VIRAL videos may be good for sharing ideas and spreading funny foreign pop hits, but they are also leaving millions of deaf and hearing impaired people out of the loop.Forget YouTube's speech-recognition software since most times it simply doesn't work well and you get a bunch of garbled nonsense captions, especially when background noise or music interferes with the speech-recognition process. So much for inclusion but they are certainly trying their best. But should a Federal or company's regulation be done to ensure that these independent videos uploaded by hearing John Qs be captioned or else it cannot be uploaded at all? Which is better? By force via regulatory fiat or by gradual educational awareness by making captioning fun and popular? I'd say the latter is better. Otherwise if it's the former by regulatory force then I'm sure people would like to see it be equally done for deaf people who upload their signing videos without captions as well. That's the idea. Provide open communication access to hearing, deaf and hard of hearing people with different languages whether it's by sign or speech. Just because you're deaf doesn't supersede hearing people's need on wanting to see what's being said in signed videos.
Online video is becoming a more ubiquitous part of American life. Netflix videos made up one-third of online data used in the United States last year. YouTube expects 90 per cent of online traffic to be video in the next few years. By 2016, Cisco estimates, 1.2 million minutes of video will be streamed or downloaded every second.
That video explosion has been great for small-film and TV producers, who are able to reach an audience without a big studio budget, and fans of niche programming. But in some ways, it has left the deaf and hard-of-hearing community starting from scratch after years of advocating for captions on traditional television.
Be a positive role model when it comes to uploading your video by including captions whether the video is in voice or by sign. Others will soon get it and start including captions.
1 comment:
It is ALL uphill mike, a recent blog I did to publicise a local deaf worthy effort to provide news for their deaf/HI members contained a bottom line "We won't provide captions..." I don't know about the law but do deaf have the right in the USA to refuse captioned access themselves, whilst campaigning it IS law others have to ?
I am not personally bothered re viral vids Most are completely visual anyway that is why they go viral. I can do without watching people chasing dogs and falling over..haha.. erm not ! The signed vid denial of access is discrimination in my view,why doesn't deaf.read tell them they can't air inaccessible vids ? It's clear most who put up BSL/ASL vids are more than capable of captioning, and deliberately refusing to do so.
Post a Comment