<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Peter, some valuable suggestions there. <br><br>There was at least one person that was quite deaf and used heavy duty hearing augmentation as well as being skilled in lip reading. That person was almost unable to hear conversations without facing the person doing the talking. I didn't see anybody that required AUSLAN but it is something to go on the list even if it is just evaluated and risk assessed. In the same way that I saw Jason (totally blind) being assisted while at the Canberra event, it is not unlikely that a profoundly deaf person could be interested in FOSS enough to want to come to an LCA and thus require the committee to procure an AUSLAN "Speaker" at least for Keynotes. <br>
<br></div>What I can see happening out of this discussion is a checklist being developed to cover the audio visual aspects of putting on an LCA or even an LA sponsored event. This checklist would be a valuable adjunct to the planning committee's own assessments and a means of ensuring that basic questions get asked.<br>
<br></div>I fully support the creation of a sub-committee for Video & Recording as an advisory body for the Planning Committees. A body that has the skills and knowhow to provide the core of the audiovisual staff for an event if required.<br>
<br></div>PS A random neuron just fired with an idea that seems to fit in the current audiovisual discussion. Something that might assist delegates to an LCA is a series of short videos showing the city, the venue, the airport, the public transport, the accommodation, etc. Short clips that can give a delegate a look at what is before them. Might be useful. Could even be summarised into a clip for the bidding city to add to their bid then later broken out into individual clips with a smaller focus.<br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 31 March 2013 05:39, Peter Lawler <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:linux-aus@bleeter.id.au" target="_blank">linux-aus@bleeter.id.au</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">On 30/03/13 22:59, Ian wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I know I had problems with hearing a number of the talks because I wear<br>
hearing aids and they just didn't pick up the speaker at times.<br>
Also note that through a miscommunication the hearing Loop system wasn't<br>
able to be utilised in Llewellyn Hall as the Tech that could set that up<br>
was on leave at the time which meant a few of us had to arrange to be<br>
seated at the front to try to hear the keynote speakers. Once they knew of<br>
our problems the LCA Team did what they could to help but it was a Hall<br>
problem and out of their hands.<br>
<br>
Heads-up to future LCA's, check the presence and operation of Loop<br>
Induction systems for those of us with hearing loss.<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div></div>
My 2c,<br>
I had heard (no pun intended) of particular difficulties some hearing aid users had with one keynote speaker this year. Not sure if it was you, but for the purposes of my early morning ramblings it doesn't really matter.<br>
<br>
The loop wasn't working and the keynote speaker talked so fast the speaker was apparently mostly incomprehensible. The speaker permitted live streaming, however there was no permission granted for storage of the talk for later viewing/listening. Thus, I believe, this keynote was effectively a waste of time for some attendees.<br>
<br>
Also, the issue of subtitling talks after the event. Whilst slides are usually quite easy to follow, some aren't but also the Q&A section at the end of talks - again particularly keynotes - may be of interest to those with hearing difficulties and the current solution, it would seem to me, is sub-optimal.<br>
<br>
Some questions to which I'm not actually seeking answers right now, but to trigger some thoughts:<br>
Should keynote streams should be live subtitled and/or an Auslan interpreter be utilised?<br>
If there are no rights given for storage and later viewing (ie, this would have also applied to the DSD talk this year - this was in a small room with no audio loop)?<br>
Should the timetable be clearly marked as to which talks won't be accessible?<br>
Should keynote speakers be asked to provide their own script (no matter how 'bad' it's quality) beyond the slides for the purposes of aiding subtitling?<br>
Should the slides themselves be made available along side the videos so TTS systems can be used?<br>
(To bring it back to the original post of this thread) Should the Video & Recording subcomittee have as a directive from LA to investigate and deploy systems (speech to text applications [of the FLOSS nature, of course!] to aid in subtitling, custom audio loops, subtitling, Auslan interpreters) for hard of hearing as well as seek volunteers, away from LCA's own volunteers, for major events to assist with post-production subtitling (and should subtitlers receive attendance discounts or swag if they're going to perform this task remotely)?<br>
<br>
I understand that there may have been no profoundly deaf people at LCA2013, but I do wonder if that is because there appears to be no formal system in place for their support and thus not clearly indicated on the official promotion and registration pages etc, instead of no one registering and asking. One thing's for sure, ironing out (some of) the above issues *before* they're needed by profoundly deaf would be of great assistance to aid any year's LCA and Video Team organisers discover in the final few weeks that they need to cross this bridge.<br>
<br>
<br>
Pete.<br>
<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- Ian<br><br>
</div>