The Future of Accessible Digital Media

Editor's Notes

• #2: Very broad in terms of technology
• #4: Examples include: Just to normalize the discussion – when I talk about digital media I am not speaking specifically about audio and video. Digital Media is quite broad and includes things such as: Software Digital Images Digital video Digital audio Video games Web pages and applications Social media
• #5: Machine Learning Systems that can alter themselves, as they learn, and make dynamic decisions without explicit instructions. The learning process allows the system to continually optimize itself for the purpose of task optimization. Computer Vision Is a field concerned with analyzing and interpreting visual media such as video, images and natural surroundings which enable computer systems to understand what they are seeing, and establish context. This contextual information is used to produce decision based data which help systems complete tasks. Eg Autonomous vehicle – sees stop sign and comes to stop. Robotics Creation of machines to facilitate human tasks AI General Intelligence Is the pursuit of human intelligence equivalence within machines. Where systems would be able to approach problems in a manner that a human being would and be able to reason. This is also known as Strong AI. The opposite being weak AI – Siri being an example of that. Natural Language Processing The study of interactions between computer and people through human language. Speech recognition is an example that would be familiar to most here. Planning: concerned with providing strategies or underlying dynamic decisions which intelligent agent systems will leverage in achieving their goals. Expert Systems: A computer system that emulates the decision making abilities of a human expert. Systems of this nature leverage knowledge bases (facts and rules) to work through complex problems Experts systems of the 1970’s were some of the first successful forms of AI.
• #6: There will be many examples of innovative accessibility development as a result of AI advances: We will see massive improvements for facial / object recognition. This is will provide huge benefits for: Automated ALT text generation, including having enough contextual awareness to know which images are decorative and deal with those appropriately  Advances in Natural Language Processing will eventually enable realtime captioning, transcription and sign language interpretation at runtime at the device level Audio Description will be generated on demand and users will be able to customize verbosity levels. People who consume descriptions vary dramatically in terms of how much description they require to enjoy a program. T Content customization is one of the most exciting benefits of the AI movement. Once again, AI will enable to people to not only consume content they want, but in a manner they want. People with cognitive impairments will benefit from customized reading levels, removal of ambiguous language and jargon, as well as opportunities to take “walls of text” and break them down into concise, easily consumed summaries
• #7: Virtual, Augmented and Mixed reality Development in this area is exploding and we will see unprecedented growth over the next decade as it pertains to digital media. As a platform VR/AR/MR will transform the way we consume media, allow for rich, immersive experiences not available to us today by contemporary platforms
• #8: Break them down in order to dispel any Augmented reality and mixed reality are often confused with one another Augmented reality example - Pokemon Go character not anchored
• #9: Resonance audio is not linked with xR, but used in combination with it, provides the realistic audio experience required to provide an immersive environment
• #10: The term a picture is worth a 1000 words is valid, however, the same can be said for a strong audio experience. Great sound design conveys information to users. Audio is often an under used resource when discussing media accessibility, and is often a superior alternative to descriptions as it is organic and integrated into the production The virtual nature of this tech allows anyone to design innumerable number of diverse simulations to train or help people. Imagine a scenario where someone who lives with agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder where you fear places or situations, can learn to deal with it through simulated environments without unnecessary anxiety Microsoft and Google both have simulations that help the blind with Orientation and Mobility training using a combination of VR and haptic technologies
• #12: Examples of companion devices: Laptop Tablet Mobile phone Smart watch Supplementary content could refer to anything from interactive content to captions and descriptions On the old media paradigm media is very much a push technology where content is pushed to you but there are no opportunities to interact with it in any way. Second Screen provided opportunities to do that Second screen can also allow the companion device to transform into a controller. YouTube TV can be consumed by a phone as an example, but when cast to a TV the phone can turn into a remote control
• #13: Content access issues due to inaccessible hardware such as settop boxes are a long standing problem that could be resolved by allowing a user to turn their companion device, using their own assistive technology, into a controller those who require supplementary content such as captions or AD can consume them in mixed viewing audiences who may find them distracting
• #15: - The BBC is leading the charge and are looking to make this a standard operating procedure. They do a tremendous amount of content repurposing throughout ll of their various platforms, so it’s easy to see how effective this could be
• #17: If you had a 30 minute current events show as an example but only wanted a 5 minutes summary it would require an editor to comb through that and create a separate piece of media with that format. Through object based media the system could facilitate this on demand