Tag Archive

blind moviegoers

Like renting Redbox movies? LightHouse is seeking blind California residents for paid usability study

Like renting Redbox movies? LightHouse is seeking blind California residents for paid usability study

In 2014, the LightHouse reached a settlement with Redbox Automated Retail LLC, which required Redbox to improve accessibility of their movie rental kiosks in California.  As a result of the lawsuit, Redbox agreed to make its approximately 3,600 movie and video game rental kiosks accessible to blind users. You can now browse, select and return movies with headphones and a text-to-speech interface controlled via touchpad, thanks to careful collaboration between LightHouse and Redbox. Now, Redbox wants to make sure its accessibility measures are working to meet the needs of its blind users. And that’s where you come in.

Help the LightHouse as we test to ensure accessibility of Redbox movie rental kiosks! Sign up to become a tester and try out Redbox’s new platform for accessibility. We have completed the first two rounds of tests and need additional participants for our final study.

We are seeking new participants only. No repeat participants please.

You’ll be asked to test the following functions to determine effectiveness for blind users:

  • Accessing information with the user interface touch pad
  • Browsing through options and locating your desired movie
  • Renting a movie
  • Returning a movie

Gratuity

  • Participants will receive a $150 Visa gift card or Amazon electronic gift card upon completion of the post study survey

What is required

  • Two visits to a Redbox kiosk convenient to your location. Redbox Kiosks are located outside and inside supermarkets and retail centers throughout CA and can be found via www.redbox.com
  • Headphones to hear the speech output prompts
  • Debit or credit card to pay for the movie rental
  • Provide your transportation to and from the kiosk location
  • Two visits are needed to complete the study, one visit to rent the movie and one visit to return the movie.
  • Allow approximately 20 minutes per visit to navigate the interface, to browse, rent and/or return the movie
  • Please be aware that other customers may wish to use the kiosk during the study
  • After each visit, you must complete a survey with your findings

Sign up to become a tester by emailing redbox@lighthouse-sf.org by July 26. The study period ends August 3. Please note that you are responsible for your transportation to and from Redbox kiosks and incur the normal risks associated with your travel.

This Thanksgiving, the Actiview App Brings Video Description to Five New Theatrical Releases

This Thanksgiving, the Actiview App Brings Video Description to Five New Theatrical Releases

This week, LightHouse partner Actiview is delighting blind and low vision movie fans across the United States with the announcement that the app will provide audio description tracks for Thanksgiving’s biggest theatrical releases. The app is now supporting five current theatrical releases, both for independent and major Hollywood films.

Actiview put out word this week that the platform will carry description, amplified audio and foreign language support for Disney•Pixar’s new musical adventure Coco and Bleecker Street films’ Dickensian origin story, The Man Who Saved Christmas, in addition to more late-2017 studio releases such as Dealt, Breathe and Wonderstruck.

Starting with this summer’s theatrical release of Cars 3, Actiview has been pushing theaters and consumers alike to think differently about what movie theater accessibility looks like. Calling it “a broader platform” for movie access, TechCrunch profiled the startup back in July, noting that it may be an uphill battle to convince a very established industry to accept a new, smartphone-based system, despite the obvious advantages for blind and hard of hearing moviegoers.

“The accessibility content already exists for all these movies,” says Paul Cichocki, who left Pixar last year and now works at Actiview, ”most people just don’t know how to deliver it to the audiences who need it. We’re the platform that simplifies access, so that everyone can pay for movies knowing they’ll get their money’s worth.”

In 2015 the LightHouse partnered with Actiview as they started their venture, incubating the company in our Market Street and Ed Roberts offices. The partnership continues, as we are dedicated to full video description for all. Here’s why LightHouse community member Aerial Gilbert uses Actiview:

See below for full details about this Thanksgiving’s new films, and stay tuned for more information about local December screenings of Dealt, co-presented by the Roxie Theater in San Francisco!

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Actiview (App Store)

LEARN MORE: ActiviewApp.com

SUPPORT: team@actiview.co

——————

New Films

COCO

Rated: PG (Trailer)

Release: November 22

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Actiview will provide:

  • Audio Description
  • Amplified Audio / Hard of Hearing track

——————

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS

Rated: PG (Trailer)

Release: November 22

Studio:  Bleecker Street

Actiview will provide:

  • Audio Description
  • Captions in English and Spanish
  • Amplified Audio / Hard of Hearing track

WANT YOUR FILM ON ACTIVIEW?

http://activiewapp.com/studio

FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT:

team@actiview.co