Since the inception of 3D printing, an evolutionary process has taken place in which specific user and customer needs have crossed paths with the capabilities of a growing number of machines to create value-added businesses. Even today, over 30 years later, the growth of 3D printing and its utilization for the good of society is often limited by the various users' understanding of the technology for their specific needs. This article presents an overview of current 3D printing technologies and shows numerous examples from a multitude of fields from manufacturing to education.

Both sighted and visually impaired people value having a photographic memento of a place or an event. However, due to the visually oriented nature of photography and the lack of nonvisual cues to indicate the content of the photo, the common belief is that it is difficult for people with limited vision to take, organize and share pictures. However, we did not find a structured study on the photographic practice of those with limited vision. We ran a survey among 54 totally blind, light perception, and legally blind participants to investigate their photo taking, browsing, and online sharing. Based on this survey, we developed a mobile app to help blind persons take and recognize picture content using non-visual cues. The application was tested with five legally and totally blind persons with mostly positive results.

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While a photograph is a visual artifact, studies reveal that a number of people with visual impairments are also interested in being able to share their memories and experiences with their sighted counterparts in the form of a photograph. We conducted an online survey to better understand the challenges faced by people with visual impairments in sharing and organizing photos, and reviewed existing tools and their limitations. Based on our analysis, we developed an accessible mobile application that enables a visually impaired user to capture photos along with audio recordings for the ambient sound and memo description and to browse through them eyes-free. Five visually impaired participants took part in a study in which they used our app to take photographs in naturalistic settings and to share them later with a sighted viewer. The participants were able to use our app to identify each photograph on their own during the photo sharing session, and reported high satisfaction in having been able to take the lead during the process.

Photography is a visual way to capture a moment in time. Photos can be used for artistic expression, and to remember significant events. Because photo taking, organizing and sharing traditionally requires visual information, those with no or limited sight often have problems with these activities. Previous work has made photo capturing without sight easier, however, there is little work that makes photo browsing and sharing blindaccessible. My dissertation research aims at facilitating independence for blind persons to take, organize and share photos through user-centered development of a smartphone application that can be used without sight. The work starts with an investigation of current practices of blind persons in these activities, continued with a review of existing applications, and finally the design and long-term evaluation of the application.