[Nfbktad] Blindy TV

Kevin Pearl kvnprl at twc.com
Sun Jan 5 22:50:02 UTC 2014


I'm happy to share what I find. 
All the best to all. Stay warm!  


On Jan 5, 2014, at 5:00 PM, "Todd" <scorpio62 at windstream.net> wrote:

Thanks, Kevin. I would like to express my feelings on how valuable you have been to TAD. Your posts to the TAD list have been and continue to be outstanding!!
 
Cheers,
 
 
Todd
From: Nfbktad [mailto:nfbktad-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Pearl
Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 4:35 PM
To: TAD
Subject: [Nfbktad] Blindy TV
 
About Blindy.TV
Background

Blindy.TV is a charitable project created by blind people that believe that the blind should be able to enjoy the same television programming that entertains and contributes to the shared culture of our sighted family and friends. We contribute freely of our time and resources to provide a free described television programming service to those that are served by neither commercial products nor government programs. The current service provides a few channels of audio-only television programming, in several genres, all with audio description.

In a few parts of the world, forward-thinking broadcast services, organizations for the blind, and governments that value the inclusion of their people in mainstream media, have worked to add descriptions to television programming that helps a blind person to follow all of the on-screen action. However, through-out most of the world, including wealthy nations with large media industries, such as the United States, television programs that include descriptions for the blind are practically non-existent. Due to on-going arguments over technical standards, a lack of commercial interest in serving blind people as consumers, and other reasons both technical and political, a gainfully employed blind consumer in most places around the world is usually unable to gain access to any television channels that include programming described for the blind from any broadcast media provider, at any price.

We of Blindy.TV cooperate in order to help solve this problem. The entire service is a labor of love. Blindy.TV has no assets. The server space, bandwidth, content production, and everything else that collectively forms Blindy.TV are provided through the uncompensated contributions of like-minded people. We have no revenue, and we don't accept any cash donations. We provide nothing for download. We also offer no guaranties about the service, other than, as a blind person, completely neglected by your media, we hope that being able to flip through a few channels of audio-only described television programming might give you some enjoyment, and might help you imagine what the future might be like in a world where blind people aren't excluded from the largest broadcast medium.

About the name

Some people think that Blindy TV is a strange name. Others think that the word "blindy" is offensive. Both of those conclusions are true, and are intentional.

Most importantly, Blindy TV is not TV, and, by that, we do not simply mean that Blindy TV is an audio-only service. Blindy TV is a service pieced together through the collective efforts of dozens of people. Some of us program. Some of us contribute our audio editing/production talents. Many of us have gathered the content that you hear on Blindy TV by recording programs directly off of the air in places where blind people are fortunate enough to enjoy audio description on real TV. And still, in the end, what we have is not TV. Try as we might, we can't offer you even a fraction of what is found on real TV. Even when we can bring your favorite show to you, we frequently can provide only a few episodes, and, far too often, those are older episodes.

Why, though, could not we have called the service "Audio TV" or "Described TV"?

In many parts of the world, the word "Blindy" is often used to refer to blind people in a not-so-kind way. To be blind and be called blindy is to invoke most all of the negative stereotypes of being blind.

We aren't Blindy TV to offend you. We are Blindy TV because we are offended, and we think that you should be, too! Our best efforts leave us with something that sounds like TV, but is not. It is a type of audio-only TV ghetto.

We, therefore, do not bring you mainstream described TV, as your media providers should be doing that. Instead, we bring you Blindy TV, as that is the best that we have. We hope that you will enjoy what we have made, but we don't want people to forget that equal access to mainstream media, not some Blindy TV, is the real goal.

http://blindy.tv/

You are here

Home/About Blindy.TV
About Blindy.TV
Background

Blindy.TV is a charitable project created by blind people that believe that the blind should be able to enjoy the same television programming that entertains and contributes to the shared culture of our sighted family and friends. We contribute freely of our time and resources to provide a free described television programming service to those that are served by neither commercial products nor government programs. The current service provides a few channels of audio-only television programming, in several genres, all with audio description.

In a few parts of the world, forward-thinking broadcast services, organizations for the blind, and governments that value the inclusion of their people in mainstream media, have worked to add descriptions to television programming that helps a blind person to follow all of the on-screen action. However, through-out most of the world, including wealthy nations with large media industries, such as the United States, television programs that include descriptions for the blind are practically non-existent. Due to on-going arguments over technical standards, a lack of commercial interest in serving blind people as consumers, and other reasons both technical and political, a gainfully employed blind consumer in most places around the world is usually unable to gain access to any television channels that include programming described for the blind from any broadcast media provider, at any price.

We of Blindy.TV cooperate in order to help solve this problem. The entire service is a labor of love. Blindy.TV has no assets. The server space, bandwidth, content production, and everything else that collectively forms Blindy.TV are provided through the uncompensated contributions of like-minded people. We have no revenue, and we don't accept any cash donations. We provide nothing for download. We also offer no guaranties about the service, other than, as a blind person, completely neglected by your media, we hope that being able to flip through a few channels of audio-only described television programming might give you some enjoyment, and might help you imagine what the future might be like in a world where blind people aren't excluded from the largest broadcast medium.

About the name

Some people think that Blindy TV is a strange name. Others think that the word "blindy" is offensive. Both of those conclusions are true, and are intentional.

Most importantly, Blindy TV is not TV, and, by that, we do not simply mean that Blindy TV is an audio-only service. Blindy TV is a service pieced together through the collective efforts of dozens of people. Some of us program. Some of us contribute our audio editing/production talents. Many of us have gathered the content that you hear on Blindy TV by recording programs directly off of the air in places where blind people are fortunate enough to enjoy audio description on real TV. And still, in the end, what we have is not TV. Try as we might, we can't offer you even a fraction of what is found on real TV. Even when we can bring your favorite show to you, we frequently can provide only a few episodes, and, far too often, those are older episodes.

Why, though, could not we have called the service "Audio TV" or "Described TV"?

In many parts of the world, the word "Blindy" is often used to refer to blind people in a not-so-kind way. To be blind and be called blindy is to invoke most all of the negative stereotypes of being blind.

We aren't Blindy TV to offend you. We are Blindy TV because we are offended, and we think that you should be, too! Our best efforts leave us with something that sounds like TV, but is not. It is a type of audio-only TV ghetto.

We, therefore, do not bring you mainstream described TV, as your media providers should be doing that. Instead, we bring you Blindy TV, as that is the best that we have. We hope that you will enjoy what we have made, but we don't want people to forget that equal access to InformHelp

_______________________________________________
Nfbktad mailing list
Nfbktad at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbktad_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfbktad:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbktad_nfbnet.org/kvnprl%40twc.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbktad_nfbnet.org/attachments/20140105/ede1e3de/attachment.html>


More information about the NFBKTAD mailing list