Access to Rich Media
Detailed Overview
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Project Background
Broadband technologies delivered via cable modem, satellite, wireless and DSL will allow Internet delivery of rich media -- video, audio, graphics and animation -- to become commonplace within the next five years. Access solutions developed by the Access to Rich Media project will ensure that people with visual or auditory impairments are included in this future.
Launched in September, 2000, NCAM's Access to Rich Media Project works with researchers and multimedia technology developers to create and disseminate actual and proposed access solutions for these technologies. The Access Solutions for Rich Media Project will address two major goals:
- Develop fully featured captioning and description software tools and accompanying tutorials for rich media that are created in multiple formats and played in multiple applications. Tools will be created in both Macintosh and Windows versions.
- Establish an Access to Rich Media Resource Center Web site to provide Web designers, multimedia developers, consumers and access technology researchers with a centralized source of information, tools and discussion about multimedia access problems and solutions.
This Project will create a link between information providers who want to offer accessible Web sites and software developers whose technology needs to enable the creation and display of accessible Web sites. Web designers eager to make their sites accessible and those seeking compliance with various state and federal rulings will be able to access current solutions and review the look and feel of possible future solutions. Developers confronted with inaccessible technologies will be able to review the proposed development pathways and contribute to the development of solutions.
Technology partners include Apple, IBM, Microsoft, RealNetworks, Sun Microsystems, Oratrix, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica (in the Netherlands) and the Trace Research and Development Center/University of Wisconsin at Madison. Web partners include the Library of Congress, PBS's science program NOVA, a corporate training site, a health information site and the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge, MA.
The Access Solutions for Rich Media Project is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education.
Goals
Goal #1: Develop fully featured captioning and description software tools and accompanying tutorials for rich media created in multiple formats and played in multiple applications.
Goal #2: Establish an Access to Rich Media Accessibility Resource Center Web site to provide Web designers, multimedia developers, consumers and access technology researchers with a centralized source of information, tools and discussion about multimedia access problems and solutions. Three areas of focus with specific deliverables will ensure the impact and widespread use of the Resource Center.
Focus #1: Define and conduct a research and advocacy effort which will synthesize current research, solicit and share information with consumers, advocate for access with technology developers, and suggest development pathways for access solutions within the landscape of rich media technologies. Ongoing research, advocacy, review, and discussion will seed the development of future solutions.
Focus #2: Develop a living library of multimedia access tools with links to freeware, shareware and commercial products, which help solve problems with rich media.
Focus #3: Create and promote a Showcase Web site featuring clips, which illustrate the use of Web-based captioning and description tools with a wide range of content. Demonstrations and accompanying tutorials will encourage and facilitate greater use of captioning and description tools by developers, technologists, educators, consumers, and community and cultural groups.
Contact
For more information about the Access to Rich Media Project, contact:
Andrew Kirkpatrick, Technical Project Coordinator
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
125 Western Avenue
Boston, MA 02134
(617) 300-4420 (voice and fax)
andrew_kirkpatrick@wgbh.org
