- From: Gregory J. Rosmaita <oedipus@hicom.net>
- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:35:25 -0400
- To: Lachlan Hunt <lachlan.hunt@lachy.id.au>, public-html@w3.org
- Cc: wai-xtech@w3.org
Lachlan Hunt wrote, quote You're confusing accessibility, which is about catering for people with disabilities, with interoperability, which is about making formats that work on different platforms, devices and/or software. While the issues are sometimes related, arguing that something is inaccessible because some users don't posses the right equipment is wrong. It'd be like arguing that DVDs are inaccessible because a few people still only have VHS. unquote i do not understand your reasoning one whit... first of all, accessibility is NOT about quote catering for people with disabilities quote, but about enabling quote people with disabilities unquote to use the web with the same ease as their temporarily able-bodied colleagues... usability leads to accessibility which leads to usability; the twain cannot be seperated; moreover, interoperability and internationalization have accessibility overlaps, in that blind and low vision users use not only microsoft's windows family of operating stystems, but linux and even macintosh (which was the first machine for which a GUI-capable screen reader was developed); as for internationalization for decades, speakers of non-western languages had to run their computers in english mode (or in another supported language they understand) in order to access any content whatsoever, despite the fact that english may be their tertiary language... DVDs, by the way, ARE inaccessible to those of us who are blind, unless played on a computer using a software DVD application; why? because DVDs are interactive-menu driven (point-and-shoot), and -- like digital television -- NO thought has gone into enabling DVD players, digital cable, and digital TV (which will replace analog TV in the U.S. in february 2009); at least with a software DVD player, one can access the main contents of the DVD... they haven't even bothered to attempt to adapt sattilite radio's interface for the blind, either... lachlan also wrote, quote: BTW, DVDs don't get sold with books describing the entire film for those who can't watch it. They do, however, get produced with captions, subtitles and sometimes audio descriptions. Why should video on the web be any different? unquote ah, but they ARE sold with closed captioning, as well as at least 2 or more alternative languages... adding DVS (descriptive video services) would be a triviality, but because it does not have the same legal status as closed captioning quote for the hearing impaired unquote; when fox broadcasts the simpsons in prime-time, there is DVS available courtesy of WGBH-Boston, but when episodes are syndicated, the DVS is replaced by spanish SAP (secondary audio programming) - the same medium which is used for providing DVS, which is why i'd like to get the descriptive video script with its timing cues, so as to provide a SMIL accompanyment to programs that had DVS when broadcast, but which do not have DVS when either in syndication or on DVD (i was given the second season of the simpsons DVD and in order to get to the menus, one has to point and click at a wheel which spins and randomly places characters' heads on others' bodies -- the hook is that you can't get to the menus until you align all the heads correctly, in a game that most closely resembles the roulette wheel principle) WGBH-Boston has also produced hundreds of VHS releases (remember, not every blind person has a computer, and most of us definitely don't have a dedicated DVD player) with DVS -- i, for example, was, several years ago, given an audio described copy of "basic instinct", so there is a wide variety of materials available in VHS from WGBH... if you really want to know my full, unvarnished take on this situation, which is due to the indifference of the quote mainstream unquote, and which is actually resisted by directors and producers of films and TV programs alike on first amendment grounds (description is editorializing, so the arguement runs, closed captioning is a literal transcription of the audio), consult the 2 essays on DVS and digital television at my anti-blog: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/blog/ i think you will know to which articles i am referring by their names, which -- in one case -- includes language not suitable for a public forum. gregory. -------------------------------------------------------------- DISCUSSION, n. A method of confirming others in their errors. -- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary -------------------------------------------------------------- Gregory J. Rosmaita, oedipus@hicom.net Camera Obscura: http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/ --------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Thursday, 28 June 2007 16:36:33 UTC