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Say What? ~ Connecting the Deaf & Hard of Hearing of Y-S to the Community and Beyond

Archive for the 'Accessibility' Category

Online Captioning May Be Coming Here

July 28th, 2009, 11:46 am by Hana

I wanted to mention real quick that I got a response from our corporate on having captioning capability included on our Brightcove videos that we offer here on www.appeal-democrat.com and www.colusa-sun-herald.com, and any Freedom Communications Inc. property using Brightcove. Brightcove is our vendor for Internet videos on Freedom Communications Inc. properties. They are working to develop a timetable to deploy the feature on Brightcove videos.

While this means an ability to caption videos easily on the Brightcove platform, individual submitters like the everyday web site visitor, is not required to do this. The pending Bill which would mandate captioning of videos, applies only to the public realm on the Internet — news, television episodes, movies. It does not apply to the private individual who is submitting an Internet video.

Regardless, this feature should make it easier for folks to add captioning to their Internet videos.

Posted in: Accessibility • Technology | Post a Comment »

More about Captioning Online

July 8th, 2009, 10:36 am by Hana

I’m feeling hopeful today.

I spent about 30 minutes yesterday writing a personal letter to my representative here, to co-sponsor or at least support the Bill which I blogged about yesterday. I also heard from my very good friend in Minnesota this morning, that she wrote to her representative Al Franken, to support the Bill as well. She’s not deaf or hard of hearing — she did it because she believes that I, as well as others, should get the same access that hearing people do when viewing Internet videos. I also e-mailed and texted some of my Deaf friends to notice this and support the Bill.  I got an e-mail from a hard of hearing friend, who said that she “firmly believe that all news videos should be captioned. This not only serves deaf and hard of hard of hearing but people learning to read English.” when I asked her if she thought that the Internet videos we offer online, should be captioned regardless of the length.

I just sent an e-mail to our corporate’s video lead this morning, about seriously considering adding captions to our Internet videos. I’m waiting to see how that goes. I mentioned the Bill, that there was technology already available for captioning Internet videos, and that we had attempted our hand at manually captioning a few here. I believe that if captions were included, there would be more page views and that the deaf and hard of hearing in the Yuba-Sutter would feel less excluded. I’ve yet to download and try out the Media Access Generator (MAGpie) which I saw yesterday. Just need to clear some time to do that in between the 20+ projects we have. :)

All we can do is step forth and see what happens.

Posted in: Accessibility • Cyberspace • Technology | Post a Comment »

Online Class Experiences

May 14th, 2009, 4:54 pm by Hana

I wanted to share something that was recently added to my online classes. For those who don’t know, I’m currently enrolled in distance learning through online classes with the International Academy of Design and Technology based in Tampa, Florida (I’m in Marysville, California). Up to the third quarter, professors were giving powerpoint presentations and typing in Live Chats with students.

When the classes started moving into the design and coding aspect, and that’s when it got tricky for the professors to type while they were demonstrating techniques. So the Student Services and I had some discussions about that and came up with Real-Time captioning and had it added to the classes. Now the professor can continue lecturing while doing demonstrations on their computers. Here’s an example of what one lecture online looks like.

screenshot

The area marked in red outline, is the Caption Pod and functions as a .swf file that is fed into the lecture simultaneously. The main area at top, is the lecturing/demo area where the professor has a powerpoint presentation. The smaller pods are student roster, the text chatting area, and the professor’s microphone status. There is almost no time lapse in the captioning. My classmates are often intrigued by the captioning although they don’t know there is a deaf person in the class. It has also provided an unexpected bonus: students reviewing the Live Chats later, can open and read the captioning by clicking on the CC symbol if they can’t hear the audio because sometimes the audio cuts out. I think it’s pretty neat. The captioning service is provided by one of IADT’s sister colleges in Colorado, and has a separate window for the client (me) who can customize the text in something like a black background and white text, any font or size. Additionally, it provides a transcript in plain text or HTML at completion.

Although not perfect when it comes to simliar sounding words, it has functioned well and I’m happy about being able to participate in the online lectures. This is something for others to consider when taking online classes and don’t know what to expect.

Posted in: Accessibility • Life Experiences • Technology • • • • | Post a Comment »

Captioning Survey Available Now

May 11th, 2009, 10:50 am by Hana

fyiCSD-DTV Help Center for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind, are conducting a survey to see how the captioning experience is for you. Please click on this link: http://dtv.c-s-d.org/newsvideo.html. Let them know if you’re happy or frustrated with the closed captioning. Do it!

Posted in: Accessibility • On the Deaf Grapevine • Technology | Post a Comment »

UbiDuo

March 24th, 2009, 2:30 pm by Hana

The UbiDuo

FREED Center for Independent Living has the UbiDuo for people to borrow and try out. Just swing by the FREED office at 508 J Street, Marysville, CA or contact FREED at 530-742-4474 (Voice or TTY).

Posted in: Accessibility • Around Y-S • Technology • • • • | Post a Comment »

The Perfect House

December 31st, 2008, 1:43 pm by Hana

My husband and I were visiting Susan Stacy’s home before the holidays. While there, Susan showed us the renovation she did to her kitchen, and pointed out a special feature she had added: quiet cabinets. We laughed and declared it was “hearing-friendly”!

Susan Stacy bought those special soft-close hinges for her new cabinets from Ikea and installed them herself. They “catch” the doors/drawers of the cabinets just about an inch from the frame and gently closes, thus eliminating the unintentional slamming of cabinet doors/drawers. Her eldest daughter, Carita was also in the kitchen with us. She and my husband (both are hearing), exchanged stories about their Deaf family members slamming cabinets when they were trying to sleep in, while Susan and I laughed about how we would do things extra-extra carefully to avoid making noises but because we are deaf, we couldn’t tell what worked or didn’t work.

Susan told about how she would very gingerly close doors to try and avoid making noise and waking up her three children. I told about how I would stand by the door I wanted to close, and move it very slowly to close, to avoid slamming it. I would be standing there for almost a full minute, fighting my urge to just close the freaking door in the first 3 seconds!!!

That got me thinking about the perfect home. My husband and I want our home to be deaf-friendly and hearing-friendly. That means eliminating slamming of doors/drawers/cabinets/lids, and having the standard lights-flashing alert system. We also like having an open floor plan that allows us to sign at each other from across the house and see all of the equipment for the deaf alerters. No walls in the middle of the family room or a walled-in kitchen. Susan’s house initially had a wall dividing the kitchen/dining area and the living room until she had it removed to allow free communication.

Ever since that visit, I’ve been thinking about everything that my husband complains I make noises about — and it’s not just me. It happens in every Deaf/Hearing relationship. Banging doors, drawers, cabinets, pots and pans, etc. I went on a Googling Quest to find all of the Soft-Close hinges for my home and thinking about everything that could be used to prevent loud noises especially the toilet lid slamming in the middle of the night. I tallied up the cost: at $5 for a soft-close hinge for cabinetry times 11 cabinet doors equals $55 not including taxes. Special soft-close hinges for doors run around $20 each and work on only certain doors, times 3 or 5 doors in the house. Then I wondered why homes don’t come already equipped with those soft close features. Why not? I’m positive we are not the only people in the world that would like a slam-less home. It’s not a Deaf/Hearing problem. It’s an universal problem. Why spend over $100 soundproofing your home? Especially in these financially tight times.

Your thoughts?

Edit: The soft-close hinges were purchased at Ikea, not Home Depot as I had thought. Thanks for the correction, Susan.

Posted in: Accessibility • Life Experiences • • • • | 3 Comments »

Interactive Video Dictionary in the Works

May 28th, 2008, 5:29 pm by Hana

2-d ASLI was reading the Appeal-Democrat newspaper over the weekend when my husband showed me this article titled “Researchers making video dictionary for the deaf.” I found the online version here.

The short story: Boston University students are looking to create a sign language resource through the creation of a video dictionary paired with an interactive computer program that would read your sign through a Web cam, then match it up with possible translations. The idea is to create a visual and interactive dictionary of ASL (American Sign Language) for everyone to use.

I sure would like this. Even though I’m a Deaf person and ASL user, there are still signs I don’t know for certain words. Right now, we have DeafVideo.tv and YouTube searches for ASL videos to get some. I wonder how the program is going to get around the dialect variations, for example, East Coast ASL versus West Coast ASL.

I remember my parents carrying a sign language book with them when I was learning how to communicate as a toddler. I rushed around pointing at items both animate and inanimate, and asked for the sign. My mother said that I became visibly frustrated if there wasn’t a sign in the book for what I wanted to know.

I wonder mostly at the impact this will have on people if the project is successful.

Posted in: Accessibility • In Appeal-Democrat News • • | Post a Comment »

Special Announcement: Be Part of the Change!

January 17th, 2008, 2:37 pm by

I received an very important e-mail just now.

This is for all Deaf Community Members, Educators, Families, Friends, Students, anyone interested in the education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the state of California.

ARE YOU FRUSTRATED WITH YOUR

DEAF EDUCATION EXPERIENCE?

IF SO… CLICK HERE:

NorCal Center Deaf Education Reform Call

This is about a push for reform in Deaf Education, to pull up the standards and provide better education to the future generations of Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The link above, will show a video with subtitles and signed testimonies by Deaf/Hard of Hearing people along with contact information for you to send in your story. The call is out now for your personal testimonies of your experience in the California’s education system for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. This will be brought to our State Legislators and Governor’s attention.

Why is this important?

Because the education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is still substandard. For example, if a student is mainstreamed, he/she is not guaranteed an interpreter that is skilled, and this has impact on the student’s education. Lack of a standardized education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has a life-long impact on the individual, affecting every aspect of daily living.

Watch the video and send in your story either in a letter, e-mail, or a video!

* A note: the video can be viewed on either Safari or Internet Explorer.

Posted in: Accessibility • Around Y-S • NorCal Center on Deafness • Videos | 2 Comments »

Hearing Dogs

August 27th, 2007, 9:40 pm by

Appeal-Democrat printed an article in Monday’s paper about a local resident who has a new hearing dog named Chip. Claudia Hollis is the branch manager of FREED Center for Independent Living in Marysville. She is hard of hearing, although the article uses the word “hearing impaired.”

Hearing dogs have been an interesting addition to a deaf or hard of hearing person’s life. I will admit that I did once consider having a hearing dog, but I never made the choice. Getting a hearing dog is a personal choice.

I have met a few people who have hearing dogs; most of the time I see them from a distance. There have been some variations in the dog’s size. One of my former roommates at CSUN (California State University Northridge) had a hearing dog that was a Husky mixed breed with a thick heavy coat. Former FBI Eye Sue Thomas visited my class when I was a student at Yuba City High School and brought her Golden Retriever hearing dog. I remember a young Deaf couple that lived in Yuba City back when I was about 13 years old. They had a medium sized hearing dog named Cinder because she was black. The wife occasionally worked as a substitute teacher for the district, appearing in my classroom at times.

The nice thing about being online is that you get to read other people’s stories. People have blogged or vlogged about their thoughts, experiences and feelings on hearing dogs. Some feel hearing dogs are not necessary, some have found that having a hearing dog has been an immense help in their lives, others have been frustrated by the general public’s refusal to recognize a hearing dog as a service dog.

For instance, Seek Geo wonders whether Deafies need hearing dogs.

Bug wrote about his hearing dog, Fancy in Do You Really Need A Hearing Dog?

In the United Kingdom, Funnyoldlife writes about her experiences with the public and her hearing dog.

A United Kingdom Hearing Dog named Liffey has her own blog, which is entertaining read.

Hearing Dogs are not a phenomenon restricted to America; they are used internationally as evident by the United Kingdom. What’s interesting is how the first seeds of training dogs to assist the deaf came into existence. Man’s best friend, the dog, has always been renowned for their loyalty and intelligence. They just can tell if you are “different” and will help you. On IHDI web site (International hearing Dog, Inc.), they tell the story of a dog trainer named Agnes McGrath who was approached in 1974 by a deaf lady asking to see if someone could train a hearing dog. This deaf lady had a hearing dog that worked naturally for her without professional training. From this dog trainer, came the first six hearing dogs trained in a pilot program funded by a grant from the American Humane Association. Service dogs have been in close association with rescue programs that give new life to the dogs.

I am looking forward to reading more about Chip in the future.

I know there are many stories out there about hearing dogs — want share yours?

Posted in: Accessibility • In Appeal-Democrat News | Post a Comment »

My brother-in-law let me play with his iPhone

July 2nd, 2007, 8:47 pm by

iphone1.jpg Last Saturday was my brother-in-law’s birthday, and he had the iPhone. The nice brother-in-law that he is, he let me play with it.

First off, it’s eyecandy, a proud mark of Apple.

It’s very lightweight compared to the SideKick II I have.

It took a bit getting used to typing on the virtual QWERTY keyboard because I normally type with my nails (what can I say? I’m a woman).

The camera is a crisp 2 megapixels with a quick, cute shutter action in the viewer when you take a picture. Faster than my SideKick II’s camera and better quality. No brainer there.

It has satellite mapping, and it defaults to the location of where you are with the iPhone. Would be funny if it had an arrow and bubble saying “You are here.”

Right off the bat, I noticed it has an icon for YouTube (a plus for deafvideo.tv addicts). It looks like a TV in the photo to the left, the brown icon in the second row.

When you’re online or watching a movie, you can flip it from vertical to horizon for a landscape view. Same goes for the virtual keyboard. And when you’re on the Internet, you can zoom in or out, move the web page around with your fingertip. It’s just like the short clips on the iPhone’s features on Apple’s web site.

I was puzzled to see that it didn’t come with iChat (also known as AIM). Apple has been producing OS that includes iChat, so what happened with the iPhone? Momentary lapse? For those who don’t know, text-based Relay services are done through AIM. There’s rumor that it will be added later on. As some agreed, videoconferencing would be superb on this iPhone.

iPhone’s Accessibility List here. They do have TTY support. But that kind of misses the point of being on the go. Who carries a TTY around?

On www.deafmac.org, a commentor suggested contacting Apple’s Accessibility folks to let them know. I’ve already sent Apple an e-mail regarding Deaf accessibility, and I encourage you to do the same. Even if you don’t have a iPhone but are considering it, go for it. And while you’re at it, ask for captioned movies for purchase on iTunes as part of accessibility.

I wrote an email telling them who I am, how nifty Apple’s iPhone is, but I can’t buy it because it does not have support for relay services. I have loved ones who are hearing and do not have a cell phone or e-mail. I have to call them through the relay. While it’s nice the iPhone includes support for TTYs, it misses the point of smart phones. It’s to be FREE and on the GO. I suggested they take a look at what SideKick has, specifically II and III for real Deaf accessibility.

Or better, they should have polled dDeaf people in what they want in a smart phone.

I’m a bit disappointed, but would rather wait.

Update: July 2
iPhone will work with meebo.com for instant messaging needs.

Update 2 July 3:
There is a forum for iPhone users on the popular blogging community platform: Apple iPhone.

Update 3 July 4:
www.everythingiphone.com has the iPhoneChat available for download under the Download tab, but it has not been verified to work yet. Some bugs to iron out though. The domain name iPhone.com has rumored to have been purchased by Apple as of yesterday. At this moment, the url is referring to Apple’s page for iPhone.

Posted in: Accessibility • Technology | 5 Comments »

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