Content Accessibility (CA11y): Highly Individualised Digital Content for Supporting Diverse Needs

内容可访问性 (CA11y)：支持多样化需求的高度个性化的数字内容

• 批准号: EP/X012395/1
• 负责人: Timothy Neate
• 金额: $ 36.21万
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX012395%2F1
• 关键词: Content; Accessibility; CA11y; Highly; Individualised

Our communication is increasingly mediated through the creation and consumption of digital content such as videos, podcasts and myriad forms of social media. Access to digital content has become integral to our social and civic participation in society. Much of this creation and consumption, however, is not equally accessed by all. People with accessibility needs face several challenges in accessing digital content and are therefore at risk of isolation. Accessibility capabilities for digital content are typically viewed through the lens of standards such as subtitles and audio description. While these are helpful for some users, digital content still introduces challenges for many with a range of diverse needs. This proposal aims to explore the design of bespoke accessibility solutions, based on a given individual's exact needs, to support access to digital content. CA11y (Content Accessibility: Highly Individualised Digital Content for Supporting Diverse Needs) proposes a shift in how we consider the provision of accessible digital content. CA11y will envision and develop technologies that allow for highly-responsive content, unique to each individual's accessibility needs. Simultaneous, individual renderings of content will allow us to explore previously unconsidered accessibility solutions. For instance, for users who face challenges with speech, we might limit the background noise in a radio drama to make the actor's voice clearer. We might slow a news ticker to support easier comprehension. We might completely reconfigure content so that scenes with complex dialogue or textual descriptions are removed. Or, finally, we might change the visual contrast of individual onscreen elements (e.g. graphic overlays) to support ease of viewing.The distribution of digital content via the internet, with accompanying metadata, means that content can respond to the end-user's requirements. This may be rendered to an individual's devices or needs, based on some rule-set or ontology. This concept is broadly termed Object-Based Media (OBM). Crucially, OBM enables an entirely individual rending of digital content for each end-user. While the distribution of digital content in such a way has been shown to offer novel exciting, responsive digital content experiences, little work has explored what this can mean for accessibility.The highly individualised digital content afforded by concepts such as OBM provides transformative potential to support those with a range of diverse accessibility needs. CA11y will work with one such group - people with aphasia. Aphasia is a language impairment that affects one-third of stroke survivors. People with aphasia often have a range of complex accessibility needs due to specific challenges with language, notably listening, reading, speaking and writing. This means that they often can no longer engage with digital content, meaning they face a growing digital divide. The aforementioned accessibility standards such as subtitles and audio description do not cater to their needs. In CA11y, people with aphasia will support the co-design of an innovative range of technological prototypes to support their access needs through responsive, individualised digital content. CA11y will act as a radical first step in a new research field that seeks to support those with a range of access needs through highly individualised experiences, with users with aphasia acting as an exemplar for others with accessibility needs.

我们的沟通越来越多地通过数字内容的创作和消费来进行，例如视频，播客和各种形式的社交媒体。获取数字内容已成为我们社会和公民参与社会的组成部分。然而，这种创造和消费的大部分并不是所有人都能平等地获得的。有无障碍需求的人在获取数字内容方面面临若干挑战，因此有被孤立的风险。数字内容的可访问性能力通常通过诸如字幕和音频描述之类的标准的透镜来查看。虽然这些对一些用户有帮助，但数字内容仍然给许多具有各种不同需求的人带来挑战。该提案旨在根据特定个人的确切需求，探讨设计定制的无障碍解决方案，以支持获取数字内容。CA 11 y（内容可访问性：支持多样化需求的高度个性化数字内容）提出了我们如何考虑提供无障碍数字内容的转变。CA 11 y将设想和开发技术，允许高度响应的内容，独特的每个人的可访问性需求。同时，单独呈现的内容将使我们能够探索以前未考虑的可访问性解决方案。例如，对于面临语音挑战的用户，我们可以限制广播剧中的背景噪音，使演员的声音更清晰。我们可能会放慢新闻自动收报机的速度，以便于理解。我们可能会完全重新配置内容，以便删除具有复杂对话或文本描述的场景。最后，我们可以改变单个广告元素的视觉对比度（例如图形覆盖），以支持更容易的观看。通过互联网分发数字内容，伴随着元数据，意味着内容可以响应最终用户的需求。这可以基于一些规则集或本体来呈现给个体的设备或需求。这个概念被广泛地称为基于对象的媒体（OBM）。至关重要的是，OBM能够为每个最终用户提供完全独立的数字内容渲染。虽然以这种方式分发数字内容已被证明可以提供新颖的令人兴奋的，响应式的数字内容体验，但很少有工作探索这对可访问性意味着什么。OBM等概念提供的高度个性化的数字内容提供了变革性的潜力，以支持那些具有各种不同可访问性需求的人。CA 11 y将与这样一个群体合作-失语症患者。失语症是一种语言障碍，影响三分之一的中风幸存者。失语症患者通常有一系列复杂的无障碍需求，这是由于语言方面的特定挑战，特别是听力，阅读，口语和写作。这意味着他们通常无法再参与数字内容，这意味着他们面临着日益扩大的数字鸿沟。上述无障碍标准，如字幕和音频描述，不能满足他们的需要。在CA 11 y中，失语症患者将支持一系列创新技术原型的共同设计，以通过响应式，个性化的数字内容来支持他们的访问需求。CA 11 y将作为一个新的研究领域的激进的第一步，该领域旨在通过高度个性化的体验来支持那些有一系列访问需求的人，失语症用户将成为其他有访问需求的人的榜样。