91Èȱ¬ iPlayer audio description is now available
One of my favourite quotes from some focus groups that we did with blind and visually impaired people last year was:
"audio description is great... they are saying they are working on putting it on iPlayer, but I don't really believe them".
This, to me, summed up the frustration of a lot of our visually-impaired 91Èȱ¬ iPlayer users - if iPlayer has subtitles and signed content, why doesn't it have audio description?
We've always been committed to high standards of accessibility across all of our sites and services, especially those new services like iPlayer which strive to deliver the benefits of emerging technologies to all our audiences. But it always helps to hear from our audiences exactly what they expect from us.
So I'm delighted to say that we have now given visually-impaired people what they've been asking for - approximately 25 hours per week of the 91Èȱ¬'s audio described programmes, across many genres including Childrens', are now available on iPlayer.
We also have plans to extend the coverage of the service to include more of the 91Èȱ¬'s weekly broadcast audio described programmes in the future.
How do I get it?
The great thing about audio description on iPlayer is that it is simple to get, and it's free. Quite a number of people at those focus groups were still worried about having to work out what set-top box they needed to watch audio described programmes on TV, how much it would cost, how to work out which 91Èȱ¬ programmes have audio description, and how they'd navigate to them.
Now, if you already have a computer which is able to use iPlayer (and pretty much all computers do), together with whatever Screenreader or magnification software you use, you've already got all the technology you need.
All you have to do is to go to the "Audio described" category in iPlayer (or Children's iPlayer), look at the listing of the audio described programmes available from the last 7 days, and select the programme you'd like to play.
It's as simple as that. Give it a try.
Why has this taken us so long?
The 91Èȱ¬ is the first broadcaster in the world to include audio described TV programmes in our video-on-demand service. Because of that, we have not been able to use existing technology from within the 91Èȱ¬ or elsewhere to help us bring audio description to iPlayer. Our technology team (with our partner, Red Bee) have had to research and develop all of the technology and infrastructure to make it work ourselves.And that takes time...
After investigating several delivery models and doing a lot of custom R&D to make this happen, we're delighted to be able to offer a solution which should not only work well now, but also be able to cope with any technology changes required by the ongoing advances in picture and sound quality which the iPlayer team are constantly working to achieve.
So what do you think? - send us your views
We hope you'll agree the wait has been worth it, and that the addition of audio described programmes to iPlayer will open up more of the 91Èȱ¬'s TV programmes to our visually-impaired audiences, whenever you want to watch them.Initial feedback that we've received from people in the blind and visually-impaired community is very positive, as this quote from someone on the blind support group shows:
"iPlayer does have audio description because I have just watched all the weeks episodes and I am impressed. There is a pause, stop button which is easy to locate and you can even restart the episode. If you go back again it will take you to the same place where it was if you listened last time. I find it very accessible and easy to work and I am very pleased with it. Only problem, it has made me start watching Eastenders again"
Now that sounds like a good problem to have...
If you have any comments or suggestions about how the accessibility of iPlayer could be further improved, we in the 91Èȱ¬ Audience Accessibility Team would love to hear your views.
Jonathan Hassell is Head of Audience Experience & Usability.
Comment number 1.
At 27th Aug 2009, FRGHart-Glos wrote:Because this isn't a service that I need, I won't be using it; but I'm sure there are many others who will need it and I think all the time and money spent in setting it up will work out to be worthwhile in the end.
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Comment number 2.
At 27th Aug 2009, Steve Bentley wrote:I'm not visually impaired, but I'd like to be able to download a programme with audio description as an mp3 to listen to while driving etc.
I presume the rights issues with that are a minefield though?
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Comment number 3.
At 27th Aug 2009, LRGoldberg wrote:Bravo 91Èȱ¬! Great job - we here in America can learn from you - and plan to!
... Larry ...
Larry Goldberg, Director
Media Access Group at WGBH
The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family
National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)
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Comment number 4.
At 31st Aug 2009, Generate-Traffic wrote:" All you have to do is to go to the "Audio described" category in iPlayer (or Children's iPlayer), look at the listing of the audio described programmes available from the last 7 days, and select the programme you'd like to play."
I'm wondering how the visually impaired is going to look at the listing and select ? Is the listing read out as well ? If not, this service might still need some major work.
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Comment number 5.
At 1st Sep 2009, hmsberlin wrote:@Generate-Traffic:
Google "Screen reader"
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Comment number 6.
At 2nd Sep 2009, wwdlu101 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 7.
At 8th Sep 2009, Frex65 wrote:Hats off to Auntie Beeb! What a great job! Definitely worth the wait. Is functionality to allow us to download audio-described programmes in the pipeline? Only a small group of people will appreciate this great development, but we'll appreciate it very much.
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Comment number 8.
At 17th Sep 2009, dk59631 wrote:went to a help section of the iplayer website that said the page was no longer there, searched this website for a while, and finally found your article. through six paragraphs of your opinions (which are unhelpful, boring and pretty self centred - oh look what we've done!|! - I finally found a bit that says 'go to the audio description section'.
to be fair, if I knew where that was, I think I could have worked it out for myself. the image you've put along side the advice is of the page you get to once you've found the link, and there aren't any directions to it whatsoever. i put 'audio description' in the search engine of iplayer and of cause nothing came up.
thanks 'head of audience experience and usability' whatever that is.
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Comment number 9.
At 21st Sep 2009, david-bailes wrote:For those using the Jaws screen reader, I've written a guide to the iPlayer website which includes details of how to find and play the audio described versions of the TV programmes. It's available at:
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Comment number 10.
At 27th Sep 2009, webnyc wrote:What about adding transcripts to audio?
20% of users are deaf and hard of hearing and another 20% are non-native English speakers and yet more are adults and children learning to read..
I feel that blind users have more accessibility than deaf users do.
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Comment number 11.
At 1st Nov 2009, mohamad wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 12.
At 9th Nov 2009, David wrote:It's a fantastic idea. More power to you. BUT! Could someone please please tell me how to REMOVE it when I don't want it??!!! I've just made about 8 attempts to watch the second episode of Garrow's Law. It took me a couple of seconds until after the opening credits (which were read, but I thought that was just a curious mode of introducing the programme, almost in a "period" way)to realise that something wasn't right, at least not for me. I've tried accessing the programme through the "drama" section rather than the "audio described", I've watched the first episode again (or at least skipped through it) and it seems fine, then following on to the second, only to be met with the audio description again!! I've tried right clicking "audio description" to see if I can disable it and still no joy.
Yes, it's a great idea, but will someone please please please please tell me how to turn it off on this episode???
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Comment number 13.
At 16th Nov 2009, talat wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 14.
At 1st Mar 2010, James Anderson wrote:wonderful news! the visually hampered have great difficulty in the media and since they are less mobile then the more fortunate visually able cousins ,are more dependant on the media for their inputs and daily activity and awareness as well as recreation, hence iplayers and even [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] with special features and user friendly interface will help the cause,this is a nice present to the visually impaired, congrats,
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Comment number 17.
At 2nd Mar 2010, James Anderson wrote:This is great news. I am not visually impared, but due my extensive work, I prefer seperate information as audio as it is less distracting while working on the computer on the other side of the world in [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]Koh Samui. I read also in another blog, that 91Èȱ¬ has significantly increased the amount of audio description online and that they will feature ongoing updates of approximately 40 hours of audio described content a week, in line with 91Èȱ¬ television broadcasts.
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Comment number 19.
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Comment number 20.
At 3rd Mar 2010, Rob-007 wrote:"we have not been able to use existing technology from within the 91Èȱ¬ or elsewhere to help us bring audio description to iPlayer. Our technology team (with our partner, Red Bee) have had to research and develop all of the technology and infrastructure to make it work ourselves."
I realise my comment is very late - but well done and congratulations. Hopefully you will have set an example many more will follow.
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Comment number 21.
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Comment number 22.
At 5th Mar 2010, dan wrote:have to say the iplayer is a cool new addition to the already glamourous media giant, however as it is foreseen that the VOD and internet takeover of all media (including the print media!) ,it is only fair that in the stiff competition of the virtual world , it has to play its cards right to be number uno, so this is a good gadget and well used,we the vox people know :)
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] the art of keeping above the competition, :) , however if msn or the others take a cue, it will not be wise to rest here as the competition is quite aware and tough to keep away, so good work and good luck,,
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Comment number 29.
At 18th Apr 2010, francesco wrote:I am trying to watch heroes normally, but AD setting is on for some reason and i don't know how to turn it off. What do I do?
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Comment number 31.
At 20th May 2010, Scat Man wrote:Still amazed too see how much you do for the minority of people who normally would have a hard time using on online site like this.
Can imagine it would also be really useful while driving and other activities where you are unable to watch the display constantly.
Best regards,
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Comment number 32.
At 24th May 2010, Shakil wrote:This is excellent:
""we have not been able to use existing technology from within the 91Èȱ¬ or elsewhere to help us bring audio description to iPlayer. Our technology team (with our partner, Red Bee) have had to research and develop all of the technology and infrastructure to make it work ourselves."
Well done 91Èȱ¬ -
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Comment number 36.
At 20th Jun 2010, a wrote:I am sure that this is a very useful feature for blind people, but for the rest of us with sight this can be an annoying feature, so it would be helpful if there was a clear button which could turn it off!
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Comment number 37.
At 27th Jun 2010, miranda wrote:How to turn off audio describe: go to "more programme information". look for "available versions". Click on "original".
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Comment number 38.
At 5th Jul 2010, Paul Murphy wrote:Test
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