[Nfbofnc] FWD: 44th Presidential Inaugural with DVS Coverage

[gerald moreno sr]

FYI
----- Original Message ----- 


  --- On Fri, 1/16/09, Mary Watkins <

mary_watkins at wgbh.org

 wrote:

  From: Mary Watkins <

mary_watkins at wgbh.org

  Subject: [Promotion-technology] 2009 Inauguration Coverage on PBS to be

  Described and Captioned Live

  To:

david.andrews at nfbnet.org

  Date: Friday, January 16, 2009, 4:10 PM

  January 16, 2009



  Press Contact:

  Mary Watkins

  617 300-3700

  <

mary_watkins at wgbh.htmmary_watkins@wgbh.org



  Media Access Group at WGBH To Provide Closed Captioning And

  Live Description for PBS's Inaugural Coverage



  Described version of coverage will also stream live on the

  Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

  (JCCIC) web site,

  <

http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/



  Boston, MA ­ The Media Access Group at WGBH, a non-profit

  service of the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston,

  Massachusetts, will provide both closed captioning and live

  description of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration

  for the PBS presentation of Inauguration 2009, a NewsHour

  special hosted by Jim Lehrer. The PBS coverage of the

  inauguration airs live on Tuesday, January 20 from 11AM to

  1:30PM EST. While live captioning is an established feature

  of many television broadcasts, live description, the

  creation at time of air of a narration track imparting

  information about visual elements that people who are blind

  or visually impaired would miss, is a rare service.

  Dunkin' Donuts is generously sponsoring the description

  service for this broadcast. In 1993, PBS's coverage of

  the Clinton inauguration was the first live television

  program that was made fully accessible to the nation's

  36 million deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind and visually

  impaired viewers.



  While details from the inaugural planning committee are

  still forthcoming, PBS plans to include coverage of Barack

  Obama's arrival at the White House, excerpts of the

  church service and Barack Obama's speech to the nation

  from the Capitol steps.



  Hosted by Jim Lehrer of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the

  PBS presentation will feature political analysts Mark

  Shields and David Brooks, as well as a panel to provide

  historical context:



  • Ellen Fitzpatrick, presidential historian and professor

  at the University of New Hampshire

  • Peniel Joseph, professor of history and

  African-American studies at Brandeis University

  • Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National Review

  and author of a series of biographies of America's

  founders, including Alexander Hamilton and George Washington



  "WGBH is proud to take part in making this historic

  event fully accessible to all PBS viewers once again,"

  says Media Access Group director Larry Goldberg. "And

  we're extremely grateful to PBS, the team at

  MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and to corporate sponsor of the

  live description Dunkin' Donuts for the opportunity to

  bring not only the audio of the inaugural coverage to deaf

  and hard-of-hearing Americans, but also the visual

  highlights of the occasion to those who are blind or

  visually impaired."



  Dunkin' Donuts, for many years a corporate caption

  sponsor of local news broadcasts in the Boston area, is

  sponsoring description for the first time. Shannon Maxwell,

  field marketing manager for Dunkin' Donuts says,

  "Dunkin' Donuts individual franchise owners are

  proud to play a part of making this major event accessible

  to blind and visually impaired audiences.  We are thrilled

  that our contribution will make the images of the day come

  alive via description."



  Closed captions display spoken dialogue as text on the

  television screen.  The live captions will be typed by

  specially trained stenocaptioners ­ working from WGBH’s

  Boston-based headquarters ­ and broadcast simultaneously

  with the live program.  The descriptive narration ­

  provided by an expert team of describers ­ will be audible

  during pauses in program dialogue and will identify

  speakers, describe settings and convey other visual

  information about the event. Captions can be accessed on

  televisions equipped with built-in decoders (most

  televisions are equipped), while viewers can hear

  descriptions by switching to the Second Audio Program (SAP)

  channel on their stereo TVs. The described coverage will

  also be streamed live on the Joint Congressional Committee

  on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) web site at

  <

http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/



  The Media Access Group at WGBH incorporates The Caption

  Center, the world's first captioning agency, founded in

  1972; Descriptive Video Service® (DVS®), which has made

  television, film and video more accessible to blind and

  visually impaired audiences since 1990; and the Carl and

  Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media

  (NCAM), a research and development entity that builds on the

  success of WGBH's access service departments to make

  existing and emerging technologies more accessible to these

  under-served audiences.  Members of the Media Access

  Group's collective staff represent the leading resources

  and experts in their fields.





  ###













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