media:WGBH Media Access Site Launched

Contact: Mary Watkins
Media Access Group at WGBH
617 300-3700 v/TTY
mary_watkins@wgbh.org

CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media Launches New Web Site

NEC Foundation of America Funds Redesign Effort

Boston, MA  November 12, 2001.  The CPB/WGBH National Center for
Accessible Media (NCAM) today launched a redesigned Web site, which
offers visitors easy access to the information, access tools, and other
resources resulting from NCAM's public and privately-funded media access
projects.  The NEC Foundation of America provided generous support of
the redesign efforts.

The new site expands NCAM's capacity to provide comprehensive,
accessible, and user-driven information and resources suited to
individual needs and interests.  Among the communities NCAM serves are
consumers with hearing or vision loss, parents, teachers,
administrators, educational researchers, state and federal agencies, Web
masters, technology developers, entertainment companies, standards
organizations, regulators and advocacy organizations based in the U.S.
and around the world.

Among the resources located on the NCAM site:

- Learn about NCAM's current projects and project archives involving
access to feature films, distance learning, digital and analog
television, Web-, CD- and DVD ROM-based multimedia and classroom
materials;

- Find tools and resources, including the latest version of NCAM's free,
do-it-yourself captioning and description software for digitized media,
Media Access Generator (MAGpie), and published guildelines for
developers for making multimedia accessible.

- Get involved, become a Business Partner, a beta tester, or provide
feedback on cutting-edge access tools and innovations brewing at NCAM
and with it's public and private-sector collaborators;

- Link to additional sites on the Web which are associated with
disabilities, technology, media and education.

- Sign up to get periodic updates from NCAM, The Caption Center and
Descriptive Video Service -- chose between Movie Theater Access, Web
Access, DTV Access, Education Access or all of the above (General
Announcements).

The launch coincides with the debut of NCAM's Cornerstones site, a
collaboration with PBS's award-winning Between the Lions series and WGBH
Interactive.  Cornerstones is a technology-infused approach to literacy
development designed for early elementary children who are deaf and hard
of hearing (and that can be used with other students who learn well
visually and struggle with literacy).  Cornerstone materials are
predominately Web-based, and are linked from NCAM's home page
(ncam.wgbh.org).

ABOUT NCAM.ORG's ACCESS FEATURES
NCAM is committed to ensuring that its site is accessible to all users.
This Web site conforms to existing recommendations and standards and has
been tested with various assistive technologies. During the development
process, our authors followed the W3C's Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines and it also meets the standards set in the Web-based
applications section of the Section 508 standards.

ABOUT NCAM
The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), is a division
of The Media Access Group at Boston's public broadcaster WGBH.  NCAM's
fellow access departments at WGBH include The Caption Center , the world
’s first captioning agency, founded in 1972, and the Descriptive Video
Service which has made television, film and video more enjoyable to
viewers who are blind or visually impaired since 1990.  The Media Access
Group's initiatives expand the reach and refine such technologies as
captioning and description, while breaking new ground in the fields of
technology, media, disability, and education. NCAM in particular works
with standards bodies and industry to develop and implement open
technical standards for multimedia, advanced television, distance
learning and convergent media that ease implementation, foster growth
and lay common groundwork for equal access to new technologies. For more
information, visit access.wgbh.org.

ABOUT NEC FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
NEC Foundation of America was established in 1991 and endowed at $10
million by NEC Corporation and its U.S. subsidiaries. It supports
programs with national reach and impact in science and technology
education, principally at the secondary level, and assistive technology
for people with disabilities. Since its inception, NEC Foundation of
America has awarded grants totaling $5.7 million. For more information,
please visit the Foundation’s home page at: www.necfoundation.org.

ABOUT WGBH
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer. More
than one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup and companion Web content as
well as many public radio favorites are produced by WGBH. Its best-known
productions include NOVA, Frontline, American Experience, Antiques
Roadshow, ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre, This Old House, Arthur, and
Zoom on PBS and The World and Sound & Spirit on public radio. WGBH also
is a pioneer in educational multimedia and in technologies and services
that make media accessible to people with disabilities. Since its
establishment in 1951, WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors,
including Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards-- even two Oscars. For
more information visit www.wgbh.org.

Received on Monday, 12 November 2001 18:25:25 UTC