The technical objectives or deliverables for each phase of the project as described in the Project Agreement are listed below. Please describe the actual achievement for each phase in terms of the deliverables (original or as amended). Please include a description of any deliverables which were added during the project.
| Objective/ Deliverable | Actual Achievement with Comments | |
| Phase 1 Administrative System | ||
| 1. | Deliverables: Administrative Reporting System |
An administrative reporting system was set up using password protected on-line forms allowing partners to report progress and submit time sheets. An email listserve was set up to facilitate ongoing communication between all partners. The web domain name http://www.barrierfree.ca was obtained, and is being used for the project website. Regular face-to-face meetings between project partners were carried out, as well as email updates and phone and video conferences. |
| 2. | Communication System | |
| Phase 2. Specifications | ||
| 3. | Functional Specifications | Detailed Functional and Technical Specifications were developed during the second phase of the project. These documents were posted on the project website (http://www.barrierfree.ca). The Functional Specification was drafted over the course of many meetings, in consultation with representatives of the various target users of the deliverables of this project. The Technical Specification was drafted through a number of meetings of the technical team. The Functional and Technical Specifications were used to develop an Implementation Plan which was continually updated throughout the progress of the project. |
| 4. | Technical Specifications | |
| 5. | Detailed Implementation Plan | |
| 6. | Detailed Evaluation Plan | |
| Phase 3 Iterative Development 1 | ||
| 7. | Deliverables: Target Curriculum |
In this phase, target curriculum was identified. Two video series were selected, one physics series (ÒA World in MotionÓ, Senior Science, 47 episodes, 30 minutes each) and one life skills series (ÒRoom for FiveÓ, Language Arts, 8 episodes, 30 minutes each). Various digitization formats were evaluated, and a balance between resolution and compression was selected to allow transmission over equipment available to the test sites with enough quality and resolution to allow modeling of advanced captioning and descriptive video. The material was cleared for copyright, and digitized. In addition to this deliverable, work on the Technical Specification and Implementation Plan continued, and work began on the technical deliverables. |
| Phase 4. Iterative Developments 2 | ||
| 8. | Deliverables: XML Schema/DTD |
Three XML Schemas//Document Type Definitions were developed in completion
of this deliverable (copies of the DTDs are included in Appendix B):
|
| Phase 5. Iterative Developments 3 | ||
| Deliverables: |
The deliverables of Caption Overlay Tool, Video Description Tool and Caption Markup were combined into a single stand alone application, the Authoring Tool, which provided both caption and video description functionalities. Originally, we intended to incorporate the Captioning and Video Description technology into existing multimedia and captioning tools (Creator, by Expresto, and VoiceWriter by Haylea), however user evaluations of these tools led to the recommendation that we create a stand-alone tool with a simplified interface. The design of the Authoring Tool began in Phase 4, and implementation was completed in Phase 5. The Viewer/Browser was implemented as a standalone application referred to as the Player. The User Preference System was actually designed to function as a Preference System used by both the Authoring Tool and the Player. It encodes the learnerÕs content preferences as XML according to the schema described above, and specified in Appendix B. Both the learner style preferences and the author styles are recorded recorded according the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) specification. | |
| 9. | Caption Overlay Tool | |
| 10. | Video Description Tool | |
| 11. | User Preference System | |
| 12. | Database for Learning Objects | |
| 13. | Viewer/Browser | |
| 14. | SMIL Compatibility | |
| 15. | Caption Markup | |
| Phase 6. Implementation | ||
| Deliverables: |
The Core Software Library was designed during Phase 5, and implementation was completed during Phase 6. The core is a foundation for other aspects of the project including the Player, the Authoring Tool, and the Repository. The core provides a means of reading, writing, and editing the various XML files used to describe the content of the presentation. In essence, the core code provides a set of Java objects for manipulation the XML. The Preferences System was not converted to a standalone application. It was implemented as a library used by both the Authoring Tool and the Player. The details are described above, in the description of Phase 5 deliverables. The ASL Video deliverable was expanded in order to help determine how broadband systems can help to overcome some of the problems of traditional broadcast ASL translation. An additional partner, MarbleMedia, was added. A series of American Sign Language (ASL) videos were produced that addressed various approaches to dealing with these challenges, and a new method of providing equivalent information was developed following extensive user input. Three 10 minute segments were created incorporating feedback from several iterative revisions. | |
| 16. | Create Core Software Library | |
| 17. | ASL Videos | |
| 18. | Adjust Preference system for stand-alone | |
| 19. | Add additional player interface features | |
| 20. | Convert authoring tool to stand-alone | |
| 21. | Descriptive Video Pilot Curriculum | |
| 22. | Authoring Tool training | |
| Phase 7. Evaluation | ||
| Deliverables: |
Further iterative formative evaluations and summative evaluations of the tools were performed. The results are reflected in the evaluation report. | |
| 23. | Integrated Curriculum Pilot | |
| 24. | Evaluations | |
| 25. | Evaluation of Revised System | |
| Phase 8. Adjustment & Dissemination | ||
| Deliverables: |
The tools and technologies developed in earlier phases underwent revisions and refinements based on feedback received from the evaluation team. The project results were presented at a large number of conferences, workshops and interoperability meetings. A number of peer reviewed papers were published and two 1/2 hour TV segments were produced to air over CLT. | |
| 25. | Completed Data Anaylsis | |
| 26. | Modified Tools | |
| 27. | Modified Curriculum | |
| 28. | Dissemination | |
| 29. | Final Report | |