Envisioning Mobile Apps for Audio Description: Exploring
Universal Design of National Park Service Brochures
Brett Oppegaard Thomas Conway
University of Hawai’i at Manoa University of Hawai’i at Manoa
2550 Campus Road 1776 University Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96822 Honolulu, HI 96822
+1 808-956-3340 +1 808-375-7092
brett.oppegaard@hawaii.edu tconway@hawaii.edu
ABSTRACT
“Unigrid” design specifications created by Massimo Vignelli have
provided the standards for the layout of paper brochures at U.S.
National Park Service sites for more than three decades. These
brochures offer visitors a familiar analog presentation of visual
information, blending text, photographs, maps, and illustrations.
These materials, however, are not accessible to people who are
blind, have low vision, or a print disability. The National Park
Service for decades has been challenged – by requirements and
principle – to offer alternate formats that provide equivalent
experiences and information of these print materials. In other
words, people who are blind or visually impaired should have
access to a “brochure” experience, too. This exploratory study,
funded by the National Park Service, takes a new approach to this
long-term problem by conducting a content analysis of current
Unigrid brochures to determine their fundamental components,
found in practice. This components-based approach is intended to
provide clear pathways for cross-modal translation of the printed
material into audio-described media, which then, can be
efficiently distributed via mobile apps, as an extension of these
original components.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.5.3 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: Group and
Organization Interfaces – Evaluation/Methodology.
General Terms
Design, Human Factors.
Keywords
Audio description, Universal Design, accessibility, mobile,
information design, intercultural communication, cross-modal
translation, National Park Service, disability studies.
1. THE NPS AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION
National Park Service brochures – integrating texts,
photographs, illustrations, and maps – have become increasingly
more image-based and symbolic in recent years. In the process,
these analog forms have grown more complex as visual metaphors
with the intention to provoke, at a glance, and therefore to
viscerally stimulate and motivate the viewer to want to learn
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2775441.2775463
Megan Conway
University of Hawai’i at Manoa
1776 University Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96822
+1 808-956-6166
mconway@hawaii.edu
more, according to the bureau’s publications manager, Melissa
Cronyn (M. Cronyn, personal communication, November 13,
2014). While this trend toward increased visual emphasis mirrors
much of the broader changes in mass media during the past couple
of decades, it also illustrates the growing gap between the
accessibility of information for the visually literate and people
who find visual material to be less accessible or non-accessible,
either because they are blind, have low vision, have a print
disability, or simply learn better through non-visual media. As
part of the larger societal shift toward sensemaking through visual
media sources, such as screens and images, those who are blind or
visually impaired, in particular, are at risk of being excluded from
socially and culturally important discourses, including access to
primary sources of education and entertainment and to other
important resources of public knowledge (Braun, 2008; Braun
2011; Maszerowska, Matamala, & Orero, 2014).
The U.S. National Park Service system, as an example of
such a source, serves as the caretaker of more than 400 of
America’s most precious places, and each site offers as a primary
point of contact and context a “Unigrid” brochure, printed on
paper, in various regimented page sizes that, when unfolded, is
filled from edge to edge with a cohesive mixture of visual
material. Audio description, the cross-modal translation of visual
media into acoustic media, has been produced for dozens of films
as well as more than 30 exhibits at National Park sites. While the
bureau has been contracting an increasing amount of audio
description for the videos and exhibitions, other static media, such
as outdoor wayside panels and Unigrid brochures, have had more
limited and ad hoc audio-description activity around them (M.
Hartley, personal communication, April 30, 2015).
This exploratory study, funded by the National Park Service,
is the first stage in the effort to address concerns about the lack of
systematically audio-described Unigrid brochures at national
parks. The intention of this formative stage is to identify, through
a problem-driven content analysis, what components exist within
these brochures and in what size and frequency – in practice – as
part of the implementation of the Unigrid brochure system
nationwide. From this gathered components-focused knowledge,
our intent is to deconstruct the brochure experience as a way to
then reconstruct equivalent experiences in audio-described forms,
based on the Unigrid brochure’s basic patterns and structures. By
isolating a photograph on a brochure and determining its focus,
such as to identify an important person, we expect to be able to
examine such work as a genre of activity and eventually to audio
describe that kind of media source with more precision and
effectiveness, and deliver it through mobile technologies. This
stage, though, focused on categorizing and identifying the various
components of the brochures, such as text blocks and maps. Its
scope included efforts to measure and label those components in pragmatics of printing, such as having basic brochure formats that
various ways, including by size, frequency, and genre, in an effort reflect the most economical length-to-width ratio for paper sizes
to better understand the experiential nature of the brochure and cut from the larger sheets that also would be able to be ordered in
then to propose how those components could be translated into carload lots for maximum discounts (National Park Service,
audio forms, as part of a systematic model that follows the 2015d). Besides reducing paper waste and odd-sized shipping
principles of Universal Design (Goldsmith, 2012). In turn, the packages, the system guidelines explained the framework as a
research questions for this stage were as follows: scheme of both utility and beauty. These instructions encouraged
full-color maps of larger sizes that avoided overlays of photos and
RQ1: How many general media-form components – such as “other kinds of decorations,” the separate inclusion of pictorial
a photograph with a cutline – can be isolated and identified as features of various sizes, including visual images that dominate a
codeable units on each brochure? page, and the notice that the brochure should not be considered a
RQ2: What are the most appropriate coding frames for those book but instead “a chart or map, to be opened as circumstances
various types of units? require” (National Park Service, 2015e). Even a cursory
comparison of the historical brochures to the contemporary ones
RQ3: When those coding frames are applied, what can we illustrates the dramatic aesthetic shifts apparent, to more visually
learn from categorizing, sub-categorizing, and counting those complex and symbolic visual imagery, as described by current
framed units? publications manager Cronyn (2014), and shown here:
1.1 The audio description imperative
More than 6.7 million Americans experience vision loss
(National Federation of the Blind, 2014). Yet Michele Hartley,
media accessibility coordinator at the bureau’s design hub at
Harpers Ferry Center, acknowledged that no statistics on visually
impaired visitors who visit National Parks are tracked (M.
Hartley, personal communication, November 13, 2014). Even if
transportation to the parks, and mobilities within them, remain
pragmatic challenges for many, an audio-described brochure,
delivered via a mobile device, whether at the park or not, still
could provide blind and visually impaired people with a chance to
have an engaging experience with the place. Harpers Ferry Center
has made increasing audio description nationwide a service goal
and also has recognized that audio description through mobile
technologies might be able to help not only the visually impaired Figure 1. The original Yellowstone National Park handout
but also people who learn best through non-visual media. Besides (1912), left, compared to the one offered today.
inherent ethical, moral, and economic motivations, the National Courtesy of Archive.org and The National Park Service.
Park Service also is accountable to internal management policies
and initiatives, such as the 2015-2020 “All in!” accessibility
campaign, as well as federal laws, such as the Americans With
Unigrid brochures, in turn, still are considered one of the
Disabilities Act, plus Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation
primary interfaces between the National Park Service and its
Act that address the imperative for equivalent access by persons
public stakeholders. In 2013, the latest statistics available, the
with disabilities to its facilities and learning materials (National
bureau printed more than 24 million brochures for more than 200
Park Service, 2015a). This study therefore also could be used to
park sites across the country, at a cost of 6.25 cents each (National
create a strategy and approach toward broad Universal Design
Park Service, 2015f). This core design strategy for the brochures
compliance.
always has been component focused, locked into an unseen grid
1.2 Unigrid brochure as the base experience of a support structure that ordered the essential media components
by importance and apportioned space on the grid based upon that
The Department of the Interior has been providing paper
supplements to visitors of its national park sites since even before order (National Park Service, 2015g). Therefore, in many
the National Park Service was founded in 1916 (National Park important ways, this study parallels the evolution of the paper
Service, 2015b). Those early brochures, with visual examples brochure through the Unigrid system by following its focus on the
available online from the National Park Service (2015c), through various components and trying to determine how to make them
The Internet Archive, from as early as 1912, were primarily better and more efficient, only this time through the cross-modal
translation of visual media into audio formats, through a technique
composed of headlines and texts, with some black-and-white
called audio description.
maps and data tables. While the earliest park brochures were in a
text-heavy booklet form, the design of contemporary brochures 1.3 Accessibility through audio description
has been focused upon visual elements, such as photographs,
Harpers Ferry Center has been exploring for years a variety
illustrations and maps in color. Part of this shift has been caused
of options related to improving accessibility in the park service,
by technological advances in publishing and from the evolution of
including providing large-print versions of the brochures and
visual design ideas over the decades. In 1977, though, the
audio description of its video programs as well as exhibitions of
National Park Service also adopted the “Unigrid” system for its
touchable objects at sites that can include Braille and physical
brochures, designed by Massimo Vignelli in collaboration with
models of the shapes and scales of items that are difficult to
the design hub of the bureau, at Harpers Ferry Center. This system
explain in other media forms. This research project is focused
of standardized graphic and production components made printing
only on the potential of these Unigrid brochures to be audio
more efficient and cost-effective, since it was based on the
described, with the idea that a systemic understanding of the
brochures, from that perspective, could lead to better accessibility
for the broader National Park Service audiences. Thinking about
how the brochures could be translated into audio description,
especially in easily shareable digital forms, also offers the
potential for the development of a new standardized system of
interpretation, a Unidescription, like the Unigrid, only this audio-
description system remains focused upon creating an efficient and
effective substructure for improving accessibility through audio
forms. Other perspectives and coding systems, aimed at other
purposes, could be useful in other ways. This project at first,
though, has been focused on the deconstruction of the brochures
at a component level, as a pathway to audio describing those
components.
Audio description, at its most fundamental, is the translation
of visual media into verbal descriptions, and that distinctive
translation process, of replacing the purely visual with the purely
verbal, distinguishes it from other forms of translation (Braun,
2008). To put audio description in a historical context, museums
routinely have offered various forms of audio guides for static
visual media since the 1950s (Tallon, 2008). While those museum
audio guides have shared some similar techniques and principles
with audio description, they also generally have been designed to
complement the sighted experience rather than raise accessibility
for those with disabilities. Audio description, as a separate
service, designed specifically with the visually impaired in mind,
instead had its primary roots in the theater, television, and film
industries of the 1980s, which were looking to expand audiences
through live captioning, closed captioning and other techniques
that add layers of information to existing media content (Audio
Description Coalition, 2015; Fryer & Freeman, 2012; Salway,
2007). In television and film and during live events, these
“acoustic subtitles,” as Poethe (2005, p. 33) described them, have
to manage and maneuver within the tight open places left
available in the primary soundtrack or performance. They
typically have to be constrained to quickly fit in dialogue pauses,
limiting their potential for depth and quality. But when related to
static media, such as with National Park Service brochures,
wayside interpretive panels, and visitor center exhibits, the time
constraints instead become based on the audience’s engagement
level and patience, opening up audio description to more
extensive exploratory avenues, and related research issues, such as
how to develop more relevance, coherence, and clarity. In this
case, brochures provide the foundations upon which audio
description can be examined from a variety of perspectives and in
a multitude of forms. The ultimate goal for this project is to
improve the art of audio description through a deeper and more
complete understanding of its effects as well as the related
processes that produces those effects. But first, the brochure must
be deconstructed to determine what it’s made of, before the
translation and reconstruction can begin. This initial stage focuses
on that objective, with the hope that such a deconstruction can be
useful to the National Park Service but also to all federal, state,
and private entities wrangling with similar issues about
accessibility and the potential of audio description as an avenue
for improving access.
2. A COMPONENTS-FOCUSED METHOD
The primary innovation of the Unigrid design system is to
organize editorial and graphical elements into components and
then to place them within a standard format that can be printed
easily and efficiently. Texts, maps, and artwork are
conceptualized in relation to the grid. This grid, used as an
organizational base, helps the designer to determine the
fundamental relationships between the parts. The measurements
of the parts, denoting the importance of the parts, are based on
how many panels they cover. Our content analysis therefore tries
to take apart the brochures with the same terms and language used
in creating them. We have taken the finished detailed products
and looked at them again as an assemblage of components, taking
up space on brochure panels, and, in that respect, reverse
engineered the design process. This methodology is intended to
serve various research communities who might be interested in
the broader implications of this topic of inquiry, including
information design and disability studies. By establishing a
practical and purposeful technique for disassembling and
reassembling complex mediated communications at a component
level, this approach allows for analysis and complex connections
to be made between both the more abstract grid level of the design
and the more detailed content level of the artifact.
2.1 Content analysis and open coding
Content analysis is an empirical methodology that originated
in the field of communication and is central to communication
concerns, as a systematic way to analyze messages. (Lombard,
Snyder-Duch, & Bracken, 2002). This common approach to
analyzing qualitative data typically involves collecting a sample
of material, deciding conceptually the ways in which it will be
analyzed through classification and categorization, and devising a
coding schema to apply those coding frames to the material as a
way to tease out associations among the categories and make that
analysis. An open-coding approach, as taken here, allows for
naming and categorizing of phenomena through close
examination of the data and an organic growth of understanding
of the data as it is being worked with, through the process of
making constant comparisons and continually refining the
underlying concepts of the approach (Gray, 2014; Strauss &
Corbin, 2014). Even though we based our research approach here
abstractly upon the component-focused principles of the Unigrid
system, the coding frames that originated from this research were
unique, and derived from the data, and common understandings of
such phenomena, as a way to not bias the findings due to
preconceived categorization constraints. A problem-driven
content analysis, as conducted here, converts an epistemic
problem into research questions, which it attempts to answer
through a purposeful examination of the data (Krippendorff,
2013). In this case, three rounds of coding, comparison, and
reflection are reported, with the primary emphasis on the third
round, in which understandings and coding schema were
considered the most developed and most helpful in making new
knowledge about the analyzed content.
2.2 The Unigrid brochure corpus
The National Park Service, as part of the Department of the
Interior, oversees 407 sites across the country with 28 different
designations, including historical parks, national monuments,
battlefields, recreational areas, seashores, and reserves. These
sites attract more than 275 million visitors a year (National Park
Service, 2015e). To establish the corpus for this project, the
National Park Service provided two complete sets of every
Unigrid brochure available in the bureau as of November 2014.
Those 342 brochures (some brochures cover multiple sites)
represented the full scope of the park service’s sites and
interpretive efforts made through the brochure form. Two
researchers (Oppegaard and T. Conway) each took an
alphabetized set. The first round of this project also included a
redundant set of 10 brochures, selected by Harpers Ferry Center
staff and mailed separately. That convenience sample was used
only in the first round of this project, as part of orienting our
research ideas to the practical issues we would face. In both the
second and third rounds, random numbers were generated
between 1 and 342. Round 2 used the first 10 numbers drawn, and
Round 3 used the first 35 numbers, as long as they were not
included in Round 2. In the case where any of the numbers were
repeated from Round 2, a new number was drawn for Round 3.
The brochures were selected by number from the alphabetized list,
meaning: if the No. 1 was randomly selected, it would correspond
to the first brochure in the set, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace
National Historical Park, and if No. 342 was picked, it would
correspond to the last, Zion National Park. After the probability
samples were picked, and the brochures were compiled, a second
set of the selected brochures was created from the other copy of
the corpus.
2.3 The coding frame
Acknowledging the importance and impact of the Unigrid
system, upon which the brochures are designed and built, allowed
for a layered analysis of the artifacts. We conceptualized the
brochure as consisting of three basic layers: Just above the empty
universal grid layer, from this perspective, is the component layer,
outlining where photographs and maps and headlines will go,
accounting for what squares on the grid. This layer is below the
finely granular information layer that fills in the particulars of
each component. So this analysis examines that in-between layer
of the brochures, composed of components rather than the layer of
particular words or images, unless those words and images help to
subcategorize the component.
2.4 Intercoder agreement
Intercoder agreement is the core standard of reliability in a
content analysis, and without transparent examination of that
agreement, the results could be specious (Lombard, Snyder-Duch,
& Bracken, 2002). To establish such reliability, we measured
percent agreement, or simple agreement, which is the percent of
agreement of all coding decisions made by the coders on which
the coders agree. Its values range from 0.00 (no agreement) to
1.00 (perfect agreement), but it does not take into account
agreements that might be based on chance. A 10 percent sample
size, which we used in Round 3, as the primary focus of this
report, is generally considered sufficient for establishing
reliability (Lombard, Snyder-Duch, & Bracken, 2002). The
soundness of the methodology behind each of the coding
decisions can be considered more reliable or less reliable based on
the percent agreement, with 90 percent or above, for example,
considered to be more reliable than 50 percent.
2.5 Stage 1, Round 1: Convenience sample
In the first round of this analysis, Oppegaard and T. Conway
were mailed a separate convenience sample of 10 brochures,
which were duplicates of brochures included in the larger set. The
researchers examined and analyzed those brochures and came up
with component coding frames that would label any and every
element contained within the brochure that potentially could be
audio described, guided by the Unigrid structure. The researchers
initially looked at the brochures independently then came together
and had a couple of lengthy discussions (about six hours total)
about the potential for coding frames. These frames then
informally were tested in several iterations, between discussions
and refinement, until the researchers thought the frames could
cover all of the contingencies in a formal test of them. A coding
sheet was created for a pilot study, from these discussions, to test
the frames within the content analysis process.
The researchers who created the frames also conducted the
content analysis, so no training was needed for additional coders.
On the negative side, this approach, using the researchers as
coders, made it unclear how much of the coding information
unwittingly is tacit and understood from the discussions among
researchers, rather than transferrable knowledge made available in
the associated codebook. On the positive side, the researchers
became intimately aware of the nuances of the coding schema and
the source material, leading to deeper discussions about the
procedures and protocols and the production of a dense and
detailed coding book.
2.6 Stage 1, Round 2: Pilot study
In the second round, as another pilot study, the two
researchers independently coded a probability sample of 10
brochures with the first iteration of the coding form. They counted
the number of codeable units and then applied code frames to
each of the units. The researchers then came back together and
compared codeable units to determine, record, and resolve any
differences. Once the differences in the number of units were
recorded, the frames were compared and discussed. Any
differences in the coding frames were recorded and then resolved
through discussion. These discussions led to codebook
clarifications and if/then rules designed to inform the next round
of coding. In this sample, the two coders had an overall 92 percent
intercoder-agreement rate on the number of codeable units and
found that the average brochure featured photographs most
frequently (13.1 per brochure), followed by text blocks (9.7),
illustrations (2.2) and maps (1.3). The maps, though, often were
large components, covering a significant amount of space on the
brochures. When calculating for the amount of brochure panels
dedicated to a component type, per unit, maps were the highest on
average (3.1 panels per map), compared to illustrations (1.8),
photos (1.1), and text (1.1), which showed a visual design
emphasis on imagery over text. Also in this sample, subcategories
were created for photographs, and additional coding frames were
applied in an effort to determine what kinds of photographs were
being included in the brochures. Those showed that 43 percent of
the photographs in this sample were of artifacts, followed by
landscapes (30 percent), unidentified people (11 percent),
identified people (8 percent), flora (5 percent), and fauna (3
percent). This subcategorization, though, also exposed many
assumptions being made by the individual coders about the coding
frames and their potential for overlap. For example, if a
photograph contained an image of Teddy Roosevelt at the
Roosevelt Arch in Yellowstone National Park speaking to a large
crowd, backed by a panoramic setting of flowers and animals, a
coder could potentially have picked any of those categories to
describe the image. This pilot study therefore led to a thorough
revamping of the coding frames and many new additions to the
codebook, especially related to the coding frame rules. The key
addition was the creation of a hierarchy of coding interest in the
photographs (and similar concerns when subcategorizing
illustrations). Because of this overlapping potential, the images in
the next round would be examined first to see if there was an
identified person in it, since any translation of an image into audio
description likely would be focused on that person’s identity and
the context of that person’s inclusion in the discussion. Projecting
a people-centric translation, the second coding frame that would
be considered was unidentified people, since primary appeals of
these brochures are ideas about park activities. An example we
considered showed a few boats, with barely visible people on the
boats, in the foreground of a gorgeous panoramic landscape that
also included a distinctive natural arch as a landmark. In the
coding frame system employed during this round, such an image
could have been labeled as unidentified people, a landscape, or an
artifact (the arch as a focused-upon feature). With the new schema
developed from this round’s findings, we would have labeled that
image as unidentified people, as a way to emphasize the humans
engaged in an activity. During Round 2, we also became
perplexed about how to handle images of animals in a field of
distinctive plants, seemingly showing with equal importance both
the flora and the fauna. So in the next round, we decided to merge
those two frames and give them the third spot in the hierarchy,
meaning if there are no people, then other living things should
take priority in the labeling. From the component perspective, that
left two categories: landscape and artifacts, the latter of which we
renamed focal point to be more inclusive of items that seemed less
like an artifact, such as interesting mineral deposits inside a cave,
and more like a perspective the brochure designers wanted to
emphasize. Focal points became the catch-all code for anything
specifically highlighted within an image, including the interior of
Alexander Hamilton’s home, a detail of a Pueblo doorway,
magnified perspectives on calcite crystals, a photograph of a
complete Civil War surgeon’s kit, and cut-outs of regimental
flags. Landscapes, in this revised coding schema, ended up
referring only to scenic images that had no people, no spotlight on
plants or animals, and no distinctive feature being pointed out. As
an example of the effects of this reconceptualization, landscapes
were one of the most prominent elements identified in Round 2
but ended up being the least labeled in Round 3.
As an example of this coding process, the Lake Roosevelt
National Recreation Area brochure broadly illustrated the
challenges addressed through this refined coding schema. In that
brochure (Figure 2), the front-side imagery blended a landscape
photograph that included a focal point, Whitestone rock, with a
map, into a diverse collage that includes flora, fauna, identified
people (David Thompson and Franklin D. Roosevelt), and
unidentified people (Indians, fur trappers, missionaries, etc.).
Figure 2. The Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
brochure (redesigned in 2012), with a detail of the collage.
Courtesy of The National Park Service.
How would an audio describer approach this brochure? By
using our method, of breaking apart the imagery into particular
types of components, with definable boundaries, along with the
best practices that have been established within those boundaries,
the cross-modal translation could happen relatively efficiently and
effectively. In this case, the page’s units would include the
Whitestone rock photograph (coded as a focal point) and the map
(3D, because of the relief markings), with the collage oriented
toward the identified people as the verbal entry point of the audio
description, in the sense that the story of the involvement of
Thompson and Roosevelt could provide the human context
needed to understand the significance of the park site.
2.7 Stage 1, Round 3: 10 percent sample
For our third round of analysis, we refined our coding frames
based on our experiences in Round 2. We randomly selected 35
brochures, created a matched set, and then two raters
independently counted the number of codeable units. These
codeable units subsequently were categorized and then
subcategorized, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the
components likely to appear in a National Park Service brochure,
and in what frequency as well as in what general size and genre.
Key additional changes made to the coding schema in this round:
1. The differences between a graphic and an illustration
were not clearly defined in Round 2, so those
categories were combined into one Illustration
category for Round 3 of analysis. With that
combination, it was no longer important whether the
image was of a complete picture or a detail of that
item, so the coding frame of complete / detail was
dropped for Round 3.
2. A refinement of the sizing metric was needed; even
though this only was intended to be a rough measure,
indicating visual prominence on the page, there was
some confusion about what should happen in the
framing process if an element did not fill a single
brochure panel but ran over two panels. Or what
should happen if the artwork would not fit vertically
but would fit horizontally (even though that would
not make sense for the visual, because it would be on
its side). We decided to make rules that the
components could not be turned, like a Tetris block,
but if they were placed on the X axis of a panel, and
fit within it, keeping the same orientation, then they
would be labeled as a single panel, even if the
component technically ran over two panels and the
fold.
From this perspective, the content analysis during this
round accounted for: black bar NPS branding,
headlines/subheds, text blocks, photographs, illustrations,
and maps. With those changes in place, we undertook the
coding of the 10 percent sample and found the following:
3. FINDINGS
The larger sample size and the refined coding schema of
Round 3 had measureable effects on our understandings of the
National Park Service brochure as a manifestation of the Unigrid
design system. To begin with, in terms of raw numbers, Rater 1
identified 1,221 codeable units, and Rater 2 identified 1,172. The
internal difference of 145, generated between those two tallies,
indicated a 94 percent intercoder-agreement rate, which is a sign
of high reliability and an improvement over Round 2’s 92 percent
rate. On a more granular level, though, this rate fluctuated among
the various coding frames. It still was very low in some coding
cases, such as when identifying a component as a single
illustration, counted once, or as multiple illustrations near each
other, counted multiple times. That illustration frequency frame
had just a 52 percent agreement rate, and after this round of
coding, several rules were added to the codebook to establish
coding distinctions that should improve reliability in future
samples. In other cases, during this round, the intercoder-
agreement rate was very high, such as when measuring the size of
those illustrations or the size of the maps, which both were at 98
percent agreement. The rest of the rates among the other coding
frames ranged from 84 percent to 97 percent, indicating a
generally positive reliability. The weight of this perceived
reliability could be improved in the future by running separate
statistical analyses on the data to account for chance agreement as
well as any potential differences created by the independent
coders in terms of the distribution of values across categories.
In terms of frequency, roughly the same number of text
blocks were counted per brochures as in Round 2 (10.0 in Round
3 to 9.7 in Round 2), but there was slightly more variance in
photographs (11.9 to 13.1), illustrations (4.6 to 2.2), and 2D maps
(2.0 to 1.3). The reconfigured genres also changed the
understanding of the brochures, with the new hierarchy of coding
putting more emphasis on people but in the process revealing the
brochure designers heavy orientation toward images of site focal
points and flora/fauna. In this sample, 32 percent of the images
were labeled as focal points, 25 percent flora and fauna, 18
percent unidentified people, 16 percent identified people, and 10
percent landscapes. Illustrations also tended to be focal points (40
percent), followed by unidentified people (30 percent), identified
people (19 percent), flora and fauna (8 percent), and landscapes (4
percent). Maps on the brochures were most likely to be 2D, as
opposed to 3D (88 percent of the units, 2.0 per brochure to 0.3),
but 3D maps tended to be bigger (taking up an average of 3.4
panels per brochure, compared to the 2.5 of 2D maps).
These findings demonstrated that while the Unigrid design
system by all appearances regulates an orderly and formulaic
approach to creating place-based media, the system also allows
for a broad range of design interpretations of the Unigrid
principles. Designers at each park site not only have the flexibility
to respond to the needs and desires of their audiences with their
brochures, they also have a general plan to follow for the
particulars, which could be a fruitful position to take when
refining the Unidescription system as not too abstract but not too
strict, either.
4. DISCUSSION
The Unigrid design system, in turn, provides a robust
substructure to National Park Service brochures. If a visitor looks
at just one or two of these brochures, there might be the false
impression created that these handouts are all alike and simple to
understand. In contrast, when analyzed in larger numbers, each
brochure showed a distinct composition based on the Unigrid
ideas but ultimately assembled in a unique way by a team of
collaborators with a particular vision and related interests that
diverges from other brochure-building teams, even those with
similar interests at similar kinds of parks in the same region.
Therefore, no large-scale translation from print to audio could
happen efficiently and effectively without a better understanding
of the overall composition of the brochures, starting just above the
grid level, with the base interpretive components.
This stage of the project revealed many global findings about
the brochures that could be helpful in later rounds of analysis as
the content gets organized and prepared for translations into audio
forms. It also created many questions in the minds of the
researchers about how these components should be counted,
categorized, and subcategorized. Some examples include:
• The image-filled collages, such as in the Lake Roosevelt
and Gulf Islands brochures, connect visually in both
style and placement and also thematically by a topic,
without distinct frames/borders in-between. The deeper
question that needs to be asked, though, is should these
images be classified as a single unit or multiple
illustrations, when considering their end goal of being
audio described? Will it be better for the listener if these
images are packaged together in a single file that unites
them all, or in a series of separate files that illuminates
each image of the larger piece as an individual thought
unit?
• The text associations; often times text on a brochure
could function as a specific descriptor, like a headline or
cutline, but also be associated more broadly across
components, or enhance nearby components, through
having larger meaning and by providing more thematic
unity among components. When considering these text
pieces as components but also as potential audio-
described digital media files, the question will emerge
about how to make similar linkage in the audio medium.
To properly label the text as a singular component or as
a larger associative component, similar to the issue
raised by collages, required an analysis beyond the
scope of this research stage.
• Maps also could be challenging to classify, for a variety
of reasons. On the most fundamental level, we aimed to
code a map as either 2D or 3D, thinking that a 2D map
would inherently be more about orientation, while a 3D
map would be more about visualization. Even that
approach became a muddied cause when we
encountered maps that were mostly 2D but maybe with
a couple of 3D trees illustrated on them. In our
codebook, we decided to make a new rule that any 3D
element on a map makes it a 3D map, even though the
purpose of the map is more 2D with some flourishes.
Maps also were provided on the brochures without any
sort of orientation feature, or even site visualization
elements. For example, historic maps, showing the ways
in which people used to draw maps of the area, did not
seem to fit either standard categorical use, so they were
labeled as focal point illustrations instead of as maps in
this round of coding.
• Even after eliminating the graphics versus illustration
debate in Round 2, we found new gray areas between
illustration and photography in Round 3. For example,
in the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site brochure,
Civil War-period photographs of Grant and other
military personnel had been so heavily doctored that
they appeared more like illustrations. They clearly were
based on a photograph but softened and colorized in
ways that seemed to lose their photographic nature. Yet
because they were originally photographs, we decided
to code them as such. Another photography question
centered on the pragmatic issue of how illustrations are
shown in a brochure. A few times, the illustrations
appeared to be directly scanned into a digital format and
then placed on the Unigrid. But most of the time,
photographs were taken of the illustrations, posing the
question of whether the image is a photograph of an
illustration, or the illustration itself. This also came up
when trying to code photographs of signatures, on
important historical documents. In those cases, we
determined whether the photography aspect should be
considered integral to the presentation, or if it was more
of a transparent media layer used for practical purposes.
 Therefore, in most cases, we coded a photograph of an
illustration – even something that only loosely could be
described as an illustration, such as handwriting on a
document – an illustration.
• In a similar vein, is a photograph of a sculpture of a
person, such as George Washington, a photograph of
that person, or of the sculpture? The Korean War
Veterans Memorial offered another example of this,
only with unidentified soldiers cast in bronze. We
eventually decided that the photograph is of a piece of
artwork that can be seen at the site, so it is more of a
focal point of a site attraction than a transparent
representation of the person embodied in the art.
The Round 3 data analyzed in this project helped our
understandings of National Park Service brochures by putting an
emphasis on the components that sit atop the design infrastructure
of the Unigrid system, below the specific details of what is written
in the text or shown in the particular illustration. The coding
frames and hierarchy of coding we used related to our ultimate
goal of creating a systematic design process for providing audio-
described versions of this content that would be considered
equivalent to the brochures, satisfying federal mandates for
accessibility. Researchers examining these brochures with
different objectives in mind likely would construct a different
coding schema, with different frames, that could create different
findings. In that sense, a limitation of this study is that the scope
and paradigm has a focused purpose, rather than being broadly
explorative. In turn, we have not explored all of the different ways
that these brochures could be analyzed but instead focused on
finding out what we thought would be helpful for audio
description and trying to refine that approach.
Other limitations include the sample size of 10 percent.
Considering the material shifts in results between the first
probability sample and the second, which clearly were affected by
changes to the coding schema, another 10 percent sample would
be recommended to determine if the current schema has become
solidified in its positions, or if it still needs more tinkering. A
census of all of the brochures through this schema might be overly
ambitious, and unnecessary, for the end purposes in mind here,
but another 10 percent sample could provide more clarity about
the reliability of the schema and the approach in determining
which components appear in Unigrid brochures, how frequently,
and in what sizes. With that information, the researchers could
then begin to more deeply explore the genres of the brochure at a
more detailed content level, which could lead to collecting
appropriate translation best practices and designing experiments
to further test assumptions about audio description of static media
and its audiences.
5. NEXT STEPS
Since this research project clearly has not reached theoretical
saturation, which is the logical ending point for such an endeavor.
Round 4 of this project, based on the findings above, should
involve an additional 10 percent probability sample, using the
same coding schema as Round 3, as a way to compare and
contrast the findings of Round 3 to new data but also to add more
data to these emerging understandings and to test assumptions that
are beginning to form on the component structures of the Unigrid
brochure.
This content analysis data in Round 3 has shown to be
reliable through the percent-agreement perspective, but it would
benefit broadly from the application of other statistical analyses of
intercoder-agreement, such as Cohen’s kappa, Krippendorff’s
alpha, and Scott’s pi, which could help to triangulate the
reliability of the coded data and also eliminate the value of chance
agreements in the system as well as mitigate the impacts of the
distribution of values by any single individual coder.
As the understandings about components in the brochures
solidify, this project also needs to begin analysis at the next level,
the content level, to look carefully at the details of each
component to determine how those specifics within the
components will affect the audio description efforts. These future
content analyses should include the brochures but also examples
of audio description that has been done by the National Park
Service, or its proxies, on brochures and other static media, such
as wayside interpretive panels and visitor center exhibits. During
the next few steps, this project will need to combine a
deconstruction of the paper brochures, including identifying
components and content details, with the deconstruction of audio
description models in this field – both inside and outside of the
National Park Service – by identifying components and audible
details, to build a fuller awareness of what audio description has
done for the heritage industry so far but also what potential it
offers for the future. Our ultimate goals in this research project are
to improve the quality of audio description and its abundance
through the development of web tools that allow for easy
production. Also of importance, though, is the development of a
well-informed community of audio-description enthusiasts, who
continue to refine the communication form based on empirical
findings generated by experiments that test the assumptions of the
field today, which mostly have arisen through heuristics and best
practices. These brochures eventually will be translated into
audio-based mobile apps, but before that process can be
completed, much more needs to be known about the essence of
the brochure experience, on a variety of levels.
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanks to the National Park Service, in particular Michele
Hartley, Melissa Cronyn, and John Tobiason of Harpers Ferry
Center. Michael Rabby (Washington State University Vancouver)
and Francis Dalisay (University of Hawaii at Manoa) assisted as
well, including with the framing of the methodology and statistics,
and Sean Zdenek (Texas Tech University) helped with overall
conceptualizations of this project.
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