Towards a Canadian Accessible Content Best Practices Guide: partnership between MAC and Ryerson University Deborah Fels, PhD., P.Eng.

Agenda Goals and objectives of working group Organization/membership/partners of group Main discussion points Issues Next steps

Goals and objectives Identify key areas where best practices guide do not exist or are outdated Identify stakeholders including consumers, experts and industry to participate Report and publish on an on-going basis – Public domain, widely disseminated Applicable to production,, post production, live and delivery – How and what Based on: – Research/evidence – Experience of global communities 100% accessibility of broadcast media by 2020.

Accessible Content Working Group Formed to create committees and identify key areas in need of research and guidelines Identified 7 areas so far: – Descriptive Video – Closed Captioning – Vertical and Horizontal Multi-platform Distribution – Monitoring and Measurement – Harmonization – End User Interface – Telecommunications

Video Description French and English Premise – Video description supports entertainment qualities – Creative process Examining Measures of quality Stylistic alternatives, i.e. news style vs. inclusive In-production, post production, live Publish English in September D also under consideration for future drafts

Closed Captioning French and English Draft seed document English being developed – Publish Dec Analogue and digital under consideration – Considerable historical documentation for analogue – Little research Build on analogue best practice Scope is anything digital in production and presentation of closed captioning – Includes 3D

Vertical and Horizontal Multiplatform Distribution Project based committee International range of participation – Australia – US – UK Scope is anything web connected 18 month project to enable captioning and description on the RIM, Microsoft and Android platforms – Publish March 2012

End User Interface Evaluate feedback of disability organizations involved in CAB Working group Scope to include mobility issues, and # of clicks – Identify all manufacturers – Identify BDU suppliers – Establish research project to eliminate clicks – Identify and write up infrared tool kit to develop access for mobility users – Identify voice recognition opportunities and test

To be established Harmonization – Permeates all best practices, so must get them to a certain milestone before commencement – Scope to include harmonization in technology and production Telecommunications – Looking for interested parties to take it on. – Scope to look at all that is in and examine activities around the world Monitoring and Measurement – Awaiting final results of Monitor 2 – Examining opportunities to support CRTC in their publications – Scope to include compliance to CRTC standards, Broadcaster reporting vs. actual, volume of captioning and description and other as defined by sub-committee

Outcome of our work Inform the development of accessible content standards for production, distribution, quantity and quality of accessible content Establish Broadcast Quality Certification guide for independent production industry. Remove barriers to entry for streaming accessible content to web sites, by providing a practical how to information Adoption from world standard organizations

Who’s participating Industry – Broadcasters, hardware manufactures, assistive technology providers User representatives Academic/research – Ryerson University Government French partnership – CRIM and Eve…. Taking lead

Who is watching? International Standards International disability organizations Canada’s ICT standards group is looking at our work for a resolution in GSC 16 Canadian government

Concluding remarks Much work to accomplish – Important work Involve as many interested people as possible Participants are volunteers Opportunity to make a significant contribution towards improved accessibility