Het logo van Open bestaat uit het woord “open” in grijze drukletters op een witte achtergrond. De hoofdletter O is samengesteld uit een zwarte en een blauwe halve cirkel die elkaar net niet raken en doet denken aan de iris van een oog. Naast het woord “open” klapt een gestileerde blauwe deur als het ware open naar rechts. Vier horizontale, zwarte lijnen lopen als boventitels over de witte achtergrond van het woord “open”naar de deur en kleuren wit als ze de blauwe achtergrond van de deur raken.

ABOUT OPEN

What do we do?

Diversity and equality are the core values of an inclusive society in which physical, sensory and mental disabilities do not hinder participation in socio-cultural life. OPEN, the Expertise Centre for Accessible Media and Culture of the University of Antwerp, wants to contribute to this by stimulating the development of high-quality, user-friendly and accessible media and cultural services.

We do this by working in dialogue with our network of users, service providers, government agencies and researchers:

Why do we do this?

Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, live subtitles, surtitles, sign languages, audio description or audio subtitles: these are all forms of accessibility that have grown enormously in recent years. However, the application and professionalization of these services is very fragmented. Moreover, the innovations in this field are succeeding each other at breakneck speed.

Making media and culture accessible to everyone therefore remains a challenge in which everything stands or falls with a seamless collaboration between experts, service providers and users. It is precisely in this area that OPEN wants to play a crucial role by supporting sector-wide cooperation between partners.

Who are we?

OPEN is an initiative of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Antwerp. The Centre has a robust collaboration with TricS, the research group of the Department of Applied Linguistics, Translators and Interpreters, which has been researching the accessibility of media and culture in Flanders and beyond for many years (link to TricS page www.uantwerpen.be/trics). TricS leverages its broad and deep networks of international partners within the academic world, and national and international stakeholders to plan and execute its research. OPEN wants to further stimulate that cooperation and open it up to other actors with complementary expertise in order to contribute to a broad, intersectoral cooperation on accessibility.

Are you active in the sector? Send us an e-mail at open@uantwerpen.be