Seminar on audio description 11.-12.6.2009

The advanced research seminar on audio description is organized by the "Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona" and the TransMedia Catalonia Research Group. The seminar will be held on 11.-12.6.2009 in Barcelona (Facultat de Traducció i d'Interpretació, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).

Nowadays we live surrounded by media which offer great potential for both work and leisure, still its access is not always universal. Awareness to the need of an accessible media is increasing in most European countries. New mandates and standards are beginning to be drafted in order to meet statuary obligations for the different Disability Discrimination Acts accross Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Media accessibility should not be seen any longer as an "optional extra" for which responsibility lies within the many NGOs or users associations. Society must offer all media in formats which make them accessible for all. While some European countries have already started to implement new quotas of accessible media products, others are beginning to do so.

Making media accessible is not only a new challenge but a necessity and we should start training professionals who will meet the new quality standars of accessibility. Indeed, new professional profiles are being created and the universty is now prepared to offer quality training for the future media accessibility experts. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the TransMedia Catalonia Research Group have created the Advance Research Seminar to set standards for audio describers as a profession, to promote quality research in AD, and to provide the necessary training in media accessibility for the Arts, TV, Media, and Sports.

The seminar programme: http://arsad2.uab.cat/2007seminar.htm

Registration: http://arsad2.uab.cat/register.htm