Towards a Canadian Accessible Content Best Practices Guide: partnership between MAC and Ryerson University

1
Towards a Canadian Accessible Content Best
Practices Guide partnership between MAC and
Ryerson University

• Deborah Fels, PhD., P.Eng.

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Agenda

• Goals and objectives of working group
• Organization/membership/partners of group
• Main discussion points
• Issues
• Next steps

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Goals and objectives

• Identify key areas where best practices guide do
  not exist or are outdated
• Identify stakeholders including consumers,
  experts and industry to participate
• Report and publish on an on-going basis
• Public domain, widely disseminated
• Applicable to production,, post production, live
  and delivery
• How and what
• Based on
• Research/evidence
• Experience of global communities
• 100 accessibility of broadcast media by 2020.

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Accessible Content Working Group

• Formed to create committees and identify key
  areas in need of research and guidelines
• Identified 7 areas so far
• Descriptive Video
• Closed Captioning
• Vertical and Horizontal Multi-platform
  Distribution
• Monitoring and Measurement
• Harmonization
• End User Interface
• Telecommunications

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Video Description

• French and English
• Premise
• Video description supports entertainment
  qualities
• Creative process
• Examining
• Measures of quality
• Stylistic alternatives, i.e. news style vs.
  inclusive
• In-production, post production, live
• Publish English in September 2011
• 3D also under consideration for future drafts

6
Closed Captioning

• French and English
• Draft seed document English being developed
• Publish Dec. 2011
• Analogue and digital under consideration
• Considerable historical documentation for
  analogue
• Little research
• Build on analogue best practice
• Scope is anything digital in production and
  presentation of closed captioning
• Includes 3D

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Vertical and Horizontal Multiplatform Distribution

• Project based committee
• International range of participation
• Australia
• US
• UK
• Scope is anything web connected
• 18 month project to enable captioning and
  description on the RIM, Microsoft and Android
  platforms
• Publish March 2012

8
End User Interface

• Evaluate feedback of disability organizations
  involved in CAB Working group
• Scope to include mobility issues, and of clicks
• Identify all manufacturers
• Identify BDU suppliers
• Establish research project to eliminate clicks
• Identify and write up infrared tool kit to
  develop access for mobility users
• Identify voice recognition opportunities and test

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To be established

• Harmonization
• Permeates all best practices, so must get them to
  a certain milestone before commencement
• Scope to include harmonization in technology and
  production
• Telecommunications
• Looking for interested parties to take it on.
• Scope to look at all that is in 2009-430 and
  examine activities around the world
• Monitoring and Measurement
• Awaiting final results of Monitor 2
• Examining opportunities to support CRTC in their
  publications
• Scope to include compliance to CRTC standards,
  Broadcaster reporting vs. actual, volume of
  captioning and description and other as defined
  by sub-committee

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Outcome of our work

• Inform the development of accessible content
  standards for production, distribution, quantity
  and quality of accessible content
• Establish Broadcast Quality Certification guide
  for independent production industry.
• Remove barriers to entry for streaming accessible
  content to web sites, by providing a practical
  how to information
• Adoption from world standard organizations

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Whos participating

• Industry
• Broadcasters, hardware manufactures, assistive
  technology providers
• User representatives
• Academic/research
• Ryerson University
• Government
• French partnership
• CRIM and Eve. Taking lead

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Who is watching?

• International Standards
• International disability organizations
• Canadas ICT standards group is looking at our
  work for a resolution in GSC 16
• Canadian government

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Concluding remarks

• Much work to accomplish
• Important work
• Involve as many interested people as possible
• Participants are volunteers
• Opportunity to make a significant contribution
  towards improved accessibility