Neowin: TikTok will automatically generate subtitles for videos in accessibility push. “In an attempt to make the app more accessible, TikTok announced today that it is introducing auto captions, which would automatically generate subtitles so users can read or listen to the content that they’re viewing.”
THIIS: Professional hub launches with searchable database of independent living tech. “ProAssist has been created by the charity Disabled Living Foundation (DLF) in partnership with the TEC Services Association (TSA), the national body for technology enabled care (TEC) services. With a searchable database of over 10,000 products from more than 900 retailers, this UK-wide resource helps identify the options across a wide range of technologies, from the latest digital devices to simple aids.”
Bustle: How To Add Closed Captions To TikTok Videos. “Because TikTok does not yet have an automated closed captioning function, creators have to input the text themselves. While it might sound grueling, there are a few easy ways to add closed captioning to your videos and help make them accessible.”
Neowin: Google adds Live Caption for audio and video in Chrome. “Google’s Live Caption feature is now available in the Chrome browser on desktop devices, the Mountain View giant announced today. The feature first debuted as an Android accessibility feature at Google I/O in 2019, and it automatically adds captions to audio and video playing on the device, removing the need for apps to add closed captions individually.”
Washington Post: Social media has upped its accessibility game. But deaf creators say it has a long way to go.. “TikTok, by design, is a place for millions of people to upload their own videos, without any requirement or even official suggestion to use captions. Videos include people dancing to music, ranting about their jobs, showing off new recipes and lip-syncing to the soundtrack of TV shows such as ‘The Office’ or ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians.’ Even if users want to caption their videos, TikTok’s app doesn’t have a way to automatically recognize voice patterns and automate text to use. That makes the wildly popular app — used by nearly 100 million people in the United States each month as of last June — and many other social media apps moderately usable and sometimes frustratingly inaccessible for millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, several deaf […]
Ubergizmo: Instagram Introduces Automatic Captioning For Stories. “Having captions in videos is useful and is a great accessibility feature. We’ve seen similar features offered in video platforms such as YouTube, and now it looks like Facebook-owned Instagram is hoping to introduce something similar as well to its Stories feature. This is according to a discovery by Matt Navarra who shared his findings on Twitter.”
Lifehacker: How to Make Your Hashtags More Reader-Friendly. “Communicating in the language of hashtags is an annoyingly universal aspect of social media. But if you’re using hashtags on your Instagram posts, tweets, or Facebook status updates, you should make sure they’re readable for people with visual and cognitive disabilities.”
Route Fifty: Covid Vaccine Websites Violate Disability Laws, Create Inequity for the Blind. “An investigation finds that covid vaccine registration and information websites at the federal, state and local levels are flouting disability rights laws and limiting the ability of people who are blind or visually impaired to sign up for shots.”
Google Blog: Our all-new TalkBack screen reader. “Screen readers, such as Android’s TalkBack, are the primary interface through which Joshua [Pearson] and many other people who are blind or low vision read, write, send emails, share social media, order delivery and even write music. TalkBack speaks the screen aloud, navigates through apps, and facilitates communication with braille, voice and keyboard input. And today we’re releasing an all-new version of TalkBack that includes some of the most highly requested features from the blind and low vision community.”
Liam O’Dell: It’s time to tackle the creator apathy underpinning poor access online . “It’s not enough to simply rely on automated accessibility tools – social media platforms must be incentivising their users to provide access themselves, to dismantle creator apathy.”
Glamsham: Google and Levi’s connected jacket helps people with disabilities. “A connected jacket designed by Google and Levi’s has proved to be beneficial for people with disabilities who tried out the apparel. The connected jacket with woven ‘Jacquard’ technology allows people to connect to their smartphone and use simple gestures to trigger functions from the Jacquard app.”
Liam O’Dell: How Facebook’s ‘Fireside’ audio project can rival Clubhouse. “Facebook’s early experiments in the world of live audio has apparently been given the codename Fireside. If it can recognise the key successes and pitfalls of Clubhouse and Spaces, then the tool could set the platform ablaze. Failing or ignoring these lessons, however, would see it cosigned to the same fate as Facebook Stories or Reels – a mounting dumspter fire of social media’s short-lived features.”
PR Newswire: Tactile Images Partners With Getty Images and the National Federation of the Blind to Deliver More Than 45 Million Images to the World’s Blind and Disabled Population (PRESS RELEASE). “Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications, and the National Federation of the Blind, America’s civil rights and membership organization of the blind, have partnered with Tactile Images to deliver more than 45 million images to the world’s blind and disabled population at museums, science centers, libraries, schools, and government agencies. This partnership will significantly enhance educational opportunities and cultural inclusion for blind and disabled individuals.”
Liam O’Dell: Twitter invited a deaf person to test out Spaces – here’s what they think…. “Credit where credit’s (over)due, Twitter seem to have finally learned their lesson after the mishap over voice tweets in the summer of 2020. Deaf people are finally involved in the process of developing new audio features, and it’s been done as early as possible, too. ‘The mic is yours,’ read a message when I opened up my Twitter mobile app on Wednesday evening. ‘You can now host and join live conversations in Spaces. Go on. Try it.’ A couple of minutes later, I did just that.”
TechRadar: Social media is embracing audio more than ever – but deaf users are being left behind. “… in the fast-paced corporate world of social media, deaf and hard of hearing users are still seeing accessibility forgotten about when features are developed or reviewed. Even when a decision is considered to negatively impact them, advocates feel their views aren’t being listened to.”
