Deaf/hearing impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news

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Women with disability disadvantaged in ICT

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The digital divide experienced by people with disability is wider for women, new research finds. A report released by Women with Disabilities Victoria and the Self Advocacy Research Unit has found that the perception of women with disabilities being less capable of operating computers perpetuates disadvantage.

Access to information communications technology (ICT) including computers, mobile devices, social media and websites is becoming increasingly vital for participation in society. The research identifies a vicious cycle of disadvantage. Women with disability are more likely to face poverty, unemployment and under-education than their male counterparts. This means they are less likely to have access to ICT which, in turn, means they are less likely to overcome socioeconomic barriers.


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Opinion: The scourge of YouTube’s auto-captions

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Michael Lockrey is Asia-Pacific sales manager for Amara and a renowned advocate for Deaf and hearing impaired media access. Here, he dissects the effects of YouTube’s auto-captioning tool, and suggests how Google and its users can play a part in resolving them.

Google’s YouTube is the global giant of online video, with over 72 hours of video being uploaded to the platform every minute. But with popularity comes responsibility. While YouTube in many ways could be seen as a pioneer of Deaf access online, the premature release of its auto-captioning feature could be doing more harm than good.

The mantra “poor quality captions are as good as no captions at all” will be familiar to many of us within the Deaf and hearing loss advocacy sector. It’s a common catch-cry when dealing with traditional broadcasters.


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New Zealand to have independent captioning supplier

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Captioning and audio description services for New Zealand television, which are currently provided by the government-owned national broadcaster TVNZ, will be transferred to a new, independent organisation by the end of this year.

In New Zealand, captioning and audio description on the free-to-air networks is funded by NZ On Air, an independent body established by the New Zealand government. It will continue to fund access services after the transition, and staff who currently produce captions and audio description at TVNZ will move to the new organisation.


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Global progress on social media accessibility

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of our sociABILITY: social media for people with a disability resources. The project was the first of its kind and is being used as a keystone in a global push towards recognising people with disability as a large and influential audience on social media.

While social media networks still present access barriers, there are steps organisations and individuals can take to reduce them. For instance, Facebook does not let you provide alternative text for images and so Media Access Australia provides this in the first comment below the image. Similarly, when posting a link to a video we will always mention whether it is captioned or audio described.

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