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 Most of this web site is for vision-impaired members of the public to access but this section is specifically for talking newspapers and magazines, community, hospital and Internet radio stations and, in fact, any information provider that benefits blind or partially-sighted people in the UK.
What We Offer.
If you are involved with producing information for vision-impaired people, you are very welcome to download and use any of the audio material that we produce. Its use is all free of charge. You can get tips about listening to audio and a brief outline of all the various ways that Infosound material can be accessed on the Ways to Listen page.
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COMMENT
From Mike Brunning, Soundwaves in Sunderland:
"Just to say that the present Infosound is probably the best yet! Here at Soundwaves I can add the briefing every week as an extra track for our CD listeners and then an extended article on our monthly Soundwaves magazine. The length of the articles are spot on and fit in nicely with our present format. The weekly Briefings are much appreciated by our clients who like the brevity of the articles.
So keep up the good work and I look forward to what you come up with next!!"
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Our core service is the production of the weekly 15-minute Infosound Briefing, containing a varied selection of short items on different
topics, which we hope will be of interest to someone in the UK who
lives with sight loss, their family, friends and, maybe, carer.
The latest Infosound Briefing is uploaded onto our web site at roughly
the same time each week - between 9 am and 12 noon (GMT or BST)
on a Monday (with the sole exception of Christmas Day!)
The Briefing can be used within any other audio publication or
programme and transferred to another format or medium as
long as it is not edited or changed in any way.
The Briefings are branded as being produced by Infosound in
association with British Wireless for the Blind Fund and the material
does not need to be further credited.
As well as reproducing the full 15-minute Infosound Briefing, editors
and producers can choose to download and use the main individual
component parts of the weekly Briefing or longer interviews on subjects
covered in the Briefing. These can all be access in the contents section
of the current Briefing with previous items listed in the features section. They are not branded as having been produced by Infosound and the source of the material does not have to be credited.
For radio station and talking newspaper/magazine producers who want to run individual longer features as stand-alone items, we have produced two generic jingles ('in' and 'out') to 'sandwich' each feature so it requires no introduction or back announcement.
Using Infosound Audio.
Radio stations and talking newspaper/magazine groups are welcome to use any of the audio that can be downloaded from this site, subject to just a few guidelines (to follow).
The weekly Briefing, as well as longer interviews and features on some of the topics it contains, can be downloaded from the Briefing section of this site. The longer interviews and features are also placed in the features section for as long as they are still relevant - these can also be downloaded and used. But the simplest way to receive up-to-date audio automatically is to subscribe to our free podcast, which contains the latest weekly Infosound Briefing and the current longer interviews or features. The podcast is delivered between 9 am and 12 noon (GMT or BST) on a Monday (with the sole exception of Christmas Day!)
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COMMENT
From Ray Gormley, Sandwell Talking News:
"Weekly updates will be very welcome, especially as we have the prospect of the Sandwell TN being distributed on USB sticks, and this would be one way of providing more information to our listeners with the greater time at our disposal."
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We also offer a 'broadcast' link for radio stations and information
services that want to download the weekly Infosound Briefing
automatically and who therefore need the URL to remain unchanged
every week. Once downloaded, this mp3 audio file can then be
scheduled into an automated play-out system. The URL for this file
is always: www.infosound.org.uk/infosound_briefing.mp3.
Please note that the monthly Infosound Despatch service is
only available on CD and is posted to individual blind and
partially-sighted people who request it from us. It is not
available to talking newspaper/magazine groups or radio
stations, but everything it contains (and much more) can be found on the features page of this web site.
Guidelines for Use.
The weekly Infosound Briefings, its component features and longer interviews may be reproduced in any audio format as long as:
> they are only used by those providing free information services to vision-impaired people in
the UK - nothing we produce may be used for any commercial or promotional purposes.
> when reproducing the Infosound Briefing, it plays continuously without stopping or
pausing from beginning to end and without needing listener operation to do so.
> no audio material is altered in any way from the form in which it is offered (all music is
copyright-free but may only be reproduced in situ).
> listeners do not hear any edition of the Infosound Briefing, or its component items, after the
'relevant until' date given with the Briefing or, occasionally, given with an audio interview or feature.
Thank you for respecting these guidelines. As appropriate, we will mention any partnership-working that has enabled any of our audio material to be produced and there is no need to add any acknowledgement to Infosound or to credit any Infosound presenters (after all, we don't!). We believe that it's not the messenger that matters, but the message.
You may also wish to read our editorial code of practice.
Customised Trailers.
We will produce a customised audio trailer for anyone wanting to forward promote when listeners can hear the Infosound Briefing - for example in a radio station's programme schedule or as part of a talking magazine or newspaper. Just email us your script, telling us the exact duration you want, whether or not you want it read over music (the Infosound 'theme') and anything else we should know, and we'll do the rest
[example].
Promoting Infosound.
We would be extremely grateful if you could promote any of our free services to your listeners in your programme or audio publication. Although everything we produce is aimed directly at someone who lives with sight loss, we like to think it is also of interest to friends, family members and carers of blind or partially-sighted people.
You may wish to consider telling your listeners about the two services we currently provide. In each case we offer a suggested script for reading out and an audio trailer:
Weekly Infosound Briefing.
The UK-wide registered charity Infosound, in association with British Wireless for the Blind Fund, produces a free, weekly bulletin of news and information that could be of particular interest to blind and partially-sighted people - the Infosound Briefing. In just 15 minutes, it covers a wide variety of topics on subjects aimed at helping with everyday living with sight loss - useful products, leisure, holidays, travel, money, consumer issues and support services. Online, you can listen to the full Briefing, all its individual short items or fuller, extended interviews on some of the subjects it features. And links are given to where you can find further information about everything mentioned. This is all possible on the Infosound web site, where you can also find archived audio features and an up-to-date noticeboard of events and announcements. And the web site address is www.infosound.org.uk.
[audio trailer (duration: 1.17)]
Monthly Infosound Despatch.
The UK-wide registered charity Infosound, in association with British Wireless for the Blind Fund, produces a free, monthly audio compilation of information that could be of particular interest to blind and partially-sighted people - the Infosound Despatch. It lasts for about an hour and covers a wide variety of topics on subjects aimed at helping with everyday living with sight loss - useful products, leisure, holidays, travel, money, consumer issues and support services. It's totally free and delivered on standard audio CD to your home every month - and it doesn't have to be returned. To order your own regular copy of the Infosound Despatch, just phone the lo-call number 084 55 55 55 28 and leave your name, address and telephone number. It's a simple as that!
[audio trailer (duration: 1.19)]
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