Sign language channel

InEvent author Updated 9 months ago by yasmine haj sassi

For event organizers
For interpreters
- Preparation
- Accessing the console
For attendees
- How can I select the Sign Language channel?

Focusing on web accessibility, Inevent offers the opportunity to make events more attainable for community members who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is important to remember that each country has its own national sign language and sometimes also regional signed languages. So the first step is to define who is the audience and where are they located. If you are planning to reach a worldwide audience, you should consider something called International Sign.

International Sign (IS)

IS is constructed by combining common elements and lexical signs from different sign languages. IS is used in a variety of different contexts, particularly at international meetings, and informally when traveling and socializing. International Sign is a term used by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and other international organizations.

This communicative success is linked to various factors:

First, people who sign in IS have a certain amount of shared contextual knowledge.
Secondly, signers may take advantage of shared knowledge of a spoken language.
Thirdly, communication is made easier by the use of iconic signs and visual resources.

After those important tips, let's go through the step-by-step on how to include the Sign language channel in your sessions and have an event successfully prepared for different audiences. And if you wish to include multiple audio interpretation channels, please check this article.

For event organizers

When advertising your event, clearly state the availability of sign language interpretation so that hearing-impaired viewers are able to find the accessible information.

How can I activate this feature for the event?

To enable this feature, go to Settings > Tools and look for the Live section. Press Edit and check the box for Audio interpretation.

If after pressing Edit instead of seeing a checkbox, you see Purchase, it's because this feature isn't included in your plan. Click here to check the features available on each plan.

How do I create a sign-language channel for an activity?

Next, you should also enable this feature inside the activity by going to Agenda > Activities, select the activity you want this channel to take place, and scroll down on the Details page until you see Audio interpretation (multiple languages).

Once you have enabled the audio interpretation option, you will see the options to choose the language of your choice from the drop-down bar. After you have selected Sign Language, press Create.

Création d'une chaîne en langue des signes pour une activité

If you wish to remove an interpretation channel, please check this article.

To have audio interpretation channels, you'll need to select either the Live Studio or RTMP Streaming as the room video mode.

Giving the interpreters access to the session

After creating the sign language channel, simply copy the Open Console link and share it with them.

Each console link can only be accessed by one person at a time.

Recording the session

It is possible to record the session as well as the Sign language channel into different file tabs, for more information on how to do that, please click here.

For interpreters

Preparation

Planning ahead means half of the work done. Interpreting is an exhausting activity – both physically and mentally. Keeping up with the story, context, jargon, references is no easy feat. This is especially so when interpreting a conversation or a Q&A session.

It is recommended to have at least a team of two interpreters per language combination, and if the session is longer than two hours you will need at least a team of three interpreters.

To provide a better experience, in case the interpreters need to take turns, we suggest have them also as a viewer for the session, so whoever takes over will be aware of the content already explained and how the audience is reacting.

The interpreting team needs to understand what will happen:

Outline of the complete event - This gives the team a general idea about the structure, duration of sessions, and helps with planning and when to switch to another team member.
The content per session - Share the abstract and slides of every session prior to the event. This is very helpful to understand the context and intent of the talk.
List of names - Share with the interpreters the names of presenters, moderators, sponsors, and whoever has an active role in the event, so they will know how to spell the names of everyone correctly.

Accessing the console

The interpreter will see the live session on the bigger plan and on the right, the option to select the camera input source under Select your camera. After selecting the camera, press Connect.

If you are seeing a message like the one displayed above saying Nothing is happening here is because the session hasn't started yet.

Once you press Connect, you will receive a confirmation informing you that You are connected, and the number of users that are listening to your channel.

Once the session is over and you wish to disconnect, press the red Disconnect button (as displayed in the image above).

For attendees

How can I select the Sign Language channel?

You can select the Sign language channel by clicking on the ear icon on the right side of the screen as displayed below:

Please notice that, if you click on the ear icon and an orange dot displays next to it, that means the interpreter has not yet connected to the Sign language channel.

Once the Interpreter joins the room, a smaller screen will be automatically displayed with the Interpreter of sign language alongside the main presentation.

Smaller screen will be automatically displaying this

To disconnect from the Sign language channel, simply click on the ear icon again and the screen will disappear from the main presentation.