The OPEN Expertise Centre for Accessible Media and Culture is the University of Antwerp’s point of contact for your questions about accessibility to media and culture
Developing inclusive products and services that are accessible to all, with or without disabilities, is high on the agenda today. European and local legislation, such as the European Accessibility act or the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, requires companies and institutions to consider the accessibility of their services and communication materials for people with various abilities from the start. This includes the provision of services like subtitling for the d/Deaf and hard of hearing, audio description for people with a visual impairment, sign language, Easy to Read translations, Inclusive Audio guides, Alternative Text for web images and video, to name just a few.
Accessibility is not only a concern to comply with legislative demands, but allows companies to harness accessibility as part of their mission and vision, as a way to reach a broader and more diverse audience or client base.
The OPEN Expertise centre is your partner in accessibility, whether you are working in the media localization sector, the media or cultural sector, or as part of a communications team in a company.
What do we offer?
Access coordination
Are you looking for advice on how to set up an accessible event, or do you need a communication plan to meet the new demands for accessible websites and social media? OPEN can provide:
- Tailored advice on accessible event management.
- Strategies for accessible websites and social media.
- Guidance on leveraging cutting-edge (AI-based) accessibility technologies.
Access training
Are you looking to upskill your team? OPEN offers workshops made to measure for your team. This can include:
- Learning about new access technologies, such as automatic subtitling.
- Adding a new skillset, such as audio description for (online) videos.
We offer general workshops for teams who are new to accessibility as well as highly specialised workshops for accessibility teams that are looking to deepen their skills.
Access evaluation and user testing
The media accessibility sector is a vibrant domain, new services and technologies emerging at a rapid pace. Are you in the process of introducing a new product or technology and do you want to keep an eye on quality and keep users in the loop? OPEN researchers can:
- Conduct quality evaluations.
- Carry out user-centered evaluations.
- Serve as a trusted research partner in your R&D initiatives.
Who are we?
OPEN is an initiative of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Antwerp. The centre can count on the expertise of TricS, the research group of the Department of Applied Linguistics, Translators and Interpreters, which has been researching the accessibility of media and culture in Flanders and beyond for years (see: www.uantwerpen.be/trics).
TricS can count not only on international partners within the academic world, but also on an extensive network of domestic and foreign stakeholders. OPEN wants to further stimulate this cooperation and open up to other actors with complementary expertise in order to contribute to a broad, intersectoral cooperation on accessibility.
Want to know more?
Meet our team, discover our research projects and browse through previous collaborations with industry partners on our website: www.open-accessible.eu, or get in touch via email: open@uantwerp.be.
More information
University of Antwerp
Valorisation Office
Middelheimlaan 1
2020 Antwerpen