Digital access to culture
Marcus Weisen
Abstract
Purpose – The Jodi Awards exist to promote digital access to culture. This paper aims to give some
background to the Awards and to profile the 2011 winner and commendation.
Design/methodology/approach – The Jodi Awards are annual awards given to celebrate the best
examples of using technology to make culture and cultural institutions accessible to people with
a disability.
Findings – Much has already been achieved in using technology to widen access to museums,
galleries and heritage venues but there is clear potential for more development, given the appropriate
political will and policy change.
Originality/value – The Jodi Awards are unique in celebrating the use of technology in this way.
Keywords Assistive technology, Accessibility, Museums, Culture, Digital accessibility,
Aids for the disabled
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction – Leisure and every-day digital technology
Readers of the Journal of Assistive Technologies will be aware of technology products which
have the power of transforming every-day life in the home, at work, and at school. Our lives,
though, are not only about pottering about at home and mastering the stresses of
professional and school life. Art is said to be the icing on the cake. I would disagree: art and
leisure are a big slice of the cake of life: they add flavour to the whole cake. How then is
technology, inclusive or assistive, being used to make the museum and heritage experience
enjoyable?
Technology and cultural experiences: sustained exclusion
Technology has the power to enhance the museum experience and to widen access for
disabled people. Museums, galleries and heritage venues all have web sites; many provide
information and informal learning experiences via audio guides, multi-media guides, mobile
devices, inter-actives and touchscreens. All these technologies can help to make collections
accessible to disabled people. Yet, more often than not, little thought goes into designing
inclusive experiences.
Web accessibility is a sticking point. In a survey undertaken by the Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council in 2005, only 3 percent of cultural web sites met Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG 1) level AA, which is a requirement in the UK and Europe for public sector
web sites (search: ‘‘audit webaccessibility mla’’). It is not uncommon to find audio guides with
audio description for visually impaired people in larger museums and heritage sites. Yet,
weirdly, almost all have been conceived as a separate product for visually impaired people.
Information storage and memory is not an issue with today’s technology – so the only reason
DOI 10.1108/17549451211235028 VOL. 6 NO. 2 2012, pp. 163-166, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1754-9450
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JOURNAL OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
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PAGE 163
Marcus Weisen is based at
the Jodi Mattes Trust for
Accessible Digital Culture,
France.