Video Transcript
Hello everyone. My name is Grace and I am the Communications Manager here at Kara Technologies.
Where is Kara? Here in New Zealand, Auckland. I’m using NZSL but there are captions and a voiceover so everyone can access this video.
Why are we creating this little video? We’ve been working on a really exciting project and we wanted to share/present it with you all, and get your feedback on this.
Imagine this scenario: a massive emergency happens, like an earthquake or flood - this get reported immediately, through audio or English channels, such as radio, TV, word of mouth or through phones. Information is shared as a hearing way.
The team here at Kara doesn’t think it’s fair for the Deaf community to be missing out on this vital information. We believe we have found a solution to that gap. Imagine this…an emergency happens and you get a text message straight away, with a link that shows an avatar signing what is happening.
Before we carry on, one thing that is important for you all to know is that we take our hats off to real life interpreters and we have no desire to take their jobs away ever. We are only aiming to fill the gap, providing vital information until real life interpreters take over. Yes interpreters do come onboard, but there is always a gap of time - doesn’t matter if it is 30 min or 3 hours, there is a gap. That gap needs to be filled.
Here is a small snip-shot of what we are proposing - and remember, this is work in progress. Nothing is final yet. We want your feedback, making sure we keep a pulse on the community.
So have a look at our vision of emergency messages in NZSL.
Phone demo with Niki
You see that example? The video in that phone is over 2 years old. We have come a long way since then, with much better avatars and videos. Have a look at our new and improved avatars.
Demo of digital human Allan
Do you see the idea? Receiving emergency information in NZSL immediately - equal to hearing people.
Here at Kara, our vision is to talk to the Deaf community, and work with emergency organisations to see how we can work together, using NZSL and technology to make this a reality. Deaf people are included at every step of it.
As I mentioned before, the video that we showed you at the start of the video is over 2 years old. We will now show you a demo of how these messages can be created and what it will look like.
Emergency messages demo with Tui
Imagine that on your phone, receiving information immediately. This will make the emergency world more accessible for Deaf community.
We would love to know your views and feedback on this, please do reach out to us.
We are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or you can email us on info@kara.tech