Sarah Maggotin from ACE and a keeper from the Werribee Open Range Zoo test the new technology. 89151 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By XAVIER SMERDON
EXHIBITS at the Werribee Open Range Zoo will come alive for a new audience with the zoo being chosen to be the first in the world to implement a new kind of technology.
The Australian Communication Exchange (ACE), a Brisbane-based organisation, and the Victorian Deaf Education Institute (VDEI) teamed up with the zoo to install the technology that talks directly to deaf and hearing impaired children.
Known as OpenMi Excursions, it allows children to scan a barcode with a smart phone at each enclosure which then brings up a video of a person performing Australian sign language, or Auslan, to explain the exhibit.
The student is then asked to answer questions about what they have been told, which is then submitted to their teacher for marking.
Director of Strategy and Planning, Zoe Boyd, said that it was exciting to give deaf and hearing impaired students the opportunity to take as much as possible away from their visit to the zoo.
“This launch marks the first time that Australian deaf and hearing impaired children will have the opportunity to experience excursions in their native language”, Ms Boyd said.
“We chose Werribee Open Range Zoo because there are a lot of deaf schools in the Melbourne and Geelong region and we figured that if we can get this working in an open range zoo then we can do it anywhere.”
The zoo’s General Manager of Visitor Experience, Cathy Nixon, said the technology would allow it to increase accessibility for everyone.
