Food for Thought on Conducting Research Projects on Media Accessibility During the Covid-19 Pandemic and the New Normal

Abstract

The following practice report is based on observational experiences of a project group running a research project on accessibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aimed to provide accessibility using plain language in children’s programs on a public television channel. The project included three groups of end-users: Deaf, hard of hearing, and visually impaired children. An overview of the project is presented to provide background for the practice report. The second part of the report deals with changes encountered in the running of the project during the pandemic: compensating for the lack of interactivity, social interaction and collective experience; using video conferencing; monitoring research; at-home research spaces and technological availability; network availability and performance; dealing with home computers; communication load; workload and work-life balance. Some key concepts of actor-network theory are used to analyse new actors, networks and shifts encountered in the process of implementing the project in the “new normal” in comparison to its planned implementation pre-COVID-19. In conclusion, a summary of possible options is cited to provide food for thought in running such projects.