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Scrum down for the rugby World Cup
- 17 Sep 07, 10:29 AM
As the Rugby Union World Cup warms up nicely in France, I鈥檝e taken a look at how ITV and 成人快手 are covering the tournament.
Whilst the coverage includes live audio streaming of games on Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra, which can be heard both online and on radio, there is no video coverage of the matches. Yet this seems to have made them work harder to create interesting content. There are blogs for all the home nations, podcasts with interviews and discussion as well as the expected coverage of news and results. There are sideways glances at the tournament as well. Tom Fordyce and Ben Dirs give a different perspective as they travel France in a camper van, arm wrestling Welsh rugby fans as they go. The two are even using Twitter (how very web 2.0) a microblogging service for text message style updates about what someone is doing, to keep us up to date with their pursuit of digestive biscuits.
In terms of accessibility, well we know that the 成人快手 pages are pretty good. The pages are easy to get around and there are no visual verification images blocking the comments feature on blogs. Whilst there are no transcripts of the podcasts, interviews are at least written up. Video blogs don鈥檛 have subtitles, either. But then, perhaps we can forgive that, with the 成人快手 focusing on getting the iPlayer set up and providing TV shows with accessibility enhancements from there. It could all be different by the time Scotland wins the next World Cup in 2011.
are the UK鈥檚 official broadcasters for the World Cup. As you might expect then, there is plenty of video footage, with highlights of matches, interviews, and a smattering of video blogs. I managed to navigate to the videos and get them to play without too much trouble using a screen reader, although some users have had troubles. On the list, Darran said that, 鈥淚've tried it with JAWS, and had absolutely no joy.鈥 In reply however, Peter found it pretty straightforward. 鈥淚 chose a program to watch and the video simply started playing. No muss, no fuss.鈥
Credit is due to ITV. They have made it possible to navigate around the website, and find videos to watch with a screen reader. They have made it possible to increase the size of the fonts, and to tab around a page with the keyboard. Some minor improvements could make it even better, however. Being able to skip the 39 links at the top of every page for screen reader users, for instance. Or making the Flash video player more blind friendly by being able to use the controls like stop, play or rewind.
ITV鈥檚 coverage of the World Cup, whilst enhanced by video, feels strangely old fashioned. Where is the interactivity? With the blogs available on the 成人快手, it is possible to add your comments, and that makes the user feel more involved in the world cup as a whole.
From an accessibility point of view, it is pretty much an open choice as to where to go for your Rugby World Cup coverage. Neither the 成人快手 nor ITV offers an experience akin to sidestepping an onrushing Sebastian Chabal. If you鈥檝e missed a game, then ITV is the place to go for highlights. If you are looking for something more interactive or 鈥 dare I say it 鈥 a little less Anglo-centric, then the 成人快手 gets my vote.
Vive le difference.
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