Welcome to May, and another instalment of our week notes. Here’s what we’ve been up to this week in the Digital Team…

picture of a robin in spring

Bird licensing

Sam, Phil and subject matter experts had their fourth workshop session. They are focused on what bird survey information applicants must provide, and the best way for users to provide it through the form.

Phil, Sam and Laura have been planning a content structure for bird licensing so that new forms and content can be delivered incrementally.

Our first Digital and Data team meeting…

This week, we were lucky enough to meet with the Data team to learn more about their roles and responsibilities. It was a great opportunity to meet the wider DDaT team and find new ways to work together in our respective teams.

Thank you to those who presented on the call!

Hannah’s first official week in the team…

Though I technically joined the Digital team on 7 April, between the HR processes and lots of annual leave, I started the actual job for real this week – and everyone has been SO welcoming and helpful, which has made everything that much easier after a long 18 months of uncertainty and worry. Thank you all!

This week I picked up a couple of smaller, straightforward jobs: updated the list of NRM Business Board contact details and job titles (lots of new posts and people there), and updated a page on waste regulations. Kim and Sophie have been brilliant, letting me get on with things and checking over for the inevitable errors before setting anything in stone. Enjoying it all so far, and looking forward to learning more about the how the accessibility checks are done next week.

Separately to work, this week I received a great assignment score (78%! Really chuffed/surprised!!) I’m studying Psychology with Counselling through The Open University, part time, on year 5 of 6. One big assignment left for this year, then a few months’ break before starting the final year in September. If anyone was wondering about studying with the OU, I can HIGHLY recommend it, and would be happy to chat to anyone about the process – let me know.

Deaf Awareness Week

Deaf Awareness Week takes place from 3 to 9 May and it aims to raise awareness of hearing loss in the UK and its impact on people’s lives.

One of the ways we adapt our website to be accessible to users who have hearing loss is by adding captions to video content to ensure an equal experience for all users.

Often, the words ‘subtitles’ and ‘captions’ are used to mean the same thing, but they serve different purposes. Subtitles translate dialogue from a different language. Captions provide a text transcription of both dialogue and any important sounds within the video, such as laughter, ringing phones or animal noises. Captions offer a fuller experience, especially for deaf people or those who are hard of hearing.

Captions are primarily intended to serve viewers with loss of hearing, but a wide variety of people use and benefit from them. Around 10% of broadcast viewers use captions or subtitles regularly, increasing to 35% for some online content. The majority of these viewers are not hard of hearing, and Netflix revealed that in 2022, 40% of their viewers watch with captions on all the time.

Many people use captions out of choice for clarity or in situations where having audible sound isn’t suitable or practical for their environment, such as watching videos without the sound during their morning commute. Captions also help people understand information when a speaker has an accent they’re not familiar with, or if they’re talking too fast.

All videos and animations should be accompanied by captions. Captions are essential for people with hearing loss, while people with autism, or learning or cognitive disabilities, may use captions to help them understand and focus on content.

This Deaf Awareness Week, consider whether the content you create could be more accessible to people with reduced hearing.

a picture of igsaw puzzle pieces

Other things we’ve been working on…

  • Lucinda, Kim and Laura have been collaborating on our Hornbill work, more updates coming soon!
  • Sophie has had another busy week of accessibility checking, auditing reports and online content and sharing feedback with subject matter experts to ensure all the content published on our website is accessible to users with disabilities.