OTTAWA – The Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (BAF) announced today it is awarding $371,000 to four board-approved projects that will advance the accessibility of Canadian broadcasting content.
The approved “projects represent the completion of the Fund’s seventh round of grants, with a total commitment of approximately $4M to date, to address gaps in broadcasting accessibility,” a press release explains.
Out of the total funding allocated this round, the CBC is receiving $83,505 to increase “the volume and breadth of content offered with American Sign Language,” the press release says. Research on best practices will inform new strategies the CBC will incorporate into its 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics signed recap shows. “New CBC production facilities, designed especially for ASL interpretation, will be used to record sign language interpretation.”
Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal will receive $134,405 for a VD-Qual project that “aims to build a suite of diagnostic and correction tools for described video texts in order to improve their quality in both English and French,” the press release says.
Komodo OpenLab will receive $37,370 for an accessible infrared remote control app.
“This project proposes a fully accessible mobile app that would allow users to add infrared remote control functions to a simple accessible interface that could be controlled by touch, voice or assistive technologies like switch access or screen readers,” the press release says. “This app would work in combination with a commercially available infrared transmitter hardware and would allow users with limited mobility to control media devices (e.g., TVs, cable boxes, radios, stereo systems, etc.).”
Seneca College will receive $115,750 for accessible podcasts. Seneca proposed to develop “an accessible podcast production micro-credential course,” the release says. The course is to “offer content creators the skills and resources needed to produce accessible podcasts (including topics that address a range of accessibility issues) and would offer students who are deaf and hard of hearing the tools to produce their own podcasts content,” according to the release. “This project will include partnership with the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association.”
“I am very excited about these four new initiatives, which include the development and utilization of advanced technologies to enhance accessibility in broadcast content,” said Marcia Yale, chair of the BAF’s board, in the press release.
“These projects are providing the important groundwork needed to further the advancement of accessibility moving forward and are an excellent fit with the mandate of the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund,” Yale said.
“The Board of Directors was very pleased with the number of strong applications we received this year,” said the BAF’s CEO and funding officer, Richard Cavanagh.
“The Fund congratulates all seventh-round grant recipients and is excited to work with these groundbreaking leaders in broadcasting accessibility in the coming months,” he said. “We look forward to announcing our next Call for Letters of Intent, the first step in our application process, in February 2022.”
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