Research & policy

Error message

Deprecated function: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is deprecated in include_once() (line 14 of /home/mediacc/public_html/themes/engines/phptemplate/phptemplate.engine).

News from the Round Table on Information Access 2013

no
Show on home page

Access to information through digital technologies was discussed and highlighted at the 2013 Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities held last week in Sydney. The conference covered a variety of subjects including access to arts and culture, access to desktop computers and mobile devices, regulation, publishing standards and access in education.

People with a print disability include those who are blind or vision impaired, have impaired mobility such as diminished dexterity, or cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia. The purpose of the conference was to provide information and generate discussion on how people with print disabilities can access information and services through technology

Speaking at the conference were Media Access Australia’s chief executive Alex Varley and project manager Dr Scott Hollier.


Top of page

Guest post: Voting independently

no
Show on home page

In a recent state by-election, screen reader user Andrew Devenish-Meares was able to vote online. Here, he talks through the experience of being able to place a secret vote independently.

It’s that time again for the people of the Northern Tablelands state election. Some people view it as a right, others say it is an obligation. Either way, the law requires we cast our ballots in a by-election.

Here in New South Wales, the NSW Electoral Commission has spent considerable time developing an online voting application for use in state elections and by-elections. It’s called iVote, and was first used at the last state election in 2011 to great success.

Digital media and technology: 

Top of page

Opinion: Regulating audio description the only way

no
Show on home page

Australia is a long way behind the rest of the world when it comes to audio description on television. Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley looks at the different approaches to regulating audio description and what conditions lead to across-the-board services around the world.

What is the state of audio description in the world?

There are many countries that now have regulations in place for audio description, including Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Canada, France, Ireland, Portugal and the USA. However, most of these are for public channels only and Portugal has not implemented its requirements. Only five of the countries listed have some audio description (AD) on commercial channels. Poland and Spain have a handful of programs, whereas the UK, Canada and USA have a form of across-the-board service.


Top of page

UK regulator seeks to improve live TV captioning

no
Show on home page

The UK communications regulator Ofcom has announced proposals aimed at improving the quality of live captioning on television, including asking broadcasters to report on the quality of their captions.

Ofcom notes that the quality of pre-prepared captions (which are called ‘subtitles’ in the UK) is generally very good, and the majority of complaints it receives are related to live captioning. As caption quotas have risen, so have the number of programs being captioned live. Most of this captioning is now undertaken using speech recognition technology, but this is imperfect and errors are common. 

Following consultation with viewers and representative groups, Ofcom has concluded that the four key dimensions that affect the quality of live captions are:


Top of page

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Research & policy