ViScene: A collaborative authoring tool for scene descriptions in videos

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier; National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under International Research Centres in Singapore Funding Initiativ

Mapping audiovisual translation investigations : research approaches and the role of technology

This article maps audiovisual translation research by analysing in a contrastive way the abstracts presented at three audiovisual translation conferences ten years ago and nowadays. The comparison deals with the audiovisual transfer modes and topics under discussion, and the approach taken by the authors in their abstracts. The article then shifts the focus to the role of technology in audiovisual translation research, as it is considered an element that is impacting and will continue to impact both research and practice in this field. Relevant research in audio-related, text-related and image-related technologies applied to audiovisual translation is summarised. The last section briefly discusses how technological tools can also help audiovisual translation professionals, users and researcher

Text-to-speech vs. human voiced audio descriptions : a reception study in films dubbed into Catalan

This article presents an experiment that aims to determine whether blind and visually impaired people would accept the implementation of text-to-speech in the audio description of dubbed feature films in the Catalan context. A user study was conducted with 67 blind and partially sighted people who assessed two synthetic voices when applied to audio description, as compared to two natural voices. All of the voices had been previously selected in a preliminary test. The analysis of the data (both quantitative and qualitative) concludes that most participants accept Catalan text-to-speech audio description as an alternative solution to the standard human-voiced audio description. However, natural voices obtain statistically higher scores than synthetic voices and are still the preferred solution

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