The First Ray of Sunlight

Hello Australia, hello Brisbane! It was around 7.45 pm local time in Brisbane on 26th February 2013 when I landed here. A new country, new people, a new culture - I was exited and frightened at the same time. It took couple of days to recover from the jet lag. On the 27th I went to the university - Queensland University of Technology, for the first time to complete initial documentation. It is a new step - a mighty step, I knew! 

After becoming familiar with the environment, I chose to take a look at the proposal of which I forgot some key points in the midst of the "big" transfer. On the 5th March I had my first meeting with supervisor - Prof. Margot Brereton and I was lucky enough to meet my Associate Supervisor Prof. Paul Roe at the same time.

It was quite apparent after the discussion, that my proposal is not that feasible as a long term project under the conditions.  "Re-engineering Social Networking Principles for the Visually Impaired" was the thesis title. Finding a new user group with visually impaired users and conducting experiments alone would be difficult it seemed. Oh! Stuck even before the beginning. However, Margot and Paul pointed out there are some good opportunities to join an ongoing projects.

1. Digital Noticeboard for indigenous people who live in Groote Elyandt - a small island in the Northern coast of Australia, to help them access important news in the island. These news items has been put up in screens in a way where even an uneducated person can be made aware. (It sounded a pretty easy effort! But there are plenty of things you need to consider prior developing such mechanisms - their culture, lifestyles, linguistic issues, etc. which make is an extremely difficult task)

2. Virtual Birder: A way of capturing calls of birds in forests and analyzing them. Main purpose is to provide birders a guide to investigate behavior patterns of birds. This involved extensive recording of bird calls in selected forests and then analysis them to identify unique wave forms of bird calls. Identification is purely manual i.e. no algorithms involved in decrypting bird calls for identification.

Okay, now there are two more paths!!! I haven't left out my initial proposal at this stage and kept investigating what are the possibilities. Where can I fit in to above projects? How to overcome barriers in my initial proposal?

Sadly, nothing came to my mind which gave a positive pull to the possibility of continuing my initial proposal!

One day, while on the way back from uni to home, an idea popped in to my mind - why can't I use sound positioning to virtualize bird calls in a closed environment? Can I provide more realistic experience to a birder? Oh I forgot to mention folks, I was involved in a research as my final year project of my bachelors degree at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, which involved localizing sound. We have mapped the computer screen into a two dimensional audio interface to help the visually impaired to involve more actively in computer applications. It was entirely an Audio User Interface which bypassed the typical Graphical User Interface - you hear to audio which is spatialized and type using keyboard. Therefore, I thought why can't I apply the same concept to birders. However, to achieve this I will have to address an entirely new user group and it requires mapping with some sort of a visual output - let's say a geographical map.

While having a shower on a Sunday, another idea popped up - can I link people with special needs in Groote with the Digital Noticeboard? In fact, it was Margot who has coined this idea in the first place. She asked me to focus on some group in Groote if possible. Here we are! I liked this second idea than the first, since I firmly believe that technology is mere a tool where every human should be able benefit. I do like to work with humans and to feel the real world, to create user-centered designs instead of technology-centered designs. However, this was a very open idea which needs a significant amount of narrowing down. However, this would be interesting simply because I love this kind of a research!

Okay... Now I have two ideas which I know would work for me. Let's discuss with Margot and Paul on 15th March where I have a meeting with both of them. Let's get their feedback. Will it fit for them? 

I will use this blog as one of my companions along the PhD journey. Let it serve as a guiding light. It is the first ray of sunlight at this paradise. There are some clouds, but I have a start. Hope the wind of courage will chase the clouds away. Let's hope for a wonderful walk in the paradise!!!