David Wood Deputy Director EBU Technical European Broadcasting Union

EBU TECHNICAL

David WoodDeputy Director

EBU Technical European Broadcasting Union

‘‘I am not alone.’I am not alone.’Internet media content for people Internet media content for people

with disabilitieswith disabilities

EBU TECHNICAL - your reference in media technology and innovation

Access means....

a. People with disabilities being able to use the Internet - it being available and user-ready.

b. More than that. There is a stage two. The Internet is a fantastic tool and deserves to work for the greatest benefit to society. Society needs to make the best use of the Internet for people with disabilities. It needs to be (as economists say) a ‘merit good’.

c. Both the ‘tools’ and the ‘content’ are important.


Why do we (all) watch/consume media?

• It’s not the wires, buttons, or the boxes – it’s the content• Content is not just “entertainment, education, and information”. These are only the ‘supply’ side.

• The ‘demand ‘side of content is the search for our ‘identity’ as individuals. Who am I? Where do I belong? What should I be doing, thinking, feeling? What is my context?

• Where am I located in ‘people space’? It is finding out that ‘I am not alone’.

• People with disabilities have the same needs as everyone else. The media must help them too. (P.S: They sometimes have less contact with the outside world, and so may even need more).


Those with disabilities need..

1. To share in, and readily use, the everyday experience of the media along with everyone else.

2. Media content to locate themselves in ‘people space’.

3. Together, Internet media help lead them to the fullest lives.


Quo Vadis Internet?

Internet

Multimedia - the web (mostly) today - graphics/text/ hyperlinks/pictures/ video 1985 - ?

Video centric web services. - the growing part of the web today. YouTube/Catch-upTV/+,

Web as ‘surrogate’ TV. 2003 -?

Hybrid Broadcast Broadband – the combination of web and TV. The future. 2010 -?


Hybrid Broadcast Broadband

TVWidgets (Yahoo/Intel)Canvas (BBC)HbbTV (ARD/ZDF/FT/Philips/Sony)MHP 1.0.3 (RAI)Viera (Panasonic)


Making media more accessible....

What kind of content? news documentary sports games drama all have a part to play how far do they take into account circumstances, needs, sensibilities?

How to get it used? Content production needs professionalism no one wants to watch the neighbour’s holiday photos.


Locating yourself in people space.

Drama Stereotyping of the disabled:a.cutesyb.superman

Who are the Heroes and Villains?What are the common causes?

Drama helps us because we identify with the people we see on the screen – ‘ if I were him or her , I would do.....’, ‘He or she is like me’ , ‘I belong to that team’.


What should we do?

1. Media providers, particularly those with a public service remit , should (be obliged to) take account of content for people with disabilities.

2. Professional media content producers should be asked to (obliged to) think before they write a script or plan media content. How people with disabilities are portrayed matters. They should be seen as real people and individuals.

3. People with disabilities who will make media content need to (must) become ‘professional’ if they are not so already.

4. The area of content for those with disabilities needs more study. Scholarships? Workshops?

5. It is not just content for ‘video centric Internet’ that needs attention, it is both content and usability for ‘hybrid broadcast broadband’. – which may be ‘the next wave ’ in the evolution of the Internet.

EBU TECHNICAL

Thank youThank [email protected]

Skype: davidinnovSkype: davidinnov

Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much” Helen Keller.

David Wood Deputy Director EBU Technical European Broadcasting Union

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