The OPEN Forum and the Multilingualism Workshop have come to a close. It was a highly successful edition, with 44 participants attending on site and between 55 and 84 joining online. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all speakers for their high-quality and diverse presentations. We are also pleased that, from a technical perspective, the event ran smoothly, despite the considerable effort involved in making everything as accessible as possible for everyone involved.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone for the engaging conversations and the new collaborations that may emerge from yesterday’s encounters.
Let's do it “All together now.”.
About the event
The OPEN Forum is a symposium organised by the OPEN Expertise Centre for Accessible Media and Culture of the University of Antwerp, that embodies the intersection of research, (artistic) practice, policy and experiential expertise. The first OPEN Forum took place in February 2019, with more than 90 participants from six different countries. The focus was on the opportunities and challenges of technological innovation. The 2022 edition was an online event entitled 'Innovation for Accessibility: Best Practices' with over 80 participants. The third edition coincided with the international Media for All 10 conference that OPEN co-organised with the research group TricS in Antwerp. At Media for All it became clear that accessibility is no longer a niche topic in the field of media and translation, but a growing domain with many perspectives and applications.
For the fourth edition of the OPEN Forum, OPEN is teaming up with the EMT network and the EU's Directorate-General for Translation to host a full day of accessibility talks and workshops. In the morning, you can join a DGT multilingualism workshop, organised as part of the EMT "train the trainer" summer school series. This summer school is co-organised every year by a consortium of six EMT universities (UA, UV, KUT, ISCAP, UNINT and CPU) and is aimed specifically at trainers in audiovisual translation and media accessibility with a view to enhancing their knowledge and teaching resources on the topic of media accessibility practices. This year, OPEN hosts the summer school in Antwerp. In the afternoon, you can join the fourth edition of the OPEN Forum, which will bring together researchers from various disciplines around the theme of accessibility.
Both events are organised under a common theme: All Together Now! Collaborative approaches in Accessibility. The DGT workshop will start with DGT's AI-tool for clear language and then focus on participatory approaches in training, from co-creation in easy language and audio description, to co-teaching for access and co-creation in industry. The OPEN Forum will focus on collaborative and participatory approaches in research. Together with experts from various disciplines, we will reflect on the emergence of the new field of study called "Accessibility Studies". Through a series of presentations and discussions, we will explore the challenges and benefits of interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration for access research.
Programme
*Presentations can be in English, Spanish or (Flemish) Sign Language. English interpreting, English live subtitles, and/or Flemish Sign Language will be provided*
8.30 – 9.00: Registration
Part 1: DGT Multilingualism Workshops: Collaborative Approaches in Access and Training
9.15 - 9.30: Welcome Address by Sakis Maraslis, Director of Resources of the Directorate-General for Translation (English)
9.30 - 10.00: Artificial Intelligence and Clear Language (English, Helen Dobby, DGT)
10.00 - 10.30: Writing in Easy Language from a Co-Design Perspective (English, Sara Vecchiato, University of Udine, Italy)
10.30 - 11.00: Blindness Gain, Co-Creation and the Workshop for Co-Created Inclusive Audio Description (W-ICAD) (English, Hannah Thompson, Royal Holloway University, UK)
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.30 - 12.30: Participants can choose between two workshops:
Workshop 1 (for those joining online, English & Spanish): Co-Creation and Collaboration in Accessible/Accessibility Training: Embracing the Wonderful Mess, by Pablo Romero Fresco and Saskia Alba. This workshop will be in Spanish and English. Translation to English will be provided.
Workshop 2 (for those attending on site only, Flemish Sign Language): Rethinking Collaborative Practices in Sign Language Projects (Hannes De Durpel, BE)
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch Break
Part 2: OPEN Forum: Collaborative Approaches in Research
14.00 - 14.30: The Name and Nature of Accessibility Studies (English, with Nina Reviers, Anna Jankowska, and Gert Vercauteren, University of Antwerp, BE)
14.30 - 15.00: Towards Design Justice: A Critical Reflection on Current Design Practices (English, Kaat Kenis, University of Antwerp, BE)
15.00 - 15.20: DyslexiaLab@JKU: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Assessmeent and Support for University Students and Staff (English, Melanie Schaur, Johannes Kepler University, Austria)
15.20 – 15.40: Transferable Vocabulary Project: A Cross-Disciplinary Collaborative Approach to Learning Maths Vocabulary for Upper Primary School Children of a Diverse Background in the UK (English, Anna Tsakalaki, European University Cyprus)
15.40 – 16.15 Coffee Break
16.15 - 17.15: Building Access Research across Disciplines and Sectors: Experiences from UAntwerp’s Accessibility Hub (English, with Karolien Poels, Annelies Colliers, Pieter Cools, Michael G. Marcondes Smith, and Caroline Masquillier).
17.15: Reception & Networking
Contact
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We try to answer within 2 to 3 working days: open@uantwerpen.be
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