> On demand but still no access
- 17 Jul 07, 03:10 PM
Babelgum, currently in beta testing, is one of the latest free Video on Demand kids on the block and provides independent films and niche content. Spike Lee, the Hollywood director, has agreed to produce some content for them and there are short films on nature, sport and music.
Babelgum plans to combine the "lean back" experience of watching television with the "lean forward" interactivity of a social network website. There are plenty of programmes to watch, and Babelgum plan on introducing social networking in the near future, so that you can share and discuss your favourite videos with other users and recreate that "Did you see..?" experience of offline life.
All of which sounds pretty cool. Sadly, though, it looks hard to use with a screen reader and anecdotal evidence suggests that even downloading and installing the Babelgum media player is less than straightforward.
Babelgum is not alone in being difficult to use for visually impaired or hearing-impaired users. Other similar services with their custom media players, such as Joost, are just as difficult. And as more and more video or TV services become available on the web in 2007, there's a real danger of excluding big chunks of the audience from taking part in this revolution.
Then there is the question of the content. Very little - if any - closed captioned or audio described material is offered by any of these companies.
Charlie Swinbourne works on the BBC's See Hear programme but as a keen web user, has his own opinions on this issue. "The worry for deaf or hard of hearing people is that they're going to be left behind as the age of video and TV on the internet begins," he told me. He confesses that he doesn't even check out these kinds of services, because even though he would like to use them, he doesn't expect to find any subtitled material.
Similar sentiments are expressed by the RNIB. A spokesperson for the charity said that, "It is regrettable when new technologies aren't inclusive. Every market has a disabled sector."
So what is the way forward? Legislation is perhaps one way. Perhaps Ofcom can cover broadcasting on the internet, just as it does with TV now, and require that a proportion of content needs to be captioned or audio described. But it is a complicated issue. Would the responsibility lie with the broadcasters, like Babelgum, or the content producers?
Perhaps, in the end, the best argument will be an economic one. When revenue comes from securing advertising, which is dependent on the number of users, video on demand service providers will have to start to being more inclusive.
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