ATVOD - making contact

This journal entry is part of the Digital broadcasters provide on-demand programme (VOD) on the internet set standards for subtitling, sign language interpretation and audio description programmes for Disabled and Deaf people campaign

I took a deep breath and then made a phone call ... you'd think that's nothing to do but then again I was phoning the Chair of ATVOD (Association for TV on Demand)!

I wanted to find out more about what they were doing, their responsibilities, what their plans were to ensure Disabled and Deaf people had full access to TV on demand.

I've always known it would be very stupid to go wading in with anger that they (ATVOD) http://www.atvod.co.uk don't have any legal responsibilities and how can a self-regulatory body even regulate, oh! and what they were going to do about it? It needs tact, diplomacy and being reasonable is a better way to be. I came close to being the 'annoyed disabled person on the end of the phone' like I'm being with 02 at the moment for my non-existant 3G connection in Telford despite being surrounded by 13 masts (yes 13 6 3G and the rest 2G).

Instead I explained who I was, what Pesky People did and asked for more information on ATVOD.

The CEO Pete Johnson gave me more background to where they are at - it's clear that it's not just about setting up (been going since March 2010) and then putting regulations into place straight away.

There's negotiations with OFCOM to take place, taking into account the EU regulations and what their obligations are. There's the planning and structuring of how they are going to deliver their responsibilities - all with two members of staff.

There is irony in that I'm pinning some hope on the new Equalities Act (can any one advise me on this?) being stricter on the accessibility of digital content to point that a Disabled person can close down a website if they refuse to implement the access that that person needs. I'd love to test out the legality of that!

What I did have was an useful conversation with Pete Johnson and flagged up a number of things happening digitally (including the Equalities Act) that could have a significant impact and worth them taking into account. I offered a number of suggestions and highlighted what was happening in regards to open-source digital projects in development that would enable automatic subtitling of video for exmple. There is information flying round twitter under hashtags #a11y #accessibility #disabled #deaf and so on that they need to take into consideration.

Result: Meeting the CEO on 21st September in London as plans with OFCOM will be more or less in place by then - and he is keen to find out more about Pesky People, what we do and how we might be involved.

In meantime a more detailed plan of action to do including my research into OFCOM's guidelines, previous research and consultation to do.

Internet reading - what would we have done before the web? Gone to the library.