Solutions

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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.

Right hand holding remote control in front of captioned sporting event on television

Taxonomy: 
TV & video
News
Television
TV terms
Digital TV
TV access
Disability
Deaf or hearing impaired
Solutions
Captions
Closed captions
Inclusion

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Egypt gets a taste of Hotel Transylvania 2 with live AD

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In a first for Egypt and the Middle East, the popular new children’s fantasy-comedy movie Hotel Transylvania 2 was screened in Cairo with live Audio Description (AD), which is the first time this has been done in the region.

Image of Hotel Transylvania 2 from the official Sony Pictures movie site gallery

Taxonomy: 
Cinema
News
Cinema & arts
Film
Movie
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Accessible Cinema
Solutions
Inclusion
Audio description

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UK Cinemas support World Autism Awareness Day

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More than 900 UK cinemas are taking part in special screenings to help recognise World Autism Awareness Day on Saturday 2 April.

Little girl holding popcorn in a cinema, making a "shh" gesture

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Cinema
News
Cinema & arts
Film
Disability
Sensory impairment
Accessible Cinema
Solutions
Inclusion

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Twitter supports alternative text for images sent via app

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Twitter has announced that images tweeted from its iOS and Android apps can now include alternative text, ensuring that users of assistive technologies such as screen readers can understand the nature of the visual content.

Two screen shots of the composer for Twitter on iOS. The first showing the new "Add description" button overlayed on an image thumbnail in the composer, and the second showing the composition of alt text for an image. Image credit: Twitter

Taxonomy: 
Web
News
Practical web accessibility
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Solutions
Inclusion
Digital media and technology: 
WCAG
Technologies
Twitter
Mobile operating systems
iOS
Android
Smartphones
Android smartphones
iPhone

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Consultation on communications access

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The inclusion of accessibility features in many mainstream smartphones and tablets is a potential game changer in the delivery of special services for Deaf and hearing impaired people, according to the Department of Communications.

Woman using a smartphone

Taxonomy: 
Digital technology
Research & policy
News
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Deaf or hearing impaired
Solutions
Inclusion
Digital media and technology: 
WCAG
Technologies

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Social media for those with a disability gets 2016 update

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The ground-breaking 2012 ‘SociAbility’ review into social media for those with a disability has had a much anticipated update. The Media Access Australia website now includes important new information on the varying accessibility challenges and practical fixes across all popular social channels. Project leader Dr Scott Hollier believes that it is destined to be the go-to resource on social media for people with a disability and those who provide care, support and advice.

Social media icons with a magnifying glass on the words ‘social media’

Taxonomy: 
Web
News
Practical web accessibility
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Deaf or hearing impaired
Solutions
Inclusion
Digital media and technology: 
WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Techniques
Social media
Twitter
Skype
Facebook
Assistive technology

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Audio description awards call for nominations

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The annual audio description awards hosted by the American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Project are now open for nomination.

Golden microphone trophy

The awards have six categories:

Taxonomy: 
TV & video
News
Television
Movie
TV access
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Accessible Cinema
Solutions
Inclusion
Audio description

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Accessible media preview from CSUN

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The annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (commonly known as CSUN) starts on 21 March in San Diego, California. This year there is significant coverage around accessible media. Media Access Australia’s CEO, Alex Varley, previews some personal highlights.

Seated audience attending a conference

Taxonomy: 
Video
Digital technology
Web
International policy and legislation
News
Practical web accessibility
Audio navigation
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Deaf or hearing impaired
Solutions
Captions
Inclusion
Audio description
Digital media and technology: 
WCAG
Techniques
Technologies
Assistive technology

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Wikispeech project aims to make Wikipedia accessible for vision impaired people

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Swedish researchers are developing an open source speech synthesis platform to make Wikimedia-based websites more accessible to blind and vision impaired people. The platform will be optimised for Wikipedia and aims to provide access in 283 languages, starting with three initial languages next year.

Wikipedia button on a computer keyboard in shape of the Enter key

Taxonomy: 
Web
News
Practical web accessibility
Disability
Blind or vision impaired
Solutions
Inclusion

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Transcript of The Wire's interview with Dr Scott Hollier on 'Crossing the digital divide'

The Wire

Access to the internet is something most of us now take for granted and couldn’t imagine living without, but for one million Aussies with a disability that’s exactly what they have to do.  For many, they think it will cost too much, especially to buy the kind of software they need to help them use it, for others, it’s just all too hard.  Laura Corrigan reports.

Laura: Dr Scott Hollier is director of Digital Accessibility for advocacy group Media Access Australia.

Taxonomy: 
Digital technology
Web
Australian policy and legislation
Practical web accessibility
Disability
Affordable
Blind or vision impaired
Deaf or hearing impaired
Solutions
Inclusion

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