| TECH EDGE
By John M. Williams
The online world of baseball has been expanded to include individuals with visual impairments. They will benefit from the implementation of functional improvements to MLB.com, the official Website of Major League Baseball, and all 30 individual club sites. This happened as a result of a joint collaboration among MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the American Council of the Blind, Bay State Council of the Blind and California Council of the Blind. All three organizations applaud this fan initiative taken by MLBAM.
“MLBAM has undertaken groundbreaking work to make its Websites accessible and has assumed a strong leadership position among sports, media and entertainment properties in doing so,” said Mitch Pomerantz, president of the American Council of the Blind. “We certainly urge similar sites to make this level of commitment in following MLBAM’s lead.”The agreement was the result of structured negotiations, a collaborative and solution-driven advocacy and dispute resolution method conducted without litigation. The discussions involved the three organizations representing blind people, MLB, and noted disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold. Using a baseball metaphor, Feingold says, ”MLB.com stepped up to the plate and grand slammed on this decision.”
As part of its initiative, MLB.com launched an accessible media center for its MLB.com Gameday Audio™ subscribers, offering features such as volume control, ability to choose the home or away feed and access to archived games. Additionally,MLB.com has ensured that fans with visual impairments can continue to participate in the annual online voting programs associated with the All-Star Game and will be providing an accessibility page on its site detailing information on accessibility, usability tips and customer service resources. As it continues to deliver technological innovations for following baseball games, MLB.com will make additional accessibility enhancements available to fans with visual impairments.
Brian Charlson, a Boston baseball fan and director of Computer Training Services at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts, described how MLB.com’s accessibility efforts have improved his enjoyment of the game. “As a member of the blind community, the kind of changes MLB.com was willing to make on its web sites keeps me coming back for more,” says Charlson. “It shows how much can be done when people with disabilities find willing partners.”
For example, with the changes in Gameday Audio, Charlson finds himself enjoying switching back and forth between the home and away broadcasters the same way his sighted friends do. And knowing his votes were counted in last year’s All-Star balloting made listening to the game much more meaningful. He is excited about what the MLB.com has done and about its commitment to further improvements.
MLB.com utilized guidelines issued by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The Web content accessibility guidelines are of particular benefit to blind baseball fans who use a screen reader, through which information on a page is read aloud, or magnification technology on their computers and who rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse.
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 MLB club owners to centralize all of Baseball’s Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and internet company of MLB. It manages the official league site, www.MLB.com, and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the most comprehensive MLB resource on the Internet.
MLB.com offers fans the most complete baseball information and interactivity on the web, including up-to-date statistics, game previews and summaries, extensive historical information, online ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live full-game video webcasts and on-demand highlights, live and archived audio broadcasts of every game, Gameday pitch-by-pitch application, around-the-clock hosted and specialty video programming and complete blogging capabilities.
The American Council of the Blind is a national consumer-based advocacy organization working on behalf of blind and visually impaired Americans throughout the country, with members organized through seventy state and special interest affiliates. The Bay State and California Councils are the Massachusetts and California affiliates of the ACB. The ACB, BSCB and CCB are dedicated to improving the quality of life, equality of opportunity and independence of all people who have visual impairments. Their members and affiliated organizations have a long history of commitment to the advancement of policies and programs which will enhance independence for people who are blind and visually impaired.
The MLB.com agreement shows that baseball leaders want people with disabilities to enjoy baseball. Baseball sees expanded attendance in new markets and this innovation removes barriers to those markets. “Many blind women, like myself, are enthusiastic baseball fans,” stresses Carolyn Jones, a Washington Nationals fan. “I love this agreement!”The National Football League, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and other professional sports should follow suit. They should voluntarily and immediately seek guidance from the World Wide Web consortium and organizations representing blind people. They should recognize that Web access means an expanded fan base that translates into more money for their leagues.
John M. Williams has been writing on assistive technology for more than 25 years. He can be reached at jwilliams@atechnews.com. His website is www.atechnews.com.
