Previewing Access 2020 – can we predict the future?

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Thursday, 30 October 2014 13:11pm

Media Access Australia CEO Alex Varley will be hosting a panel discussion on the future of access with four international access experts at the Languages and the Media Conference in Berlin on 6 November.

Robotic eye

A mix of speculation and building on current real-world trends and experiences, the panel will discuss a variety of themes based around disability access to television and related services in 2020:

  • Technology and equipment  – will everything be mobile and customised to the user’s needs, or will we still be watching the television in the corner of the living room?
  • Regulations and laws – they struggle to keep up with changes in technology. Will there be new approaches that cover everything, or perhaps a new era where regulation is not needed?
  • Workplace and jobs – are captioners and audio describers destined to be replaced by smart machines that learn as they go along, or will roles evolve?
  • Quality and standards – will a caption look the same everywhere? Will description be uniform?  The production world is trending to universal product. Will access presentation follow or will local requirements still have some power?
  • Consumers – customisation for the user, automatic provision of access services and all content accessible are the dreams for 2020, or are they part-fantasy?
  • Research and training – academics explore practical issues of translation of access from one language to another, develop better ways to describe and communicate – will this survive cost and business factors and provide a richer, better experience for consumers?

The discussion will be fed by comments from experts around the world and from the live audience that will keep the four experts on track. 

Joining Alex Varley in the discussion will be:

Post-event, MAA will report on the panel’s thoughts of what access will be like in 2020.

The 10th Languages and the Media Conference, which has the theme ‘Smart Technologies, Smart Translation’, will be held on 5 – 7 November.


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