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♪ (music) ♪

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(laughter)

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Hi, I'm Jana, I manage[br]the Accounting and HR functions.

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My name is Margarita.

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I work as a Software Tester at Amara.

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[How do you spend your weekends?]

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Most likely table tennis or cycling[br]to one of our local beautiful beaches.

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I like cooking and also,[br]I do some volunteer work.

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Reading.

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Reading.

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Reading some interesting books.

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[Do you have any pets or plants?]

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I have six dogs,

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<i>they're all rescued,</i>

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<i>so I play a lot with my dogs.</i>

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I have a <i>peace lily</i>[br]that I've had for years.

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This is <i>Lily Tomlin</i>, no relation.

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[What do you love about[br]working at Amara?]

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Just connecting with our audience,

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just to make somebody's life [br]a little be easier

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just for that moment[br]that they're reading my support article

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or whatever it is.

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At the end of the project,[br]when I'm delivering,

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let's say a completed video[br]with some captions and subtitles,

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that actually makes me feel[br]really, really fulfilled,

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like, "Oh, now we have[br]more videos out there

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with captions and subtitles,[br]more people will be able to access it."

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Absolutely the people.

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Everyone's interest in [br]making the world better truly

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is just unbelievable.

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Everybody has this thing[br]that somehow is motivated

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by the overall mission of Amara,

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which is actually to provide accessibility

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and also use their skills[br]to share information with others.

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It's a special culture,[br]there's not much of a top-down hierarchy.

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It's really a cooperative effort.

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We're all very [inaudible][br]to check graphically ending time

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but we also have time for each other.

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[What languages do you speak?]

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I'm only fluent in English[br]but I'm learning American Sign Language,

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Russian --my spouse's family[br]if from the former Soviet Union,

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so I'd like to be able to speak to[br]the other generations in that family.

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English, Spanish, as my native language--

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My native language is Russian[br]and I use English for work--

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Cantonese, a little bit of Mandarin--

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I have also learned some Spanish,[br]German and Chinese.

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French and a little bit of Arabic.

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English and about this much Spanish.[br](laughter)

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[Pop Quiz: When was the first version[br]of Amara released?]

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Either 2010 or 2013...?

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2006?

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2001? Yeah, no, I don't know.

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2010, that's when[br]the first prototype was created.

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I [inaudible] I was [inaudible][br]back then.

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[What does accessibility mean to you?]

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That everyone has the same opportunity,

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being able to understand [br]the world through video

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and through the captioning [br]and translation that we do,

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and that other people do--

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no limits.

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It means a lot.

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I have a cohlear implant[br]and they are hearing aid.

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Without them, I cannot hear[br]practically anything at home

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and with them is okay[br]in one-to-one conversations,

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but not so nice when you use [br]something technical,

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when you're watching videos[br]or talk over the phone,

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so subtitles mean a great deal.

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Accessibility to me starts with empathy.

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A lot of my friends, actually,[br]don't speak English,

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so being able to help[br]to make a lot of the information

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that I have helped[br]to subtitle into Spanish,

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if I can share it with some[br]of my friends back in Venezuela,

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or my family, or my mom...

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it feels really good.

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[What effect do you hope[br]Amara will have on the world?]

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Acceptance and, I mean, the world[br]is in such a difficult place--

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communicating, you know,[br]just communicating.

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When we work every day

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with so many people[br]from so many other countries,

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you just realized people are different[br]but the same, from all over.

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I think there's a lot of[br]untapped attention

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for this tool to be used[br]by other types of users.

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Transcription is a great opportunity

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for people who have vision problems[br]to find employment.

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I really hope to see this happen.

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Using AI to generate [br]subtitles and captions,

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you know, that has been on the rise[br]for the last few years

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and there has been a lot of humor[br]and a lot of mistakes,

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and that definitely highlights

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how important people are [br]to the process of language in any form.

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I'm hoping that the way we treat people,

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and the way how we put

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their experience first,[br]and their abilities first,

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will be noticed [br]and that that would inspire

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other people to say [br]that it's not impossible to do that.