Inclusive approaches for audiovisual translation production in Interactive Television (iTV)

Audiovisual translation covers several techniques such as subtitling, dubbing, voice-over or audio description (AD), which can be applied to various multimedia contexts as is the case of Television. These translation techniques have an important role as enablers of the access to television content by people with special needs, namely persons with visual impairments, illiterate people and persons who do not comprehend another spoken language besides the native one. Currently, the production methods of audiovisual translation techniques are expensive and complex, involving several professionals and procedures. However, the current technological convergence paradigm inherent to Television provides great opportunities to enhance these techniques, leveraging the number of translated TV content and bringing relevant socio-economic impacts. In this context, this paper aims to address and discuss two inclusive approaches for audiovisual translation production (collaborative/spontaneous AD and automatic reading of subtitles) in an Interactive Television (iTV) context, benefiting a wide range of viewers' profiles. Based on a focus group with experts on the iTV field, we found that the proposed approaches are relevant and applicable in functional and technological terms.