Real-Time Text Taskforce
Arnoud van Wijk
Director Real-Time Text Taskforce Foundation (R3TF)
arnoud@realtimetext.org
Real-Time Text, a major leap forward for accessible
internet for people who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing.
IGF 2009 Sharm El-Sheikh Egypt
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Information Society, the Internet is everywhere!
Internet started as a government project
and now it is everywhere in daily life.
• Information and communication
• Online Education and training
• Online banking
• Video and TV over Internet
• Booking Travel (How did you come to
Egypt?)
•Telephony: More than 65% of all telephone traffic uses
the internet for transport
• Remote Healthcare : monitoring health at home
•Security
Real-Time Text Taskforce
We all depend more and more on the Internet in our daily life.
Not just on a PC, but on mobile devices too.
This dependency will only increase every year.
Having a disability limits the ability to benefit from the use of the
Internet because the internet is not designed for everyone
• On the web, text, pictures and videos are hidden from people with
a visual disability.
• navigation and controlling Hardware is a hurdle for some
disabilites
• video and audio (telephony, podcasts) can be hard or impossible
to understand with a hearing disability.
Real-Time Text Taskforce
•If a person with disabilities can’t access the Internet they
can’t participate in society (banking , telephony, online
education, less information and news)
•Emergency preparedness , Disaster relief and 112 and 911
are services that persons with disabilities have a right to
access these services
•Proper design of websites and internet services will allow all
users to use and benefit from the Internet.
• Where does a website end and the service start?
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Having a disability limits the ability to benefit from the use
of the Internet because the internet is not designed for
everyone. The Internet can and should make daily life easier
for people with disabilities!
Focusing on people with Deaf, Hard of Hearing
and speech disabilities
There are 2 huge accessibility issues:
• video: where are the captions?
• audio: where is the real-time text?
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Accessible Internet for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
1. Video
• the sound and speech in video clips are not understandable.
• Movies (i-Tunes, IPTV, streaming video lack captions!)
• YouTube supports captioning
• training and educational videos need captioning
The solution is simple: caption ALL videos!
2. Audio
• audio clips and podcasts may not be heard by many.
The solution: add transcripts or caption.
• Internet based real-time voice telephony, (VoIP) is not accessible
for persons with hearing disabilities
The solution: use Real-Time Text!
Real-Time Text Taskforce
What is Real-Time Text?
• Real-Time Text is sent and received on a character by character basis.
• Characters are sent immediately once typed.
• Characters are displayed immediately at the other end for the
receiving person.
• Real-Time Text is more like talking because of instant transmission
• Much easier for conversation
• Instant Messaging (IM) is not real-time!
• IM sends a bloc of text when transmission is indicated by user
• often long waiting time to receive messages
• unsuitable for conversations
• Each IM is proprietary and not compatible with other IM systems
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Example of Real-Time Text and Instant Messaging
Real-Time Text
Instant Messaging
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Real-Time Text in IETF and ITU standards: For information only
•Real-Time Text is designed around the ITU-T T.140 real-time text
presentation layer protocol. (CORE)
•T.140 allows real-time editing of text
•Based on the ISO 10646-1 character set and uses the UTF-8 format.
•For SIP telephony RTT uses RTP just like VoIP and Video-over-IP. The
text is encoded according to IETF RFC 4103 “RTP Payload for Text
Conversation”.
•SIP is used without any alteration. RTT/VoIP/Video. SIP does not
care. It is all UDP media streams.
•Real-time text encoding is identified by using the SDP media
definition 'm=text‘.
•3GPP IMS supports RFC4103-> 3GPP TS 26.114 v7.4.0 A5+
• Open and International Standards!
Real-Time Text Taskforce
So, we have Real-Time Text…and what is possible?:
•All people can use Real-Time Text to talk whenever, wherever
•As part of IP telephony, in combination with voice and/or video. It
is called Total conversation and open ITU/IETF standard.
•Deaf and Hard of Hearing users can communicate without
restrictions.
•Via transcoding gateways text telephony (TTY) is supported.
•Real-Time Text can also be used stand-alone for direct text to text
conversations. As a new text chatting function or even as an
enchantment of IM.
Real-Time Text creates new communication possibilities and
services! Enables access!
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Total Conversation:
•Audio, video and
Real-Time Text
simultaneously
•Uses SIP telephony
standards.
•Combine whichever
you prefer.
•Freedom of communication
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Live Transcription at conference:
•Interpreter types all speech into text, real-time text allows fastest
streaming delivery.
Speech to Text
Interpreter/CART
Broadcast Server
Real time text clients
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Remote Interpreter:
•An interpreter listens in from a remote location and translates the
spoken conversation in text.
Hi I am Mister Gibberish
Nice to meet you!
Speech to Text
Interpreter/CART
Eww4h
Jji se
Orr hhs
=
Hi I am Mister Gibberish
Nice to meet you
Internet
Eww4h
Jji se
Orr hhs
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Mobile Real-Time Text. Acts as Mobile Textphone using transcoding GW
for PSTN text telephony for users who are Deaf or hard of Hearing.
Real-Time Text Taskforce
Allows new communication possibilities and services:
•Text based IVR read and reply by pressing the number. And you can
interrupt if you know the menu partly (or know which number to start)
press 1 for billing department
press 2 for reporting your credit card stolen
press 3 to order a new card
press 4 if you want to jump out the window
press 5 to hear all the options again
• 112/911 use for when voice is not possible.
•E.g. hidden under bed with burglar sitting on it.
• Hip youngsters with Next generation chatting! A new market!
• Design for all! All users benefit with Real-Time Text!
Real-Time Text Taskforce
About R3TF: The Mission
•The R3TF is an international non-profit Foundation based in The
Netherlands.
The goal of the Real-Time Text Taskforce Foundation (R3TF) is to ensure
that harmonised, interoperable real-time text communication solutions
are as readily available as conversational voice.
• The R3TF acts as a centre for advocacy and knowledge exchange in the
field of Real-Time Text. It will contribute to the promotion, design and
implementation of interoperable Real-Time Text solutions and
encourage adoption of Real-Time Text in mainstream products and
services.
Real-Time Text Taskforce
About R3TF:
• The R3TF provides an open forum for all stakeholders who
share its vision. They including engineers, designers, solution
architects and private individuals. Its activities are delivered
through specific Task Groups (TGs).
• The R3TF supports the use of different real-time text
technologies as long as they adhere to a common
interoperability standard (RFC4103).
Real-Time Text Taskforce
•The R3TF achieves this by providing specific
expertise and tools to promote and support the
development of such interoperability.
•The R3TF collects and disseminates information on
real-time text user requirements, available solutions
and technology implementations.
• The R3TF seeks to promote real-world deployment
for implementation of real-time text by contributing to
and participating in such projects