Page 37 - ITU Journal, ICT Discoveries, Volume 3, No. 1, June 2020 Special issue: The future of video and immersive media

ITU Journal: ICT Discoveries, Vol. 3(1), June 2020

Table 1 provides a summary of key contributions wider and earlier adoption, without handicaps for
and insights from the ImAc project, categorized by any citizen. This can also contribute to avoiding the
the involved platform components and parts. proliferation of isolated and closed add-on
solutions, by designing standard-compliant
Table 1 – Contributions and insights from the ImAc project
end-to-end solutions that encompass all stages from
Platform media authoring to media consumption.
components Contributions / Recommendations
– Extension to media formats (e.g., IMSC This paper has presented an overview of the
subtitles, accompanying metadata for contributions of the ImAc project towards
sign language videos).
– Narrative and storytelling (e.g., scripting seamlessly integrating accessibility services within
and spatial presentation modes for immersive media. Standardization possibilities and
Content contributions in this context have been identified as
production / audio description, positioning of
Authoring subtitles) well. Although the presented contributions are
– Content creation guidelines primarily focused on VR360 content and on the
– Presentation modes (e.g., spatial modes
for audio description, non-continuous broadcast sector, their applicability spans to other
sign language video based on speaker’s areas, and can pave the way for next-generation
activity) accessible immersive experiences, considering
Service volumetric media and 6DoF VR scenarios, even in
provider – Service description and signaling multi-user settings.
Content – Content encoding, mixing and packaging
preparation / – Content description and signaling
Distribution ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
– Media interpretation
– Interaction and hyper-personalization This work has been partially funded by the
– Presentation modes for visual elements European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, under
(user-reference, scene-reference, auto- agreement number 761974 (ImAc project). Work
positioning). by Mario Montagud has been additionally funded by
– Presentation modes for 3D audio (gains, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and
spatial combinations, scripting modes).
Content – Interaction modalities (e.g., adaptive Universities with a Juan de la Cierva – Incorporación
consumption UIs, voice control) grant (with reference IJCI-2017-34611), and by
– Assistive technologies (e.g., voice Fundación BBVA with a “Beca Leonardo a
control, augmentation, guiding Investigadores y Creadores Culturales 2018”. Work
methods)
– Synchronization (intra-media, inter- by Pilar Orero has been additionally funded by the
media, inter-device). Catalan Government with the funded TransMedia
– Multiscreen scenarios (HbbTV, web) Catalonia research group, with reference
– Evaluation methodologies 2019SGR113.

5. CONCLUSION REFERENCES
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