Design and evaluation of a multilingual and accessible audio guide

This article describes and assesses a product that was developed as part of an educational innovation project aimed at creating an accessible and inclusive multilingual audio guide for the Faculty of Arts at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). This audio guide stems from a service learning approach and is a joint initiative by the faculty's departments of History of Art, English and German Philology and Translation and Interpreting. The objective is to provide support for visually impaired people so that they can move safely through the various architectural spaces in the faculty building. The introduction is followed by a discussion on audio description and how it relates to the notion of accessibility, the role of new technologies in this modality and the schemes that have been put into operation in this area in educational environments. The article then goes on to focus on the technical aspects of the audio guide: first, a description of the steps to configure and install the tool on an institutional website; second, the current version of the web page is shown (appearance, the design chosen and the browsing experience); and third, a self- assessment of the product based on the model proposed by Conde (in press). The aim is to check whether the audio guide a) complies with existing regulations and what experts expect from such a tool; b) works regarding the objectives for which it was created based on the experience of potential end users; and c) the reward for the agents that have promoted its creation and, in particular, the project team. Technology is key to training translators and interpreters, as well as to how they perform professionally. The benefits are even more evident when technology is placed at the disposal of initiatives to improve accessibility. In addition to illustrating the results of a specific project experience and offering a framework for assessing the quality of this kind of product, this study could be extrapolated to other fields and spaces and even inspire the creation of specific tools and methodologies for translating audio-described texts.