See Hear Technology Special
Saturday 10 December 2005, 12.00pm, BBC2
Repeat: Wednesday 14 December 2005, 1.45am, BBC1
EXCLUSIVE! Don't forget to check out an exciting innovation for See Hear, as we give you the opportunity to watch a three-minute online video clip of this week's programme!
Communications
At the moment, we rely on interpreters and palantypists to communicate in the workplace and elsewhere, and on TypeTalk textphone relay for phone calls. That's now changing, with more and more solutions becoming available - instant captioning, voice relay telephones and videophone relay.
Related links
• Teletec
This company provides the Instant Captioning Laptop and Captioned Telephone service. For more information contact:
Teletec International Ltd, Cranfield Innovation Centre, University Way, Cranfield Technology Park, Cranfield. Bedfordshire MK43 OBT
Telephone: 01234 756026
Textphone: 01234 756027
Fax: 01234 756028
• Signtalk
The RNID's video relay service is free to use. For more information on how to access it, contact:
RNID New Technologies, 19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL
Telephone: 020 7296 8235
Textphone: 020 7608 0511
Fax: 020 7296 8069
Email: ict@rnid.org.uk
• Significan't
Videophone interpreting and a sign relay are only some of the services offered by Significan't. For more information contact:
Significan't. St Agnes House, 6 Cresswell Park, London SE3 9RD
Telephone: 020 8463 1120
Fax: 020 8463 1121
ISDN Videophone: 0)20 8463 1140
IP Video: signvideo.dyndns.tv
• BDA SignVRS
The BDA's Sign Video Relay Service is still undergoing trials internally and with BDA members. For more information contact:
John Brownlie, New Technologies Development Manager, British Deaf Association, Suite 222, The Pentagon, 36 Washington Street, Glasgow G3 8AZ
Tel: 01254 676 597
Textphone: 0141 248 5567
Email: johnb@bda.org.uk
IP Video: glasgow.bda.bslphone.com
Media
A greater number of TV programmes are being subtitled and signed each week. However, the internet has remained inaccessible until now - but that's all changing as the BBC is starting to make more of its online content accessible.
We also look at new software from the BBC called the Interactive Media Player, which will include full subtitling, and Chris MacNeill from the corporation's Research & Development department talks us through plans for 'closed' in-vision signing.
Related links
• Help receiving the BBC: Digital TV
Information on the switchover from analogue to digital TV services.
• Click Online
Watch the subtitled version of the BBC's lifestyle technology show.
• For more information on web accessibility on the BBC, visit the My Web My Way site, where you can also find an overview of subtitling on bbc.co.uk.
• Further information on sign language on television from the RNID.
• There's more information on the BBC's forthcoming Interactive Media Player (IMP) at bbc.co.uk/imp.
Mobile phones
For sending text messages and browsing the web, the mobile phone is fast becoming the one gadget that deaf people can't do without. But there's still more to come.
We look at why 3G technology hasn't taken off in the UK; check out some new Typetalk mobile handsets; walk the streets of London with a GPS mobile phone; and head to computer company IBM to find out about their exciting new Universal Inbox - an exciting software development which could transform everyday life for deaf people.
• BBC News Q&A: 3G mobile phones
Keep up to date with 3G developments.
• RNID Typetalk on mobiles
A wider range of handsets are now compatible with Typetalk and textdirect, on a wide range of networks. The new mobile textphone that runs on the Sony Ericsson P900(i), Nokia 6822 and Nokia 9500 will work on any network. People who have one of these phones can get the special Typetalk software by emailing ict@rnid.org.uk.
• GPS Navigation on your Mobile
TomTom offer software and hardware that can be installed on mobile phones, along with other portable navigation solutions for PDAs and standalone systems.
• Portable infrared keyboard
If your phone has infrared or Bluetooth capability, you might want to try out the infrared keyboard as seen on the programme.
• IBM's Universal Inbox
The features you saw on our programme were only the tip of the iceberg. IBM's 'Universal Inbox' technology doesn't only work with mobile phones. It's a complete communications solution that offers a wide range of possibilities. Ben Fletcher at IBM is happy to answer individual enquiries; email him at ben.fletcher@uk.ibm.com.
If you require any further information on the products featured in the programme, please don't hesitate to contact the See Hear team.
