\n Yirka continued to broaden museum access with the 2016 debut of an indoor navigation system for people who are blind or visually impaired. The Raleigh site is the first museum worldwide to implement such a system using Bluetooth iBeacon technology<\/a>, the state notes.<\/p>\n This iBeacon is one of about 30 installed throughout the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. Photo by Janna Sasser.<\/p><\/div>\n Combined with the GPS capability of the BlindSquare app, the beacons provide information for passive travel and building elements along the way, such as emergency exits, stairs or restrooms, Yirka explains.<\/p>\n Summers first encountered the beacons in the San Francisco airport when traveling with his German shepherd guide dog, Willie. Returning to Raleigh, the idea became a suggestion to aid Yirka\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n Now, approximately 30 of the tiny beacons are tucked throughout the museum, giving cues as users approach. Each beacon is internally programmed to provide navigation and exhibit information, which then is voiced aloud through the phone app, guiding users turn by turn.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine going to a museum you\u2019re not familiar with,\u201d Yirka says. A visitor with a disability may assume a human companion is necessary to have a full experience. With the new program, however, all visitors now are able to explore on their own.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to provide a level of independence,\u201d she adds. \u201cAt the very least, providing how to get from one place to another, such as the entrance to an exhibit, or an exhibit to the elevator. We provide that in signage, but if you can\u2019t see it, we now provide it audibly.\u201d<\/p>\n Yirka hopes to extend the technology to the museum\u2019s branch venues, including Whiteville and Prairie Ridge.<\/p>\n he response so far has been, \u201cWhy can\u2019t these be everywhere?\u201d Yirka notes. \u201cIt would be great to see it in more busy places \u2014 buses and train stations too,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Already, the idea has drawn interest from an art museum in Charlotte. Even the town of Wellington in New Zealand is installing the technology based on the Raleigh concept.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to be really down-to-earth about it,\u201d Yirka says about working with audiences. \u201cI\u2019m one of you. I want to do this too.\u201d<\/p>\n This article was published in the Spring 2017<\/a> issue of <\/em>Coastwatch.<\/em><\/p>\n For contact information and reprint requests, visit ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/contact\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By JANNA SASSER There is society where none intrudes, By the deep Sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more. Liani Yirka shares a similarity with the early…<\/p>\nExpanding Museum Reach<\/h2>\n
![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/Summers_iBeaconTesting_web.jpg\"){kind=tracking}
Adapting Leading Technologies<\/h2>\n
![\"iBeacon\"](\"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/iBeaconNCMNS_2_web.jpg\"){kind=tracking}