Name: When Open Content Moves Beyond Vision: Tactile and Multisensory Design for Accessibility
Start: 2026-10-08T16:55:00-0400
End: 2026-10-08T17:25:00-0400

All sessions are available online except round tables, special activities, and workshops.

When Open Content Moves Beyond Vision: Tactile and Multisensory Design for Accessibility

Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT

7 DR5

ID: 33897

Most educational content is often created assuming that learning primarily happens through vision. My work in graphic design has been shaped by a related question: how can communication go beyond just vision? This question arose because I experienced a vision problem caused by retinal detachment. While visual approaches work for many people, they can also create barriers for learners with visual impairments and for contexts where visual access is limited or unreliable. This session explores how graphic design can expand open content by engaging touch, material, and physical interaction.Drawing from practice-based research in tactile and multisensory design, the presentation introduces methods for creating accessible learning materials that go beyond visual methods. Examples include 3D-printed tactile graphics, embossed typographic systems, and hands-on learning tools that can be produced using accessible fabrication techniques and shared as open resources. These approaches demonstrate how design can turn information into physical forms, enabling learners to access content through multiple sensory channels.This session positions accessibility not only as a requirement, but as a generative strategy for innovating open content. Open education has made significant progress in improving access through open licensing and digital distribution. However, much of this content remains visually dependent. Expanding open content to include tactile and multisensory formats can better support diverse learners, including those with visual impairments, as well as those working in environments where screens, bandwidth, or visual attention are limited.The presentation will address how these materials can be shared, adapted, and reproduced. By sharing design files, utilizing common tools like desktop 3D printers or embossing techniques, and encouraging local adaptation, educators and practitioners can create context-responsive learning materials. This method supports the larger goals of open education by supporting not only access, but also participation and co-creation.Attendees will gain an understanding of how graphic design can help develop new types of open content that are inclusive, adaptable, and scalable. The session encourages participants to rethink the role of design in open education, not just as a tool for visual communication, but as a way to shape how knowledge is experienced, shared, and understood across different sensory and material conditions.

Speakers

Taekyeom Lee

Associate Professor of Graphic Design, Indiana University

Taekyeom Lee is an award-winning interdisciplinary graphic designer and design educator whose work explores emerging technologies, digital fabrication, and accessible visual communication. He is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Indiana University Bloomington and received... Read More →

Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

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OEGlobal 2026

Taekyeom Lee

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OEGlobal 2026

Taekyeom Lee

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