Introduction
For more than a decade, the Parliamentary Office of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (PRO) has been actively serving the target group of deaf and hard‑of‑hearing people. In this article, I discuss the various products that have been developed over the years by the PRO, the factors that have played an important role in their introduction and the lessons that can be drawn from this process.
WCAG
All public authorities in the member states of the European Union are legally required to be digitally accessible. In the Netherlands, this obligation is laid down in the Temporary Decree on Digital Accessibility for Government. This decree has been fully in force for government websites since 23 September 2020 and, since 23 June 2021, also for mobile applications. To comply with this legal obligation, organisations must make websites and mobile applications accessible by applying the WCAGs (web content accessibility guidelines) which are to continuously improve accessibility, review it annually and carry out a test or audit to demonstrate the level of accessibility. For the PRO, the requirement that all videos on websites and apps, both live and video on demand (VOD), must be provided with subtitles, had already been met. Since 2012, subtitles have been provided for all newly published VOD content on our Debat Direct websites and apps (Debat Direct 2016)
(Personal) ambition
As early as 2019 the PRO started a Proof of Concept (PoC) with live subtitling, driven by reference to upcoming WCAG regulations the personal ambition and motivation of a number of staff members and the PRO’s policies on innovation. One of the objectives of the PoC was to assess whether live subtitling using Velotype technology was viable. The Velotype keyboard is a chorded keyboard—multiple keys are pressed simultaneously to produce entire syllables or words at once.
Several years after the PoC, in 2021 the PRO introduced live captioning—not using a keyboard but through the less labour-intensive process of respeaking with Dragon software. This approach was inspired by the Dutch public broadcasting service, which was also kind enough to point us in the right direction (Haanen, Hoogzand, Petrina-Bosch 2020). To this day, live captioning is carried out by in‑house staff. Employees who have successfully completed the internal training programme for reporting and editorial staff may, if they wish, also take an internal training course to become live captioners. They can then deploy their talents in two different and alternating roles, which improves their motivation over the longer term. The profession of live captioner requires a different skill set to the role of parliamentary reporter, including stress resilience and a higher level of concentration.
A permanent gesture
Not all deaf or hard‑of‑hearing people are helped by subtitles on a livestream or a video of a meeting. After all, not everyone in this target group is linguistically proficient in spoken or written language. The primary language of deaf and hard‑of‑hearing people is sign language. To serve everyone in this target group, the PRO started offering a livestream with a sign language interpreter for the weekly question time in 2020. This was the result of a successful lobbying effort by representatives of the target group and some Members of Parliament with the Speaker of the Dutch Parliament.
The introduction of this service was challenging for the PRO as it lay outside our usual remit. Even more so than with live subtitling, we lacked established practice, let alone a best practice. Ultimately, a studio with a green screen was set up at our offices and an agreement was concluded with an intermediary organisation that ensured the continuous availability of a sufficient number of certified sign language interpreters with television experience. The PRO familiarises them with parliamentary jargon, and with parliamentary customs and conventions. Interpreters never work alone—there is always a colleague present who acts as a coach. Interpreting sign language for television is extremely intensive work. Interpreters typically rotate every half-hour. Therefore, for long meetings, a large team has to be deployed. The associated costs and the limited number of television interpreters are among the reasons why sign language interpreters are used only at selected times.
Automatic for the People
A very interesting recent development in this regard is that of the sign language interpreter avatar. This is a synthetic interpreter which, like its flesh‑and‑blood counterpart, uses both hand movements and facial expressions. In the Netherlands, several universities and a centre of expertise for sign language are working on the development of such an avatar (Signlab 2020). Many deaf people naturally prefer a live interpreter. However, if this development continues, the ambition will be to provide—at the Dutch Parliament, for example—all debate livestreams by default with a sign language interpreter avatar. For now, however, the automatic sign language avatar is still a long way off.
The most recent addition by the PRO in making parliamentary debates accessible is automatic live subtitling of all debates in Parliament. A major advantage of using an automatic subtitling platform, such as with the avatar above, is that it is always available and, after purchase and implementation, the costs are low compared with the deployment of manual live captioning. Such a system for automatic speech recognition uses (generative) artificial intelligence to enhance performance. However, the implementation and maintenance of such a platform require continuous attention to the dictionary. This dictionary needs to be kept as up to date as possible. This is done partly automatically, by feeding the platform with the text of the Official Reports (Handelingen) and partly through direct feedback within the framework of supplier management.
Lessons learned
In an earlier article in Tiro (Eras 2021), I emphasised the importance of the “customer first” principle when introducing new products. Even when the impetus lies in a formal requirement, the personal ambition of staff members or a request from the Speaker, the proof of the pudding is always how well the customer perceives it. I have found it unfortunate that the work of government has fallen victim to capitalist thinking, reflected in the terminology of “products” and “customers” rather than services and citizens. Now, however, as more and more citizens behave like customers, this terminology can be refreshing. After all, the customer is king.
This is also why, for subtitling, manual live subtitling, automatic live subtitling and streams with sign language interpreters, the PRO makes use of user panels wherever possible. We do this by organising them ourselves, together with the target group, or by including provisions in contracts with the relevant suppliers requiring a mandatory user panel once or twice a year—including reporting. In practice, direct personal contact with the target group is of great value to all those involved—the technical developer, the subtitler and the decision-maker. It can be seen as a form of usability research, in which users are consulted about where and how improvements can be made. It is highly valuable and therefore strongly recommended if you want to make your product a success.
Conclusion
Hearing the deaf and hard of hearing is about listening to these citizens and, above all, gaining a better understanding of how they wish to be served. The example of the PRO demonstrates that in the development of products for this target group, various factors may play a role, not only formal requirements but the ambitions of staff members and, at times, a simple request from the Speaker. To achieve success in this field, working with the target group is key.
Henk-Jan Eras is a Quality Officer with the Parliamentary Reporting Office of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands and a member of the TIRO Editorial Team
References
Debat Direct (2016). Home page of Debat Direct.URL: https://debatdirect.tweedekamer.nl/?home
Eras, H.J. (2021). Improving the quality of parliamentary reporting: from peer review to ensuring customer satisfaction. – Tiro 1/2021. URL: https://tiro.intersteno.org/2021/05/improving-the-quality-of-parliamentary-reporting-from-peer-review-to-ensuring-customer-satisfaction/
Haanen, M., S. Hoogzand & M. Petrina-Bosch (2020). Live subtitling at the Dutch House of Representatives. – Tiro 1/2020. URL: https://tiro.intersteno.org/2020/05/live-subtitling-at-the-dutch-house-of-representatives/ Signlab (2020) SignLab Amsterdam, Avatar geeft reisinformatie weer in de Nederlandse Gebarentaal – IP | Vakblad voor informatieprofessionals
