After a successful first expert(ise) day on June 21, 2022, Scribit.Pro organized another meeting on March 14, 2023. Scribit.Pro's image describers and a group of blind and visually impaired users of audio description, the so-called experience experts came together. A morning devoted to encounters, knowledge transfer and the exchange of experiences between the makers and users of accessibility facilities for online video.
The Scribit.Pro expert(ise) day took place in the Domstad course and meeting center in the heart of Utrecht. Where we organized the first expertise day in The Hague, the city where Scribit.Pro has its office, Utrecht was now chosen because of its central location. After all, the Scribit.Pro employees, image descriptions and also the experience experts live criss-cross through the Netherlands.
For the image descriptors – also known as Scribit pros – this Tuesday started early. The program started with a refresher course in writing rules for subtitling and transcription. In addition to audio description and, if requested, sign translation, Scribit.Pro also provides video content with subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and a transcript. With the latter, a pro writes out the visual and auditory information of a video completely, into a kind of film script. The image descriptors of Scribit.Pro therefore not only make an audio description, but also a subtitle and a transcript for a video.
Colleague Danitsa went through the guidelines Scribit.Pro uses for creating these texts with the group of eight. This is how Scribit.Pro ensures a stable style, constant quality and professional service. After this refresher course, the seven experts by experience also joined the group. For some of these audio description experts, this was their second expert(ise) day. But there were also a number of new faces to be seen. After a cup of coffee or tea in the restaurant of the meeting center, the program continued.
Eveline, founder of Scribit.Pro, welcomed all visitors. Colleague Elvera had three surprising video screenings in store for the pros and experts. Each of these three videos was audio-described in advance by three different pros. During the expert(ise) day, these videos, which were very diverse and had their own challenges, were experienced and discussed together. First, the audience listened to a sound fragment, without the video being played. The three accessible videos were then shown one after the other. In this way it becomes clear what effect certain choices in the image descriptions have on the information transfer and the atmosphere experience and, in addition, what audio description can actually bring about for the user. A practical, instructive and valuable process.
Subsequently, there was just enough time to discuss one last video in the busy program: the video clip of Burning Daylight, the song with which Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper will represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest in May. The video barely leaves room for audio description, because the song is sung continuously and, in the case of an added image description, the lyrics can no longer be heard. Scribit.Pro has therefore made two accessible versions of the music video: a version with the sung text included in the subtitles and a version in which the story of the video is conveyed through an audio description over the entire length of the video. For example, there is the choice to listen to the song in its entirety in a version without audio description and the possibility to also experience the atmosphere and story of the video clip in a version with audio description. "It brings tears to my eyes," says well-known expert by experience Marjolein.
"It brings tears to my eyes"
At times like these, we at Scribit.Pro realize all the more why we do what we do. After the short, but powerful program, everyone was ready for a nice lunch. In the indoor restaurant 'The Gym', the group was able to get acquainted and there was extensive discussion while enjoying an extensive bread and salad buffet. A photographer was present to take a nice picture of every visitor.
Scribit.Pro looks back on a very successful expert(ise) day, which was productive, informative, but certainly also fun. Hopefully everyone, like us, returned home fully inspired.