WASHINGTON—FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has signaled out the winners and honorable mentions for the sixth annual Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility. The awards recognize innovators for their communications technology designed for people with disabilities.
Here is the full list of winners and honorable mentions for the 2017 Chairman’s AAA:
Winner: Ava – Short for audio video accessibility, Ava is a mobile application that connects multiple smartphones and uses the microphones on each individual device to transcribe a conversation among several parties, then displays the generated captions on a user’s device.
Winner: Facebook– Automatic Alt Text (AAT) – This technology enables people who are blind, visually impaired or print-disabled to understand the content in photos, drawings, charts and diagrams by automatically generating alt text.
Winner: The Integrated Described Video Best Practices Guide – From an Accessible Media Inc.-led initiative, the guide encourages producers to naturally include more descriptive text in scripts, reducing the need to add video description to program content after it is created for more inclusive programming for blind and low-visual individuals.
Winner: Amazon VoiceView – The Amazon VoiceView speaks out loud text that is on-screen as a blind, visually impaired or print-disable user navigates menu options and settings for video programming via Amazon’s Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote.
Honorable Mention: Aira – A smartphone app and paid subscription service that connects blind users to sighted agents who use geolocation information, streaming video and other interconnected devices to provide guidance and information about the user’s surroundings.
Honorable Mention: Teach Access – Initiative that expands the quality and quantity of undergraduate programs that teach the fundamentals of accessibility in fields such as design, computer science and human computer interaction.
