Do you ever think about how Digital Media users with Hearing or Vision (or both) impairments access their devices? No? I’ll be honest, before making this video neither did I…and isn’t that shameful! I’ve grown up around children with various impairments as a result of my mother being a Special Education Teacher, and there have always been ways to ensure that students are as included as possible in their education. The problem is that the technological advancements in the last decade, inclusion is not quite so simple anymore.

For able-bodied users like myself (and probably most of you reading this), the need for accessibility features isn’t a necessity to be able to function in the Digital world we all live in. For those with hearing and vision impairments…it’s the difference between exclusion and being able to engage with the wider world. Making this video really drove that point home for me. There is so much research into this issue, and I was really happy to find some clear statistics for this video. Hopefully, I’ve been able to clearly convey how much of an impact the Digital Divide has on users with hearing and visual impairments, and the extra lengths these users have to go through to just be included.

This time around I was determined to have as polished a video as I possibly could. I had my entire script typed on a PowerPoint presentation to make reading it a little bit easier, and I increased how much lighting I had…with varying degrees of success. Because this is an informative video, I wanted to include a little animated section I put together using Renderforest. That was a lot of fun to put together, and it was really quite helpful in giving an explanation of Digital Divides without making you sit through my face onscreen while I try to rattle off a definition!

I was able to employ a number of the techniques I used in my previous videos including using a sticky tab next to my camera lens to ensure I look down the camera. I was also able to use an LED Light Ring and iPhone compatible microphone (this time with a muffler on it to prevent strange noises coming through on the audio!) to ensure that the lighting and sound quality were top notch! Can I just say, editing this thing was an excruciating experience! Seriously, how does anyone on YouTube get through the editing on 15+ minute videos?!

I chose to make a new intro to my video and loved the retro nature of the 8-bit animation. That was the push towards using a more upbeat, retro, chiptune piece of music for this video. I love the outcome! I also love how that retro imagery and music juxtaposes the very high-tech nature of the content; not to mention how accessibility devices are advancing technologically.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to find Creative Commons images for everything I wanted, such as the Roger System. Having said that, I’m quite pleased with the images and video clips I was able to use. I tried to keep the use of images relatively low and evenly spaced, but I fear there may very will be long sections of video with just my face on-screen…and for that I heartily apologise!

I’ve learned so much from making videos over these last 11 weeks! I found that editing is not an easy process (especially on long videos!) and that you need to give the editing process plenty of time to get it right. Funnily enough, I found that there’s a plethora of information on this topic, but narrowing that down was kind of difficult at times. In order to get the information that I really needed, I focused on sources that speak directly to issues facing the hearing and vision impaired members of society. Trust me, if I could have included more than I did, this video would be upwards of 15 minutes! The most annoying thing for me was not realising until now that there was a character limit on YouTube descriptions, which means that there aren’t many working links for the references on my video description on YouTube. Thankfully, they’re all available below, with working links and all!

I’d have to say, at the end of the day and given everything that I needed to do to get this video finished, I really enjoyed making this video, and I’m really happy with the result. I think this topic is really important, so I’m glad I was able to discuss it with everyone and hopefully increase awareness of the issue.

Anyway, enough about me! Here’s the video!

Cheers!

References:

181019-dsc_4532 by r. nail bradshaw (CC BY 2.0)

Accessibility by flstclan (Public Domain)

Aerial view of a man using computer laptop on wooden table by Rawpixel Ltd (CC BY 2.0)

Anderson, M & Perrin, A 2017, ‘Disabled Americans are less likely to use technology’, Pew Research Center, 7 April, retrieved 24 September 2019, <https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/07/disabled-americans-are-less-likely-to-use-technology/>.

Apple’s FaceTime Video Chatting Platform by methodshop.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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Apple Inc. 2019, Vision Accessibility, Apple Inc., retrieved 24 September 2019, <https://www.apple.com/au/accessibility/iphone/vision/>.

blind guy by Philippe Put (CC BY 2.0)

Bluetooth by flag (Pixabay License)

Digital Divide by Brittany Wouden (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dobransky, K & Hargittai, E 2006, ‘The disability divide in Internet access and use’, Information, Communication & Society, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 313-334, retrieved 15 September 2019, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180600751298.

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Foxtel Now July 2019 by Enzomix1 (Public Domain)

IMG_6094 by PAD Pittsburgh Association of the Deaf (CC BY 2.0)

Inclusion Expo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Public Domain)

Iphone accessibility for DeafBlind product: RefreshaBraille18 by daveynin (CC BY 2.0)

iPhone X – Notification by William Hook (CC BY-SA 2.0)

iTunes Store Logo by Wefk423 (CC0 1.0)

Logo by Rob Pongsajapan (CC BY 2.0)

MacBook Air mit geöffneter Google-Suche, Meer im Hintergrund by Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0)

Maiorana-Basas, M & Pagliaro C.M, 2014, ‘Technology Use Among Adults who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A National Survey’, The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 400–410, retrieved 24 September 2019, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enu005.

Nuheara IQbuds Pre-Order Campaign by Kent Johnson (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Peak Bridle by Jeremy Keith (CC BY 2.0)

Portner, J 2010, ‘Blind Users See Digital Divide in New Generation Phones’, Accessibility News International, 25 June, retrieved 24 September 2019, <http://www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com/blind-users-see-digital-divide-in-new-generation-phones/>.

Receiver-in-the-ear open ear Oticon hearing aids by Ike Valdez (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Refreshable Braille Display by George Williams (CC BY-SA 2.0)

René Jaun’s braille display by visualpun.ch (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sachdeva, N, Tuikka, A, Kimppa, K.K, Suomi, R 2015, ‘Digital disability divide in information society’, Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society, vol. 13, no. 3/4, pp. 283-298, retrieved 15 September 2019, Database: Complementary Index, EBSCOhost.

Senior woman with a hearing aid by Ilmicrofono Oggiono (CC BY 2.0)

Silicon Valley Financial Center by Christian Rondeau (CC BY 2.0)

Using a Screenreader on Mobile Devices by MOOCAP (CC BY 3.0)

Vision Australia 2019, Braille, Vision Australia, retrieved 24 September 2019, <https://www.visionaustralia.org/information/adaptive-technology/using-technology/braille>.

Weird Girl by Mark Redito (CC BY 3.0)

With UK English Siri understands me much better by Kārlis Dambrāns (CC BY 2.0)

Zwei 50 US-Dollarnoten liegen auf Smartphone vor weißem Hintergrund by Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0)

Intro – Made using MotionDen

Whiteboard Graphic – Made using Renderforest

Feature Image: btw, in case you iphone home button is bust; turning assisted typing on from iOS accessibility features creates a virtual home button!! by Sami Niemelä (CC BY 2.0)