Centered on the paved hiking trail, dressed in all black, is Access Hound founder Joe Oppegaard during a recent visit to Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri National Park and Ynys Mon in Wales. His field visit was a part of much recent collaborative work between Access Hound, See Cymru Differently – Hiraeth, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Wales National Parks. Also pictured in this photo of a group of five people (and a smiling golden retriever in the foreground) is Gareth Davies, See Cymru Differently Project Lead, on the far right.
Describing: A horizontal color photograph.
Synopsis: Five adults stand together in a group on a wide, tree-lined path in a wooded area. The group's members face one another, engaged in conversation near a wayside sign that shares information about the setting. A golden retriever sits on the path near them, in the foreground, facing away from the camera and toward the people.
In-depth Description: The trail is flanked by dense, leafy greenery and tall trees, creating a tranquil, shaded setting. On the left, Huw Ifor Huws wears a khaki jacket and gestures with his smartphone. He is standing beside a large wayside sign that shows text, unreadable at this angle, about the setting. Near the center, Joe Oppegaard, in black attire, stands relaxed, feet apart, and listens intently. To the right, three more people, two men and one woman, form a closely grouped semicircle. The woman wears a navy jacket and crosses her arms, while the two men beside her wear dark jackets. One of those men, Gareth Davies, also wears a large and stuffed dark-green backpack. In the foreground, a golden retriever dog sits on the pavement, head turned slightly to the side, with mostly its back visible. The group appears focused on and attentive to the conversation, surrounded by lush vegetation and dappled sunlight.
Courtesy of Gareth Davies.
Access Hound recently was presented with both an opportunity and a challenge: Could we design a productive online training for employees at a public attraction who might be hearing about Audio Description (AD) for the first time? Sure!
In this session, though, we also would need to teach the functionality of two online tools to people who had never used them before, our open-access UniDescription software and our GenAI writing-support tool called the Access Hound Guidedogs.
In addition, we needed to define AD, establish its global and local importance, and introduce a variety of AD genres but focus on just one, the description of Objects, and provide its best practices.
We also wanted to have open and robust discussions with people who use AD, including people with low-vision or who are blind, and with a focus on the specific Objects we were describing.
We wanted participants to write descriptions, about these real-life Objects that they needed to describe, and to share those descriptions with each other. And talk with each other about their descriptions.
We wanted to include a significant pause in the process for reflection, and we wanted participants to rewrite those descriptions through multiple drafts and reach a polished finished product.
We wanted people who are blind or who have low-vision to review those descriptions. Possibly more rewriting would need to happen after the reviews.
And, then, we wanted to be able to position these descriptions for online or mobile-app publication, instantly, if chosen so.
And, have plenty of time for questions. ... And, this entire training could only take 2.5 hours.
With those ambitious objectives, broad scope, and narrow timeline, Access Hound founders Brett and Joe Oppegaard presented their debut micro-scaled training session called "Audio Description in Action" Tuesday, with the aim of helping to make Wales’ National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) more inclusive for everyone.
In turn, we created some beautiful descriptions together, destined to be made available soon to visitors to Wales.
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This workshop is a part of our continuing collaborations with See Cymru Differently – Hiraeth, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Wales National Parks.
To learn more about the "Audio Description in Action" training or to schedule a similar workshop, contact Access Hound at [email protected] or +1 (971) 258-1089.
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