While the people of Reykjavik, Iceland may only be getting about four hours of daylight each day in January, they certainly aren’t being kept in the dark. Anna Soffia Oskarsdottir found out about EagleEyes technology via the EagleEyes website, www.bc.edu/eagleeyes. One communication led to another and soon individuals and families of Fulloroins fraedsla fatladra, a special education center for adult education, wanted to try the system out for themselves.

For Paul Tamburro ‘02 and Amy Gips ‘04, two undergraduate students at Boston College, the chance to demonstrate the system meant a three day adventure to a place that they never imagined they would see.

Arriving at 6am after an all night flight, Paul and Amy were shuttled to a hotel where they quickly checked to make sure that the EagleEyes and Camera Mouse equipment worked in its new environment. Soon after, they headed to the center where they began a series of demonstrations to school staff members, government agency representatives, technology experts and people from neighboring centers. Between the first and second day, the students gave a grand total of about 30-40 trials to potential users!

When asked about their greatest challenge of the trip, Amy and Paul cited the language barrier. While the people at the facility all spoke English, it was uncertain if the EagleEyes / Camera Mouse users understood all of the instructions. Fortunately, there were teachers nearby to translate instructions into Icelandic.

Highlights of their trip included learning more about the techniques that the Icelandic facility uses to help the people at the center to communicate. Some people were using what is called a “Bliss Board,” a system of symbolized pictures that help people with language expressive disabilities to communicate.

Additional trip highlights included Anna Soffia’s tour of the area, including the hot springs and a wonderful dinner at Halla Stefansdottir’s house, which Amy described as “Delicious food, good conversation and a great introduction to Icelandic culture.”