Closed captions

International policy and legislation

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More than 2,300 people have signed to legislate closed captioning in NZ

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On Global Accessibility Awareness Day, 19 May 2016, the New Zealand Captioning Working Group submitted a petition to Mojo Mathers, Green MP, with more than 2,300 signatures in a bid for the House of Representatives to legislate closed captioning across all relevant media.

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5 ways to experience digital accessibility on Global Accessibility Awareness Day

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As today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we thought that we would encourage some involvement amongst the community so that you can gain a first-hand awareness of accessibility. We hope this is an eye-opener and maybe a little bit of a mid-week challenge.

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Digital technology

Web

Practical web accessibility

Blind or vision impaired

Digital media and technology:

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ACCAN calls on networks to use windfall to improve accessibility

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The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has called on the free-to-air networks to use some of the windfall from a 25% cut in licence fees announced in this year’s budget to increase captioning levels and introduce audio description.

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ACCAN, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network

Sensory impairment

Blind or vision impaired

Captions

Closed captions

Audio description

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U.K. Government fails to act on video-on-demand accessibility

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The organisation Action on Hearing Loss has expressed disappointment at the U.K. Government’s failure to set targets or introduce legislation for the provision of access services (captions, signing and audio description) on video-on-demand (VOD) services.

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International policy and legislation

Video

Ofcom, Office of Communications

Television

Blind or vision impaired

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Snapchat adds closed captioning support for Discover videos

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Social messaging app Snapchat has added closed captioning support for videos shared within its Discover section, allowing major publishers to share accessible video content with broad communities of smartphone users without access to audio content.

Right hand holding an iPhone 6 with Snapchat Discover displayed on screen. Image credit: Snapchat

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Web

Disability

Digital media and technology:

WCAG

Techniques

Mobile operating systems

Smartphones

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Australian TV networks swap caption suppliers

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Some major changes have taken place in Australian television captioning this year, with Ericsson winning the contract to provide captions to the ABC, while Ai-Media will be the new caption provider for the Seven Network.

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ACMA releases captioning standards report

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released the final report on the review it has been conducting of television captioning standards.

Remote control pointed at Smart TV

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ACMA, Australian Communications and Media Authority

Television

TV access

Disability

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Read more about ACMA releases captioning standards report

BBC researches caption user experience

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Three researchers from the BBC have created a framework for understanding – and potentially improving – the UX (user experience) of people who use captions.

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Disability