About This Course
Translators, subtitlers, audio describers, experts and trainers in easy-to-understand language are invited to this one-day asynchronous online event on the creation of easy-to-understand audiovisual training materials.
EASIT (Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training) is an EU-funded project that aims to create training materials for experts in these fields. During the event, we will report on the results of the project stemming from Intellectual Output 4, as well as on the strategy proposed for Intellectual Output 5. Furthermore, feedback on the draft materials that have been developed so far is sought from the participants, as a sort of evaluation.
The programme also includes speeches on topics that are cutting edge and that will be approached from different perspectives, be they the view of the end-users, trainers or practitioners. During the networking sessions, which will be held via dedicated forums to each specific talk, participants will have the opportunity to give feedback on the training materials that are being elaborated, as well as to exchange their views and ideas on current developments in the field. Forums will be moderated during the day of the event and until October 19th.
Course Staff
Anna Matamala
Anna Matamala, BA in Translation and PhD in Applied Linguistics, is an associate professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Barcelona). She currently leads TransMedia Catalonia, a research group focusing on media accessibility. Anna Matamala is the main researcher of the European project EASIT, on easy-to-understand language, and co-leader of RAD. She has participated and led projects on audiovisual translation and media accessibility, and has taken an active role in the organisation of scientific events. She is currently involved in standardisation work at ISO.
Pablo Romero Fresco
Pablo Romero Fresco is Ramón y Cajal researcher at Universidade de Vigo (Spain) and Honorary Professor of Translation and Filmmaking at the University of Roehampton (UK). He is the author of the books Subtitling through Speech Recognition: Respeaking (Routledge) and Accessible Filmmaking: Integrating translation and accessibility into the filmmaking process (Routledge). He is the leader of the international research centre GALMA (Galician Observatory for Media Access), for which he is currently coordinating several international projects on media accessibility, including ILSA: Interlingual Live Subtitling for Access, funded by the EU Commission. Pablo is also a filmmaker. His first documentary, Joining the Dots (2012), was screened during the 69th Venice Film Festival and was used by Netflix as well as film schools around Europe to raise awareness about audiodescription.
Sergio Hernández Garrido
Sergio Hernández Garrido, research assistant at the University of Hildesheim,
Institute for Translatology and Specialised Communication, staff member
of the Research Centre for Easy Language.
Elisa Perego
Elisa Perego teaches English linguistics, translation, and research methodology at the University of Trieste. Her research interests and publications cover the (English) language and the reception of audiovisual translation, text simplification, and media accessibility. Elisa was the coordinator of the European project ADLAB PRO (2016-2019) on audio description. She is currently a partner in the European project EASIT (2018-2021) focusing on a training proposal for easy access to media services; member of the COST network LAD-ME on accessible communication; coordinator of the national project "Improving communication between health professionals and women: a focus on linguistic interventions". She has recently published the monograph Accessible communication: A cross-country journey (2020), comprising a section on part of the EASIT outcomes.
Ester Hedberg
Ester Hedberg works at The Swedish National Association for Dyslexia (Dyslexiförbundet). She has been managing several projects dealing with accessibility. The last one (2016–2019) was Begriplig text (Understandable text) which involved users with reading difficulties due to various reasons. In the end of the project we summarized 19 advices to make a text easy to understand. You will find them at www.begripligtext.se. Ester Hedberg is also a policy officer and since many years the editor of Dyslexiförbundets magazine Läs & Skriv (Read & Write). Last year she took up master studies in language consulting at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden, and she is focusing on audiovisual texts.
Tatjana Knapp
Tatjana Knapp is an NGO director and project coordinator at Zavod RISA, Centre for general, functional, and cultural literacy, and a part-time researcher at the University of Ljubljana (Faculty of Social work), where she is also preparing her doctoral thesis. Knapp often does teamwork with people with disabilities and various professionals, which results in production and promotion of the Easy-to-read language, advocacy and trainings for professionals and self-advocates. She was the project manager of the project "It is easy to read: development of basic guidelines, methods, didactic materials and tools for Easy-to-read information in Slovenia".
