Universal access: user needs for immersive captioning

Abstract

This article focuses on building a prototyping for immersive captioning following a user-centric approach. This methodology is characterised by following a bottom-up approach, where usability and user needs are at the heart of the development. Recent research on user requirements for captioning in immersive environments has shown that there is both a need for improvement and a wealth of research opportunities. The final aim is to identify how to display captions for an optimal viewing experience. This work began four years ago with some partial findings. We build from the lessons learnt, focussing on the user-centric design requirements cornerstone: prototyping. Our prototype framework integrates methods used in existing solutions aiming at instant contrast-and-compare functionalities. The first part of the article presents the state of the art for user requirements identifying the reasons behind the development of the prototyping framework. The second part of the article describes the two-stage framework development. The initial framework concept answered to the challenges resulting from the previous research. As soon as the first framework was developed, it became obvious that a second improved solution was required, almost as a showcase on how ideas can quickly be implemented for user testing, and for users to elicit requirements and creative solutions. The article finishes with a list of functionalities, resulting in new caption modes, and the opportunity of becoming a comprehensive immersive captions testbed, where tools such as eye-tracking, or physiological testing devices could be testing captions across any device with a web browser.

The Hyperreality of Virtual Influencer Lentari Pagi on Instagram

“…As technology advances, the use of mixed reality in cultural heritage attractions to enhance visitor experiences showcases the growing integration of virtual elements into physical spaces, further blurring distinctions between the real and the virtual [19]. The immersive nature of virtual reality technologies, like those used by virtual influencers, has expanded user engagement and interaction possibilities, challenging traditional modes of communication and storytelling [20] [21].…”

Il video a 360° nella didattica universitaria

“…La sfida dell'accessibilità è quella che investe maggiormente questa fase, poiché come emerso da recenti studi (Brown et al 2018;Montagud, Orero, e Matamala 2020;Hughes 2022; Hughes e Montagud 2021) le modalità per rendere accessibili i media immersivi e i video a 360° sono ancora oggetto di studio. Se si escludono gli studi che si riferiscono a sottotitoli masterizzati nel video a 360°, ne segnaliamo due che hanno indagato parzialmente l'argomento: lo studio della British Broadcasting Corporation -BBC (Brow et al 2018) e Accessibility in 360° Video Players (Hughes e Montagud 2021).…”

“…Una delle questioni cruciali è dove collocare i sottotitoli e il video con la LIS. Ad esempio, se ci sono attori sulla scena collocare i sottotitoli o il video con la LIS nei pressi dell'attore e mostrarli il tempo del parlato, oppure se c'è una voce fuoricampo individuare un punto che non ostacoli la visualizzazione di porzioni fondamentali della scena (Hughes 2022), posizionandoli comunque non troppo in basso e non troppo in alto. Gli attuali player non supportano la funzione di mostra/nascondi dei sottotitoli come avviene per i video 2D, quindi, la soluzione, per il momento, è masterizzare i sottotitoli nel video a 360° durante l'esportazione del video.…”