Full Transcript
Emily:
And that’s Dorothy. She looks like me.
Speaker 2:
Everyone has a favorite movie. Now people with visual disabilities can find theirs. Comcast is proud to introduce the first talking guide from Xfinity.
Simon Bonenfant:
Hello everyone for blind abilities. My name is Simon Bonenfant and I’m here at the Comcast accessibility lab in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I’m here with the vice president of accessibility who is blind, Tom. Good. All right. Now we’re going to be doing a little demonstration.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Well, welcome to the Comcast technology center, the new Comcast technology center and our accessibility lab here. Happy to have you here.
Simon Bonenfant:
Okay.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And so what we’re going to talk about right now is one of the newer features we’ve added, I’m sure many of your listeners may be familiar with the Xfinity X1 set top box. This is our set top box that offers the talking guide that we call a voice guidance and voice guidance allows you, if you’re blind to navigate all of the onscreen menus can schedule DVR recordings, navigate on demand. You could even run Netflix on our box. A what I wanted to show you, Simon, is some new things that we added so we’ll make sure that the voice guidance is enabled and then I’m going to show you a page that we call our video description collection page.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh that’s great. That’s great. Yeah, cause we’re all into audio description. We’re all into that. Yes.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So video description, audio description…
Simon Bonenfant:
Yeah.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Those terms are used interchangeably.
Simon Bonenfant:
Right.
Tom Wlodkowski:
The FCC in their rules calls it video descriptions.
Simon Bonenfant:
Okay.
Tom Wlodkowski:
I just kept us…
Simon Bonenfant:
Right.
Tom Wlodkowski:
In line with that since we do have to comply with a lot of those rules. So it’s just easier. Yes. Interchange audio description, video description and you’ll be good to go.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Simon. What I’m going to show you now is our video description collection page where we allow customers to easily find anything that we know about that has video description or audio description.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh that’s terrific.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Whatever you want to call it. So I have voice guidance enabled. That’s our talking guide on X1 I have the X1 voice remote in my hand. I have a remote that we shipped with every X1 box and I’m going to hold down the voice button and I’m going to say shows with video description.
X1 Device Voice:
Video description, featured content with video description described video airing today. Press down for described video airing now. Press the left to right arrow to review items, then press okay to select.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So right now we’re on a page and it has multiple rows and the first row that we see here is featured. Basically we announced the row followed by the first item in the row. So if I move down…
X1 Device Voice:
Described video airing now. NCIS season six episode two. [inaudible] Rated TV 14 press down for described movies and specials on demand. Press up for featured content with video description.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, you can see some hint texts there at the end. And when I arrow down, you heard…
X1 Device Voice:
Described video airing now.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Described video airing now.
Simon Bonenfant:
So, that’s something on the TV. That’s actually airing, right this time?
Tom Wlodkowski:
Correct, right and you heard n-sis for NCIS.
Simon Bonenfant:
Okay.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Now if we arrow across [inaudible] a lot of kid shows.
X1 Device Voice:
The Mummy Returns. 123 minutes. Arthur season two episode 13 water in the rain.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Right? And if I go down, we’ll check out what movies are available.
X1 Device Voice:
Described movies and specials on demand. Captain Marvel 124 minutes from $19 and 99 cents.
Simon Bonenfant:
There’s a lot of movies there. [crosstalk].
Tom Wlodkowski:
If I go in here…
X1 Device Voice:
Captain Marvel buy HD, $19.99. Trailer two of five, Parental guide, three of five. [inaudible]
Tom Wlodkowski:
I can go through and go down another row.
X1 Device Voice:
Movies and specials on demand. Chicago PD 128th episode. Good Girls, 23 episodes. Chrisley Knows Best 121 episodes.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So I’m going to go back up to the featured content.
X1 Device Voice:
Featured content with video description.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Then I’m going to move over here.
X1 Device Voice:
[inaudible] Hairspray, Pitch Perfect, The Wiz.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Okay. And that little sound that you just heard was that I was at the edge of the screen that “duh donk”.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh okay.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So the Wiz was an interesting story for us in that this was the first musical to be broadcast in prime time that aired with live audio description. Similar to how you would see it in the theater.
Simon Bonenfant:
Great.
Tom Wlodkowski:
This was four or five years ago that we did this.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh, so everyone got to hear that.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yeah, well everyone got to hear it if they were tuned into the SAP channel [crosstalk 00:04:42].
Simon Bonenfant:
Got it.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Your usual method for adding audio description is that it is added to prerecorded shows. Right? This was a musical NBC for a while was broadcasting musicals around the holiday season and The Wiz was one of them. We were able to work with NBC and they brought in two describers that were literally describing the action in real time. Almost like play by play of a sporting event, except it was more like a description of [crosstalk] but it was live so I’m going to go in here and select it.
X1 Device Voice:
The Wiz Live purchase page. Restart. 2 of 7.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And then you will see what it sounds like. Or hear what it sounds like. So right now…
Speaker 4:
Wiz Live. The golden wheat fields of Kansas are projected onto screens surrounding a stage. A winding dirt road cuts through the sloping field towards the [crosstalk].
Tom Wlodkowski:
I could turn off video description if I wanted. Video description
X1 Device Voice:
John in a checkered shirt attends to a broken fence.
Tom Wlodkowski:
so you and I don’t know what’s going on.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Video description.
X1 Device Voice:
Video description.
Speaker 4:
A wooden fence post.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So you can see,
Simon Bonenfant:
Wow.
Tom Wlodkowski:
We got some description in there.
Simon Bonenfant:
Yep. Very clear to, the description.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So we went through our collection page, right? We discovered that The Wiz was part of the featured content and we opened up The Wiz. Since it’s a movie that we’ve had on our box for a while. I arrowed over to restart and then I pressed restart and the movie started to play. And in our case the video description setting was already turned on. So we started to pick up the narration right off the bat. But I also showed you there that you could just say a simple voice command, “video description” and you can toggle description on or off.
Simon Bonenfant:
And the voice commands can also be used for certain channels, right? Like a live TV as well.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So I could go in here.
The Wiz:
Remember the time we were
Tom Wlodkowski:
I’m going to go exit out of The Wiz.
X1 Device Voice:
Description. Now playing Comcast employee channel.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, now we’re on the Comcast employee channel. I’m going to give a voice command and say, “watch NBC”
X1 Device Voice:
Closed captions available. Video description available. This is how we do it. [inaudible] Before we go [inaudible].
Tom Wlodkowski:
So we just told you what show was on and we tuned to NBC. So I just said, “watch NBC.” I don’t even have to say watch, I can just say …
TV:
That was bad. Yeah, that was bad.
Tom Wlodkowski:
… “golf channel.” So now we tuned it at golf channel and voice guidance told you what was playing.
Simon Bonenfant:
That’s great.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And now playing golf central pre-game.
X1 Device Voice:
Sports app [inaudible]
Tom Wlodkowski:
and now we’re getting a notification.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh, so it reads that too. Wow. And you could also do, cause I know a lot of the listeners will like this and I know I do that. You could also navigate through the channels if you didn’t know what was on you wanted to watch. You could also navigate and it would tell you what’s on now, what’s coming up next. That’s correct?
Tom Wlodkowski:
So with voice guidance, I can write arrow.
X1 Device Voice:
What’s on now. Now playing. Golf central.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And if I go down …
X1 Device Voice:
Women’s college world series on update, 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM EST.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, Women’s college world series update is on.
X1 Device Voice:
Jalen and Jacoby, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ES 2 HD.
Simon Bonenfant:
And are you going through the channels?
Tom Wlodkowski:
I’m going through the channels, just like you’re chilling on the couch just browsing through a list.
Simon Bonenfant:
And that is very cool because that’s something that the sighted can do and the blind can and do as well. Because I know a, for a long time I would have to use the numbering system, which I’m sure you know about that too, where you type in the numbers and that was all you could get, if you wanted a certain channel, someone would have to tell you the numbers and that was it. But you wouldn’t know anything else.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Right.
Simon Bonenfant:
Now, that’s completely all accessible.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yeah.
Simon Bonenfant:
That’s terrific.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yep. I can quickly go through our accessibility menu. So here at Comcast we pride ourselves on the customer, placing the customer no more than a single key press or a simple voice command away from enabling accessibility. We are committed to inclusive design. So, our view is you and I need the talking guide and so we should be able to pick up any X1 remote and quickly turn it on. But just as quickly turn it off, right. Similar to how smartphones work, where triple tap…
Simon Bonenfant:
Triple click home for voiceover exactly.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So in this case I am going to move over to the menu.
X1 Device Voice:
Main menu. Press right or left arrow on demand. Search [inaudible].
Tom Wlodkowski:
And so I could’ve done that through a voice command too, but I just want to go through the old school way. [inaudible] we have Spanish and French voice guidance.
X1 Device Voice:
Accessibility settings.
Simon Bonenfant:
There’s only one.
X1 Device Voice:
Closed captioning on selected.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, now we’re in. We know that closed captioning is on. I’ll turn it off.
X1 Device Voice:
Closed captioning off selected.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Now that’s off. Closed captioning, we can adjust our fonts. Contrast all that.
X1 Device Voice:
Video description on selected.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, that’s on.
X1 Device Voice:
Listen to audio descriptions of a program. Voice guidance on selected. On screen texts and captions are spoken loud to help you navigate through the screens. Voice guidance options. Customize voice guidance by adjusting the speech rate.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So now we can…
X1 Device Voice:
Enhanced text readability on selected. Modify the local text in the guide.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh, like a visual?
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yeah. And then the most recent setting that we added…
X1 Device Voice:
Remote shortcut voice guidance selected please only turn CC, video description or voice guidance on when you press the [inaudible] key twice on your remote.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So now I can change this.
X1 Device Voice:
Remote shortcut options. Closed captioning. Press and hold down arrow to begin. Video description.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh, you could do a short cut for the video description.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yeah, I’m going to map it to video description.
X1 Device Voice:
Remote shortcut video description selected.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Okay. So now I’m going to go back to The Wiz. I’m going to say “shows with video description”
TV:
Heads to Ohio for a man who changed the game.
X1 Device Voice:
Video description featured content…
Tom Wlodkowski:
Now I’m going to go back to The Wiz. Before you saw me do it with the voice commands.
X1 Device Voice:
Pitch Perfect. The Wiz. The Wiz Live.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So now I’m going to restart. And we’ll see.
Speaker 4:
The Wiz live. The golden wheat fields of Kansas…
Tom Wlodkowski:
So there it is with description. Now I’m going you press the “B” key twice.
X1 Device Voice:
Video description.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And I just turned it off.
Simon Bonenfant:
Well that’s terrific. So that’s good to for if the sighted family member and the blind person’s in there and the sighted doesn’t want it. So just do that. The thing turn it off and when a blind person goes to watch it, they turn it right back on. They don’t have to go into the settings and mess around with it. Just do that. That is terrific, and that’s something.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, that’s inclusive design right there, right?
Simon Bonenfant:
Exactly.
Tom Wlodkowski:
You could do it through voice, but we realize that voice is not a one size fits all solution. And so now you have the key press as well. And for other segments of the disability community, you can control this whole experience just by moving your eyes. That’s Eve’s favorite feature that we have.
Simon Bonenfant:
Wow that is neat.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Cause she got to show it to one of our customers. And so, she loves the talking guide but, I think the eye tracking has got to be the piece for her. Right.
Simon Bonenfant:
Yeah that’s very cool.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So we’re bringing people in from the lab into your podcast here.
Simon Bonenfant:
Good.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So, that’s the shortcut that was added within the past year. The collection page was added in the past year. We spent a lot of time and energy increasing our library of described content, so working with the networks and the studios and our in demand, which provides all of the content, gets it all configured for us to make sure that description is available. So we’ve been busy there and now we’re working to do other things with X1 to extend voice guidance. Now you can navigate YouTube. I can just say “YouTube.” So it’s going to take a moment to load and now it’s going to load.
X1 Device Voice:
YouTube on TV is loading.
Tom Wlodkowski:
So now YouTube, Emily’s Oz
X1 Device Voice:
Emily’s Oz
Tom Wlodkowski:
So I did a search and we brought up Emily’s Oz. I can open this up. It said it was 63 seconds. So now we’ve launched Emily’s Oz.
TV:
I think of what they say. I think about color.
Simon Bonenfant:
Well that’s terrific.
Tom Wlodkowski:
This is Emily’s Oz spot that we’re playing here in the background. Features a seven year old girl, who’s blind.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh wow.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Her favorite movie is the wizard of Oz. And we had this ad campaign running in 2015 and it was to for the first time tie our accessibility commitment to the Xfinity brand. And to this day, this campaign is the most viewed brand campaign in our marketing history.
Simon Bonenfant:
Wow, that’s great.
Tom Wlodkowski:
And everybody always tears up when they see this because it’s the little girl and Wizard of Oz, and she’s talking about her vision of the Wizard of Oz. So check out YouTube, Emily’s Oz.
Emily:
I think about the shape. I think about color. I also think about sound. I take into my brain and I think about what would it look like to me? My tin man has a big toe, the size of a house. The lion is small, like a toy piano. It has a webbed duck feet and he is very scared of everything. My scarecrow has wooden teeth, his fingernails are really long and his clothes have tubes on them. And that’s Dorothy, she looks like me.
Speaker 2:
Everyone has a favorite movie. Now people with visual disabilities can find theirs. Comcast is proud to introduce the first talking guide from Xfinity.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Then you can go to Emily’s oz.com and can actually see how the spot was made. That’s pretty cool too.
Simon Bonenfant:
Oh nice. Yeah. I like how you have ads that come out with it too because for people who wouldn’t know about it, it’s something that the general public could be introduced to as well. I mean I know that for a lot of people who don’t have a disability or don’t know anyone with a disability, they wouldn’t know that these features exists, but it’s always good to just spread the word and to let the people know that this is something out there and advertisement does that. Well, thank you Tom. And is there any contact information that someone who’s blind or vision impaired or anyone with disability could get in touch with the accessibility department of Comcast?
Tom Wlodkowski:
Yes, so we have a dedicated support team for customers with disabilities. You can reach us by phone at (855) 270-0379 between 8:00 AM and midnight seven days a week. You can send an email to accessibility@comcast.com you can also go to comcast.com/accessibility page and learn more about our efforts. And there you’ll be able to link off to our support area where you can do accessible chat as well with our accessibility agents multiple ways you can contact us.
Simon Bonenfant:
Well that’s great. Well Tom thank you for talking with me and I want to just say that your company has a very strong commitment to accessibility and I know it was very important to you as is to me and thank you for making everything very accessible for the blind and disabled community in general. You’re doing a good job with that.
Tom Wlodkowski:
Okay, thank you Simon for getting the word out through blind abilities and have you come back another time.
Speaker 8:
Cool. Very good.
Jeff Thompson:
Be sure to check out our previous podcasts where Tom Wlodkowski talks about his journey through accessibility and his pathway to become vice president of accessibility at Comcast. And I must say such a great job by our team correspondent Simon Bonenfant and for more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web@www.blindabilities.com on Twitter at blind abilities and download the free blind abilities app from the app store and the Google play store. That’s two words. Blind abilities enable the blind abilities, skill on your Amazon device just by saying enable blind abilities. A big shout out to Chee Chau for his beautiful music. You can follow Chee Chau on Twitter @LCheeChau. Most importantly, I want to thank you, the listener. Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye bye.
[Music] [Transition noise] -When we share
-What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
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