Enrichment · Passion Projects

Describe it so someone
can see it by ear.

An audio description lets a blind or low-vision visitor build a picture of an object in their mind: what it is, how big, its layout, then the details in an order they can follow. Add each stop on the tour. The organizer counts the words, times each script at a narration pace, totals the tour and flags sight phrases, missing sizes and scripts that explain before they describe.

Add a stopWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Passion projects kit, $39 for 34 items.

Tour stops

The worked example is made up: three stops in a small quilt exhibition, one on time, one 14 seconds long and one that starts with a story and says “as you can see.” Saved on this device only.

Loading the stop form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Enrichment · Passion Projects$5

What you finish with
A record per tour stop: stop number, object, maker and date, materials, real size, place in the room, target seconds, the description script, a way-finding line and six script checks. Counts words and the spoken length at 140 words a minute; lists every stop with its time and totals the tour; flags scripts over target, no size or scale, sight phrases, a first sentence that does not say what the object is or explains before describing, and missing way-finding.
Who it is for
Students and volunteers making an exhibition accessible, museum and library staff, and teachers running a student-curated show.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per stop. Prints one stop, the whole tour script in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Passion projects kit ($39) and the Enrichment Suite pass ($119), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Passion Projects space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Stand in front of the object and note its size and place.
  2. Write the script in the order: what, how big, layout, details, meaning.
  3. Check the spoken time against the target.
  4. Write how to walk to the next stop.
  5. Have blind or low-vision listeners try it.

Add a stop

Order

The order of a good description1What it isA quilt, a sculpture, apainted box.2How bigAgainst the body or a familiarobject.3The overall layoutOne big star; a grid ofsquares; a figure facing left.4Details, in one directionTop to bottom, left to rightor center out.5Color, texture, materialNamed plainly, compared whenit helps.6Then meaningWho made it and why, once thepicture is built.The order of a good description1What it isA quilt, a sculpture, a painted box.2How bigAgainst the body or a familiar object.3The overall layoutOne big star; a grid of squares; afigure facing left.4Details, in one directionTop to bottom, left to right or centerout.5Color, texture, materialNamed plainly, compared when it helps.6Then meaningWho made it and why, once the picture isbuilt.
Adapted from museum audio description guidelines. Description comes first, interpretation after.

Pace

Audio description for tours is read more slowly than conversation so listeners can picture each detail. The organizer times scripts at 140 words a minute, a comfortable narration pace; read yours aloud to check, since names and numbers take longer.

Way-finding

A tour is also a walk. Each stop should end with how to reach the next one in steps, turns and landmarks a listener can feel, such as a change in floor, a bench or a doorway, and the last stop should say where the exit is.

Sources

  1. American Council of the Blind, Audio Description Project. Guidelines for audio describers and museum description (acb.org/adp).
  2. Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Guidelines for Accessible Exhibition Design, sections on audio description and way-finding.
  3. Art Beyond Sight. Verbal description guidelines for art and museum objects.
  4. Snyder, J. (2014). The Visual Made Verbal: A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description. American Council of the Blind.

The worked example is made up, and the quilts in it are typical of their kind, not particular museum objects. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.