Press Release:
NCAM Partners with America Online
February 21, 2001
CPB/WGBH NATIONAL CENTER FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDIA PARTNERS WITH AMERICA ONLINE TO EXPLORE WAYS TO MAKE INTERACTIVE TV ACCESSIBLE TO BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED AUDIENCES
Boston, MA — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) today announced the launch of an innovative research partnership with America Online, Inc., a division of AOL Time Warner Inc. and the world's leading interactive services company, to help make interactive television more accessible to people with disabilities. Working through NCAM's Access to Convergent Media Project, NCAM and AOL will use the AOLTV service to explore how people who are blind or visually impaired can effectively interact with interactive television set-top boxes and other related technologies. Among other areas, the partnership will explore the best ways to present information auditorally and integrate text-to-speech technology.
"As technology advances beyond traditional passive television viewing into a more robust and interactive experience, we must ensure that blind and visually impaired audiences are not left behind," said Tom Wlodkowski, manager of NCAM's Access to Convergent Media Project. "Our goal is finding ways to enhance the graphics-rich interface of existing set-top devices to allow blind and low-vision consumers to access the wealth of educational, civic, commercial, and entertainment resources that are now, or will soon be available."
"We're confident that this research will lead to the creation of technological solutions that will improve the accessibility of all interactive television devices while also helping to inform the industry at large on this issue," continued Wlodkowski. "NCAM plans to use the AOLTV model to produce a comprehensive set of design guidelines that cable TV providers, set-top box developers and manufacturers of over-the-air digital television receivers can use to ensure their products and services are accessible."
"To realize the full potential of the interactive medium, we're constantly working to give consumers the tools they need to access and utilize its remarkable benefits," said Carlos Silva, Vice President of AOL Devices. "AOL is committed to helping our blind and visually impaired members take full advantage of our services and of the online and entertainment media, and we're pleased to be involved in this exciting partnership with NCAM to help address the technological issues needed to do so."
The NCAM/AOLTV partnership will focus its initial efforts on making the electronic program guide (EPG) in interactive TV devices more accessible, since the EPG plays an integral role in enabling consumers to access programs and interactive services. Additionally, the majority of the solutions required to make the EPG accessible - integration of text-to-speech - will apply when a visually impaired user wants to access interactive content with the set-top box. When interacting with the EPG, blind and visually impaired users must be able to easily track available program and service options, and access solutions must anticipate how these users can best interact with graphic-rich user interfaces.
Added Wlodkowski, "With a concerted effort to develop solutions and a willingness on the part of industry to implement solutions, people with disabilities can join their family and friends in full access to the Information Age. We're pleased that AOL recognizes this need and has committed to working with us to ensure next-generation set-top boxes are usable by all viewers."
Funding for NCAM's Access to Convergent Media Project is provided by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education. In addition to the partnership with AOLTV, the project is working to influence appropriate industry standards to accommodate delivery of EPG data via audio output. Project staff are closely following the work of three industry groups - the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the OpenCable project.
AOLTV is a key component of the "AOL Anywhere"(sm) strategy of making its industry-leading brands and features available to online consumers anywhere, anytime through a range of devices beyond the PC. AOLTV makes the TV more valuable by providing a consumer-driven experience where viewers watch television using their existing signal, and choose from a range of additional interactive features and content -- including familiar AOL features such as e-mail, instant messaging and chat, plus a Program Guide that makes finding programs easier -- provided through an easy-to-use set-top box and a wireless keyboard or universal remote control.
Related NCAM Projects:
Uniquely positioned at the intersection of broadcast and cable television, DTV, PC and Internet technologies, NCAM has developed a series of projects with public- and private-sector funding which show that even the most complex of media can be designed and proliferated in forms accessible to disabled users. Two additional initiatives now underway at NCAM will inform the work of the Access to Convergent Media Project, and will further partnerships with industry and consumer leaders.
DTV Access Project
The main focus of the DTV Access Project is to encourage implementation of advanced closed captioning and video description services in professional and consumer digital television systems. Under a Department of Education research grant, the Project has created test materials, authored standards and guidelines and participated in FCC rulemakings in support of these services. With funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Project also assists the nation's public television stations in maintaining and enhancing captioning and description services as they transition from analog to digital broadcast facilities.
Web Access Project
Since many of the interactive services available through a set-top box are Web-based, it is important to have effective standards in place that address accessibility of web-based content. To this end, NCAM's Web Access Project is working with organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative, Apple's QuickTime, Real Networks, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others to develop methods for making Web-based multimedia accessible. Originally launched with funds from the Telecommunications Funding Partnership for People with Disabilities and the U.S. Department of Commerce, this project continues with support from the National Science Foundation, the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education.
NCAM and its fellow access departments at WGBH (The Caption Center and Descriptive Video Service™) make up the Media Access Group at WGBH. WGBH, Boston's public broadcaster, pioneered captioning and video description on television, the Web and in movie theaters. NCAM is a founding member of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). NCAM works with standards bodies and industry to develop and implement open technical standards for multimedia, advanced television, and convergent media that ease implementation, foster growth and lay common groundwork for equal access to new technologies. For more information visit the Media Access Group's Web site.
Contact:
Mary Watkins, Media Access Group at WGBH
617.300.3700 voice/fax, -2489 TTY
Debbie Fletter, America Online, Inc.
