Learning Center

The Midas Touch of Accessibility (And How the DCMP is Still Making History)

Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet 2008

Larry Goldberg, the Director of Media Access for WGBH in Boston, delivers a testimony to Congressional members of the ''Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2007'' subcommittee regarding the efforts undertaken by WGBH and NCAM to ensure accessibility in the digital age. Topics covered include the following: a brief history of captioning and audio description, some of the accessibility challenges faced by producers in moving their content to the Internet, the development and goals of the Internet Captioning Forum, and the need for standardization of captioning formats for the Web.

Microcomputer Activities of the Special Materials Project

This article was originally written by Leonard Novick in 1983, published in the September 1983 edition of the American Annals of the Deaf, and presented at the Nebraska (Lincoln) Symposium. Mr. Novick was then Director of the Special Materials Project (SMP), a contracted activity of the U.S. Department of Education with the Associations for Education of the Deaf. To support the task of the SMP to circulate Educational Captioned Films nationwide through 58 depositories, he describes two microcomputer-based systems to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the project. FILMSHARE, an inter-depository loan system, made it possible for depositories to draw on one another's film collections for bookings they would otherwise be unable to make. BICS made it possible for SMP to manage a floating inventory of educational captioned films in each region of the United States. Both activities were extremely innovative for their time.

A Librarian's Viewpoint

[Editor's note: This article is archived. Some content may be outdated.]

Captioning Captures Captivated Audience

[Editor's note: This article was originally written in August 2004 when the DCMP was then the Captioned Media Program. This article has been archived in its original form.]

Deaf People are Patient People

[Editor's note: This article was written in 2004 and has since been archived. Some content may be outdated.]

Deaf Culture, Language, and Heritage

[Editor's note: This article was written in 2002 before the author's death in August 2007 and before the Captioned Media Program became the Described and Captioned Media Program. To see the National Association of the Deaf's tribute to Dr. Bowe, please refer to the end of this article.]

Did You Know that Captioning for Television Started With the Captioned Films for the Deaf Program?

[Editor's note: Ms. McCann wrote this article in 2002. For a recent biography of the author, please refer to the end of this post.]

Organizations National Efforts Related to Deafness

John A. Gough, Director of Captioned Films for the Deaf invites groups of eight or more deaf persons to take advantage of this free-loan media program. A one-page paper that was written at a time when there was very little to no educational or special-interest films. From 1962.

Report from Captioned Films for the Deaf

Paper prepared for the Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf, February 5-7, 1968, Lincoln, Nebraska. Written by Dr. John A. Gough, the first chief of the Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) program. Overviews CFD activity in: (a) the acquisition of projectors and screens for every classroom in the U.S.; (b) training of teachers in media utilization; (c) distribution of captioned media reaching an annual total population of 200,000-250,000; (d) research in media utilization to increase language; and (e) production of filmstrips, 8mm loop films, and transparencies.

Comparison of an Interpreted and Captioned Newscast Among Deaf High School Graduates and Deaf College Graduates

The full dissertation submitted to the faculty of the graduate school at the University of Maryland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy by Dr. Malcolm Norwood (the "Father of Closed Captioning") in 1976. The study investigates the effectiveness of communicating verbal information to deaf persons using two different modes of presentation: print (captions) and sign language (interpreter). Concludes that the educational level of deaf persons determines the amount of verbal information received, regardless of the mode of presentation used; but the greatest amount of information is transmitted by captions.

Just Don't Scramble the Wrong Egg

Written by Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood in 1980 for the First National Conference on Captioning at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The author provides a captioning scale (for reading rate) employed at the time, and he details some of the early difficulties encountered in captioning films. Also explained is a method of captioning, utilized at the time for educational films, referred to as "syncapping," in which audio tracks are streamlined to match the captions.

Future Trends

Printed in the American Annals of the Deaf in 1974, Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood's article reminds readers that the "lifestyle of modern society is technologically oriented." Dr. Norwood indicates that the "name of the game today is educational services," and that his role in the government's Media Services and Captioned Films branch includes research in technology related to the handicapped child. He writes of the upcoming development of Learning Resource Centers. He emphasizes that "the utilization of television as a means of bringing deaf persons further into the mainstream of the general population also has a top priority."

Report of a Conference on the Utilization of Captioned Films for the Deaf

This conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, just two years after Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) was signed into federal law. Its goal was to review the background, brief history, and future plans of CFD. Speakers at the conference included Dr. Edmund B. Boatner and Dr. Clarence O'Connor, who were the founders of the CFD. The report also includes a list of participants, exhibits, and suggested topics for future discussions. Prepared by Patricia Cory, Librarian (Lexington School) and Conference Coordinator.

Nonverbal Films: Guidelines for Their Utilization with Deaf Learners

This article was written in 1980 by Salvatore J. Parlato, Jr., former National Coordinator of the BEH/CEASD Captioned Educational Films Selection Program located at the Rochester School for the Deaf, for the Symposium on Research and Utilization of Education Media for Teaching the Deaf. For many years an annual media symposium was held at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This paper discusses the transition of Hollywood and educational films from "audio-visual" to "verbal-visual," meaning that where words were once only supplements to a film, they now dominate. Covers some of the factors taken into consideration when analyzing nonverbal films for persons who are deaf and hard of hearing, such as subject matter, grade level, and production technique. Includes references, a bibliography, and two charts.