12 Days of Access - Belinda Kerslake on accessible DVDs, videos and much more

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Wednesday, 15 December 2010 14:34pm

Belinda Kerslake shares her marketing communication experiences across projects in education and website development, and looks forward to further developments in 2011.

Belinda has spent close to two years working at Media Access Australia, joining the team in 2009 as Marketing Communication Manager.

What have been a few of the highlights of 2010 for you in your area of access?

The first highlight for me was working on the video for our second Classroom Access Project (CAP) pilot (captioned and audio described). This project aims to set a benchmark in meeting the needs of hearing impaired students in mainstream schools. We developed the video without scripts, and asked participants in the project to talk honestly about their experiences. It was so inspiring and rewarding to hear about the difference the project had made.

I’ve also found it really exciting to work on our brand review this year, and learn more through our research directly with consumers, particularly about their concerns and challenges. I believe that, while we aren’t a membership organisation, as we support consumer groups and government with our understanding of mainstream access technologies, we need to be in touch with the ‘end-user’.

Many consumers we spoke to, including blind or vision impaired people and Deaf or hearing impaired people, felt that access to media empowers them through knowledge, bringing independence and inclusion. The Classroom Access Project was evidence of this.

What was involved in the Classroom Access Project?

The project was extensive in terms of the support and liaison with the school, and plenty of training was undertaken with teachers, students and parents. The part that I was involved in, the video was developed by Vicki Bobotis of Your Untold Story. She was really touched by the experience and had a great deal of empathy with the students.

The purpose of this video is to promote the use of mainstream, readily-available access technologies in the classroom, tailoring them for hearing impaired students. Building on the findings from the Classroom Access Project, we are currently developing a ‘Captioned Classroom’ program that we hope can be rolled out across a large number of schools.

What was one of the challenges faced in your area in 2010?

In the Marketing area, we have overall responsibility for our websites. Some areas of access, particularly in relation to the Internet and computers, are moving so fast, it can be quite difficult, with a lean team, to keep our website content as up-to-date and relevant as possible.

Our new website, merging our two flagship sites together, is due to be launched in early 2011, and should help this process. It will also showcase the latest Internet technologies, while being compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) ‘AA’ accessibility guidelines (known as WCAG 2.0).

How do you see accessibility improving in 2011?

With the Australian Federal Government announcement that all Government websites will need to meet international accessibility standards by 2015, general awareness of this issue is likely to increase. Website accessibility is important to people with various disabilities, including people who are blind or have a physical disability.

The Internet is becoming one of the general community’s most important ways of obtaining information, and as our research showed, knowledge is seen by people with various sensory impairments as being essential for inclusion and connection.

What’s your top pick for a gift with accessible features this festive season?

Our research and website statistics show our DVD database (for audio described DVDs) is one of the most popular sections of our website.

An audio described and captioned DVD of Mao’s Last Dancer would be a good choice. It’s the story of Li Cunxin and his journey from poverty in China to world-renown as a dancer. Interestingly, he also has a daughter who is hearing impaired, and was Hearing Awareness Week ambassador last year.


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