Sile O'Modhrain

Sile O’Modhrain is a blind Irish professor and Braille innovator. Winkless, L. (2021). Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing. She makes musical and digital interfaces more tactile, meaning they can be felt with fingers, instead of seen or heard.  O'Mondhrain teaches at the University of Michigan in the School of Music, Theater, and Dance.  

 Early life 
O’Modhrain studied for a master’s degree in music technology from the University of York. She  worked for BBC Network Radio as a studio engineer. She could edit by feeling recording tape with her fingers. The BBC changed to digital editing and O'Modhrain could not do her job anymore. She then went on a scholarship to Stanford University. She studied at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. She got her PhD. Then O’Modhrain went to teach at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast.   Dr. O’Modhrain then directed the Palpable (feel-able) Machines group at Media Lab Europe. 

 Career 
Dr. O’Modhrain now teaches Performing Arts Technology at the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance at the University of Michigan. Dr. O’Modhrain is unable to access certain things seeing people can. She decided to find a way to help blind people “feel” certain untranslatable things. She has now gone on to design tablets that pop out Braille (like little air bubbles). Dr. O’Modhrain also is inventing a moose (an extension to a computer’s mouse).Chun, K. (1997, November 7). Where Composers Can Get With the Program. THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, p. 2. Available from NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current The moose allows people to control their computer through touch. She is working on an iMessaging system allowing you to send touch.Gallace A, Spence C. The science of interpersonal touch: an overview. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2010 Feb;34(2):246-59. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2008.10.004. Epub 2008 Oct 17. . Dr. O’Modhrain is also working on developing other tactile interfaces that show physical gestures and feelings.Yuan Niu and Hao Chen. “Gesture Authentication with Touch Input for Mobile Devices”. In: 3rd International Conference on Security and Privacy in Mobile Information and Communication Systems (MobiSec). Aalborg, Denmark, May 17–19, 2011.Paradiso, J. A., Pardue, L. S., Hsiao, K. Y., & Benbasat, A. Y. (2003). Electromagnetic tagging for electronic music interfaces. Journal of New Music Research, 32(4), 395-409.

 References 

Category:Irish academics