Poet and artist Elizabeth Goldring's eyes fill with light when she works--laser light, that is. A degenerative eye disease damaged Goldring's vision, so she must go to great lengths to see her own art; she uses a laser to project the video and computer images she creates directly onto a small, functional part of her retina.

The device that brings Goldring's work back into her view is a modified version of a diagnostic tool called the scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). By connecting the SLO to cameras, computers and even the Internet, Goldring can see friends' faces, unfamiliar buildings and--for the first time in years--words. With help from the SLO's inventor and other researchers, students and artists, Goldring hopes someday to use the machine to share visual experiences with others she believes have been encouraged unnecessarily to "turn off their eyes."