This page is divided into the following sections:

• Describer Training
• Educational Description
• Academic Articles

Describer Training

There are very limited opportunities to get trained as an audio describer.  Training is often held in conjunction with conferences.  Here we list the few opportunities that we know about, and we solicit information from anyone who is offering training opportunities for audio describers anywhere in the world!

Audio Description Institute, July 10-12 2013, at the ACB's Annual Conference.  In 2012, there were 25 attendees.

Topics:

1) audio description history and theory
2) the "Four Fundamentals of Audio Description" ©
3) active seeing/visual literacy-developing skills in concentration and observation
4) the art of "editing" what you see
5) vivid language: "The Visual Made Verbal"™
6) "Speak the speech, I pray you"--using the spoken word to make meaning

Program:

- Three full days of intensive, interactive training;
- Friday luncheon will be provided;
- Registration for the ACB Conference and Convention is included.

Details:  Read the Institute Brochure

Developing Audio Description Skills, at the annual LEAD Conference.  [We are leaving this entry here because this class is typically taught each August.]

• Learn the Core Skills of Audio Description
• Apply these skills to your choice of live performances, visual art, or exhibits
• Train with three of the founders of the Audio Description Coalition, who together have more than 60 years of professional audio description experience
• Plan the next steps in your professional development as an audio describer

Please note: the LEAD Conference and its Audio Description training is not sponsored by the ACB or the Audio Description Project.

Details:  Audio Description Coalition

Free Audio Description Training

If you can't get to an in-person training class, try the free Online Course at Fractured Atlas.

Educational Description

Here we list pointers to information about audio description in education, both for training and for acquisition of the end product.  DCMP refers to the Described and Captioned Media Program.

• Recent Described Educational Videos from DCMP - a listing which can also be subscribed to as an RSS feed
• DCMP Media Library - over 4,000 free-loan described and captioned media titles available to registered Level 2 members
• PBS Programs With Audio Description - a listing of videos available via WGBH Media Access
• Description Vocabulary Project - a partnership between the DCMP and the ACB to develop lists of grade-appropriate vocabulary words to be used in description
• Listening Is Learning - a DCMP project devoted to raising awareness about the learning benefits of listening to description of video-based educational media

Best Practices for the Digital Enviroment

• The Descriptive Video Production and Presentations Best Practices Guide for Digital Environments (Media Access Canada)
• Current Projects at Ryerson University (Check out Live Describe!)

Academic Articles

• Presence In Those WIth And WIthout SIght:  AudIo DescrIptIon And Its Potential For Virtual Reality ApplicatIons (Louise Fryer and Jonathan Freeman; made available courtesy of www.vrphobia.eu)
• Cinematic Language and the Description of Film (Louise Fryer and Jonathan Freeman; full text may be available for free through a university or library subscription)

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