Abby's Dream Journal
Help us raise what we need to get to Ethiopia to film Abby's story for a project titled, "Abby's Dream Journey" and to attend the first ever Africa Forum on Visual Impairment in Addis Ababa.
The Africa Forum is a conference for blindness advocates and educators.
UPDATE: Abby and I have been chosen to co-presenters at the Africa Forum on Visual Impairment.
Abby's Dream Journey is an in person mixed media immersive 360 audio story and immersive sound journey with a tactile experience. Abby's Dream Journey is about the journey of a woman who lost her sight at the age of eight while playing with friends in the fields along the river’s edge, in the central Ethiopian city of Areka. Spatial sounds of the river and sounds from our journey through Ethiopia will take you there as you hear her story and experience her dream memories. Visitors will experience a 3D audio of a tea ceremony and moments spent documenting Abby's story.
This immersive 360 audio story, sound journey and tactile experience will have multiple listening stations. Each listening station will have large photo prints representing the sounds and immersive audio story that visitors will hear and each station will have smaller tactile images that are copies of the larger prints and brail stands that explain what each listening station is about before they listen to the audio. This entire experience is about creating a shared experience and is focused on accessibility. This is an important step to developing immersive content that can be shared with people who are blind.
This is a traveling exhibit starting in Portland, Oregon.
To learn more Abby's story and hear hear the first part of the audio story, please head over to:
Every part of this project will be designed with accessibility in mind.
10% of what we raise above our expenses will be donated to the school for the blind in Wolaita Sodo
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To make this important journey, Abby and Mary Anne are seeking your help with costs associated with going to Ethiopia from October 3rd to Oct 19th to attend the Africa Forum on Visual Impairment and to document where Abby's story began.
How Will Your Funds Help?
- Your donation will help cover the cost of our round trip plane tickets to Ethiopia from Portland, Oregon.
- Your donation will help us cover the cost of the Africa Forum on Visual Impairment
- Your donation will help cover the cost of a car and driver in Ethiopia
- Your donation will help cover food, water and lodging in Ethiopia
- 10% of what we raise above our final expenses listed above, will be donated to the school for the blind in Wolaita Sodo
- Remaining funds will cover the cost of music composition to accompany the story, time spent editing the 360 sound journey and tactile experience, and to help cover the cost of bringing the experience to different locations.
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About Us:
Above Photo: Abby Griffith
Abby Griffith is currently working on her bachelors degree in Human Development at Washington State University. Along with her degree, Abby is pursuing a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) certificate.
Above Photo: Mary Anne Funk behind the video camera working on a story in conjunction with the Salvation Army's Women's Shelter in Portland, Oregon.
Mary Anne Funk is currently working on her Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism at University of Oregon's School of Journalism in Portland, Oregon. She has a working background in photojournalism and visual anthropology. Her work is about promoting ongoing education, community-based activism, understanding, advocacy, outreach, and social awareness. She is focused on creating multimedia content and virtual reality content for people who are visually impaired.