Audio description of the school environment in easy-to-understand language

• Grant number: 25/00595-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications - Journalism and Publishing
• Principal Investigator: Lúcia Pereira Leite
• Grantee: Lucas Capodeferro Nonato
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/01132-2 - Multidisciplinary Center for the Development of Assistive Technology (MCDAT), AP.CCD

Abstract

The project focuses on the school environment, seeking to develop methodology and products that provide students in Bauru's municipal public schools, especially those with visual impairments, with information on the physical characteristics of educational institutions, such as the structure, dimensions, architectural aspects and furniture of the building and its environments, as well as the layout of elements in the spaces, for orientation and movement. The initiative takes into account the problem of students' lack of information about the place where they study, whose physical features are not accessible to them by sight. The aim is to enable children and teenagers not only to get to know the physical characteristics of the places, but also to build a 'mental map' of the school environment, identifying where the spaces are, so that they can locate, orient themselves and move around autonomously and independently. To this end, the proposal includes the development of audio files and digital written files produced using the accessibility resource audiodescription, a form of intersemiotic translation that transforms visual information into verbal information. The audio description, in turn, should use easy-to-understand language following the parameters of the EASIT (Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training) platform, an instructional space developed and maintained by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) that offers courses and materials for accessible audiovisual production in easy-to-understand language, articulating the principles of Easy Reading and Plain Language. The preparation of the files will follow an initial stage of producing the audio description scripts, which will then be voiced and edited. The audios resulting from the recording will be delivered to the schools in the most suitable format for use by them and their students, teachers and staff.