The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg is currently one of several test sites within the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) for AIRA, the new smartphone app that visitors with limited vision can download and use at the museum. AIRA is a phone app that allows people who have low vision or are blind to connect to a trained professional agent who will describe what they are seeing.
AIRA uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to connect people in real time to remotely located professional agents, who deliver instant access to information and help completing such tasks as navigating health care facilities, using public transportation, and reading prescription labels. People who are blind or have low vision can use AIRA for free through AIRA Access at https://aira.io.
PHMC has been working with the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry as part of its 21st Century Museums initiative. AIRA is one of the ways in which the agency is incorporating technology into daily museum operations in an effort to better serve underserved guests.
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania has already been geo-fenced for this program, which technically went online June 1, so the museum is already set up to allow the AIRA app to work for guests who have it. The other participating PHMC test sites are the Erie Maritime Museum, Old Economy Village, Pennsylvania Military Museum, Landis Valley Museum, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
For more information about the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, readers may visit http://www.rrmuseumpa.org.
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