FCC to promote social media accessibility

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Monday, 30 June 2014 10:10am

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to facilitate an industry discussion on making social media tools and content accessible to people with disabilities.

The event, Accessibility & Innovation (A&I) Initiative, on July 17 will seek to heighten awareness among technology developers and media producers so that they are inspired to increase the level of social media accessibility.

“Additionally, this event could inspire federal agencies to become more diligent in choosing social media tools and in authoring social media content that reflect the best in accessibility,” the communications regulator said on its website. “This event can also encourage employers to utilize social media to recruit employees and to create and exploit accessible social media websites and apps as job performance tools to help employees with disabilities.”

The FCC also believes that the event will benefit consumers through providing information on how to better participate in social media networks.

The event is scheduled to be webcast with open captioning. Reservations to attend in person can be made online.

It has also been reported that the FCC is due to vote in July on rules for closed captioning online video clips.Earlier this month the FCC put out a call for industry and public comment on the accessibility of communications technologies.

It also announced the winners of the 2014 FCC Chairman Awards for Advancement in Accessibility.

The regulator also recently made the decision to dismiss petitions from 16 television programs requesting exemptions from closed captioning requirements.


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