[gui-talk] Fwd: Recruiting Now for Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description

[Steve Pattison]

 From:    Pat Ferguson fergent at fergusonenterprises.com
 To:      vip-l at freelists.org

February 19, 2010

Recruiting Now for a Survey on Synthesized Speech and Audio Description

IBM Research-Japan and WGBH's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National 
Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) are conducting a joint study via 
an online survey on the applicability of speech synthesis for audio 
description of Web-based video.

Adults (18+ years of age) who are blind or have low vision will be 
asked to share their opinions about a few short video clips which 
include synthesized description.

NCAM is seeking participants with a range of familiarity with 
synthesized speech (from little or none to regular users) and as 
well as familiarity with audio description (from little or none to 
regular users).

Interested in sharing your opinion? Please send an email to 
<access at wgbh.htmaccess@wgbh.org with "participate" in the subject 
line.. Once the online survey is posted on or about March 1, you 
will be sent an email with the survey's Web site address and asked 
to complete the survey by Friday, March 12. The survey, which will 
be accessible via screen-reading software, should take no longer 
than one half hour.

NCAM will summarize and share the results of the survey once user 
opinions are analyzed.

NOTE: This is an early investigation into a subject many people who 
are blind or have low-vision have asked about for many years. Though 
we are conducting this study, WGBH does not intend to substitute 
synthesized speech for human voices on the programs and movies we 
currently describe. Following this narrow and limited initial study, 
further research will be required to expand the scope of 
investigation into larger populations, other types of media and 
other parameters.

Thank you!

Mary

--
Mary Watkins
Director of Communications
   and Outreach
Media Access Group at WGBH
One Guest Street
Boston, MA  02135
617 300-3700
<mary_watkins at wgbh.htmmary_watkins@wgbh.org
access.wgbh.org

Follow the Media Access Group on Facebook and Twitter (AccessWGBH)

WGBH Boston informs, inspires, and entertains millions through public
broadcasting, the Web, educational multimedia, and access services for
people with disabilities.

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963
Twitter:  steve9782