Dig Inclusion makes digital access available for everyone 

Liam Watson

For stadiums around the world, infrastructure has been created to cater for people with disabilities, however access to club websites and apps cannot be overlooked. 

In the past, stadiums had been designed so people with disability can still access the venues. As we know with COVID outbreaks, attention has now shifted towards how we get these people into the grounds by using apps and in particular to scan a QR code for contact tracing. 

As we have seen in 2021, the QR system has become a mandatory tool, while at the same time we have seen the need to go with virtual tickets, rather than the printed out copies we had always been accustomed to. 

For clubs and stadiums, they want to ensure that fan experience is at the optimal level, so that means they have to assess the accessibility for disabled people and ways for them to have entry to venues without an enormous amount of hassle. 

This is where Dig Inclusion can help. They are a digital accessibility service who ensures that football club websites and apps are equally available for everyone. 

For clubs, they should be asking themselves whether disabled fans have the same opportunity to buy tickets online as everybody else, while the other consideration should be if news feeds, match statistics, websites and apps are as user friendly as they need to be. 

For digital accessibility, Dig Inclusion takes into account people who are colour blind, dyslexic or have cognitive impairments (including people living with dementia). Through a club’s website or app design process – from the use of font, to language, to colour contrast – are all highly important so nobody feels overwhelmed when accessing a club’s resource. 

For example, if a disabled fan wants to buy some club merchandise, then they will have the same opportunity to browse and make that purchase just like any other person would, with tailored options available to assist anyone who needs it. 

When teams partner with Dig Inclusion, they are there for every step of the way, from accessible testing, research and strategy, to accessible development and content creation, and finally a check on websites, mobile apps, PDF documents and ebooks among some of the benefits. 

All of Dig Inclusion’s services are designed to help clubs keep pace in a rapidly changing digital age: 

Accessible design review: To highlight visual aspects of a design that need to be checked for accessibility, such as colour contrast and positioning. This looks at common accessibility pitfalls and turns this into what would be the ultimate experience for all customers. 

Accessibility help desk: Advice and support from someone who understands the company and what they do, offering fast response times and specialist knowledge for any stucks in the digital accessibility process. 

Mobile accessibility: Helping to get the most out of tablet and smartphone users, with those devices more often used than desktop or laptop. This is very important for disabled or elderly fans who would like to use mobile technology. 

Web accessibility: Advising organisations about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in an easy-to-understand manner, as design agencies and web developers may find it difficult to grasp or keep pace with updates as they become available. 

Disabled user testing: It’s not only digital content meeting accessibility guidelines that is important, but also making sure that the experience of a disabled person using a product is a good one. 

PDF accessibility: Accessibility guidelines are not just designed for webpages, but anything that a customer downloads is also included. Dig Inclusion can produce PDF documents that go alongside WCAG with equal access as a typical website. 

Video accessibility: When businesses make advertising material, they can be supported with transcripts, captions, subtitles, or audio descriptions that they probably would have not used before on their own. 

Ebook accessibility: Tablets have been a valuable way for people to virtually read books and other publications. An accessible ebook gives all readers instant access to fit their needs, regardless of print disability. 

Dig Inclusion provides ways for clubs to navigate the challenges associated with building an app or website for equal opportunities. To learn more on Dig Inclusion, you can find it here. 

LEDiL: Producing more effective football stadium lighting

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Image credit: LEDiL website

LEDiL was first founded in 2002 by Tomi Kuntze and Hannu Hukkanen who designed LED lighting solutions for the automotive industry.

In their 22 years of existence, the company have released 15 specialist products, nine of them indoors and the other six outdoors.

The company have released a blueprint for both their ‘Sports Indoor Lighting’ and ‘Sports Outdoor Lighting’ products which cover multiple different sports and the dimensions of their usual playing ground, with a solution on how to create competitive lighting best effectively.

However focusing on football, LEDiL’s S Beam lighting systems are the solution to clubs wanting effective and compliant stadium floodlighting with the needs and requirements of the leagues they play in.

The technology is complex and has been a project that the company have worked on for a while before being first utilised by FK Mačva, the club on top of the Serbian first division.

How does S beam lighting work?

S-beam is a semi-symmetrical beam intended for stadium lighting with special shape of light distribution consisting of two cut-off zones and effective uniformity zone.

With traditional symmetrical beam lighting, it creates an oval-shaped area of light meaning that the light must be titled upwards in order to cover enough space for the clubs to reach the necessary lighting requirements.

This compromise leads to a worse viewing experience for fans at the ground, broadcasters who film the matches on worse lighting, effects the players performance during the match and increases light pollution in the nearby areas of the neighbourhood.

The lens directs the beam from the LEDs more efficiently by controlling the spill light vertically and providing more light to all areas of the ground.

Benefits of LEDiL LED system

– The use of LEDs has resulted in an energy saving of more than 55% reduction in energy costs.

– Reduced energy consumption leading to vastly reduced electrical installation costs and a faster payback.

– The calculated lifetime of the installation is up to 20 times longer than a conventional halogen solution, leading to a considerable saving in maintenance costs for clubs. This is a massive benefit with costs being a main reason why clubs stay away from starting upgrades.

– Improved lighting conditions for players (Training, ability to host night matches).

– Better viewing experience for the fans at the ground.

Optics

Optics distribute the power of LEDs efficiently, something that is especially important in larger sporting arenas and stadiums.

LEDiL utilise their optics to also reduce power consumption and the number of other components such as LEDs and further reducing the investment needed.

Optics play an essential role in ensuring lighting meets the strict league and competition requirements of different sporting codes, especially football.

Similarly to LEDs, Optics save cost and reduce time of instalment which increases efficiency.

How Australian football can use LEDiL

LEDiL currently doesn’t have a presence in Australia and their simple but effective LED and Optics system is perfect for NPL and State League clubs.

The company’s experience in urban and local areas would improve many parks and grounds that require a better lighting standard.

For a country that is rather tight on its football budget, saving money and being more sustainable is important and the values coincide with LEDiL’s business model, making it a really good fit.

Conclusion

The LED lighting future is one that mirrors the company’s vision which is to enhance wellbeing and safety with a goal for a more sustainable future and improved quality of life.

LEDiL are the future of sports stadium lighting, and the efficiency of the product will be a hot commodity in the industry.

Ticketchainer: A new look into sports ticketing management

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Image credit: IOIO IMAGES / Shutterstock.com

Ticketchainer is a Paris-based tech company that is focusing on transforming the sports ticketing industry from a simple sales tool to a comprehensive e-commerce platform that is suited to the needs of its clients.

Founded in 2019, Ticketchainer has now worked with many sports clubs and organisations across France, including Ligue 2 side AC Ajaccio, offering a product that provides:

  • A personalised purchase journey with a customised user experience and interface, integrating the best e-commerce practices with a responsive design adapted to computers, tablets and smartphones.
  • A back office for ticketing management which configures events and subscriptions, while displaying real-time tracking of ticket sales and combined offers.
  • A fixed and mobile access control management through a dedicated mobile application, personal digital assistants (PDAs) with the Ticketchainer Application Programming Interface (API), or interfacing with existing fixed access control systems.

Co-founder and CEO of Ticketchainer, Sami Bouden, explains how the idea of Ticketchainer all came about in an article with ENSTA Paris:

“Sport, and football in particular, is the events sector where ticketing is the most complex to manage: numbered seats, annual or half-season subscriptions, security, there are many parameters to take into account,” he said.

“It seemed to me to be a challenge that was both captivating and within my reach. That’s how the idea of ​​Ticketchainer was born.”

In addition, Ticketchainer decided to branch out internationally becoming the ticketing platform for the 2023 African Cup of Nations, which was a massive achievement for the tech company.

“It was a huge satisfaction for the team because we won this competition ahead of all the big names in the sector, which is a strong signal for the future,” Bouden added via the article with ENSTA Paris.

During the build-up, Ticketchainer launched their online ticketing platform that covered the six stadiums used for the tournament which had a capacity ranging from 25,000 to 60,000 seats.

In addition, they also deployed 70 box offices across the Ivory Coast to sell physical tickets utilising their technology for digital payments.

In approximately three months, Ticketchainer sold over a million tickets for the 2023 African Cup of Nations. They also had to manage more than 350,000 connections per day, selling 25,000 tickets daily for several weeks.

However, the French tech company did come across some technical challenges along the way.

“Security was of course a crucial aspect, but we had anticipated the issue very well and all attempts at fraud were foiled. We worked enormously to adapt our technology to the scale of the event and make it safe and robust. And it worked perfectly,” Bouden said in an article with ENSTA Paris.

Although still relatively new in the sports ticketing industry already working with various sporting organisations in France, Ticketchainer is looking to continue to expand in Europe after the success of the African Cup of Nations.

“Our main objective remains to consolidate our expansion on the French and European market and to become the reference solution for the most prestigious competitions,” Bouden said in an article with ENSTA Paris.

“At the same time, the success of our performance at the African Cup of Nations naturally allows us to nurture ambitions on new markets, particularly in the Gulf countries, and emerging markets where the event industry is exploding. We have just proven that we have all the assets to achieve this.”

Ticketchainer could prove beneficial to most sports clubs and organisations to help them get a better grasp on handling and organising ticket purchases.

Although it may be a while to see this type of technology implemented in Australia, if Ticketchainer’s success in the sports ticketing scene continues we may see them expand into other continents as well as other big future sporting competitions.

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