Multimodal translation for “1111”

This paper intends to account for an experiment developed with master’s students in Translation, which was based on the Portuguese short film produced by Cine-Clube Avanca – “1111” (2005). Within the annual course in Audiovisual Translation, students are expected to grapple with three different types of Audiovisual Translation modes: interlingual subtitling, intralingual subtitling and audio description for the blind and visually-impaired. Students must acquire an in-depth knowledge of the guidelines that apply to these modes, bearing in mind that interlingual subtitling is directed to the general audiences, offering translation from a foreign language into the mother tongue, whereas the other two modes cater for the needs of people with sensory impairment, be it in terms of hearing or of sight. Throughout this process, we realised that the ability to look at the same audiovisual product with different target audiences in mind is of the utmost importance for students and encourages their flexibility skills and a variety of strategies to manage different work contexts. Therefore, using “1111” as the basis for this experiment, students were asked to analyse this short film and extract the information that is of relevance for each group. Students must watch the film without sound and without image, thus allowing them to experience the film from different angles and to become aware of other people’s needs that they are not usually expected to heed. These various exercises bring about multiple advantages, but also a number of challenges which we will also attempt to present.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

InfoLink: analysis of Dutch broadcast news and cross-media browsing

In this paper, a cross-media browsing demonstrator named InfoLink is described. InfoLink automatically links the content of Dutch broadcast news videos to related information sources in parallel collections containing text and/or video. Automatic segmentation, speech recognition and available meta-data are used to index and link items. The concept is visualised using SMIL-scripts for presenting the streaming broadcast news video and the information links

Accessibility in 360º video players

Accessibility is a key requirement for any multimedia tool and application. With the current trend towards immersive experiences, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and 360o video, it becomes key that these environments are adapted to be fully accessible. However, until recently the focus has been mostly on adapting the existing techniques to fit immersive displays, rather than considering new approaches for accessibility designed specifically for these increasingly relevant media experiences. This paper surveys a wide range of 360o video players and examines the features they include for dealing with accessibility, such as Subtitles, Audio Description, Sign Language, User Interfaces and other interaction features, like voice control and support for multi-screen scenarios. These features have been chosen based on guidelines from standardization contributions, like in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the International Communication Union (ITU), and from research contributions for making 360º video consumption experiences accessible. The in-depth analysis has been part of a research effort towards the development of a fully inclusive and accessible 360º video player. The paper concludes by discussing how the newly developed player has gone above and beyond the existing solutions and guidelines, by providing accessibility features that meet the expectations for a widely used immersive medium, like 360º video

Integration of accessibility requirements in the design of multimedia user agents interfaces

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThe continuous increase of multimedia content in the Web, especially video content, is not accompanied by a similar increase of accessibility; there is a lack of synchronized alternatives for the content such as captions, audio description, etc. that allow anyone with or without disability to access such content. This lack of accessibility in video content access is not only due to the lack of alternatives, but also because of the fact that user agents which deliver this content do not provide the necessary means to present them. This fact leads to the noncompliance of the current regulations and legislation in terms of accessibility. This noncompliance could be due to the lack of knowledge, or because of the fact that applying these regulations from an engineering point of view is not trivial. There is a lack of authoring tools and methodological approaches which assist in the development of an accessible product in the Engineering scope as it is the case of the development of a quality user agent which includes accessibility requirements. All these facts, multimedia content’s progressive increase on the Web, accessibility barriers both in the content and in the user agent together with current regulations and legislation regarding accessibility is what has motivated the accomplishment of this Doctoral Thesis. With this Doctoral Thesis, a set of accessibility requirements that a user agent which delivers multimedia content must fulfil is provided. Besides, a workspace is provided following a methodological approach which assists in the design and development of the interface of an accessible user agent which delivers accessible multimedia content. This workspace is composed of an architecture and models following a Model-Based User Interface Development (MBUID) approach and is oriented to be used by designers with knowledge in modeling. Finally, as a support to any professional regardless of their knowledge in modeling and in accessibility, an authoring tool based on models is offered in order to create user agents with accessibility requirements.El continuo incremento del contenido multimedia en la Web, especialmente del contenido vídeo, no va acompañado de un incremento similar de accesibilidad, hay una falta de alternativas sincronizadas al contenido como subtitulado, audiodescripción, etc., que permitan acceder a cualquier persona con y sin discapacidad a dicho contenido. Esta falta de accesibilidad en el acceso al contenido vídeo no solo se debe a la ausencia de alternativas, también es debido a que los agentes de usuario que entregan dicho contenido no proporcionan los medios necesarios para presentarlas. Este hecho da lugar a que no se cumpla la normativa y la legislación vigente en materia de accesibilidad. Dicho incumplimiento, puede ser debido al desconocimiento, o a que aplicar esa normativa desde el punto de vista de la ingeniería no es trivial. Hay una falta de herramientas de autor y de enfoques metodológicos que asistan en el desarrollo de un producto accesible en el ámbito de la Ingeniería, como es el caso del desarrollo de un agente de usuario con calidad que incluya requisitos de accesibilidad. Todos estos hechos, el incremento progresivo del contenido multimedia en la Web, las barreras de accesibilidad tanto en el contenido como en el agente de usuario junto con la normativa y legislación vigente en materia de accesibilidad es lo que ha motivado la realización de esta Tesis Doctoral. Con esta Tesis Doctoral se proporciona el conjunto de requisitos de accesibilidad que debe cumplir un agente de usuario que sirva contenido multimedia accesible. Además se proporciona un espacio de trabajo siguiendo un enfoque metodológico que asista en el diseño y desarrollo de la interfaz de un agente de usuario accesible que sirve contenido multimedia accesible. Este espacio de trabajo está compuesto de una arquitectura y modelos siguiendo el enfoque de Model-Based User Interface Development (MBUID) y está orientado a ser utilizado por diseñadores con conocimientos en modelado. Por último, como recurso de ayuda a cualquier profesional, independientemente de sus conocimientos en modelado y accesibilidad, se ofrece una herramienta de autor basada en modelos para crear agentes de usuario con requisitos de accesibilidad.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología InformáticaPresidente: José Antonio Macías Iglesias.- Vocal: Hugo Alexandre Paredes Guede

Techniques for the Publication of Accessible Multimedia Content on the Web

Multimedia has become one of the most important sources of information and communication on the web. However, despite recent technological progress, people with disabilities and the elderly face difficulties accessing multimedia on the web. In some cases, these difficulties are impossible to overcome and are a fundamental cause of digital exclusion. Given the importance of this topic, several investigations on the problems of accessing multimedia resources have been carried out. Some organizations have also proposed certain standards to guide the creation and publication of accessible web content. Nevertheless, the authoring tools used in the process of publishing multimedia on the web do not offer all the accessibility features required. Authoring tools can also be used by people who do not have knowledge about web accessibility or programming, resulting in web publications lacking accessibility. This research proposes 278 novel techniques to guide authors, designers, programmers, and testers in the publication of accessible and inclusive multimedia on the web. These techniques are designed to guarantee the compliance with the recommended success criteria of Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 of the World Wide Web Consortium. Moreover, these techniques can be used to evaluate the accessibility of the existing authoring tools used to create multimedia for the web. Additionally, we present 80 possible failures that can cause the non-fulfillment of ATAG 2.0. These failures can help authors discern what to avoid and help evaluators check whether particular multimedia is accessible.This work was supported in part by the Study of Accessibility Requirements of Multimedia Content on the Web: Case Study MOOC under Research Project PII-DETRI-2019-03, in part by the EduTech under Project 609785-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP, and in part by the Erasmus C Programme of the European Union

Web Accessibility of the Higher Education Institute Websites Based on the World Wide Web Consortium and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

The problem observed in this study is the low level of compliance of higher education website accessibility with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The literature supports the non-compliance of websites with the federal policy in general. Studies were performed to analyze the accessibility of fifty-four sample web pages using automated testing via auto-validation tools and using manual testing via assistive technology, followed by a comparative analysis of the findings of the auto validation tools. The auto-validation tools utilized on the sample web pages were comprised of three W3C validation tools. The results showed that two-thirds of the websites failed Priority 1 validation, while one hundred percent of the websites failed to meet the Priority 2 and Priority 3 validation. In addition, three web pages were tested against Section 508 guidelines. The result of the manual testing by assistive technology confirmed that all three websites failed to meet the minimum requirement of federal policy. Moreover, a comparative analysis between the validations of the W3C tools showed that significant differences existed between the findings of each auto-validation tool. The findings of this study implied that passing the evaluations of auto validation tools is not enough to ensure accessible websites to individuals with disabilities. It is important to utilize assistive tools to determine web accessibility as it appears to individuals with disabilities. Recommendations were made for improvements such as encouraging universities to provide training for website managers and implementing the mandatory use of screen-readers as a validation tool