Deaf News: Scottish Parliament to trial subtitling First Minister’s Questions

The Edinburgh Reporter told last week how The Scottish Parliament is trialling a new service which will mean subtitles are added to the YouTube videos of First Minister’s Questions within hours.

Deaf people who follow politics in Scotland will now be able to access the weekly debate where First Minister Alex Salmond is questioned by leaders of the opposing parties in a rowdy atmosphere. Subtitles are not currently provided on the BBC’s iPlayer coverage.

Extract:

Speaking about the new service, Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body member David Stewart MSP said:-“Openness and accessibility have always been at the heart of the work of the Scottish Parliament. I am delighted to announce that we will be trialling this new service as a way of bringing First Minister’s Question Time to as wide an audience as possible. Being able to see subtitled archived coverage so quickly is a significant step forward.”

The new service is the latest addition to the range of services available to those wishing to engage in Parliamentary business. These include providing information about the Scottish Parliament and its work in a range of different formats including Braille, audio, large print and British Sign Language.

The Scottish Parliament will take advantage of using the official record of the meeting by uploading it to YouTube and allowing the site’s automatic subtitle timing technology to do the rest in a matter of minutes. Simple, really. Read the full story here.

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