I have to admit to once being in the "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T USE FLASH"
camp. This was when Flash was inaccessible and there seemed to be a
tendency to implement Flash badly (i.e. the entire Web site in Flash, which
meant that no resources could be bookmarked). However the RNIB worked with
Macromedia to enhance its accessibility and now provides advice on creating
accessible Flash [1]. And there is now a better understanding of how to use
Flash effectively. And finally the WCAG 1.0 guidelines, which required use
of W3C formats in order to conform to WCAG AA, is being replaced by WCAG
2.0, which is format neutral.
It's good to see such rich cross-platform environments now becoming more
widely available. And in response to Michael's question, yes I feel that
such technologies do have something to offer museums.
Brian
Reference
1
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_m
acromediaflash.hcsp
--------------------------------
Brian Kelly
UKOLN, University of Bath, BATH, UK, BA2 7AY
Email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 1225 383943
Web site: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Ellis [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 19 May 2008 18:14
> Subject: Re: Ubiquitous television
>
> I think the three initiatives that Adobe are currently
> pushing - Open Screen, Flash on mobile (actually, part of OS,
> but worth mentioning on its own) and Adobe AIR - are panning
> out to be extremely exciting environments for everyone, not
> just museums. Cross-platform content delivery is massive
> news, and with both AIR and WPF/Silverlight pushing a similar
> agenda, things are only going to get better and more
> interesting. What's great with all of these initiatives is
> that the whole drive is for separation of content and
> display, and that's a mantra we've all been pushing for a long time.
>
> It's worth also pointing out that with Flash penetration at,
> what, maybe 90%? (being conservative), the "proprietary
> technology!" shouting is often more developer than user-led.
> Granted the Beeb put their foot in it but that was kind of
> foolish, not having any kind of alternative for non-Windows
> users at first launch. Looking at what happened in a
> different way: the initial screw up was about the *desktop
> application* not working on mac/linux - actually the Beeb
> have been *saved* by Flash with the online iplayer...!
>
> At the back of our minds in museumland is of course the
> legacy (and still quite loud) chorus in the "WHATEVER YOU DO,
> DON'T USE FLASH" camp:
> technologies like these are often discouraged "in case
> they're not accessible or people don't have the plugin",
> without any consideration of the considerable plus-sides.
> Flash can be done well AND made reasonably accessible. At the
> same time it can be done REALLY badly so it's not just an
> inaccessible experience but also a bad one, too. But that's
> another discussion altogether :-)
>
> Back to the TV question, the more interesting challenge is
> not a technological one but a "soft" one: who wants to have
> to go to more than one place to tune in to TV? I blogged this
> a while back
> (http://tinyurl.com/4nrhyw) - great to have TV on the web,
> but until the beeb, ITV, channel4 and all the others get
> together, it's still going to be an irritating experience.
> Project Kangaroo aims to sort this, apparently - it's where
> Ashley Highfield from the Beeb has jumped. See
> http://tinyurl.com/4kf5wk
>
> Anyway. Be interesting to see where it all goes, especially
> with Microsoft in the running.
>
> ta
>
>
> Mike Ellis
> Solutions Architect
>
> Eduserv
> [log in to unmask]
> tel: 01225 470522
> mob: 07017 031522
> fax: 01225 474301
> www.eduserv.org.uk
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of J
> Martin
> Sent: 19 May 2008 17:36
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Ubiquitous television
>
> Hi,
>
> Translation:
>
> Adobe is possibly responding to Microsoft's "Silverlight"
> initiative by
> engaging the support of what may be not-completely-pro-Microsoft
> companies
> along with the open source development community to uphold the
> "market-share" of "Flash" (TM).
>
> The BBC is a partner in this effort as they got badly
> "spanked down" by
> the BBC Trust following Microsoft's efforts with the BBC iPlayer -
> perchance contributing to "a million Ubuntu / MAC OS X
> end-users crying
> out in terror" when they couldn't "watch again" the latest episode of
> "Dr
> Who" and then wondering why they had to pay their "TV tax" in
> the first
> place.
>
> For the open source community, this helps move Adobe into the
> "recovering
> black sheep position" along with Novell.
>
> Regards,
>
> James
>
> On Mon, 19 May 2008, Michael Danks wrote:
>
> > Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 10:37:36 +0100
> > From: Michael Danks <[log in to unmask]>
> > Reply-To: Museums Computer Group <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: [MCG] Ubiquitous television
> >
> > Sounds like a nightmare doesn't it! - It has been a long
> held dream of
> > many, and when it finally arrives will inevitably include
> tv's sibling
> > interactivity - It came a step closer earlier this month with an
> > announcement from Adobe about the Open Screen Project.
> >
> > Many of you will be aware of this initiative.
> > http://www.adobe.com/openscreenproject/ (it goes live next year.)
> >
> > Adobe have always recognised the value of the open source community
> and
> > been cleverly inclusive to its commercial advantage in the
> past, this
> > initiative represents a shrewd move leaving the base authorware as
> > proprietary as ever.
> >
> > The Adobe faq's provide answers to some interesting questions and
> offer an
> > opportunity for the company to promote new products.
> >
> > My reason for posting to MCG is simple enough and my interest like
> yours I
> > expect is both professional and academic.
> >
> > ...There are more questions to ask, some which Adobe are not best
> placed
> > to answer.
> >
> > Here are a couple:
> >
> >
> > Does the initiative represent an opportunity for the Museum sector?
> >
> > What do visitors and public at large want from museums
> producing 'rich
> > tv'?
> >
> >
> > Any other questions?
> >
> >
> > Looking forward.
> >
> >
> > Michael Danks
> >
> > P.S. Lets not forget Google led Android initiative!
> >
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> --
>
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