THE MEDIA ACCESS REPORT
ISSUE 13
SUMMER 2009
ABOUT MEDIA ACCESS AUSTRALIA
Media Access Australia is a not-for-profit, public benevolent institution and Australia’s primary media access organisation. Our role is to provide information about media access and to develop and apply technological solutions to media access issues.
MAA is based in Sydney and works in collaboration with consumer organisations, Government and industry across the country.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY MEDIA ACCESS?
Media access services include, but are not limited to, captioning for the Deaf and hearing impaired, and audio description for the blind and vision impaired. MAA is committed to increasing the awareness and use of these services in television, DVDs and videos, education, cinema, theatre performances, exhibitions and other media. MAA also deals with access issues for new media, including downloads, portable media and the Internet.
The Media Access Report covers key developments in media access in both Australia and around the world, as well as providing statistical and other information on current levels of access.
DISCLAIMER
Statistical information published in The Media Access Report is derived from public sources such as television listings and websites. It has been made available for general use only and is provided without warranty as to its accuracy or currency.
SUBMISSIONS
We are interested in receiving submissions for publication in The Media Access Report, including accounts of media or events that have been made accessible, research papers, and news items dealing with captioning, audio description and other access services. If you have any material you would like to submit, contact Chris Mikul on (02) 9212 6242, or email
The Media Access Report is published by Media Access Australia, Suite 408, 22-36 Mountain Street, Ultimo NSW 2007. Phone/TTY: (02) 9212 6242, Fax: (02) 9212 6289.
If you would like to be put on the mailing list to receive future issues of The Media Access Report, email
CONTENTS
ABOUT MEDIA ACCESS AUSTRALIA
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY MEDIA ACCESS?
DISCLAIMER
CONTENTS
MEDIA ACCESS NEWS
Government releases Media Access Review
FCC reminds broadcasters about accessible emergency announcements
Amazon Kindle now shipping to Australia
US digital mobile TV standard includes access
Canadian audio description to expand
UK breaks world record for most people at AD performance
Accessibility a priority for UK digital services
Thunder and Lightning: an accessibility story from Kenya
Planet Read receives major boost
American study finds barriers to broadband adoption for disabled and seniors
American disability group has world’s largest captioned billboard
New Web Captioned Telephony Trial
Canadian access consultants undertake major access review
Ofcom releases third quarter access report
Japanese develop translation glasses
Media Access Australia’s Audio Description Infoline
ONLINE MEDIA
Access on social media
US Government seeks disability input on broadband plan
HSBC to follow web access standards after US settlement
Blind iPhone users discover additional iPhone features in recent refresh
Google Android offers EyesFree dialing
W3C launches updated website
Apple announces new Snow Leopard accessibility features
New plug-in for MS Word improves PDF accessibility
IBM creates software to improve mobile web accessibility
NCAM creates guidelines for iTunes access
Google creates centralised accessibility portal
Access in sight for US broadband
US blind gamer sues for online game access
Google announces YouTube automated captions
VIDEO ON DEMAND
BBC iPlayer significantly increases audio description content
Digital video the new access frontier
FREE-TO-AIR TELEVISION
ACMA finds that NBN breached captioning regulations
Free-to-air television complaints
Consultation on captioning and program standards on digital multi-channels announced
SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION
ASTRA requests delay in caption exemption decision
EDUCATION
MAA launches education DVD database
Education conference highlights access issues
AD in education website launched
DVDs
Sony US commits to audio described DVDs
Access on new release DVDs
CINEMA
Major cinema chains apply for access complaint exemption
Bollywood Audio Description Project
Indian film festival includes access
UK accessible movies for schools week
First accessible 3D movie for UK audiences
Audio description and captioning in Australian cinemas
Glossary
Acronyms
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MEDIA ACCESS NEWS
Government releases Media Access Review
Minister for Communications, the Hon Stephen Conroy, and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, the Hon Bill Shorten, jointly released the Access to Electronic Media for the Hearing and Vision Impaired Approaches for Consideration Discussion Report 2009 (Media Access Report) at Parliament House, Canberra, on 26 November.
The review does not identify specific targets, quotas or regulations, but provides an outline on how the Government is planning to approach the issues of access to electronic media. The Government expects to table a final report with recommendations during 2010.
Both Conroy and Shorten called for disability groups, representatives and other interested people to participate in the process and provide their input.
“This is a step forward and the Report gives us a much clearer view of where the Government’s policy priorities lie,” said MAA CEO, Alex Varley.
“Clearly the Government is viewing this in the context of other media regulation and issues such as the switch-off of analog television by 2013 and the National Disability Strategy. Whilst some will be disappointed that they will have to wait until next year to see clear recommendations, it does give everybody a chance to consider the most up-to-date information and produce a better final outcome.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission, which has been instrumental in improving access in television, cinema and DVD, also welcomed the release of the report. Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said, “There have been many important improvements over the past few years, but there are many areas where we clearly do not yet do as well as we should. I look forward to the Minister finalising this investigation and moving on to the next stage of mapping out real progress.”
The key proposed approaches by Government are:
- Government considering an overall review of captioning and audio description on electronic media in 2013.
- Government considering bringing all captioning targets under the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).
- Government considering amending the BSA to include captioning targets for subscription television broadcasters by end 2014.
- Government is considering conducting a technical trial of audio description on the ABC prior to digital switchover (2013).
- Government will review the captioning rules applying to multichannels.
- Government will facilitate caption quality standards being covered by voluntary guidelines or the development of a code of practice for television before digital switchover (2013).
- Cinema will be included in the overall review in 2013.
- Government is considering a consultation process with stakeholders regarding DVDs to include captions and audio description as part of a voluntary industry standard, including labelling.
- Government will consider further regulatory measures if availability of captions and audio description on DVDs does not improve by the end of 2012.
- Government will continue to monitor international developments in accessible Internet content and encourage industry to partner with disability groups to improve online content accessibility by the end of 2013.
- Government will consider mandating captioning and voiceover of emergency announcements.
- Government will consider discussing strengthening requirements for captioning television commercials with industry.
A copy of the Media Access Report can be found at:
The Government is seeking submissions from interested parties and these submissions are due by 29 January 2010.
FCC reminds broadcasters about accessible emergency announcements
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the UScommunications regulator, used this year’s hurricane and Southern Californian wildfire season to remind all video programming distributors of their obligation to make emergency information accessible to people with hearing and vision disabilities.
The FCC also reminded video programming distributors that they must make emergency information accessible even if they are distant from the emergency. This is important as many people outside an emergency zone may need such information. For example, people who are relocated outside the immediate area of an emergency may need information obtaining relief assistance.
Section 79.2 of the US Code of Federal Regulations on closed captioning of video programming currently requires more accessible emergency information than the equivalent section in the Australian Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice. The FCC requires all broadcasters, cable operators, and satellite television services to provide accessible emergency information. In Australia, free-to-air broadcasters are subject to a similar, albeit less comprehensive, requirement while subscription broadcasters have no comparable requirement. The US approach also requires broadcasters and other video distributors to prepare in advance of emergencies.
The FCC reiterated that accessible emergency information is essential. “There are no exemptions to section 79.2, and all video programming distributors that air emergency information are required to make it accessible,” said the FCC.
More information on the FCC's position on accessible emergency announcements is available here:
Amazon Kindle now shipping to Australia
The Amazon Kindle, the e-book reader produced by Amazon.com, beganshipping the devices to a number of countries around the world from 19 October, including Australia.
The Kindle has the potential to be advantageous to people who are blind or vision impaired, as the reader includes a text-to-speech function which allows for books to be read out if the publisher has enabled the feature.
It is unclear at this stage whether or not the full range of electronic books will be available to customers outside the United States. The Kindle costs $US279.
Further information can be found on the Gizmodo Australia website:
US digital mobile TV standard includes access
A very important first step has been achieved in the accessibility of mobile digital TV receivers in the US. The technical standard for mobile DTV specifies that CEA708 captions (‘DTV CC’) can be carried within the mobile DTV signal, or TV received over wireless devices.
Practical testing of the standard with mobile devices will be carried out in conjunction with the NationalCenter for Accessible Media (NCAM). NCAM is running a project until September 2010 called ‘Captioning Solutions for Handheld Media and Mobile Devices’. For more information on this project and related developments:
Canadian audio description to expand
Canadian television viewers with vision impairments may soon have access to more television programming on channels operated by Canwest Television, under a forthcoming decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Canadian communications regulator.
The Canwest application is the first based on July 2009 CRTC policies that are intended to increase the awareness and accessibility of ‘described video’ (the Canadian term for audio description).
Under current licenses, Canadian television stations must provide a minimum number of hours of described video on drama, documentaries and children's programming. Described video on other programming does not meet this requirement. The new CRTC policy invites Canadian television licensees to amend their license to expand the variety of programming that can be used to meet described video requirements. This policy aims to increase the breadth of content that is accessibility to people with vision impairments. Canwest has made an application under this policy to bring described video to a variety of other content, including sitcoms, mini-series, television films, cinematic films, animated programs and human interest programming.
Canwest Television, one of Canada’s largest television stations, operates many channels across Canada and is one of Canada’s largest communications conglomerates. Until September 2009, Canwest was the majority owner of Ten Network Holdings, licensee of the Ten Network in Australia.
More information on the current CRTC policy on described video is also available from the CRTC website:
UK breaks world record for most people at AD performance
UK theatre audio description organisation VocalEyes has confirmed that the 168 blind and vision impaired people that attended an audio described performance of Les Misérables at The Queen’s Theatre in London on 11 October 2008 is a valid world record certified by Guinness World Record™ - Largest Audience for Audio Described Theatre.
For more information visit the VocalEyes website:
Accessibility a priority for UK digital services
Digital services for people with a disability are a priority in a new report, Access and Inclusion: Digital communications for all, released by Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, in October.
The report considers disability and other priority issues across a variety of digital media and communications including television, radio, computing, the Internet, mobile and emergency services. It also discusses disability issues in customer services that support these communications services.
The report finds that people with disabilities are higher than average users of television and radio but lag in the take-up of broadband and mobile services. The report points to the availability and affordability of suitable equipment and services for broadband and mobile devices as a contributing factor in low take-up.
In the report, Ofcom points to a number of areas where it is making progress in accessibility of digital services:
- Television access services, including closed captioning, audio description and signing on television.
- Text relay services.
- Usability and affordability of equipment.
- Video On Demand.
- Broadband access.
- Emergency SMS.
More information on the Access and Inclusion: Digital communications for all and the full report are available at the Ofcom website:
Thunder and Lightning: an accessibility story from Kenya
The Kenya Union of the Blind is promoting the Dolphin Pen in its latest campaign to diversify employment opportunities for its members.
The Dolphin Pen is a simple USB stick that is loaded with access software including a screen reader named Thunder and a screen magnifier named Lightning. The pen drive updates the machine with the individual requirementsof a vision impaired user, even if they haven't used the machine before. In no time at all, the user can get to work, whether they are at home, at an Internet kiosk or at the office.
Martin Kieti, CEO of the Kenya Union of the Blind, has seen more people working in call centres, mobile phone companies and banks as a result of this innovative access solution. This change would not be possible if itwere not for open source, freely available software. In Kenya, there is no money to support commercial software products. "If resources went to pay for software, then it would not be available to pay for necessities of life," said BBC technology writer BillThompson.
Organisations in the West, such as banks and call centres, would typically have concerns about the USB pen, particularly regarding security and control of their IT infrastructure. However, Bill Thompson hopes that tools like Thunder and Lightning will put sufficient pressure onmanufacturers of operating systems to place more access features into their products and improve upon the ones already there.Ultimately, Thompson says, "We should not need assistive technologies in this way. Computers should beusable by all people, all of the time, whatever impairments they may have."
The pen was developed in association with Computer Aid International:
The Kenya Union of the Blind website is:
A BBC podcast containing key interviews from the project can also be found at the BBC website:
Planet Read receives major boost
The ground-breaking Indian literacy project Planet Read was given a major accolade by the Clinton Global Institute in October.In an open-subtitled YouTube address, Bill Clinton outlined the achievements of the same-language subtitling initiative managed by Brij Kothari.This project allows hundreds of millions of Indians to improve their literacy skills through watching Bollywood movies broadcast on television and subtitled in major community languages.
Clinton’s address is here:
For more information on Planet Read’s project:
American study finds barriers to broadband adoption for disabled and seniors
The American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a report identifying major barriers to the adoption of broadband among disabled people and seniors.
People with disabilities had widespread negative perceptions regarding broadband accessibility and this impeded adoption and further use of the technology. Seniors cited a general lack of adequate education and training as major factors in low broadband adoption.
The report also looked at sectors that were experiencing issues. Notably, education suffered from a lack of targeted funding and training as major impediments. The energy sector is highly conservative and regulated which does not fit well with the dynamic nature of broadband and innovation. A lack of cross-department collaboration and institutional inertia has slowed government’s adoption of broadband. Finally, telemedicine was hampered by outdated legal and policy frameworks.
The Report was prepared by the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute (ACLP) at New YorkLawSchool in conjunction with the staff of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative (OBI) for use in the development of the FCC's National Broadband Plan.
The report can be accessed at:
American disability group has world’s largest captioned billboard
America’s peak disability organisation, the American Association for People with Disabilities (AAPD),secured the use of the CBS Jumbo Screen in Times Square,New York to use as an electronic billboard in November. AAPD was given 15-second spots throughout the month to show its specially made open-captioned commercial.
The message, which can be seen on YouTube: directs people to the AAPD website highlights the diversity of disability and encourages people to become involved in disability issues.
According to the owners of the Jumbo Screen, around 1.5million people pass the spot each day, which amounted to a lot of exposure for AAPD.