[gui-talk] Fwd: NAD Announces Accessible Obama Biography Online--Descriptionby ACB's Audio Description Project

[Steve Pattison]

From: Joel Snyder jsnyder at audiodescribe.com
To: acb-l at acb.org

NAD Announces Accessible Obama Biography Online

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) of the National 
Association
of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to announce that it has teamed with Arts &
Entertainment Television Networks (AETN) to provide captions and 
description
(narration added to visual program elements during natural programming
pauses) to the A&E Biography of Barack Obama in celebration of his
Inauguration as the 44th President of the United States. For the first 
time,
this episode from the popular Emmy award-winning Biography series is
accessible on the Internet to the more than 50 million Americans with
hearing or vision loss - including millions of students who are blind,
visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.

As part of the agreement between the DCMP and AETN, everyone can enjoy 
the
streamed version of the A&E Biography of Barack Obama on DCMP's Web site
(www.dcmp.org/obama) for a two-week period beginning January 20, 2009, 
the
date of the Inauguration. Viewers will be able to choose between a
captioned, described, or captioned AND described version of the program.
After February 2, 2009, access will be limited to registered DCMP 
clients
(those who qualify for DCMP services include teachers, parents, and 
others
involved with educating K - 12 students who are blind, visually 
impaired,
deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind). Description of the Barack Obama
Biography was donated by Joel Snyder, director of the American Council 
of
the Blind's (ACB) Audio Description Project. Captioning was provided by
CaptionMax.

About "Biography: Barack Obama"

This cable-television biography about the life of Illinois senator 
Barack
Obama was made before he began campaigning to be the Democratic party's
candidate for the 2008 presidential race. Still, the program suggests 
Obama
has one or another kind of profound, American destiny as a mixed-race
activist who never comfortably fit into one or another group, and had to
look deep into his own roots to understand his identity. The son of a 
white
American mother and black Kenyan father, Obama was abandoned by the 
latter
when he returned to his native country to work for its improvement. 
Raised
by his mother-whom Obama credits with teaching him many of his 
values-and
his grandmother, Obama lived in Hawaii as a child but moved to Indonesia 
for
a few years when his mom remarried. There, Obama saw cyclical poverty 
and
the underlying factors that perpetuate it before returning to Hawaii.
Interviews with childhood friends and his sister describe Obama's
restlessness before attending Harvard law school and propelling himself 
into
a life of public service and community activism. Often accused of 
lacking
enough political experience to qualify him for the White House, Obama 
comes
across in this show as a visionary and experienced consensus-builder who 
can
reach across opposing points of view. The program ends with details 
about
Obama's entry into the U.S. Senate and his rise in the Democratic party, 
but
a post-program coda catches us up with the history of his recent 
campaign.
-Tom Keogh (excerpted from Amazon.com)

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Windows Live Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963