[accessibleimage] Live Audio Description: 2009 Swearing-In Ceremony

Hi,
Forwarding this email from Prof. Norm Coombs about the Swearing -In Ceremony

Link to Live Audio Description: 2009 Swearing-In Ceremony



Regards,
Lisa




Live
 To: dvsconsumers dvsconsumers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
 Accept-Language: en-US
Thread-topic: 2009 Inauguration Coverage on PBS to be Described and
 Captioned

 January 16, 2009

 
 Media Access Group at WGBH To Provide Closed Captioning And Live
 Description for PBS's Inaugural Coverage
 Described version of coverage will also stream live on the Joint
 Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) web site,
 
 Boston, MA   The Media Access Group at WGBH, a non-profit service of the
 
 WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston, Massachusetts, will provide both
 closed captioning and live description of Barack Obama's presidential
 inauguration for the PBS presentation of Inauguration 2009, a NewsHour
 special hosted by Jim Lehrer. The PBS coverage of the inauguration airs
 live on Tuesday, January 20 from 11AM to 1:30PM EST. While live captioning
 
 is an established feature of many television broadcasts, live description,
 
 the creation at time of air of a narration track imparting information
 about visual elements that people who are blind or visually impaired would
 
 miss, is a rare service. Dunkin' Donuts is generously sponsoring the
 description service for this broadcast. In 1993, PBS's coverage of the
 Clinton inauguration was the first live television program that was made
 fully accessible to the nation's 36 million deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind
 and visually impaired viewers.
 While details from the inaugural planning committee are still forthcoming,
 
 PBS plans to include coverage of Barack Obama's arrival at the White
 House, excerpts of the church service and Barack Obama's speech to the
 nation from the Capitol steps.
 Hosted by Jim Lehrer of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the PBS presentation
 
 will feature political analysts Mark Shields and David Brooks, as well as
 
 a panel to provide historical context:
 Ellen Fitzpatrick, presidential historian and professor at the
 University of New Hampshire
Peniel Joseph, professor of history and African-American studies at
 Brandeis University
Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National Review and author of a
 series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilton
 
 and George Washington
 "WGBH is proud to take part in making this historic event fully accessible
 
 to all PBS viewers once again," says Media Access Group director Larry
 Goldberg. "And we're extremely grateful to PBS, the team at MacNeil/Lehrer
 
 Productions and to corporate sponsor of the live description Dunkin'
 Donuts for the opportunity to bring not only the audio of the inaugural
 coverage to deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans, but also the visual
 highlights of the occasion to those who are blind or visually impaired."
 Dunkin' Donuts, for many years a corporate caption sponsor of local news
 broadcasts in the Boston area, is sponsoring description for the first
 time. Shannon Maxwell, field marketing manager for Dunkin' Donuts says,
 "Dunkin' Donuts individual franchise owners are proud to play a part of
 making this major event accessible to blind and visually impaired
 audiences.  We are thrilled that our contribution will make the images of
 
 the day come alive via description."
 Closed captions display spoken dialogue as text on the television
 screen.  The live captions will be typed by specially trained
 stenocaptioners   working from WGBH 92s Boston-based headquarters   and
 
 broadcast simultaneously with the live program.  The descriptive narration
 
   provided by an expert team of describers   will be audible during
 pauses
 in program dialogue and will identify speakers, describe settings and
 convey other visual information about the event. Captions can be accessed
 
 on televisions equipped with built-in decoders (most televisions are
 equipped), while viewers can hear descriptions by switching to the Second
 
 Audio Program (SAP) channel on their stereo TVs. The described coverage
 will also be streamed live on the Joint Congressional Committee on
 Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) web site at
 
 The Media Access Group at WGBH incorporates The Caption Center, the
 world's first captioning agency, founded in 1972; Descriptive Video
 Service AE (DVS AE), which has made television, film and video more
 accessible
 to blind and visually impaired audiences since 1990; and the Carl and Ruth
 
 Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), a research and
 
 development entity that builds on the success of WGBH's access service
 departments to make existing and emerging technologies more accessible to
 
 these under-served audiences.  Members of the Media Access Group's
 collective staff represent the leading resources and experts in their
 fields.

Lisa Yayla
Huseby Kompetansesenter
Oslo Norway

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