Innovative Techniques for Creating and Distributing Described Video for the Blind

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project will develop an innovative Internet technology - the Descriptive Video Exchange (DVX) - to facilitate research into the effectiveness of amateur video description for the blind and visually impaired. Video accessibility is a critical and growing issue in the rehabilitation of the blind and visually impaired, and has impacts in education and employment, as well as entertainment and social integration. Professional video description requires careful scripting and recording of brief voiceover segments announcing on-screen events that would otherwise be inaccessible to the blind and visually-impaired. Video description has been shown to make educational and entertainment video more effective for blind and visually-impaired viewers, but it is extremely costly and time-consuming. With the accelerated production of video materials and dwindling funding to support professional description, it is increasingly important to investigate the effectiveness and viability of a volunteer-based system of video description. DVX will provide a platform for the simple creation, sharing, viewing, and evaluation of descriptions of DVD and Internet-based video content recorded by volunteers, and evaluated by people with a wide range of visual disabilities. DVX will be the first system to tightly couple video description recording and playback tools with a server-based, description-sharing mechanism, thus making the creation and consumption of the described materials seamless for both volunteers and blind consumers. The availability of DVX will make it possible to address several important research questions about the effectiveness of using amateurs to describe video. We propose several specific research questions; however DVX opens the possibility for many more future video description studies. The present project proposes to conduct the following investigations utilizing an Internet-based survey protocol involving 50 sighted amateur describers and 200 evaluation participants with a broad range of visual disabilities: 1. Evaluate the effectiveness of amateur description for a variety of genres and video formats, in comparison to traditional, professional video description. In addition, evaluate the influence of consumer feedback on the quality of amateur description. 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of a proposed set of Enhanced Playback Functions intended to mitigate problems commonly encountered in amateur description; 3. Conduct preliminary research into the use of mainstream social networking platforms (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) for the recruitment of amateur describers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The limited accessibility of most video materials is a critical and growing issue in the rehabilitation of the blind and visually impaired, and has negative impacts on their education and employment, as well as entertainment and social integration. The proposed project will develop an innovative Internet technology - the Descriptive Video Exchange (DVX) - to facilitate research into the effectiveness of using amateur describers to boost the availability of accessible video for the blind and visually impaired. With the accelerated production of video materials and dwindling funding to support professional description, it is increasingly important to investigate the effectiveness and viability of a volunteer-based system of video description.