Publication Title
Immersive, creative, inclusive. Areas of cross-fertilization between accessible captions for D/deaf audiences for the stage and for the screen
Publication Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Audiovisual Translation
Year of publication
2022
Volume
5
Issue
2
Pages
176-193
Language(s)

English

Abstract
In a deliberate and valiant effort to adapt to the conditions created by the recent pandemic, many theatre companies across the globe shifted their activities from the stage to online video platforms. But in releasing large portions of their back-catalogues at speed, opportunities to make such shows accessible have been under-exploited. This migration has created an unprecedented opportunity to examine the way accessible practices are transferred from stage to screen and has brought into sharp focus the somewhat inadequate provision for accessibility of online video platforms. While the very practice of making these shows available online, often at no cost to the viewer, has made them more socially accessible, practical accessibility for portions of the audience, such as the D/deaf community, has often been ignored or addressed in a low fidelity way. Through lack of time, lack of expertise or lack of resources, many companies have resorted to the use of auto-captioning tools, or the most basic of captions. Rarely do such captions come close to capturing the creativity of the shows they represent. This paper represents a call to arms for the development of bespoke tools to support better, more immersive and creative, retroactive captioning of stage productions presented as videos.
Submitted by Marta Brescia Zapata on Fri, 23/12/2022 - 11:13