Overview
A rapidly changing, technology-driven world, coupled with changes in disability legislation, has increased the focus on accessibility. Setting an example for the business world, IBM continues to create innovative solutions to accessibility issues in technology.
IBM is evolving to increasingly more accessible and usable rich media, on ibm.com and w3.ibm.com, the IBM intranet. The result: captioned Webcasts that help provide a complete user experience, regardless of a person's abilities or disabilities.
Webcasts are used by many organizations because they engage multiple senses; however, the technology loses its most valuable qualities if you are a person who is hard of hearing, deaf, blind, or has low vision. In 2005, when two IBM divisions, Pacific Development Centre (PDC) Media Solutions and the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center, joined forces, the goals were clear-create a home for accessible rich media and establish a process to help ensure that all Webcasts were captioned or transcribed.
The PDC Media Solutions team posts Webcasts on the IBM intranet using an internal application, the w3 Jukebox. PDC developers have enhanced the Jukebox application to enable posting of transcriptions and captioning. With the technology to post accessible Webcasts in place, the two teams worked closely to devise a plan to ensure that all new Webcasts would be posted with captioning or transcription, creating accessible Webcasts for the future. The transcriptions will be provided through a hybrid model using traditional methods such as stenography.
As a result of these efforts, IBM customers, employees, partners, and shareholders can now enjoy accessible rich media, and IBM continues to set the stage for the future of accessibility in modern technology.