Darren DeFrain, associate professor of English, and Aaron Rodriguez, alumnus, will change the way that the visually impaired experience comic book and graphic novel reading.
DeFrain and Rodriguez collaborated to create the app Vizling, which will benefit the blind, visually impaired and sighted readers.
Vizling comic
“Explaining what is happening page by page of a comic or graphic novel to someone who is visually impaired does not really paint the whole picture,” DeFrain said.
The app will be a collection of graphic novels and comics, each translated into a language that can be read by Vizling.
As users glide their fingers across a screen, their movements will trigger haptic responses and visual linguistics. Haptic responses will create vibrations to help readers know if they are following along in the correct sequence. Visual linguistics are forms of communication to help describe the actions taking place on the page.
DeFrain and Rodriguez received $11,000 from the John A. See Innovation Award fund.This grant will help with testing and surveying Vizling. These reviews will be conducted at Wichita State University and Florida State University, where Rodriguez is currently working on his Ph.D. in English.
With graphic novel classes becoming more popular on college campuses, DeFrain found that universities hire student workers to transcribe comic books and graphic novels for visually impaired students enrolled in these classes. This process can take around 100 hours to complete.
DeFrain and Rodriguez will keep students involved throughout transcription. As they present the most overt challenges, comic books and graphic novels will be transcribed first. Multimodal texts, especially textbooks, will come second.
“When we get this done, then we have a central location that any school could use as a resource for graphic novels and comics that we have already transcribed,” DeFrain said.
Vizling will help public K-12 schools, colleges and universities become fully compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990. By using Vizling, schools will be able to provide materials in an accessible and equitable format.
“There is a sense of urgency with this. If you are teaching at WSU, your class has to be fully accessible, including your materials,” DeFrain said. His courses, Graphic Novels, Advanced Studies in the Graphic Novel, and Digital Humanities, will be immediately impacted by Vizling.
DeFrain and Rodriguez hope that Vizling will be completed within the next two years. To see a comic that helps explain Vizling, visit this visually themed webpage.