Rarely do I compliment a blog/website and when I do consider that as a honor. I've known about this organization called "Collaborative for Communication Access via Captioning (CCAC) for awhile and so I've decided to put their CCAC logo on my blog seen on the left column that links to their blog page. This is the one admirable and doable goal that reaches across all boundaries for people with hearing loss from mild to profoundly deaf. This about helping ensure on creating the greatest number of access for everybody since captioning does reach out to the most number of people in an audience. And without the worry about petty internal politics or discrimination and segregation based on hearing status, amount of "deaf experience" you have or whether you know sign language or not.
Captioning is the single most accessible and acceptable form of communication for most people with hearing loss. Their core concept is based on accessibility that reaches out to the greatest number of people in an audience and thus practices the goal of inclusion to those who need it which is essentially anybody and everybody.
1. Ensure that captioning is mentioned and included regularly in all the places we need it; universally; as a common everyday practice. 2. Have captioning mentioned and included in all the places that sign language is mentioned and used now. 3. Support consumers to learn about and ask for captioning, and get it, without all the hassle encountered now in too many places. 4. Push captioning into a "respected" resource/language/technology. 5. Encourage professional providers and also those offering systems to expand services.
What naturally makes sense and we all know this is that captioning should a common everyday occurrence no matter where you go. Technology and greater awareness will make that a reality someday soon.
I like #2 goal. One of the biggest misconception and myth about people with hearing loss is that all of them know sign language. This is simply not true. This same kind of myth (that had an unfortunate unintended consequence) is perpetuated in one Superbowl commercial which had the potential to leave an impression that all deaf/hh people know sign language as their preferred mode of communication. Not even close. In fact, the signing segment of that population makes up a very small minority when compared to a population of 36 million people with hearing loss in the United States. This goal also makes clear that "sign language only" access isn't acceptable form of alternative communication access if the target audience also includes deaf and hard of hearing people whether done live or in a video format such as on YouTube.
The rest of the goals and actions listed are just as good with large doses of common sense.
In closing, I encourage you to spread the word about the CCAC organization because it does BENEFIT you in more ways than you can imagine. This is the kind of advocacy organization worth joining.
NAD has the latest information regarding on trying to get Congress to pass a Closed Captioning bill this April 15 (HR 3101 -Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 ) though it does not contain language to enforce YouTube or iPad.
There was a bill before HR 3101 and that is the H.R. 6320: Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008. That bill never became law and died in Congress. Congress moves slowly in passing laws while technology moves even faster and is based on demands, marketing potential, improving technology in the computer chip and programming sector, and a greater understanding of the need for closed captioning by corporate and public entities. Since the introduction of H.R. 6320 technology on closed captioning, especially over the internet, technology moved ahead with its own self-propelling captioning initiatives along with people who are passionate about closed captioning in getting it pushed out into the public mainstream.
Google adds real time automatic closed captioning although not perfect it's a start and they recognize the need and marketing potential as well. Google sets the stage and worldwide example on the importance of investing in captioning of videos whether on television or internet. And that speech recognition technology has now gone mainstream, this will only continue to improve to the point where all videos will automatically transcribed and include closed captioning. This is fast becoming a reality. Law or no law.
Hulu adds captioning to their movies and television shows. The list continues to grow.
Blackberry phones are beginning to have Closed Captioning capability to view videos on your smart phones' screen which is definitely smaller than a 13-inch screen television screen. So does the iPhone.
Captioning is available on digital television as opposed to analog television where a 13-inch screen exempts it from any captioning requirement. A digital television is different set of technology that includes captioning where it continues to improve.
The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 (“TDCA”) requires, generally, that television receivers contain circuitry to decode and display closed captioning. Specifically, the TDCA requires that “apparatus designed to receive television pictures broadcast simultaneously with sound be equipped with built-in decoder circuitry designed to display closed-captioned television transmissions when such apparatus is manufactured in the United States or imported for use in the United States, and its television picture screen is 13 inches or greater in size.”
The Federal Communication Commission\'s Digital TV (DTV) proceeding incorporated an industry approved transmission standard for DTV into its rules. The standard included a data stream reserved for closed captioning information. However, specific instructions for implementing closed captioning services for digital television were not included. The Electronics Industries Alliance (EIA), a trade organization representing the U.S. high technology community, has since adopted a standard, EIA-708 (High Definition Closed Captioning for purposes of this document), that provides guidelines for encoder and decoder manufacturers as well as caption providers to implement closed captioning services with DTV technology. In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in its DTV proceeding, the FTC proposed to adopt a minimum set of technical standards for closed caption decoder circuitry for digital television receivers in accordance with Section 9 of the EIA-708 standard and to require the inclusion of such decoder circuitry in DTV receivers.
ETV is metadata that cable providers recently began integrating into their broadcasts, and the TiVo patent will allow the company to sync both this as well as closed caption information and display it in an interactive method. This includes closed captioning text, a menu or digital video and sound effects. TiVo also promises more advanced uses thanks to this type of technology, such as marking sections of a program they find particularly interesting and then sharing them with friends who also have a TiVo DVR.
Prior to the patent award on February 9th, TiVo already offered ways for customers to view closed caption data, and viewers can also subscribe to a show or order more product information when watching a commercial.
What I've listed so far is just an short example of things to come in the world of closed captioning (or subtitling). Let the market forces send a message to corporate and public entities on providing closed captioning on digital tv, smart phones, and online videos over the internet. The trend is clear and that technology is increasingly making it easier, such as YouTube's automatic captioning service, for companies and businesses to include captioning in their videos, whatever the format.
I have mixed feelings about getting the government involved to force companies to comply, especially when technology continues to leap frog ahead with the embedding of closed captioning as a standard practice. Let the market dictate this direction at this point in time. Consider where we were 2 to 4 years ago for online captioning opportunities. There were essentially none. Currently, the trend in captioning is clearly picking up. It's a matter of time till captioning is done as part of any video programming since advertising and marketing pressures will help ensure that. And that social awareness and consciousness will be another factor in pushing closed captioning to the top of their collective consciousness. Bottom line? It's coming and without the need for government intervention to make closed captioning mandatory for all online videos. Technology moves faster than the government could in trying to pass a bill. And that's encouraging.
Just like the iPhone, Blackberry fans can access a new version of a "do-it-yourself caption-authoring" tool for digital media. ow buy phones that have captioning support for uploaded videos that come with captioning.
which can be used to create closed-captioned videos formatted for playback on BlackBerry® smartphones. As before, authors can continue to write captions once and export them to formats compatible with QuickTime, Windows Media, RealPlayer and Flash. . . Support for closed-captioned content playback is available on BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry Device Software version 5.0 and newer, including the BlackBerry Storm2™ smartphone, BlackBerry Bold 9700™ smartphone and BlackBerry Curve™ 8530 smartphone models.
Very cool, and very savvy in the marketing sense that takes aim at a potential market of 30+ million people with hearing loss in the U.S. (and even more outside). And if you have a Blackberry Storm2 9520/9550 smartphones then you're in luck since they already come with captioning support.
I'm sure from now on all newer BB phones will have closed captioning support just like the Blackberry Storm2 phones.
