Distributed Photo Captioning

Distributed Photo Captioning

The final component of the Assitive Campus Project provides an infrastructure to share vision through a photo/video captioning service. In the Distributed Photo Captioning model, blind individuals use mobile phones with GPRS service to take and send images to a distributed call center whereby other registered, sighted users can describe the results. Such a service is invaluable, especially in the case of a user that is unable to use the GPS navigation system due to loss of satellite signal (as occurs indoors) or presence in an area that has not been properly surveyed. Another scenario in which Distributed Photo Captioning is useful is when a user wants to read signage, such as a bus timetable or a warning sign.

Development is slated to be completed by the end of 2004 at which point user trials will follow.