8th Media for All International Conference: Complex Understandings

The world is becoming ever more complex and the world of audiovisual translation and media accessibility no less so. With ever more ways and ever more environments (cinema, TV, video games, computers, smart phones and glasses, social media etc.) in which to take part of (and in) audiovisual material, the complexities for AVT and MA are increasing.

Not only that, but more diverse groups of inhabitants of our audiovisual world (such as the visually, aurally or cognitively impaired, language learners, the elderly etc.) are demanding and getting their just rights as audiovisual citizens.

The media itself is also getting more complex, with more forms interacting (e.g. YouTube clips on Facebook, surtitling in smart phones or glasses, cinema releases reappearing on streaming sites, interactive displays at museums etc.). Media has also become democratized, with more prosumer creating, and translating, their own content.

Furthermore, AVT and MA research is becoming ever more complex, as we search for understanding, not only by descriptive, text-centred studies, but also through experimental, viewer-centred studies using ever more complex methods (such as eyetracking, EEG, skin conductivity and fMRI scans). Understanding audiovisual content and impact has never been more important in this increasingly polarized world.