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[LTA MUSIC]

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LiveTextAccess.

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Training for real-time
intralingual subtitlers.

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Unit 1.
Understanding accessibility.

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Element 1. Basic concepts.

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This video lecture raises awareness
and calls real-time subtitlers to action

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by digging into the question

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about how subtitles can contribute
to create accessible working settings

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that are universally usable.

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My name is Rocío Bernabé

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from the Internationale Hochschule
SDI München, in Germany.

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I have prepared this video lecture
in collaboration with

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the European Federation
of Hard of Hearing, in short, EFHOH.

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On completion of this training sequence,
you will be able to identify features

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to design accessible settings
that take into consideration

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Universal Design.

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The agenda.

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We start recalling the definition
of Universal Design.

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Then we discuss how real-time subtitlers
can contribute as co-creators.

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Universal Design and real-time
subtitling settings

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The idea of universally usable
or "one size fits all" means

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that design should be usable for all.

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In 1998, Ronald Mace explained
that Universal Design is the goal,

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but this goal cannot be achieved completely

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because each of us has different needs.

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This is when "personalisation"
comes into play.

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Personalisation is understood
as minimum adaptations

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that must be made in an environment
to enable each of us to achieve usability.

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These adaptations should be
both possible and simple to make,

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especially in environments

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that have been designed following the principles of Universal Design.

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An example that illustrates
this idea would be

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the design of multimodal
learning materials

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that do not depend on a single sense
like sight, movement, hearing, or touch.

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If we take this idea to real-time settings, such as television, face-to-face or remote,

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we see that each setting should offer alternatives for personalisation.

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The extent to which this is possible
usually depends on both technology,

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and the ability of a subtitler
to adjust his or her output

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to the needs of the audience.

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Subtitles already promote equity

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because they provide
a written equivalent to audio content.

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To provide the best service possible,

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real-time subtitlers can undertake
several actions before the meeting.

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Some examples are to request information
to prepare for the job.

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This can be the agenda,
the list of participants,

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or other materials.

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It is also important to clarify
where you will sit at the location,

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and if there is enough space
for your whole equipment.

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If it is online, you can ask whether
only the client will be watching the subtitles

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on a separate screen,

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or if the subtitles will be available
for all participants.

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Sometimes, a confidentiality agreement
will be necessary;

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for instance,
for medical consultations.

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Confidentiality is also an aspect
that concerns transcripts.

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While in some countries and contexts
providing the transcript is not a problem,

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in others this is not allowed.

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Take care of yourself.

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Talk to the client and the organiser,
and agree on the breaks.

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Also, discuss the possibility
of having to  intervene,

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for instance, when there is
too much background noise

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that is hindering your work.

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Lastly, you could ask
the organiser to introduce you

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and your role at the beginning
of the meeting,

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which will raise awareness
among participants.

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Flexibility in use means to provide
subtitles in a way that can be used

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according to the preferences
of your client or the audience

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during or after
the real-time situation.

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Flexibility in TV settings is more limited than in face-to-face or remote ones.

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Indeed, it is not long ago that subtitles
were only showed through the Teletext.

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Now, with smart TVs,
the possibilities are increasing

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and, for example,
closed captions are quite common.

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In face-to-face and remote settings, personalisation is easier to implement.

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Technical possibilities are greater,

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and subtitlers often have more control
over how to show the subtitles.

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New technologies such as Text on Top
enable subtitlers to position

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and re-position subtitles ad hoc

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and, for instance, place them
either at the bottom

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or at the top
of PowerPoint slides,

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or even show subtitles in individual tablets or laptops close to users.

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Another personalisation example is
the software Text on Tap,

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which allows users to choose
their own settings.

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At events, technical staff
sometimes implement elegant solutions

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such as combining all input streams

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(slides, speaker input, subtitles,
and sign language interpretation)

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on one big screen.

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Another example of flexible use is
the Norwegian opera house in Oslo.

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Here, subtitles are on a screen
at the back of the seat in front of you

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and it is the choice of the individual
to turn them on and off,

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and to choose the language
you want to use.

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Lastly, flexibility in use
can also mean using the subtitles afterwards.

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One example are hansards,

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which are reports of what has been said
in Parliament

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and can be accessed online
after the debates.

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Making transcripts available
can be tricky.

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In educational settings,
transcripts are often provided to students

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because they cannot read the subtitles
and take notes at the classroom

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at the same time.

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Conversely, transcripts are not provided
after conferences.

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This grounds on the idea
that the spoken word cannot be re-heard

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after the conference,

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and so should real-time subtitles
not be re-read afterwards either.

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How to use and operate subtitles
should be simple and intuitive.

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Operating subtitles on TV
or on a tablet may seem quite straightforward.

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However, this task may be more difficult
in settings such as at theatres

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or at the movies.

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And it becomes even more interesting,

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if we consider that there might be
children in the audience.

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Perceptible information is
principle number 4 [in Universal Design].

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Perceiving subtitles should be
as easy as possible

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or, in other words, require
the less effort possible.

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Making subtitles perceptible to users
requires considering 2 main aspects:

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legibility and synchrony.

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Legibility deals with features
that affect the decoding of information

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during the first interaction
between a reader and a text.

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In written texts,
perception is influenced by parameters

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that range from typographical
to paratextual.

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Some examples are font-size,
font-type, contrast,

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and a steady position
on the screen.

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The way the words appear on the screen
also plays a role.

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Users often prefer whole words,
phrases or sentences,

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over subtitles that show letter by letter.

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Here the context plays a role again.

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While in TV personalisation
of these settings is more limited,

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in face-to-face
and remote contexts,

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subtitlers can react
to the preferences of the audience

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and, for instance,

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change the font-type,
the size or even the colour,

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for example, from white
on a black background

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to yellow
on a black background.

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Synchrony is also a feature
that supports perception.

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As you probably remember
from other lectures,

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persons with hearing loss also resort
to lip-reading during communication.

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In this sense,
subtitles should be in synchrony

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with the speech
as much as possible.

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In online meetings, this implies
that the camera shift must be quick.

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As my colleague,
Aïda Regel Poulsen says:

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“When synchrony fails,

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real-time subtitling
becomes wrong-time subtitling”.

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Principle number 5 is tolerance of error.

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We all make mistakes.

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The question here is
what type of errors can subtitlers predict

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and already plan how to react,

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in order to be quickly solved
in real-time settings.

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With regards
to spelling mistakes,

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mistakes must be corrected
in real-time.

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Users of subtitles
often prefer corrections

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over deleting the whole subtitle
and re-typing it again.

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As for errors
that concern your technical equipment,

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you should always plan
[a] plan B.

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Reaching the venue timely
and testing the equipment

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before the job seems to be
a good strategy.

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Lastly, carrying a spare keyboard,
cable, adapter,

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or microphone
can sometimes become very handy.

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Low physical effort is
the sixth principle.

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However,
in real-time subtitling

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low cognitive effort seems
more suitable.

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As discussed
in previous lectures,

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persons with hearing loss always make
an extra effort to understand.

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Subtitlers can facilitate this process
by improving readability of subtitles.

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These improvements can be
in terms of linguistic correctness,

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proper style and clarity.

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In some cases, this will mean choosing
between verbatim,

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or word-to-word subtitles,

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and subtitles that are edited
to avoid repetitions,

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to reorder the message

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or to add contextual information.

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Finally, on face-to-face
and remote settings,

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subtitlers can also more easily adapt
the output to the needs of the audience.

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For instance, when working with audiences
with a low command of a language,

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subtitlers can try to type slower
and leave out difficult words,

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while maintaining the message
of the speaker.

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In these cases, we could also talk about
universally design content

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because more people will be able
to follow a speech, or a meeting.

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Of course, this is only possible
for certain topics

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and when the information density
is not too high.

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Lastly, principle 7,

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“Size and space
for approach and use”.

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As in the previous one,
we propose a slight change

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 to “Size and space
for reading and use”.

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Principle 7 is grounded
on the assumption

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that we, as humans,
have different shapes and sizes.

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Similarly, we could say
that our reading abilities

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and knowledge are different.

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This means
that the subtitling speed should be based

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 on average reading speed rates.

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Of course,
the subtitler needs to adjust

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to the speed of the speaker.

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In the case
that a speaker speaks very fast

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subtitlers only have
2 options here:

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either to type or to respeak faster,

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or to kindly ask the speaker
to slow down a bit.

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To recap, we can say
that universally designed settings allow

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for personalisation,

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which is a key factor
in the current understanding

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of accessibility as a whole.

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We have also seen
that real-time subtitlers are co-creators

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of such settings
and can influence them

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to make them
universally more accessible.

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However, we have also seen
that some settings are less adaptable

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than others.

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Lastly, all the possibilities
and differences

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that we have seen
between countries point out

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that there might be a need
for more harmonization in the field.

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Especially now,

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that several online tools have emerged
during the pandemic.

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I hope that I could provide you
with food for thought

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for your future job
as a real-time intralingual subtitler.

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As for now, I say good-bye
and many thanks.

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Exercises.

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The exercises
for this video lecture are

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in the Trainer’s Guide for Unit 1
and in the PowerPoint presentation.

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LTA - LiveTextAccess.

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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

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SDI - Internationale Hochschule.

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Scuola Superiore
per Mediatori Linguistici.

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2DFDigital.

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The European Federation
of Hard of Hearing People – EFHOH.

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VELOTYPE.

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SUB-TI ACCESS.

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European Certification
and Qualification Association – ECQA.

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Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme 
of the European Union.

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Erasmus+ Project:
2018-1-DE01-KA203-004218.

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The information and views set
on this presentation

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are those of the authors

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and do not necessarily reflect
the official opinion

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of the European Union.

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Neither the European Union
institutions and bodies

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nor any person acting
on their behalf

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may be held responsible
for the use

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which may be made
of the information contained here.