I first used YouTube for my benefit, this time last year when I was attempting to get elected as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex. I didn’t have the professionally produced, Party Political videos that some of my competitors could rely on, but I knew that YouTube is accessible to people who believe that Politics has become slick and polished and is no longer relevant to them. The videos clearly helped as some of them received a significant number of hits and I came third out of 5 candidates with nearly 39,000 votes close behind Labour. My campaign was the first election I had participated in since 1979 and was a steep learning curve, although I received a great deal of advice from people who like me felt that the Police Commissioner post should remain free from Party Politics.
One of the factors that I was aware of last year, but that sadly I had neither the technology, nor the time to address was making the videos accessible to viewers with impaired hearing, or who are deaf. However I have recently become aware of an organisation called Amara who provide the technology for including subtitles on videos that have been uploaded onto sites such as Youtube. The process for adding the subtitles is relatively easy and the process they use is a form of crowd sourcing in that anyone can register on the site and set to work providing the subtitles for the benefit of others. The link to the Amara website is http://www.amara.org/en/ and I plan to ensure that any videos I post in the future are subtitled in this way.
Its no surprise that the various Political Parties use YouTube to promote their own video content in an attempt to communicate with you and I, what is surprising given the extensive resources that they possess and their grasp of statistics that so little work has been done by them to take advantage of subtitling. I could only find one or two examples of videos that have been titled in this way, yet according to Patient UK, there are good reasons why the political parties should pay attention to this. It is estimated that around 9 million people in the UK experience hearing limitation, of which some 700,000 people have negligible or no hearing. The idea of trying to communicate messages to people using technology that may not be fully accessible to around one in seven seems bizarre when so little extra effort is needed. A great deal is being made by all of the parties of social media and its vital role in engaging with people who feel excluded by conventional political processes. To use this technology in a way that isolates a large proportion of those sought is counter intuitive and stupid. I have no idea if Amara is the best technology for providing subtitles, it was recommended to me by someone who is profoundly deaf and who works in the health service, but in the run up to elections in 2014 for the EU, 2015 for the British Parliament and 2016 for Mayoral and Police Commissioner elections, let us try to ensure that all of the communication mechanisms are as accessible as possible.
ianchisnall 
That issue hadn’t occurred to me before. You’re absolutely right to raise it, off course, as it’s the sort of thing that most of us would completely overlook.
Thanks for this Jack, much appreciated. I have given your blog a namecheck in todays blog!
Thanks very much!
Thank you Ian for taking this on board and getting the word out there
Absolutely no problems Helen, my thanks to you for helping me to see a world outside my own experience. I have subtitled a couple of videos so far and will ensure that all of my campaigning is focused on a wider constituency than I had thought was possible.
Good to raise this Ian, as a former politician who works in a deaf school I have more awareness of this deficit than many. It is though becoming easier and easier to add subtitles yourself, though ideally it is great to also add British Sign Language interpreting. However, good BSL interpreting tends to cost a fair bit so subtitles is a decent half way house.
When I was recently and unsuccessfully seeking selection in Hove I met a blind party member who was understandably frustrated at non-accessible leaflets from candidates. Thanks to technology though I was able to record MP3 audio files of myself reading my leaflets out and I emailed them to her.
Politics is often done in a hurry but making yourself as accessible as possible is really important so try to plan ahead
Simon Burgess
P.S. This is an example of a video we have produced at our school which has subtitles and interpreting – it can be done at modest cost. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7uyn6xPgUI&feature=c4-overview&list=UU-9WSRyK_THky-ncWPSlzTw
Hi Simon, many thanks for this comment. It is vital that we pay attention to both visual and hearing needs if we are going to enable all electors to make a decision that they are confident in. Todays activity in Westminster is a good example of an issue that no one should be unable to participate in. Thankfully we generally get good news coverage on the radio for anyone who is blind. Perhaps some thought needs to be given to providing a portal for MP3 files for a specific event such as an election, so that the electors know were to go. The videos for the School look great and are a lot better than simply subtitling an existing video. I hope that you have not hung up your political plans for good!