Noesis

BBC iPlayer Accessibility Update and Comments
Noesis Since I last blogged about the BBC's iPlayer, there's been developments but the access still leaves a lot to be desired. Sign Zone now has a category of its own People might remember that I complained about the trying to find a needle in the haystack, when attempting to source signed programmes. The BBC's Access 2.0 picked up on my comments in this blog post It se...
Tech Sun, May 11 2008 hide this blog

BBC iPlayer, Part 2
Noesis BBC's Access 2.0 blog has responded to my last post on iPlayer. It seems that the size of the font is going to be addressed: Speaking to Andrew Strachan of the BBC´s Future Media and Technology Accessibility Team, he was able to confirm that adjustable text sizes are going to be incorporated into the iPlayer set-up. "The subtitles display facility to increase size [...]
Mon, Aug 20 2007 hide this blog

BBC on YouTube, but where's the subtitles?
Noesis The BBC is available on YouTube (channel only available in the UK). YouTube BBC Worldwide is available for those outside the UK. More about this on the BBC's website. One question: where's the subtitles? In fact I don't even see a button on YouTube to display captions if needed. When the BBC made a YouTube deal, why wasn't accessibility at the heart of this? [...]
Media Tech Sat, Aug 18 2007 hide this blog

Google video: closed captions in multiple languages
Noesis Google video now has closed captions in multiple languages. Shame people don't use it more though! The irony is that blog posts says: A video with a ton of available CC languages: However there's no English subtitles to be seen? I'm not sure if they are simply not there, or the choices are so many that it goes under the thumbnails at the top. Does anyone know [...]
Fri, Aug 17 2007 hide this blog

iPlayer
Noesis The BBC publically launched iPlayer at the end of July. I've been a closed beta tester for since May, so I had the opportunity to try it out and had planned to blog about it before now (RSI prevented this from happening). I have some thoughts from a Deaf perspective, first, some background information.
Tech Wed, Aug 08 2007 hide this blog

Subtitlers get arrested!
Noesis Boing Boing is carrying a post about subtitlers getting arrested: In Krakow, Slask, Podlasie, and Szczecin, police arrived at the suspected subtitlers´ homes at 6 a.m. - and took them into custody. The story first appeared on the Polish Linux site, which states that "According to Polish copyright law any `processing´ of others´ content including translating is [...]
Tech Legal Culture Fri, May 18 2007 hide this blog

Joost (again)
Noesis I banged on about Joost last January, where's the subtitles? The only thing I can access is Aardman Productions, and Morph. A side note for international readers, Morph came about because of the need for BSL on television, and first took the form of Vision On. Morph takes me straight back to childhood! How many Deaf people are involved with beta testing and do [...]
Tech Mon, May 14 2007 hide this blog

Firefox extension to work with third party subtitling sites?
Noesis This is an e mail I've just sent to Access Firefox, and copying this into relevant parties, in respect of the need for a plugin plus an open source standard in respect of subtitling by third party sites, and the need to communicate with its end users over subtitling provision. I am hoping that this will generate some action: Hi Ken I got your e mail address from [...]
Tech Fri, May 11 2007 hide this blog

Evelyn Glennie at TED, and solving subtitling notification...
Noesis
Audism Culture Mon, May 07 2007 hide this blog

Crunchgear: Deafies are a good cause
Noesis Crunchgear thinks deaf people are a good cause: Someone using technology for a good cause and not just to pump out more megapixels or whowhatsits per second. Wish sites would see past feeling sorry for us or rather people trying to help Deafies, and actually step back here. I for one would like an objective review of VeeSee, from the mainstream. If this was a [...]
Tech Mon, May 07 2007 hide this blog

Online subtitling & getting Geeks to notice the need for...
Noesis A few weeks back, Chris Pirillo was communicating to an audience via ustream.tv. Chris was talking via a box, and anyone who had stumbled on the page could participate in a text chat underneath. Except I couldn't understand what on earth Chris was saying, yet got the one sided conversation via the text chat. Apart from the fact I could see the implications for sign [...]
Tech Tue, May 01 2007 hide this blog

Video: how to use RSS
Noesis Here goes, beating the same drum again. If you aren't using RSS already, you really need to. I've used RSS for 3 years and its totally changed the way I've interacted online. Here's an entry I did back in 2004 (my thoughts / understanding of has changed since then). I still find it difficult to comprehend that people who aren't using RSS in 2007. However, there's [...]
Media Tech Tue, May 01 2007 hide this blog

A Gamer asks for subtitles
Noesis Continuing the theme of accessibility, a Deaf Gamer asks for subtitles: Dear Sir or Ma'aam, I am a deaf 20 year old that loves to play videogames. I've been playing videogames ever since I first played the Atari 2600 with my father as a young child. Back then, games were not as complex as they are today. Sometimes, as a deaf gamer, I struggle with many mission [...]
Tech Sat, Apr 28 2007 hide this blog

An example of how deafread doesn't cater for an...
Noesis I posted about this John Low and James Strachan resigning over at Grumpy Old Deafies. This is major breaking news in the UK if not internationally (for those of you who care about deaf organisation politics). Not all of it is currently to be found online elsewhere. That said, I don't even care anymore. My reaction was along the lines of, indifference. Anyhow, [...]
Media Tue, Apr 17 2007 hide this blog

VeeSee
Noesis VeeSee is a website that has been launched in the UK by an interpreter, Susie Grant. The site is operating under the Deafeatures Ltd. Before I go any further, I really want to be positive about online development, but I'm really struggling here. More about that later. The site has a very strange mix of web 1.0 content and design, mixed with a web 2.0 approach [...]
Wed, Apr 11 2007 hide this blog

BBC & accessible online content
Noesis Last year I issued a formal complaint and threatened legal action against the BBC as far as the lack of subtitling and BSL being produced online. For those of you who are interested, this is the latest state of play: Subtitling Trial: subtitles are being trialled on multiple sites. Participating sites include: See Hear, Video Nation, Click and Panorama for [...]
Tue, Apr 10 2007 hide this blog

IBM addresses multimedia access for blind. Deaf access...
Noesis IBM has developed a browser to make multimedia content such as video, accessible for blind people. The browser also allows video to be slowed down, speeded up and can accommodate an additional audio description or narration track that is often included to make films and television programmes more comprehensible to blind people. The volume controls also allow the [...]
Sat, Mar 31 2007 hide this blog

Vlogging grows, where's the subtitles?
Noesis Valleywag picks up on some statistics from Meefeedia, on the growth of vlogs. Deaf vlogs are a bit behind this, and I give a history in this post. With the growth of vlogging, I have one question: where is the subtitles and solutions to address this? Deaf access where? How do you balance this with individual expression? When is policy and legislation going to be [...]
Fri, Mar 30 2007 hide this blog

WordSource: The Social Dictionary
Noesis A new online dictionary and thesaurus has been launched, called WordSource.Its a dictionary with a difference in that it brings social networking to another level.However, what really irritates me is its lack of user functionality. Take the word DEAF.It defines it as:- lacking or deprive of the sense of hearing wholly or in part; - people who have severe hearing [...]
Mon, Feb 26 2007 hide this blog

First sign language vlogs
Noesis Here we go again, discussion around the first vlog. I feel as if I'm living on a different timescale here, and watching the mainstream play catch up.As a point of clarification, for Mike, whilst Helga used sign language on her website, it was not in the form of a blog. Back in 2004, we followed her site via Deaf Blawg (blog temporarily offline). In fact her [...]
Fri, Feb 16 2007 hide this blog

BSL / English ICT Dictionary
Noesis The BSL/English ICT Dictionary has been released, and available online.This project was managed by DirectLearn, and follows a similar structure to previously released BSL/English online glossaries: ArtSigns, Engineering Signs and Science Signs.As with previous glossaries, it faces criticism in respect of BSL standardisation, and signs being unfamiliar to those who use [...]
Tue, Jan 23 2007 hide this blog

Joost: where's the subtitles / captions?
Noesis The Skype founders have used some of their $2.6 billion raised from selling the product to eBay to create a new interactive online television called Joost (formely called the Venice Project).The product has been in private alpha beta since last October, with a larger beta in existence since last December.If Skype is anything to go by, this software has the potential [...]
Tue, Jan 16 2007 hide this blog

Deafies not welcome at Yahoo! Video
Noesis Yahoo! Video is an idiot, and certainly a case of indirect discrimination. Yahoo! Video states:"Videos without audio will not be processed"So that means videos using sign language, which will often be processed with no sound, cannot be uploaded. An extremely bad move.
Thu, Dec 21 2006 hide this blog

Subtitling vlogs
Noesis .. and other online video, is being encouraged via dotSUB.com.The site provides a tool for adding real time text to videos as subtitles. And is being pushed as subtitling film in a native language, then for it to get translated into other languages via written text. I've not tried out this site yet, but one hopes that the option is there to keep subtitles in the [...]
Wed, Dec 06 2006 hide this blog

Vloggies
Noesis Last night was the Vloggies, awards for the best vlogs online. Deaf people weren't included, yet as a visual medium that can empower sign languages, we should be embracing this.With so much content being produced in spoken English, subtitling vlogs is a time consuming effort, therein lies a risk of exclusion. That is not to stop vlogs in sign language being [...]
Wed, Dec 06 2006 hide this blog