BBC | Access 2.0

Byte sized interview with Damon Rose

By Paul Crichton
29 Jun 07, 08:32 PM

Damon has been working at the BBC since 1996, first as an Assistant Producer on BBC2's From The Edge and Radio 4's In Touch, and then from 2002 as editor of our parent website Ouch! He is also the co-founder of cult website blindkiss. Damon is visually impaired.

Q: What are your favourite websites?

I love Media Guardian. Ever since I got into the industry, I’ve been obsessed with news about the media. It was very difficult to keep up to date when only print journals were available, like ‘Broadcast’ because I just couldn’t get it in a format accessible to me. So it is great to be able to pour over Media Guardian online.

I’m also spending a lot of time on Facebook, the social networking website. It does use CAPTCHAs [which is an image of text or numbers used to reduce spam but is also invisible to screen readers] that can prevent visually impaired people from registering and using some of the features, but the Facebook team were brilliant. I sent them a couple of emails, and they removed the CAPTCHAs from my account. Now I can get on with using it just as it should be.

Q: What is your least favourite website?

I think I would have to say MySpace. When I visit it with my screen reader, it just sounds like a jumble and a clutter. I hardly ever follow a link to MySpace. No matter how great you think the content might be, it is rarely worth the effort.

Q: What was the last thing you bought online?

I bought my Dad a couple of DVDs from Amazon for Fathers Day. I use Amazon because it is such a trusted name, even if it is a little less accessible these days than it used to be. But I just love the phrases, they keep popping up in weird dreams that I have. Things like, “We have recommendations for you” and “turn on 1-click ordering”…

Q: What's the most adventurous thing you've done on the web recently?

I’m enjoying spending a lot of time on Last FM. For a start, there’s no CAPTCHA blocking registration, which I love them for. But there are lots of exciting concepts in sharing music to explore. It takes a fair bit of learning to use with a screen reader, but I’ve decided to put the effort in because I think it is such a great idea, and a great way to discover new music.

Q: What's your favourite blog?

Ouch!, obviously! Apart from that, currently my favourite blog is Pole to Polar, written by Seaneen Molloy. She’s bi-polar, and the shockingly honest way in which she deals with it on her blog is amazing to read. All power to her for sharing her experiences.

Q: Have you ever heard of Mahalo?

Yes. Mahalo is the human-edited search engine. It sounds really interesting, but when I went along to try and sign up for it, I was blocked by the dreaded CAPTCHA again. It really is becoming the biggest accessibility barrier on the web at the moment, and we need a better solution. That, or we need to kill all spammers.

Q: Do you have a favourite gadget?

It would have to be my Sky+ Box. I can’t access the menus from the remote control to queue up my favourite programmes, but I can record remotely via the Sky website. Of course, talking menus would be even better – but it is a solution!

Q: Complete the following sentence, “If the web was taken away from me today I would…”

I would have to ask my friends to go Christmas shopping with me, like the bad old days. It is fantastic to be able to browse for things online. Before, I had no idea just how much choice there was. I often think of myself as being “chocolate illiterate” because unlike you lot, I can’t absorb that there are new chocolate bars in the shop aisles with my eyes.

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