Accessibility case studies
Enhancing AM collections to drive accessible user experiences
East India Company
Migrating AM’s flagship resource East India Company to our Quartex platform created several immediate accessibility and discovery benefits.
Transcripts for handwritten and printed materials are now fully accessible via screen readers and can be downloaded for offline study. And users can now search across contextual chronology entries alongside primary sources - this clarity is boosted through additional signposting to topics within essays, aiding browsing by screen reader technologies.
Users also see a simplified process to load indexes and enable textual comparison across all content, as well as clear instructions within document metadata and accessible links enabling quick access to relevant material. An improved browsing experience by era, volume, class, and document type, enables users to get the most out of these vitally important records.
Transcripts and closed captions to all three introductory videos have also been added, accessed through discrete, clearly signposted pages.
The migration of East India Company to Quartex brings 95% accurate handwritten text recognition (HTR) to enhance this vital resource.
As Bee Cassim, Senior Product Manager explains, this technology improves discoverability, search accuracy, and accessibility, enabling efficient transcription and navigation across millions of historical documents for diverse user needs.
China on Film
All of the films in this unique collection have audio description, giving spoken information about the action on screen for visually impaired users. Films with dialogue have a transcript of the spoken word, viewable either through the Transcript tab and or via closed captions. This transcript is also fully searchable within each film and across all films within the collection.
For silent films, transcript of the audio description has also been provided. Viewable in the Transcript tab and in closed captions it makes audio description fully searchable. For all films, audio metadata (sound field) is in the Summary tab making it clear to users whether the film they have selected has sound or not.
Two films have audio in the form of music only. For these, audio description is viewable in the Transcript tab meaning the audio description is fully searchable. The following transcript note is provided in the Summary tab: This video contains audio with no dialogue, the transcript is taken from the audio description. This approach was agreed in consultation with AM accessibility experts to ensure the best approach for a diverse range of users.
Examples from China on Film
Far East Cinema Adverts
The audio description for this silent film provides a commentary of what is happening onscreen, including any visible text, so a visually impaired user can enjoy the film and use it in research. Allowing visual text and images to be described in detail and searched ensures that these films are more accessible than ever before.
East Sixteen
This film with dialogue features all our accessibility additions: transcript (of the dialogue) and audio description. The audio description is heard amongst the film's dialogue, describing the scene and ensuring the film is accessible to a visually impaired audience. The dialogue transcript is available in the tab to the right of the film and auto-scrolls, making it easy for users to follow the film.
Chinese Dancers
Chinese Dancers is an example of a film with only music, so the audio description has been used in place of a transcript. The audio description describes the dance/performance and allows a user to follow the choreography and movement in real time.