This grant to Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer of Vquence is funding technology that will implement Firefox video accessibility features, such as text subtitles for the hearing-imparied and audio descriptions for blind users.
Grant Summary
- 2008: $25,000
- 2009: $25,000
- 2010: $25,000
- Focus: Accessibility
- Recipient: Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer, Vquence
- Location: Australia
More Information
In the spring of 2008 Mozilla became concerned about the lack of support for deaf and blind Firefox users. Firefox 3.5 included built-in open video support using the < video > tag, but there was no built-in method to provide captions or audio descriptions. Mozilla identified Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer and her company Vquence as the best resource for creating a plan for open video accessibility. $25,000 was granted to Vquence in the fall of 2008 to create a plan for technology that would add textual and audio descriptions to Ogg media files
This grant was renewed in 2009 to begin implementing this plan. The grant of $25,000 will lay the foundation for rolling out free, open-source options for those with visual or hearing impairments who wish to take advantage of what open video has to offer.
In 2010, Mozilla offered a further renewal with two phases: the first focuses on a Firefox implementation for external accessibility files for media, the second focuses on a Firefox implementation for embedded accessibility tracks in media. Current work includes developing best practices for non-synchronised text alternates for media accessibility, dealing with external alternate text files, dealing with embedded alternates, and textual audio descriptions.
Links
Vquence
Vquence provides enterprises, marketers and consumers with detailed statistical data to satisfy information needs relating to social and online video. Their mission is to measure every aspect of the consumption of socially published video online.
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