Welcome to this Special Issue of EuroScientist on: The Social Value of European Research on Media Accessibility!
The revolution brought about by information and communication technologies offers unprecedented ways to create a more just and equal society. Yet, if not properly and timely addressed, it also risks to exacerbate old social problems as well as create new forms of exclusion and discrimination.
How to tackle some of these problems is a major concern of the research area called Media Accessibility, a subdomain of the broader field of Accessibility Studies.
Over the past years, the European Commission has been increasingly funding projects on Media Accessibility precisely in order to promote research into new ways to successfully address some of the most pressing problems of our society.
This special issue collects articles that present some of these projects and contextualise them within the broader context of the social changes we are facing.
By Gian Maria Greco and Pilar Orero
Fostering Unity in Diversity: the Social value of European Research in Media Accessibility
By Gian Maria Greco, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
Addressing the Challenges of Live Subtitiles for All
By Pablo Romero-Fresco and Jesús Meiriño, from the University of Vigo (Spain).
From easy-to-read texts to easy-to-understand audiovisual content: practice and training
By Anna Matamala, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
Can acessible ICT tools forster migrant integration in European countries?
By Blanca Arias-Badia and Maria Jiménez-Andrés, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
Imagine a Social Network like FaceBook with no FaceBook
By Pilar Orero, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
Digital Accessibility for Young Adults in Europe: Tools, Training and Participation
By Sharon Black and Carlos de Pablos-Ortega, from the University of East Anglia (UK).
EasyTV: Easing the Access of Europeans with disabilities to converging media and content
By Federico Álvarez García, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain).
New Subtitling Training for Real-time Media and Events
By Rocio Bernabé and Carlo Eugeni, the former from SDI Munchen (Germany) and the latter from SSML (Pisa, Italy).
Challenges and Technological Solutions to Provide Accessibility Services in Immersive Media Environments
By Mario Montagud, i2CAT Foundation & University of Valencia (Spain).
The Social Value of Trained Audio Describers
By Elisa Perego, University of Trieste (Italy).
A New Frontier in Automate Sign Language Interpreting with Novel Technologies and AI Algorithms
By Robin Ribback & Giacomo Inches, R. Ribback from Swiss TXT and G. Inches from Fincons Group.
Accessibility Training for the New Digital World: The IMPACT project
By Estella Oncins Noguer, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
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