Coverage of the 6th International Media for All Conference

Transcript

27 September 2015

Roberta: Media Access Australia CEO, Alex Varley, recently presented and attended the Media for All International Conference at the University of Western Sydney. There was much discussion regarding audio description and presentations about AD from all over the world and Alex joins me now to talk about it. Hello, Alex.

Alex: Hi there, Roberta.

Roberta: What were some of the countries that were covered in the conference that are dealing with audio description, particularly newer services?

Alex: Well, the thing that was interesting about this conference was that we finally managed to get some input from other parts of the world that we never talk to, such as Asia and South America and that's where actually all the interest came. So there were the people presenting from the Middle East, from Hong Kong, Brazil, China, and that's where there was a little bit more action happening but nothing particularly big. There's not really that much formal stuff going on, in terms of quotas and those things, but little pockets of audio description development.

Roberta: You mentioned Brazil, so what's happening there?

Alex: There was a really interesting presentation from a Brazilian professor and she was talking about both the quotas that they have on Brazilian television and it's regulated for about four hours a week but the problem is that they're not really enforced and the TV stations seem to be able to keep postponing them. Ironically, I mean, Brazil is a Portuguese-speaking country and it's a very similar situation in Portugal, so I don't know if they are related that way but what they have been audio describing is some web series. So these are actually just series that are made for the web only and the model there is that a lot of these series are made by directors and actors free of charge just to sort of get the names out there and build things up and they've been putting services like audio description on there, so quite an interesting development.

Roberta: Were all the presentations about online or did they cover other types of AD?

Alex: No, probably the best presentation there which was good for several reasons was an ex-patriot Chinese woman, who is working out of London, who was talking about the audio description of traditional Chinese lion dances as opposed to line dances. What that was so fascinating about was she does these things mainly live, so actually out in the streets in the Chinatowns of the world and things, and does it over a PA so that everybody gets to hear what's she's describing. But the issue that it raised was very much around when you're doing a description to an audience that understands what it is you're talking about, so in this case the traditional lion dance, then you don't need to actually explain a lot of the subtlety of it or what's actually happening, what's the culture behind it. But she's also been doing them in more international places, like Hong Kong and London, where people who aren't really familiar with it come and watch it as well. So the audio description becomes much more enhanced and explains some of the cultural background and things before it. So it was both a lovely illustration of where audio description can go, in terms of being used for live street events, but it also showed that audio description can be useful to all sorts of audiences, including people who are just trying to get more information about what it is that's actually going on.

Roberta: Now, I understand that you were running a panel discussion on access in the new world, such as Asia. How is AD progressing in that region?

Alex: Well, to be fair, it's very fledgling. We've talked in the past about some developments in audio description in places like South Korea and Thailand, where they have got some TV services going, but in other places it generally tends to be in the theatre and the arts world and there maybe the odd little DVD or web  thing being done. And a lot of that is around the slow development politically of rights for the disabled and understanding that things like entertainment are actually part of that culture. But also they have some issues around some of the technology not being very developed, unlike us English-speaking world where we've got hundreds of millions of people accessing this stuff, so technology is well-developed. It's a bit more fragmented but what I'm seeing is audio description was talked about a lot and that hasn't really happened before, so it will take a little bit of time but it's coming through.

Roberta: That's a good thing to happen there, especially. Now, for information on international accessibility developments you can call Media Access Australia on 02 9212 6242 or email info@mediaaccess.org.au. Thank you, Alex, for all of that today.

Alex: Thank you very much, Roberta.

Roberta: I'm really pleased that things are moving forward, especially in the Asian area.

Alex: Yes, finally we've got some other pushes coming through.

Roberta: I've speaking with CEO, Alex Varley, from Media Australia and Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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