EBU TECHNICAL
‘I am not alone.’
Internet media content for people
with disabilities
David Wood
Deputy Director
EBU Technical
European Broadcasting Union
Access means....
a. People with disabilities being able to use
the Internet - it being available and userready.
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.
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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).
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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.
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Quo Vadis Internet?
Multimedia - the web (mostly) today graphics/text/ hyperlinks/pictures/
video 1985 - ?
Internet
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 -?
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Hybrid Broadcast Broadband
TVWidgets (Yahoo/Intel)
Canvas (BBC)
HbbTV (ARD/ZDF/FT/Philips/Sony)
MHP 1.0.3 (RAI)
Viera (Panasonic)
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EBU TECHNICAL - your reference in media technology and innovation
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?
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 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. cutesy
b. superman
Media
Who are the Heroes
and Villains?
What are the
common causes?
Drama helps us because we identify with the people
Individuals
Individuals
we see on
the screen – ‘ if I were him
or her , I would
with
without
do.....’, ‘He
or she is like me’ , ‘I belong
to that team’.
disabilities
disabilities
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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 - your reference in media technology and innovation
EBU TECHNICAL
Alone we can do so little, together we can do so
much” Helen Keller.
Thank you
wood@ebu.ch
Skype: davidinnov