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• CAPTIONING

  • About Captioning

    • REAL-TIME CAPTIONING (#28)

      Explains real-time captioning, the difference in using real-time captioning for lectures/presentations and "live" broadcasts, and problems with accuracy.

    • HOW DO I GET MY MEDIA CAPTIONED? (#32)

      Explains the difference between "open" and "closed" captioning, what questions need to be asked, what needs to be done after receiving the captioned product, and its benefits.

    • CAPTIONED MOVIES AT LOCAL THEATERS (#34)

      Bill Stark and Teresa Rogers overview the current theater captioning options: Digital Theater Systems-Cinema Subtitling Systems (DTS-CSS), Mopix (Rear Window), USL Closed Captioning System (CSS) and CaptiView. Also provided are links to databases, a search engine to locate accessible movie listings throughout the U.S., and a brief statement on ADA standards for accessible design.

    • CAPTIONING TYPES, METHODS, AND STYLES (#38)

      Captions are the "audio" for persons with a hearing loss. Types vary according to how the captions appear, how they are accessed, and what information is provided. In addition, methods of captioning vary according to when they are created and displayed, and styles refer to the way captions are presented.

    • ASSISTIVE LISTENING TECHNOLOGY AND THE DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM (#75)

      What is "assistive listening technology"? What is included in other wide-area assistive listening systems and personal assistive listening devices? Beyond improving the signal-to-noise ratio, what are other ways that technology can help those with partial hearing maximize residual hearing? Is captioning an assistive technology, and is it important for deaf and hard of hearing persons? Dana Mulvany of the Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) provides the answers to these and other questions.

    • CAPTIONING: BROADCAST, OFF-LINE, AND REAL-TIME (#78)

      Other than captioned television, how would someone with a hearing loss find out about the newest developments in a conflict overseas or a heightened terror alert? How would they participate in a town hall meeting or a religious service? For 90 percent of these Americans who don't know sign language, the answers are: area broadcast captioning and CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation). Learn about Electronic News Room (ENR) captioning, the National Court Reporters Foundation, and why real-time captioning requires a unique combination of highly skilled professionals, plus more!

    • NEW AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDIA ACCESSIBILITY (#143)

      Gary Robson, who has written three books and over 50 articles about captioning, indicates that while captioning is more than 55 years old, it is still an emerging technology. Before a technology can really become commonplace, it must be affordable, reliable, and available. Mr. Robson overviews where captioning in DTV, DVD, the Internet, and movie theaters will be in the future and how it will evolve. He believes that the biggest changes we’ll see in traditional captioning over the next few years will be quality-related.

    • WHAT ARE CAPTIONS? (#170)

      Captioning enables those who are deaf and hard of hearing to have full access to media materials that otherwise would not be readily available. With an ever-expanding pool of captioning agencies providing a wider array of options, including technology, access to captioned audio materials has become an accessible learning tool for students with or without a hearing loss. Shannon Chenoweth, former DCMP management development specialist, helps answer many questions that librarians sometimes have, such as: What are captions? Are captions available on the Internet? How do I turn on the captions?

    • PROVIDING CAPTIONS FOR FLASH-BASED STREAMING VIDEO (#204)

      “How do I caption my streaming media?” “How can I caption my video for YouTube or my own Web site?” “How do I view captions on YouTube or Google Video?” “How can I caption my online advertisements?” No matter what type of Internet-based video you have online, captioning is a great way to get your message to the millions of people worldwide who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as to people who don’t have access to the audio on their computers. Captioning is a tool that helps promotes literacy for both children and adults, too. If you want to caption your streaming media, but don’t know how or are confused by all the information out there, Kevin Jones, the former DCMP information technologist, will walk you through it step-by-step in this article.

    • THE ESSENTIAL HIGHER ED CLOSED CAPTIONING GUIDE (#319)

      The proliferation of new media, ubiquity of lecture capture, increased enrollment of ESL learners, and growing regulations and litigation over accessibility has most higher education campuses renewing their focus on closed captioning. This white paper is intended to provide a guide to offer campus executives, technology managers, accessibility coordinators, and other decision makers the information they need to make informed decisions.

    • HOW DO I TURN ON CAPTIONS AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION IN MY MEDIA PLAYER? (#292)

      AccessIT provides information for turning on captions and audio description on various media players. The information provided addresses the difference between standalone and embedded players as well as step-by-step instructions on how to turn on their accessibility features. AccessIT is housed at the University of Washington and receives grant funding from the National Science Foundation.

    • ACCESSIBLE VIDEO: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? (#340)

      Videos can be a terrific medium for driving the point home, as long as the time is taken to ensure they’ll drive that point home for everyone – including those with impairments that might make audio or visual information difficult to process. Overviews captioning and description, and discusses the importance of each. By Carlin Headrick, Learning Insights, 2013.

    • ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR DIGITAL LEARNING PRODUCTS (#342)

      These 2011 guidelines were created to guide Pearson's development teams and are updated regularly with new techniques. Make educational Web media accessible to people with disabilities. Explains how to: 1) meet the international Web content accessibility guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium, specifically Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) at Level AA and 2) meet current U.S. Government Section 508 Standards, specifically § 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet information and applications.

  • Benefits of Captioning

    • WHAT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT CAPTIONING (#66)

      Author Pam Beck is manager of Cued Speech Discovery and Information Services for the National Cued Speech Foundation. Ms. Beck relates her experiences working with the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) staff in the production and captioning of a video designed to teach cued speech from the perspective of a person who is deaf or hard of hearing. The DCMP worked with Beck in developing methods for using slash marks in captioning to identify phonemic information and in simultaneous screen presentation of written and phonemic examples.

    • READ CAPTIONS ACROSS AMERICA! (#154)

      The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) launched the first “Read Captions Across America” campaign in 2006 as a part of the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual “Read Across America” initiative. This event is the nation’s largest reading celebration, focusing our attention on motivating children to read in addition to their mastering basic skills. Bill Stark explains what captions are, how they act as an instant reading incentive, and what reading benefits can occur from the use of captioning. The DCMP’s support to teachers, librarians, and others in making the activity a success is also overviewed.

    • WORKING TOGETHER FOR FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS: PEPNET AND THE DCMP (#270)

      PEPNet (Postsecondary Education Programs Network) is a U.S. Department of Education/Office of Special Education grant which provides resources and expertise to enhance educational opportunities for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Bambi Riehl, PEPNet-Midwest Outreach Specialist, writes about how PEPNe and the DCMP offer comprehensive assistance in the style, techniques, and technical considerations of captioning. Each of the two programs lending their particular expertise to assist stakeholders such as teachers, parents, vocational rehabilitation counselors, or administrators. DCMP provides guidelines and assistance in captioning media for the classroom, while PEPNet focuses on the use of speech-to-text services, such as CART, C-Print, and Typewell.

    • MEMPHIS PRINCIPAL PROMOTES CLOSED CAPTIONING ON TV TO HELP STUDENTS WITH READING (#296)

      Raychellet Williamson, principal at Shannon Elementary, promotes the power of closed captioning on TV. She models her program at Shannon Elementary after Finland’s national promotion of closed captioning, and she strongly believes the addition of closed captioning at home and in school will increase sight word recognition and standardized test scores.

    • ADVOCACY IN AUDIOLOGY: THE CASE FOR CAPTIONING (#316)

      From The Hearing Journal , 2013, an article by Lauren E. Storck. Dr. Storck is founder and president of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Collaborative for Communication Access via Captioning (CCAC). Lists and overviews the reasons why many people who need captioning do not ask for it, even though they may become increasingly excluded from education, employment, further training, healthcare, and social situations. The list is not all-inclusive; there are individual variations and many other contributing factors.

    • WEB CAPTIONING AND EDUCATION (#333)

      Captioning web multimedia is one of the biggest accessibility issues faced in education. Current technology and cost limitations make captioning, especially of live events, prohibitive for many in education. This article provides an overview of captioning technologies, implications for education, and ideas for future development. The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE), 2006.

    • CAPTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM: A HIDDEN LITERACY TOOL (#351)

      Education manager and Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf, Anne McGrath (Media Access Australia, 2013), talks through key pieces of research which identify the link between captions and literacy. Videos and multimedia are being used more and more in the classroom – a trend the new Australian curriculum certainly encourages. Using video not only allows for variety and engagement, but for a real benefit for students’ literacy: captions. Similar to foreign language subtitles, captions are the text version of audio, including speech, sounds, and music. Captions are essential for students who are deaf or hearing impaired and also have immense benefits for students learning an additional language, struggling readers, and visual learners.

  • Captioning Guidelines

    • CAPTIONING GUIDELINES FOR THE DCMP (#5)

      The NAD specifies captioning requirements, provides technical assistance to video companies and captioning service vendors regarding this captioning, and the DCMP performs a review of the captioning work. These guidelines list DCMP captioning specifications and requirements.

    • CAPTIONING KEY (#7)

      These guidelines and preferred techniques are provided primarily for companies performing DCMP captioning work, but they will be useful to anyone (agencies, schools, parents, and others) desiring to learn how to caption or better perform the task. An overview is provided of the types, methods, and styles of captioning; presentation rate; text; language mechanics; sound effects; music; foreign language/dialect; and other special considerations. In addition, a Spanish translation of the Captioning Key is also available for download and use. (Translation of the Captioning Key provided by Dicapta.)

    • CLOSED CAPTIONING STANDARDS AND PROTOCOL FOR CANADIAN ENGLISH LANGUAGE BROADCASTERS (#20)

      This 2004 manual provides general guidelines on closed captioning in Canada. Begins with the Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) regulatory standards for closed captioning. Explains how to correctly present the following caption types: off-line roll-up and pop-on, as well as on-line real-time, live-display, and teleprompter. Includes a chapter regarding the history of captioning in Canada.

    • CONTINUITY SCRIPT (#33)

      Defines, explains, and provides sample pages of continuity scripts. Required by captioning agencies, it is a printed copy of a video's dialogue or narration, identification of important sound effects, and other features.

    • CAPTIONING QUALITY CODE OF PRACTICE (#122)

      From the Deafness Forum of Australia Web site. Although this captioning manual grants permission to use American- and British-style captioning with like programs, Australian programs are required to follow Australian captioning guidelines. Covers basic issues of captioning, such as editing, presentation speed, and punctuation. Notes the use of “colour” to identify speakers and sound effects. Also addresses error rates and live captioning.

    • CANADIAN NETWORK FOR INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EXCHANGE: ONLINE ENHANCED CAPTIONING GUIDELINES (#196)

      From Canada, these guidelines focus on how to caption for Web-based media items. Topics include the following: the current state of captioning on the Web, tools for captioning on the Web, plenty of visual examples, and a bibliography of educational references. Also includes information on Web-based description for the blind or visually impaired. (Companion document to the Canadian Network for Inclusive Cultural Exchange: General Guidelines for Inclusive Online Cultural Content.)

    • CANADIAN NETWORK FOR INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EXCHANGE: GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR INCLUSIVE ONLINE CULTURAL CONTENT (#197)

      From Canada, these guidelines give a comprehensive review of existing web accessibility guidelines before beginning a discussion of accessibility techniques specific to online cultural content. The document outlines key considerations for creating inclusive online cultural content as well as for translating existing content to other modalities to make it accessible. Suggestions and guidance are provided to the reader around the concept of modality translation for each kind of translation specific to the online environment. Techniques for moving content between audio, visual, tactile and language modalities are discussed and explained at length. (Also see the companion document: Canadian Network for Inclusive Cultural Exchange: Online Enhanced Captioning Guidelines.)

    • CAPTION IT YOURSELF: BASIC GUIDELINES FOR BUSY TEACHERS, FAMILIES, AND OTHERS WHO SHOOT THEIR OWN VIDEO (#213)

      If you upload video to the Web, and that video includes sound, you should always include a text alternative, such as captions. You can CIY (Caption It Yourself)! In this article by Bill Stark, the types of audio information that you should caption, free tools to utilize in this effort, CIY guidelines, and a listing of CIY resources are all overviewed. As an added bonus, since most captioning for the Web relies on text, providing captions for your videos will ensure that they are indexed by search engines more quickly and accurately, meaning your video will reach more people.

    • THE CBC CAPTIONING STYLE GUIDE, 2003 (#218)

      These guidelines pertain exclusively to off-line roll-up closed captioning, as distinct from other styles of off-line closed captioning. Written by the CBC, they are intended to supplement those guidelines set forth in "The CAC Captioning Style Guide: General Guidelines for Off line Pop On Captions," which should be taken as the authoritative reference in the event of any omission from the present document.

    • CAPTIONING TIP SHEET (#225)

      This short, one-page document outlines the essential captioning guidelines found in the Captioning Key for Educational Media. Editing, speaker identification, sound effects, font, and other subjects related to how to caption are all covered in this for-print tip sheet.

    • THE CAPTIONING KEY (SPANISH TRANSLATION) (#52)

      A Spanish translation by Dicapta of the 2011 DCMP Captioning Key.

    • DOES CLOSED CAPTIONING STILL SERVE DEAF PEOPLE? (#369)

      An 11 minute video of a 2014 TEDxBozeman event. Gary Robson asks, “Does closed captioning still serve deaf people?” During his presentation, Robson addresses the history and long process of developing and making captions readily available to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Even though, captioning is now available, the FCC just recently enacted laws governing the quality of captions. Robson discusses the four components of caption quality while demonstrating how poor quality captions can significantly impact the lives of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  • Captioning Vendors

    • CAPTIONING SERVICE VENDORS (#10)

      Listing of captioning service vendors across the United States.

    • MAKING CAPTIONING PERFECT FOR THE DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM (#54)

      The author, general manager of Caption Perfect, Inc., indicates his captioning agency may not be “perfect,” but he has the goal to continuously improve. He indicates the importance of the DCMP-developed captioning guidelines, the Captioning Key for Educational Media, in all his captioning work to provide consistency of style. Because consumers are exposed to a variety of styles from the various captioning agencies, he finishes with a strong statement of support for the development of a common, standardized captioning style. He urges captioning agencies to work toward such a style.

  • History of Captioning

    • STEPS IN THE CLOSED-CAPTIONING PROCESS (#29)

      While there are five basic steps, captioning agencies may perform these differently. Reviews the transcript, formatting, time coding, checking and revision, and encoding steps.

    • DID YOU KNOW THAT CAPTIONING FOR TELEVISION STARTED WITH THE CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF PROGRAM? (#72)

      In 2002 Jo Ann McCann, the project officer for Closed Captioned Television Programming at the U.S. Department of Education, shared her insights in respect to the history of captioning, explained why the Department had been involved in closed captioning, and overviewed the types of television captioning the government supported at that time. Ms. McCann has been a pioneer in the captioning of children’s programming, sports, and Spanish-language broadcasts. She was trained and mentored in the Department of Education by Dr. Mac Norwood, the “Father of Closed Captioning.”

    • CAPTIONING FOR DEAF PEOPLE: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW (#80)

      A presentation given at Gallaudet University in 1988 by Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood. Reviews the history of captioning, including the signing of Public Law 85-905 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 2, 1958, which created the Captioned Films for the Deaf program (CFD). Credit is given to such captioning pioneers as Emerson Romero, Dr. Edmund B. Boatner, Dr. Clarence O'Connor, and J. Pierre Rakow.

    • FUTURE TRENDS (#82)

      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."

    • JUST DON'T SCRAMBLE THE WRONG EGG (#83)

      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.

    • COMPARISON OF AN INTERPRETED AND CAPTIONED NEWSCAST AMONG DEAF HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES AND DEAF COLLEGE GRADUATES (#85)

      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.

    • CLOSED-CAPTIONED TELEVISION: EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR HEARING-IMPAIRED LEARNERS (#114)

      Written in 1981 by Doris C. Caldwell, Special Assistant to the President of the National Captioning Institute (NCI) and former Coordinator of Programming for the Hearing Impaired at PBS, Ms. Caldwell points out that deaf children and adults improve their reading skills and broaden their vocabulary by reading captions. Having closed captions available to this segment of the population enables deaf audiences to experience what their hearing counterparts have enjoyed all along. To quote a letter sent to NCI: “I was thrilled. I have never voted because I could not hear to understand what the candidates were promising. The more NCI close captions, the more I will become interested in politics.”

    • CLOSED-CAPTION TELEVISION: TODAY AND TOMORROW (#115)

      This article, written in 1980 by Barry Jay Cronin, Ph.D., was prepared for the Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf. For many years an annual media symposium was held at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This paper provides a general background on the history of closed captioning and how it has evolved to that point. As Dr. Cronin states, “No technology can remain static and be successful for long.” Also explains what Line 21 is, and describes the closed-captioning process.

    • LINE 21: CLOSED CAPTIONING OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS--A PROGRESS REPORT: A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 1978 SYMPOSIUM ON RESEARCH AND UTILIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FOR TEACHING THE DEAF (#144)

      David Sillman was Manager of Engineering Planning at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) where his prime responsibility was development of closed-captioning technology. He overviews the events leading to the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare’s (HEW) interest in funding the development of such technology. PBS has contracted for the development of a commercial decoder suitable for mass production that could be used by the general public for the reception of closed-captioned television programs. After many years of experimental and preparatory work, it appears that the necessary combination of a closed-captioned transmission system, programming, and a practical home caption decoder can be brought together in the fall of 1979. To quote Sillman: “Let us hope this will signal the end of the exclusion of the hearing impaired from this significant part of our social and cultural life."

    • CAPTIONING AT WGBH-TV: A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 1978 SYMPOSIUM ON RESEARCH AND UTILIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FOR TEACHING THE DEAF (#147)

      Author Sharon Earley participated in the first captioning of “The Captioned ABC News” and in 1977 became the director of all caption center activities for the Caption Center at WGBH-TV. She overviews the debut of captioned news, overall development of captioning at WGBH, and captioning refinements that continued to be made in 1978. To quote Earley: "That the deaf community wanted television news to be captioned was no surprise to anyone. Dr. Malcolm Norwood had been aware of this longstanding need for years. But until 1973, it had seemed impossible.”

    • REAL-TIME CLOSED-CAPTIONED TELEVISION AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL (#149)

      Written by Martin H. Block and Marc Okrand, Ph.D. for the 1983 Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf American Annals of the Deaf. Covers the topic of real-time, or live, captioning which provides an opportunity and motivation to improve reading skills. Examines how this technology offers a new approach to providing access to classroom lectures and discussions. Reviews equipment needed as well as the sociological and educational implications surrounding the use of this type of captioning.

  • Research and Studies

    • TEACHER SURVEY OF CAPTIONED MEDIA (#22)

      A joint project of Gallaudet University and the National Center for Accessible Media from 1993-1996. Goals were to provide information to policy-makers and educators about the status of captioned media and educational technology in the education of deaf students.

    • VIEWER REACTION TO DIFFERENT CAPTIONED TELEVISION SPEEDS (#30)

      A study performed by the Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc. (IDRT), June 1997. Reprinted with permission. This paper includes graphs and charts relating to an experiment studying different captioning speeds. The test subjects included deaf and hard of hearing people as well as hearing people.

    • CAPTIONED MEDIA: TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF POTENTIAL VALUE FOR STUDENTS WITH NO HEARING IMPAIRMENTS (#51)

      This national survey conducted by Frank G. Bowe and Aviele Kaufman in 2002 focuses on 359 special educators from 45 states found that most perceive value in captioned media for some special education students, notably those who are English Language Learners and those classified as having specific learning disabilities. Results suggest that captioning technologies be explored in more depth, particularly since they are available to classroom teachers at the touch of a button.

    • CAPTIONING AGENCY TELEPHONE SURVEY RESULTS: APRIL 2004 (#98)

      A telephone survey was conducted by Cindy Camp of Jacksonville State University in April 2004. Twenty captioning agencies were randomly selected from readily available information on several Internet sites, and agency representatives were asked to respond to several questions. These questions included the pricing for captioning of a 30-minute video, turn-around time, additional fees or discounts, requirements for copyright permissions, if customer proofing/changes to the captioning were part of the pricing structure, and if the agency could provide Internet captioning.

    • THE HEARING-IMPAIRED LEARNER WITH SPECIAL NEEDS (#113)

      Written by Robert E. Stepp, Jr. for the Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf, held on March 31 and April 1-2, 1981, at the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education in Lincoln. This paper applauds the formation of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) which stipulates that special education and related services be specifically designed to meet the unique educational needs of a student with a disability. Suggests that variations on teaching methods should be incorporated into classroom instruction and that an assortment of teaching tools should be accessible to the teacher in accordance with a student’s learning ability and level of interest. Three subtopics are areas of concern because of their implications to the education of the hearing impaired: (1) giftedness, (2) developmental disabilities, and (3) deaf-blindness. Also includes a list of symposium presenters.

    • MEDIA DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED: PROJECT UPDATE (#117)

      A report written in 1981 by Dr. George Propp and Dr. Virginia Berman. Clarifies that the mission of the Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired (MDPHI) (now defunct) at the University of Nebraska was to be involved in the adaptation and development of instructional materials for hearing-impaired students in the areas of concept development and decision-making skills. This paper covers the steps involved in finding and developing appropriate materials, including search and locate, design and production, and evaluation. Charts are interspersed throughout the article.

    • PRESENTATION SPEED AND VOCABULARY IN CLOSED CAPTIONED TELEVISION (#121)

      Written by Dr. Carl Jensema and Ralph McCann in 1995, this paper addresses concerns regarding broadcast captioning, such as whether programs are captioned verbatim, how much editing is done, and what the presentation rate is. One hundred eighty-three prerecorded programs were selected for research. Includes tables that show the original script, words removed, words added, and the final captioned script of various programs. Also includes a list of the most frequently used words, with percentages, from the combination of the television programs used.

    • DEAF CONSUMERS’ VIEWS ABOUT CAPTIONING (#123)

      A study conducted by Carol J. LaSasso and Cynthia M. King in July of 1994. Presented in question/answer format. States that “it is important that deaf people have early input into decisions made by television manufactures and caption providers to ensure that captions meet the needs of the primary group for which they were developed.” Addresses the desire of persons who are deaf and hard of hearing to have the option of placing captions anywhere on the screen, as well as being able to choose from a variety of colors for the captions. Includes comments from deaf and hard of hearing participants.

    • TELEVISION CAPTIONS FOR HEARING-IMPAIRED PEOPLE: A STUDY OF KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECT READING PERFORMANCE (#124)

      This article, written in 1996 by Frank Thorn and Sondra Thorn, addresses the concern that some viewers are not receiving the benefits of captioning because the captions are too small or too fast for them to read. The authors designed a series of experiments to test this theory, focusing on (1) optical blur, (2) presentation speed, and (3) the acquisition of English as a first or second language. (Observers received eye exams before taking part in the study.) The results revealed that “both blur and fast presentation rate dramatically reduced reading accuracy,” and those with English as a first language performed better than those who have English as a second language. Suggests simultaneous captioning as a solution to these problems.

    • CAPTION FEATURES FOR INDICATING NON-SPEECH INFORMATION: RESEARCH TOWARD STANDARDIZATION (#125)

      Project funded in 1996 by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs and Gallaudet University. Studies the variations in captioning conventions for conveying non-speech information (NSI). NSI includes: identification of speaker, sound effects, music, manner of speaking, audience reaction, and indication of a title (book, film, newspaper, play, etc.). A total of 189 deaf and hard of hearing consumers in the study confirmed the importance of consistent presentation of this information. One implication that pertains to presentation rate is that while NSI is crucial in conveying information about plot, humor, mood, or meaning of a spoken passage, it does add more written language for the viewer to process. Pictures of the captioned clips used in the study are included.

    • NON-SPEECH INFORMATION IN CAPTIONED VIDEO: A CONSUMER OPINION STUDY WITH GUIDELINES FOR THE CAPTIONING INDUSTRY (#126)

      Prepared in 1995 by Judith E. Harkins, Ph.D; Ellie Korres; Beth Singer, M.S., CCC-A; and Barbara M. Virvan, M.S.W., with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education and Gallaudet University. “In television programs and movies, not all information is conveyed through dialogue.” That is what is at the heart of this paper: the importance of identifying sound effects, including music, mood, and an explanation of puns, to provide an inclusive and comprehensive viewing experience for persons who are deaf and hard of hearing. Includes findings and recommendations. Appendices include a questionnaire on the awareness of features and another on the demographic characteristics of the sample; a list of companies and organizations that responded to the draft guidelines; and a list of the advisors, consultants, and staff who participated in this study.

    • TELEVISION LITERACY: COMPREHENSION OF PROGRAM CONTENT USING CLOSED CAPTIONS FOR THE DEAF (#127)

      Elementary school deaf students were selected as participants in this 1998 study by Margaret S. Jelinek Lewis and Dorothy W. Jackson. They found that the time constraint of captions further compounded the literacy problem for deaf readers as captions move quickly off the screen. Deaf readers also exhibited a lack of fluent word reading, which adversely affects comprehension; word-reading fluency depended on the ability to recognize (effortlessly and automatically) letters, spelling patterns, and whole words. In addition, students who viewed captions at a slower pace of 78 wpm retained significantly more information than students who viewed captions at an average rate of 116 wpm.

    • ADVANCED TELEVISION CLOSED CAPTIONING: RESEARCH REPORT (#128)

      This 1998 report, prepared by the National Center for Accessible Data (NCAD) and the WGBH Research Department, discusses Advanced Television (ATV), a product which would allow the utilization of captioning features, such as flexibility of caption placement, color choices, and controlled reading rates. Fonts chosen for this study include: Helvetica, Times, and Monaco, with Helvetica being the clear choice of participants. Also includes reactions to the mix of an upper- and lowercase character format as opposed to all caps, and presents feedback on the two types of character spacing: mono and proportional. Photos of television clips that show various captioning styles are included, although difficult to read. Lots of participant feedback.

    • CLOSED-CAPTIONED PROMPT RATES: THEIR INFLUENCE ON READING OUTCOMES (#129)

      This paper, written in 1995 by Martha J. Meyer and Yung-bin Benjamin Lee, examines a study in which 140 reading-deficient students (from fourth, fifth, and sixth grades) were randomly assigned each to either: (a) an average-paced closed-captioned video, (b) a slow-paced closed-captioned video, or (c) printed text with no video. Results indicated significantly more learning occurs for those students using captioned video as compared to those utilizing only traditional print materials. Additionally, students assigned to the slow-paced prompt rate retained significantly more information than those viewing the average-paced captioning. (Causing them to conclude that prompt rates should be designed so that children with various reading speeds have enough time to read and process the information.)

    • A STUDY OF THE EYE MOVEMENT STRATEGIES USED IN VIEWING CAPTIONED TELEVISION (#130)

      This 2000 paper by Carl Jensema reports that deaf children might be totally ignoring captions on television programs until they are about seven years old and then start “utilizing captions bit by bit between the ages of seven and nine years. In other words, they may be ignoring captions until they have the reading skills to understand them, rather than utilizing captions to learn to read.” Research was continued (at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf) and reported on in the 2003 “The Relation Between Eye Movement and Reading Captions and Print by School-Age Deaf Children.” Conclusions included affirmations that captioned television programs are complex reading material, requiring the reader to obtain information from both a moving picture and words flashed on the screen. Deaf children are supposed to “split his or her attention between the picture and the captions according to some personal formula that maximizes the information gained.” Cites the use of the EyeGaze system, which was initially intended as a communications device for quadriplegics, to measure eye movement. Includes diagrams of eye movement patterns based on the age of the participants.

    • CAPTIONS AND READING RATES OF HEARING-IMPAIRED STUDENTS (#131)

      This 1980 paper, written by Edgar Shroyer and Jack Birch, examines the results of a study in which 185 randomly selected hearing-impaired students from residential schools participated. Indicates that normal extempore speech is measured at 159 words per minute (wpm), and that speech and language on television and films approximates this rate. Finds that if speech on television/films is synchronized in content and speed with captions, approximately 84 percent (%) of hearing-impaired students are not able to read it. (That is, 84% of the students in the study possess reading rates below the 159 wpm of extempore speech.) Notes that other research indicates that the linguistic level of captions would further significantly compounded students’ reading rate difficulties. Also finds that the mean wpm reading rate of primary students in their study is 123.7.

    • A NOTE ON CARRYING CAPTIONS OVER A SHOT CHANGE (#132)

      This paper, written in 1999 by Carl Jensema, Ph.D. and Ramalinga Sarma Danturthi, Ph.D., retraces the research done by Dr. Kenneth G. O’Bryan at the Children’s Television Workshop and his creation of the term “shot change.” A shot change refers to a sudden change in the picture shown on the screen. His studies suggest that when this occurs, the viewer goes back and rereads the caption. In this article, Jensema and Danturthi put his theory to the test. Results conclude that viewers do not always react the same way to a shot change; hence, eye movement is unpredictable. Includes eye movement diagrams.

    • TIME SPENT VIEWING CAPTIONS ON TELEVISION PROGRAMS (#133)

      This 1999 paper by Carl Jensema, Ramalinga Sarma Danturthi, and Robert Burch reports on the eye movements of 23 deaf subjects, ages 14 to 61, while they watched captioned television programs. It discloses that the viewers in the study spent about 84 percent (%) of their television viewing time looking at the program’s captions, at the video picture 14% of the time, and off the video 2% of the time. (“Off video” was due to eye blinks and normal eye movement.) Concludes that much exposure to print was “bound to influence reading skills.” (Note: The DCMP educational and training materials are selected in large part because of their pictorial component, and thus it is imperative that the presentation rate of captions not prohibit opportunity to learn from this component.)

    • FINAL REPORT: THE RELATION BETWEEN EYE MOVEMENT AND READING CAPTIONS AND PRINT BY SCHOOL-AGE DEAF CHILDREN (#134)

      This 2003 report by Carl Jensema states that the average hearing child spends 30 hours a week TV viewing and that this same amount of “TV time” is spent by their deaf peers. Because of this, it is estimated that deaf children spend more time reading captions than they do printed material. This study, three years in the making, examines how reading captions relates to the overall reading skills development of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Various tables and figures accompany this article. Research was conducted at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

    • FINAL REPORT: CAPTION SPEED AND VIEWER COMPREHENSION OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS (#135)

      Dr. Carl Jensema and Dr. Robb Burch examine speed rate and viewer understanding of closed-captioned TV programs in this 1999 research paper. Third in a study of caption rates (first one in 1996 showed medium caption rate to be 141 wpm; second one in 1998 showed rate increased to 145 wpm), this study shows that the reading rate which persons who are deaf or hard of hearing are most comfortable with is 220 wpm. Asks two questions for the basis of this research: “What caption speeds are likely to lead to the highest understanding and retention of information?” and “How do these optimal caption speeds vary with age, sex, degree of hearing loss, education, household size, and frequency of caption viewing?” Includes tables and figures.

    • THE STATE OF CLOSED CAPTIONING SERVICES IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY, AVAILABILITY, AND USE (#136)

      This 2003 survey finds that 36 percent of 203 respondents (deaf, hard of hearing, and ESL) report that captions move too fast. The study was conducted by the Annenburg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and sponsored by the National Captioning Institute Foundation. Looks at the implementation and utility of closed captions in several ways: (1) through the actual programming, (2) from the perspective of the various audiences, and (3) from the industries charged with providing the captioning. TiVo and news samples were used for this study. One example has a clip from CNN were the audio states: “Closed Captioning provided by ISC, Invention Submission Corporation,” yet there are no closed captions onscreen. Programs that received positive comments about their closed captioning include: “60 Minutes,” “CSI,” “NYPD Blue,” and the children’s show “Arthur,” to name a few. Tables and figures are interspersed throughout the article. Includes a list of other reports done by Annenburg and in what years.

    • FINAL REPORT: PRESENTATION RATE AND READABILITY OF CLOSED CAPTIONED TELEVISION (#137)

      Written by Carl Jensema in 1997. Objectives of this report were to (1) establish an advisory board, (2) establish a measurement system, (3) obtain and analyze off-air data, (4) develop video materials, (5) obtain and analyze child data, (6) obtain and analyze adult data, (7) compose the final report, (8) disseminate findings, and (9) submit all monthly reports, as well as the final report. Appendix includes three journal articles produced by the project, including: “Presentation Speed and Vocabulary in Closed-Captioned Television” (1995), “Closed-Caption Television Presentation Speed and Vocabulary” (1996), and “Viewer Reaction to Different Captioned Television Speeds” (1997).

    • WORD FREQUENCY IN CAPTIONED TELEVISION (#138)

      Written by Carl Jensema and Michele Rovins. This paper states, “There are more than 500,000 words in the English language, but a person who masters the use of 250 words . . . will recognize more than two-thirds of all words shown in television captions.” For people with limited reading skills, this is a great advantage. The list was created by taking scripts from the various television programs utilized in the study and combining them. Such words include: “the,” “before,” “around,” “please,” “yeah,” and many others. The table showing the complete list of words is located on the last page of the article.

    • VIDEODISC UPDATE (#150)

      The Media Development Project for the Hearing Impaired (MDPHI) has been involved in the design and production of “videodisc” programs since December 1978. In this 1980 paper, George Propp, Gwen Nugent, and Casey Stone examine the use of videodiscs to promote education. The disc is designed to be used with an educational/industrial player for individualized use, much like a book. A student can view the materials at his or her own pace in a sequence either predetermined by the teacher or selected by the user. Discs would include teachers' guides, quizzes, and various exercises. Includes studies on the use of the discs by students.

    • ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES. ERIC DIGEST NO. 189 (#160)

      Assistive technology is defined as "any technology that enables an adult with learning disabilities to compensate for specific deficits" (Gerber and Reiff 1994). Many software developments that were not specifically designed for persons with disabilities are proving to be of great assistance in increasing, maintaining, or improving functioning. Assistive technology ranges from low to high tech, the choice depending on the individual, the function to be performed, and the context (Riviere 1996). An example for auditory processing is videotapes with closed captioning. Several other examples are also provided.

    • COMPARISON OF VIDEO AND TEXT NARRATIVE PRESENTATIONS ON COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY ACQUISITION (#161)

      This 1998 study investigated the effect of video and narrative presentations on children's comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Participants were students in four heterogeneously grouped eighth-grade English classes (n=16, 22, 21, and 11) in a rural school district in southwestern New York. The short story selected was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed League." It was chosen for its difficulty level--the text is at the instructional level of most of the students involved. Each class received a different mode of instruction: one class read the story to themselves; another class viewed a video rendition of the story; another class saw the same video but had captions included on the screen; the final class both read the text version to themselves during class and then viewed the video the following class period. A pretest (a matching test) and a posttest (the same matching test with answers in a different order, a series of multiple choice questions to measure comprehension and recall, and a short-answer evaluation question to measure critical thinking) were given. Significant findings are that students who read the text had greater vocabulary acquisition, while students who viewed the video showed a greater comprehension of the story. It appears that video watching has a positive effect on comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition seems to be positively affected when coupled with text. Closed captioning is a recent positive addition to teaching reading through television and video. Authors: Podszebka, Darcy; Conklin, Candee; Apple, Mary; Windus, Amy.

    • ERIC DIGESTS AND DATABASE REPORTS ON CAPTIONING RESEARCH RESULTS (NINE REPORTS) (#162)

      Included are nine ERIC reports: (1) “Closed-Captioned Prompt Rates: Their Influence on Reading Outcomes.,” (2) “Closed Captioned TV: A Resource for ESL Literacy Education.,” (3) “Closed Captioned Television for Adult LEP Literacy Learners.,” (4) "ESL Literacy for a Linguistic Minority: The Deaf Experience.,” (5) “Literacy Instruction Through Communicative and Visual Arts.,” (6) "ESL Instruction for Learning Disabled Adults.,” (7) “Using the Technology of Closed-Captioned Television to Teach Reading to Handicapped Students: Performance Reports,” (8) “Using Captioned TV for Teaching Reading: FASTBACK 359,” and (9) “The Effectiveness of Television Captioning on Comprehension and Preference.”

    • THE EFFECTS OF CLOSED-CAPTIONED TELEVISION ON THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) STUDENTS (#163)

      This 1999-2000 study investigated the effects of closed-captioned TV (CCTV) on the listening comprehension of intermediate English as a second language (ESL) students. Thirty students with intermediate levels of ESL proficiency participated in this study. Since vocabulary/phrase acquisition and comprehension are main factors that influence the success/failure of listening comprehension, this research also examined the effects of CCTV on these two subscales. The correlations between the listening comprehension and other factors-—starting age of ESL instruction, length of time in the United States, length of ESL instruction, length of time in private language schools, length of time with tutors, and length of time traveling in English speaking countries—were inspected as well. Subjects' perceptions of the effects of CCTV on ESL learning were also covered in the study. The results of the research showed that CCTV helped ESL students' general comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and listening comprehension. However, all other factors examined in the study, such as age of starting ESL instruction, length of ESL instruction, etc., did not correlate with the listening comprehension test.

    • READING OUT OF THE "IDIOT BOX": SAME-LANGUAGE SUBTITLING ON TELEVISION IN INDIA (#164)

      Study by Brij Kothari, Avinash Pandey, and Amita R. Chudgar, 2005. The results of a pilot study to test the effectiveness of SLS (Same Language Subtitling) of film songs on the reading skills of out-of-school people. With limited exposure to SLS within a telecast period of 6 months, SLS was found to make an incremental but measurable contribution to decoding skills across the group that generally saw the subtitled TV program (as compared to those who did not). The potential of SLS in India and other countries is enormous. The idea is especially powerful in popular culture for scriptacy skill improvement, motivation of nonscriptates, increasing viewers' exposure of interaction with print from early childhood, and increasing media access among the deaf.

    • THE EFFECTS OF KEYWORD CAPTIONS TO AUTHENTIC FRENCH VIDEO ON LEARNER COMPREHENSION (#165)

      A study by Helen Gant Guillory in 1998. The three different amounts of text used were compared: full text, keywords, and no text. The results of the experiment showed that the keyword captions group outperformed the no-text group and that the full text captions group outperformed the keyword captions group. However, a post-hoc analysis revealed no significant difference between the means of the full text captions group and the keyword captions group. The positive effect of both keyword and full text captions on comprehension, the basic research hypothesis, was confirmed.

    • LISTENING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH MULTIMEDIA (#166)

      As multimedia technology becomes more accessible to teachers and learners of other languages, its potential as a tool to enhance listening skills becomes a practical option. Multimedia allows integration of text, graphics, audio, and motion video in a range of combinations. This paper examines multimodal processing and its implications for listening skills development in a foreign or second language. When multiple forms of input may hypothetically cause interference or cognitive/perceptual overload, studies involving second- and foreign-language students and subtitled video provide strong counterevidence. These combined media, on the contrary, appear to enrich both processing and recall of the target language. Furthermore, including visuals for listening skills development finds support when rates of spoken language and the human ability to process incoming aural information are considered. Research by Carla Meskill, University of Albany, State University of New York in 1996.

    • THE CASE FOR REAL-TIME CAPTIONING IN CLASSROOMS (#167)

      The inclusion of captions in a classroom dramatically increases a deaf or hard of hearing person's ability to comprehend the speaker. In addition, providing captions to hearing people also seems to enhance verbal comprehension. The increased comprehension for both hearing and deaf students will likely lead to a better learning environment and improved information transfer between the teacher and the students. Author Aaron Steinfeld is a researcher at the National Robotics Engineering Consortium at Carnegie Mellon University. The material from this article is drawn from his 1999 dissertation "The Benefit of Real-Time Captions in a Classroom Environment."

    • THE USE OF TELEVISION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERACY (#168)

      Considers the implications of the uses of film and television on the teaching of reading. The research, conducted by Bethan Marshall in 1997, looks at the practices of two primary schools in west London. Teachers used the television series "Rat a tat tat," designed to help children read, both by encouraging an enthusiasm for books and stories and by focusing on the mechanics of reading. Comments from teachers include: (1) "The use of television seemed to encourage children to use books. Children were interested in seeing books come to life, and this was motivating and confidence building," (2) ". . . I think that the television series has in some way made the books used even more attractive," and (3) "The series has made me change my expectations of some children because it allows you to watch them and see what they can do. They’ll sometimes read things from the screen that you didn't know they could, or they'll come with a different attitude to the books they have seen on the screen."

    • ZERO TO SIX: ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN THE LIVES OF INFANTS, TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS (#169)

      This study has documented a potentially revolutionary phenomenon in American society: the immersion of our very youngest children, from a few months to a few years old, in a world of electronic and interactive media. The impact on the very youngest children, who are at such a critical developmental age, is unknown. Significant findings addressed include: (1) children six and under spend an average of two hours a day with screen media, mostly TV and videos, (2) a high proportion of very young children are using new digital media, including 50 percent of four- to six-year-olds who have played video games and 70 percent who have used computers, (3) many parents see media as an important educational tool, beneficial to their children’s intellectual development, and (4) parents clearly perceive that their children’s TV watching has a direct effect on their behavior, and are more likely to see positive rather than negative behaviors being copied. A Kaiser Family Foundation Report (2003) by Victoria J. Rideout, Elizabeth A. Vandewater, and Ellen A Wartella.

    • HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (#171)

      “A running joke in this country is that television is as good as a babysitter.” While there is bad programming out there, there is very good programming as well. And for ESL students, television can help to teach language, culture, and even reading skills. Students need assistance to develop active viewing habits, so that they not only watch shows but think about them as well. “Television is our most pervasive communication mode. We should not try to compete with it, rather we should harness its power to make it work for us . . .” Also overviews the options of using closed captioning, pointing out that in the early nineties it was estimated that some 40 percent of closed-captioning viewers were people who were learning English as a second language. Written by Katherine Latta, 2003.

    • EDUCATORS FLOCKING TO FINLAND, LAND OF LITERATE CHILDREN (#172)

      Imagine an educational system where children do not start school until they are seven, where spending is a paltry $5,000 a year per student, where there are no gifted programs, and class sizes often approach 30. A prescription for failure, no doubt, in the eyes of many experts, but in this case, a description of Finnish schools that were ranked the world's best in 2003. Finland topped a respected international survey, coming in first in literacy and placing in the top five in math and science. How did Finland, which was hobbled by a deep recession in the 1990s, manage to outscore 31 other countries, including the United States? Read this article to learn the answer. One factor listed: "Children grow up watching television shows and movies (many in English) with subtitles. So they read while they watch TV." By Lizette Alvarez, April 9, 2004, The New York Times.

    • TELEVISION GOES TO SCHOOL: THE IMPACT OF VIDEO ON STUDENT LEARNING IN FORMAL EDUCATION (#173)

      Today’s children are growing up surrounded by television and video. Visual media is already an essential component of classroom instruction, with almost all teachers employing video in some form in their teaching. As the presence of broadband, digital media, and streaming video increases, the likelihood is that video will become an even more essential classroom resource. A resource provided by the Education Department of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, January 2004.

    • DOES TELEVISION ROT YOUR BRAIN? NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE COLEMAN STUDY (#174)

      Heterogeneity is used in the timing of television’s introduction to different local markets to identify the effect of preschool television exposure on standardized test scores later in life. The writers’ preferred point estimate indicates that an additional year of preschool television exposure raises average test scores by about .02 standard deviations. Read Matthew Gentzkow’s and Jesse Shapiro’s article to learn more. January 2006.

    • LEARNING FROM TELEVISION: A RESEARCH REVIEW (#175)

      Traditionally, educators have perceived television as not particularly beneficial to literacy development. Concerns were fueled by findings suggesting that, with the introduction of television, people spend less time reading books, and reading scores decline. However, as our society is striving to make adjustments to the decline in literacy skills and new ways of learning and teaching are being explored, educators are becoming interested in exploring the educational potential of television and video for teaching basic literacy skills such as reading, writing, and math. By Babette Moeller, October 1996.

    • LEARNING WITH TECHNOLOGY: EVIDENCE THAT TECHNOLOGY CAN, AND DOES, SUPPORT LEARNING. (#176)

      “We’ve wired the schools—now what?” This question resonates with educators and troubles them at the same time. After countless local and national efforts have boosted the infrastructure of our schools, the significant issues now arise. Should we continue to pump money into educational technology for our schools? Do computers really help students learn? How can students and teachers best learn from the World Wide Web and its contents? James M. Marshall, Ph.D., touches upon these questions and many more. May 2002.

    • DIGITAL BEGINNINGS: YOUNG CHILDREN'S USE OF POPULAR CULTURE, MEDIA AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES (#177)

      This report presents the findings of a study that took place from September 2004 to July 2005. The study explored young children’s (aged from birth to six) use of popular culture, media, and new technologies in the home through a survey of 1,852 parents and caretakers of children.

    • AN EXAMINATION OF TWENTY LITERACY, SCIENCE, AND MATHEMATICS PRACTICES USED TO EDUCATE STUDENTS WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING (#209)

      The results of a multistep process to begin identifying best practices in deaf education are presented. To identify current practices, a survey was conducted of the literature, the Web sites of professional organizations, and states' education Web sites, which yielded a number of commonly discussed practices. Ten of the more highly cited practices in literacy instruction and 10 of the more highly cited practices in science and mathematics instruction were identified for additional scrutiny. Hundreds of articles were examined to identify research support for the 20 identified practices. Some practices had adequate research support; others had minimal support. The authors identify each of the 20 practices, describe the practice, present a summary of the literature that was examined, and rate the usefulness of the knowledge base relative to a "best practice" designation.

    • CLOSED CAPTIONED TV: A RESOURCE FOR ESL LITERACY EDUCATION (#210)

      It has been four years since the publication of "Closed Captioned Television for Adult ESL Literacy Learners" (Spanos & Smith, 1990). Since that time, interest in the subject has been growing among teachers, students, and researchers. What is new in closed-captioned television (CCTV)? Recent technological, pedagogical, and regulatory developments have heightened awareness and appreciation of the medium's educational potential. This digest reports on new captioning legislation that increases access to captioned programs and on new research, technology, and uses of closed captions in the field of adult ESL.

    • USING CAPTIONED TELEVISION TO IMPROVE THE READING PROFICIENCY OF LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENTS (#214)

      This study (by the National Captioning Institute) analyzes whether comprehensible input in the form of captioned television might influence bilingual students’ acquisition of vocabulary and conceptual knowledge in science. Results indicated that subjects who utilized closed captioning consistently outscored others in word knowledge as well as recall of science information. An analysis of word-related and video-related factors suggested that contexts that provided explicit information yielded higher vocabulary gains. Overall, this study documents the power of captioned television in the acquisition of literacy and conceptual knowledge for bilingual students.

    • SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET 2008 (#215)

      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.

    • EDUCATIONAL MEDIA PRODUCER & ACCESSIBILITY SURVEY RESULTS (#226)

      In June 2008 an important survey was conducted of 35 educational media producers/distributors in the United States. Each company was asked about its products and whether they were accessible, either via captioning or description (or if both were available), as well as other questions. Unfortunately, the numbers don't add up to 100% equal access, but with consumer advocacy, they can.

    • READING OUT OF THE “IDIOT BOX”: SAME-LANGUAGE SUBTITLING ON TELEVISION IN INDIA (#255)

      Same language subtitling (SLS) is the idea of subtitling the lyrics of song-based television programs (e.g., music videos) in the same language as the audio. Situated in a literature review of subtitling, this article describes the first-ever implementation of SLS on a TV program of film songs, specifically first-language literacy. “Chitrageet,” a weekly 30-minute TV program of Gujarati film songs, was telecast across Gujarat state in India, with the lyrics subtitled in Gujarati. Discusses the results of the pilot study to test the effectiveness of SLS of film songs on the reading skills of out-of-school people. With limited exposure to SLS within a telecast period of 6 months, SLS was found to make an incremental but measurable contribution to decoding skills across the group that generally saw the subtitled TV program (as compared to those who did not). The idea is especially powerful in popular culture for literacy improvement, increasing viewers’ exposure and interaction with print from early childhood, and increasing media access among the deaf.

    • THE EFFECTS OF CAPTIONS ON DEAF STUDENTS' CONTENT COMPREHENSION, COGNITIVE LOAD, AND MOTIVATION IN ONLINE LEARNING (#274)

      In 2011, the authors, Joong-O Yoon and Minjeong Kim, examined the effects of captions on deaf students' content comprehension, cognitive load, and motivation in online learning. The participants in the study were 62 deaf adult students who had limited reading comprehension skills and used sign language as a first language. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control group or the experimental group. The independent variable was the presence of captions, and the dependent variables were content comprehension, cognitive load, and motivation. The study applied a posttest-only control group design. The results of the experiment indicated a significant difference (t = -2.16, p < .05) in content comprehension but no statistically significant difference in cognitive load and motivation between the two groups. These results led to suggestions for improvements in learning materials for deaf individuals. (American Annals of the Deaf, v.156, no. 3, Summer 2011).

    • THE BENEFIT TO THE DEAF OF REAL-TIME CAPTIONS IN A MAINSTREAM CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT (#275)

      A dissertation submitted by Aaron Steinfeld, University of Michigan, 1999. Guidelines for the developers of captioning devices were made: (1) Real-time captions (RTC) are beneficial for both deaf and hearing students; (2) Location of a RTC display (desk or podium) has no impact on recall performance; (3) RTC devices should display at least four lines of text. However, there is only theoretical support for displays of more than four lines of text; (4) Higher amounts of sentence lag seem to improve performance (up to two lines or 6 seconds). It is possible that larger levels of lag may result in decreased performance; (5) A higher rate of presentation (200 vs. 160 wpm) appears to have a negative impact on performance for deaf subjects when lag is present, and; (6) Users are reasonably good at determining their ideal device parameters given the opportunity to experience their choices. However, deaf users may perform better with lag even though their preference for it is low.

    • AUTISTIC SPECTRUM, CAPTIONS AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#312)

      Recent research conducted by Judith Garman Fellowes has revealed that audio description and captions can be of benefit to (and are used by) people on the autistic spectrum. Many of the arguments for a more accessible environment either physical or digital start off with arguments like ‘ramps for wheelchair users are helpful for seniors and young mothers with baby buggies.' Captions and audio description are a metaphorical ramp and provide a different kind of value to people on the autistic spectrum.

    • MOVIE SUBTITLES READING SKILLS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN (#320)

      In a paper written in 2010, Michele Viana Minucci and Maria Silvia Cárnio evaluate the skills involved in reading movie subtitles of second and fourth graders of students at a public school. Considering the skills and the subtitles reading level, fourth graders presented a significant better performance when compared to the second graders. Fourth graders presented skills related to the levels of literal comprehension and independent comprehension, whereas second graders where mostly at the decoding level. In conclusion: second graders are at the textual decoding level of movie subtitles, while fourth graders are at the literal comprehension level of movie subtitles. This indicates that schooling has an influence on the reading of movie subtitles.

    • EFFECT OF CAPTION RATE ON THE COMPREHENSION OF EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION PROGRAMMES BY DEAF SCHOOL STUDENTS (#323)

      Published in Deafness and Education International (2009), several experts investigate how the rate of caption delivery affects the comprehension of educational programmes by better- and poorer-reading deaf school children. Participants watched three short documentaries, with captions presented at 90, 120, or 180 words per minute (wpm). Across both reading levels, comprehension was uniformly higher at 90 and 120 wpm than at 180 wpm. These results suggest that the rate of captions in children’s television programmes can safely use 120 wpm as a slowest speed.

    • IMPACT OF CAPTIONED VIDEO INSTRUCTION ON NIGERIAN HEARING-IMPAIRED PUPILS' PERFORMANCE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE (#290)

      This study investigated impact of captioned video instruction on Nigerian hearing impaired pupils’ performance in English language. The experimental group was exposed to captioned video instruction while the control group was taught using the conventional teaching method for the hearing impaired. The study concluded that both instructional strategies were effective in giving English language instruction to hearing impaired pupils, as performance of the two groups did not indicate any significant difference and gender did not influence their performance either. Consequently, it was recommended that teachers should be trained to design and develop captioned video.

    • RESEARCH ON CLOSED CAPTIONING (#295)

      At the PAC3 at JALT Conference (2001), Gordon Liversidge discusses research showing that the presence of captioning aids comprehension and/or acquisition. However, most studies do not consider the link between viewing and activities. The first section explains the regional and disciplinary fragmentation of closed captioning research. The second section introduces comprehensive studies each of which contain a number of experiments. The third section presents smaller experiments that examine specific questions.

    • CAPTION VIEWER SURVEY: ERROR RANKING OF REAL-TIME CAPTIONS IN LIVE TELEVISION NEWS (#300)

      The WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) reported in 2010 that it was conducting the Caption Accuracy Metrics Project (funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research) to explore using language-processing tools to develop a prototype automated caption accuracy assessment system for real-time captions in live TV news programming. Captioning mandates designed to provide equal access to television have resulted in more accessible programming, but a shortage of skilled professionals and the downward pressure on rates by program providers has created the need for a common and automated method of measuring accuracy and quality of real-time captions. Consumers were presented with error samples. Then, they were asked to indicate their overall opinion of caption quality and to select one of a number of statements that best reflected their general opinion about caption errors in live newscasts. Over 50% indicated that many real-time caption errors are minor but 42% indicated that caption errors negatively impacted their ability to understand what was spoken. Only 6% of respondents felt that real-time captions were generally accurate.

    • ON-SCREEN PRINT: THE ROLE OF CAPTIONS AS A SUPPLEMENTAL LITERACY TOOL (#310)

      Children living in poverty are 1.3 times as likely as non-poor children to experience reading difficulties and lack key oral experiences that contribute to early literacy development. The purpose of this research was to study the effects of viewing commercially available educational television with closed captions. Overall, these results support the developing body of evidence that early readers can learn to read and gain a clearer understanding of new words while viewing existing children’s educational programming with print on-screen. Interestingly, these results also suggest that television captioning increases attention to and subsequent comprehension of television content. If the goal is to help children learn to recognize and subsequently understand the meaning of new words as well as transfer specific literacy content into more generalized literacy skills, then turning the closed captions option on while children are watching television at home or in school is a good starting point. Reported in the Journal of Research in Reading in 2010 from research conducted by the University of Kansas and the University of Pennsylvania.

    • TOWARD A THEORY OF MEDIA RECONCILIATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF CLOSED CAPTIONING (#311)

      Dissertation prepared by Nicole Elaine Snell, Clemson University, 2012. Ms. Snell’s project was an interdisciplinary empirical study that explores the emotional experiences resulting from the use of the assistive technology closed captioning. More specifically, the study focused on documenting the experiences of both deaf and hearing multimedia users in an effort to better identify and understand those variables and processes that are involved with facilitating and supporting connotative and emotional “meaning-making.”

    • SUBTITLING AND THE RELEVANCE OF NON-VERBAL INFORMATION IN POLYGLOT FILMS (#315)

      A paper by Elena Sanz Ortega, University of Edinburgh, U.K., in 2011. Examines the important role which non-verbal information can play in polyglot films (films in multiple languages) at horizontal and vertical levels. As films belonging to this film genre often portray the misunderstandings that exist amongst cultures, they tend to include characters who speak different languages. In relation to this, multimodal analysis suggests that non-verbal components help characters to communicate and are also used to convey information to the audience in situations where fictional characters do not speak. It is in this latter situation where non-verbal information plays its most important role. Consequently, it is necessary for subtitlers to leave enough time for viewers to catch the non-verbal signs in order for them to understand the communication problems that fictional characters experience.

    • NONVERBATIM CAPTIONING IN DUTCH TELEVISION PROGRAMS: A TEXT LINGUISTIC APPROACH (#317)

      In the Netherlands, as in most other European countries, closed captions for the deaf summarize texts rather than render them verbatim. Caption editors argue that this way television viewers have enough time to both read the text and watch the program. They also claim that the meaning of the original message is properly conveyed. However, many deaf people demand verbatim subtitles so that they have full access to all original information. They claim that vital information is withheld from them as a result of the summarizing process. Linguistic research was conducted in order to: (a) identify the type of information that is left out of captioned texts and (b) determine the effects of nonverbatim captioning on the meaning of the text. The differences between spoken and captioned texts were analyzed on the basis of on a model of coherence relations in discourse. One prominent finding is that summarizing affects coherence relations, making them less explicit and altering the implied meaning.

    • THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND SPANISH LANGUAGE CAPTIONS ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENING/READING COMPREHENSION (#327)

      The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using Spanish captions, English captions, or no captions with a Spanish language soundtrack on intermediate university-level Spanish as a Foreign Language students’ listening/reading comprehension. These findings indicate that intermediate-level foreign language students’ listening comprehension/reading comprehension can be substantially enhanced via the use of captions in English or Spanish.

    • LET A BILLION READERS BLOOM: SAME LANGUAGE SUBTITLING (SLS) ON TELEVISION FOR MASS LITERACY (#348)

      An estimated 250 million officially "literate" people in India cannot read a simple text. Same Language Subtitling (SLS) aims to make reading an integral part of the everyday life of all so-called "literate" people in India, especially the 250 million or so "literates" who quite possibly cannot yet read the day’s newspaper headlines. The challenge is to transition large numbers of these budding readers to a functional reading level. By Brij Kothari, 2008.

    • SAME LANGUAGE SUBTITLING ON TV: IMPACT ON BASIC READING DEVELOPMENT AMONG CHILDREN AND ADULTS (#349)

      Same Language Subtitling (SLS) was implemented on two nationally telecast Hindi film song programs, Chitrahaar and Rangoli, between 2002 to present. SLS was designed to enable automatic and subconscious reading practice among over 100 million early literates for one hour/week. This study revisited more than 13,000 illiterates and semi-literates randomly drawn from five states, to get a snap-shot of their reading skills at the baseline before the SLS intervention (2002), a year later (2003), and again in 2007. Conclusion: SLS contributes significantly to reading improvement. By Brij Kothari, Tathagata Bandyopadhyay and Debanjan Bhattacharjee, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. (2007).

    • BENEFITS OF SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETING AND TEXT ALTERNATIVES FOR DEAF STUDENTS’ CLASSROOM LEARNING OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006 (#350)

      Presents findings, which combined with other recent studies, suggest that there is no inherent advantage or disadvantage to print materials (C-Print or CART) relative to high-quality sign language in the classroom. By the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the University of Aberdeen, the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, the University of Western Sydney, Radboud University Nijmegen, and the University of New England. (2006).

    • USING CAPTIONS TO REDUCE BARRIERS TO NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT SUCCESS (#364)

      From the author: “Americans talk about captions as if they were only for foreign films. The problem with such an assumption is that it creates an illusion that the benefit of captions does not extend past translation. This article examines the extent to which using closed-captioned video material in the college classroom can be a useful universal teaching tool in enabling Native American and Alaska Native student achievement. Central in this discussion is a presentation of two years of preliminary data from an ongoing observational study of student success in my American Indian Studies 150 course on ‘American Indian history in the United States.’ This study addresses the infrequently recognized phenomenon that captions can assist not only students with diagnosed learning disabilities, but also so-called ‘normal learners,’ or the learning abled, to improve their recol¬lection of information from videos that are used to complement lectures.” By Robert Keith Collins, published in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 2013.

  • Spanish

    • CHILDREN, MEDIA, AND RACE: MEDIA USE AMONG WHITE, BLACK, HISPANIC, AND ASIAN AMERICAN CHILDREN (#329)

      This report documents differences in the role of media in the lives of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian children in the United States: which types of media they use, how much time they spend in various media activities, which media platforms and devices they own, and what the media environment is like in their households. From the Center on Media and Human Development, Northwestern University (2011).

    • THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND SPANISH LANGUAGE CAPTIONS ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENING/READING COMPREHENSION (#330)

      The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using Spanish captions, English captions, or no captions with a Spanish language soundtrack on the comprehension of intermediate students in a university-level “Spanish as a Foreign Language” class. Concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of using multilingual captions in a variety of ways to enhance second language listening and reading comprehension. By Paul Markham and Lizette Peter, University of Kansas, 2002.

    • THE CAPTIONING KEY (SPANISH TRANSLATION) (#52)

      A Spanish translation by Dicapta of the 2011 DCMP Captioning Key.

  • The Law

    • TELEVISION DECODER CIRCUITRY ACT OF 1990 (#13)

      Basic information and provisions of the 1990 law requiring built-in decoder circuitry. Presented on two pages.

    • FEDERAL LAWS AND ACCESSIBLE MEDIA (#17)

      Two-page overview of implications for accessibility in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TC Act), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Section 508. Summarizes requirements for accessibility of television programming and video received or used at home, in schools, and with regard to public accommodations.

    • KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS! (#24)

      The law is there to protect and serve. Deaf and hard of hearing persons must continue to research their right to access, writes Dr. Janice Mitchell of Gallaudet University. She asks readers how well they know legal issues that face them, and lists DCMP free-loan media available on deafness-related legal questions, adoption, violence against women with disabilities, and other issues.

    • THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996 (#31)

      Basic information and provisions of the 1996 law requiring, among other specifics, closed captioning of television programs. Presented on five pages.

    • ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATE OF FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS AND POLICIES (#198)

      This paper provides an overview of the current state of federal and state laws and policies relating to accessible information technology. The paper traces existing federal mandates under Section 504, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; and the Help America Vote Act of 2002, as well as laws such as the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988. It briefly addresses current litigation involving accessible information technology. It also identifies problems with existing legislation or regulations that need to be addressed by Congress and the Executive Branch. In addition, the paper reviews state initiatives related to accessible information technology.

• DESCRIPTION

  • About Description

    • DESCRIBED MOVIES AT LOCAL THEATERS (#199)

      Every time people who are blind or visually impaired enter a movie theater with the hope of watching a move alongside their sighted family and friends, so much visual information can be lost through only listening to the movie’s soundtrack. Kelly Gorski, the DCMP communications editor, outlines the use of description in American movie theaters and explains how description can bridge the gaps between the visual elements of a production and a viewer who is blind or visually impaired. Includes information on equipment (the Dolby ScreenTalk Audio Description System, DTS-CSS from Digital Cinema, and DVS Theatrical from WGBH), cost, and benefits of description in theaters as well as sources that can be utilized to advocate for description.

    • VIDEO DESCRIPTION AND THE DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSITION (#216)

      This document provides an overview of how the digital television transition will affect description come February 2009. Written and published by the FCC.

    • DESCRIBING DESCRIPTION (#272)

      Debbie Risk, owner of DP Captioning & Multimedia Solutions, discusses the Captioning Key and Description Key as valuable resources to guide companies in their work of adding captioning and description to videos and other media. In this article she focuses on description, emphasizing the importance of following rules and explaining her approach to the task of creating it. She also includes examples of description she has created for the DCMP, and concludes by saying: “I feel privileged to have the opportunity to help make digital media accessible to everyone.”

    • PERSPECTIVE: EXAMINING THE PROCESS OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#276)

      Alice Austin, experienced audio describer, shares her perspectives on her work, what she loves most about it, and the continued need for equal access. In this article she focuses on her approach to describing, whether it is of films, television programs, or live events. She discusses her contribution to the education of students and explains how “students are constantly faced with visual cues to which they often have no access.” She shares how DCMP provides “extensive resources to educators, clients, and the blind and visually impaired community,” and concludes by saying: “Hopefully, the momentum that audio description has gained in recent months will build until it is an accepted part of accessibility programs throughout the world.”

    • A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN AUDIO DESCRIBER (#277)

      Kelly Warren, owner of Mind’s Eye Audio Productions, overviews the process of describing television, film, and video. She defines good description, discusses its complexities, and looks into its future. Including an example of description that she has created for the DCMP, Ms. Warren explains that the Description Key “provides a framework for ensuring consistency and quality.” In conclusion, she gives her advice to perspective new describers and tells them “welcome, good luck, and let’s get to it!”

    • DESCRIBED MEDIA PRODUCED BY PROFESSIONALS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS: A SOUND IDEA (#278)

      Rick Boggs, the first blind engineer to produce video description, is also an entrepreneur, advocate, actor/musician, and public speaker. In this article, Mr. Boggs relates his own person career journey to what he describes as a pattern of exclusion in the news and entertainment media. He strongly feels that including professionals with disabilities and consumers of described and captioned media in the production of accessible media may be an effective means to reverse the discriminatory trend. An inclusive accessible media industry, he states, can improve education for students with sensory disabilities, raise the quality of accessible media services, and provide opportunities for employment in media production careers for professionals with disabilities. Currently, in his role as a consultant to the Video Description Research and Development Center, VDRDC, in San Francisco, he is collaborating with the National Federation of the Blind to offer a Professional Development Workshop in May 2012. The workshop aims to certify blind trainees as Description Quality Specialists and to prepare them to immediately begin to work in the industry as the Federal mandate for broadcast video description becomes enforced in July 2012.

    • LISTENING IS LEARNING: AUDIO DESCRIPTION AIDS LITERACY (#279)

      This article’s author, Joel Snyder, was one of the first audio describers, beginning his description of theater events and media in 1981. Since then he has produced description for nationally broadcast films and network series and has introduced description techniques in over 30 countries around the world. In the article he indicates that in film and media there is often “…no time to describe everything.” So describers “…must choose what’s most important to convey the essence of the visual experience. Then they must find words that are concise, vivid and imaginative to elicit images in their listeners’ mind’s eyes.” Mr. Snyder indicates that if a picture is worth 1000 words, then “… the audio describer might say that a few well-chosen words can conjure vivid and lasting images”. He then briefly describes the collaborative effort between the DCMP and the American Council of the Blind, dubbed “Listening is Learning”, and a major activity of this project called the “Young Described Film Critic” contest.

    • WHY DESCRIBE COLOR IN VIDEO DESCRIPTION? (#281)

      Joyce Adams, National Captioning Institute, states: “In the decade that I have worked as a video describer, the most common question I have received from people who are first learning of this mysterious service that provides description of video for people who are blind or have low vision is this: ‘WHY DO YOU DESCRIBE COLOR?’” These people question its value and and go on to say that “a blind person has never seen color” and “a blind person doesn’t know what color is.” And in the words of one media producer offering up his program for video description for the first time: “Color is meaningless to people who are blind.” “Not so,” responds Joyce. Read her article to learn the supportive opinions for describing color from a visually impaired sixth grader and her father. Descriptions of images help this girl form images in her mind and help her learn. Joyce also provides additional information about the important question of color.

    • HOW DESCRIPTION CAN BE EFFECTIVELY USED IN THE CLASSROOM (#282)

      Emily Bell, Multimedia Manager at CaptionMax, gathered feedback from teachers who have used described educational videos in the classroom. In this short video clip, she provides six tips for getting the most from the programming. Ms. Bell presented these tips in the January 2012 VDRDC webinar “Bringing Video Description Into the 21st Century."

    • THE REWARDS OF DESCRIPTION (#283)

      Author Margaret Hardy, a pioneer in the field of audio description, was Community Development Director for American Musical Theatre (AMT) of San Jose (CA) when she read in 1989 about Gregory Frazier's descriptive services work in San Francisco with AudioVision. She immediately started a campaign to persuade her employers to provide this service for season productions. When she was finally given the go-ahead, she contacted Gregory immediately, and they began to build a program for AMT. Their first effort was a performance of The Wizard of Oz in March 1991—a Wednesday matinee to which they extended an invitation to the California School for the Blind in Fremont, CA. The response was heartwarming and encouraging, which led them to the next step—setting up a schedule of described performances for the season and establishing AMT's own describers. Through the years, Ms. Hardy took over the management of AudioVision, having as many as 12 describers on staff. Her two passions in life have been the theatre and helping others. She believes that involving people in the arts is the best way to open their minds, gain new perspectives, and even change their lives.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION: THE VISUAL MADE VERBAL (#298)

      Joel Snyder tells us that Audio Description (AD) provides a verbal version of the visual for the benefit of people who are blind or have low vision. Succinct descriptions precisely timed to occur only during the pauses in dialogue or significant sound elements of performing arts or in media allow persons with vision impairments to have greater access to the images integral to a given work of art. Mr. Snyder provides a brief summary of the history of description and then overviews how creating description is an art, the venues for description, skills required of a professional describer, and why description is important to literacy.

    • FUNDAMENTALS OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#299)

      Joel Snyder overviews the four elements of audio description: observation, edit, language, and vocal skills. Mr. Snyder indicates that description is “…a kind of literary form, a type of poetry. Using words that are succinct, vivid and imaginative, describers try to convey the visual image to people who are blind or have low vision.”

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION—THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT (#306)

      How can a blind or visually impaired person enjoy the theatre? Or movies, television, and other audiovisual productions? How can visual experiences effectively be made verbal? Gregory Frazier, founder of AudioVision, was a key figure in the early development of audio description for persons with a visual impairment. Watch this historical treasure, introduced by Margaret Hardy, and learn from Emmy Award winner Frazier, a pioneer in the field.

    • BRINGING VIDEO DESCRIPTION INTO THE 21ST CENTURY – WEBINAR (#308)

      Offers an overview of description, how description can be used in the classroom, the progress of the Video Description Research and Development Center in the design of new description technologies, and special webinar resources.

    • “DO IT YOURSELF” EDUCATIONAL DESCRIPTION: GUIDELINES AND TOOLS – WEBINAR (#309)

      A resource for teachers, administrators, and parents who want to learn about the latest developments in video description technology and how it can help students who are blind and visually-impaired in educational settings.

    • SCREENWRITING TIP: AUDIO DESCRIPTION FOR THE BLIND BY ELEANOR BALL (#334)

      On her blog devoted to writing tips for screenwriters and novelists, Lucy V. Hay reveals her discovery that description for the blind is an inspiration for writers. The new narration added has to be clear, simple, recognizable, and succinct. Listening to it is like attending a scriptwriting masterclass.

    • ACCESSIBLE VIDEO: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? (#339)

      Videos can be a terrific medium for driving the point home, as long as the time is taken to ensure they’ll drive that point home for everyone – including those with impairments that might make audio or visual information difficult to process. Overviews captioning and description, and discusses the importance of each. By Carlin Headrick, Learning Insights, 2013.

    • ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR DIGITAL LEARNING PRODUCTS (#341)

      These 2011 guidelines were created to guide Pearson's development teams and are updated regularly with new techniques. Make educational Web media accessible to people with disabilities. Explains how to: 1) meet the international Web content accessibility guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium, specifically Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) at Level AA and 2) meet current U.S. Government Section 508 Standards, specifically § 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet information and applications.

    • YOUDESCRIBE – YOU HAVE A MICROPHONE... YOU HAVE YOUTUBE... YOU CAN DO IT! HOW YOU CAN ADD AUDIO DESCRIPTION TO ANY YOUTUBE VIDEO - WEBINAR (#357)

      Learn about YouDescribe, the exciting new tool developed by the Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC). It is a FREE tool that anyone can use to add description to YouTube videos. YouDescribe includes everything needed to create description; all you need to provide is a microphone. In addition, YouDescribe has a FREE embeddable player which can be used to include described videos on your own site.

    • ACCESSING DESCRIPTION ON YOUR TV (#358)

      The American Foundation for the Blind and the American Council of the Blind overview the SAP (Secondary Audio Program) channel.

    • VIDEO DESCRIPTION PSA (#359)

      Watch an American Foundation for the Blind sponsored PSA about description. Features Emmy-winning TV host, Jeff Corwin, in either MP4 or Windows Media Player: Watch the Described Television Public Service Announcement (MP4) or Watch the Described Television Public Service Announcement (Windows Media Player).

    • GOING PRO: USING YOUDESCRIBE IN THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND (#368)

      This 60-minute webinar, the fourth in the series, features a live panel discussion about how YouDescribe is being used to provide access to content beyond the K-12 classroom. Learn how YouDescribe is being used by: nonprofit organizations and corporations to make promotional and corporate video accessible; alternative media specialists to provide access to college students who are blind; and organizations which provide volunteer and fee-based description services for their clients.

  • Benefits of Description

    • DESCRIPTIVE CHILDREN’S TELEVISION: BRIDGING THE GAP FOR BLIND KIDS WHILE BENEFITING ALL KIDS (#237)

      While some research has been conducted about the benefits of description and blind adults, no empirical data have been collected relating to benefits of description for children. In this paper by Melanie Peskoe, literature has been reviewed to discuss (1) the emerging trend toward educational programming for preschool-aged children, (2) the various theories about how children learn, and (3) the implications of description for both blind and sighted children. This paper serves as a foundation for future, needed research on this topic and calls for attention to be paid to both the social impact of description as well as the methods used for deciding when, what, and how to describe.

    • VIDEO SERVICES FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED POPULATION (#238)

      For 12 million Americans who are blind or visually impaired, 1990 marked a new era promising fuller access to television programming through an innovative service called Descriptive Video developed by Boston public broadcaster, WGBH. This report, written and disseminated by WGBH, overviews the benefits of description and parallels those benefits with those of captioning. For example, the author notes, “Descriptions can also be useful when a viewer is doing several things at once, needs to attend to something, or leaves the room during a program. While these uses are not the original intent of the service, they need to be taken into account when considering the potential audience for and potential benefits of video description.” It stands to reason that description can benefit everyone.

    • WHAT YOUR CHILD CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT EMBEDDED DESCRIBED VIDEO FOR TV (#313)

      Father Robert Pearson relates that most of us have experience interacting with toddlers. There can be a tendency to ask them questions, at any given time, about their daily activities, about what they are seeing or feeling. The purpose is to challenge them to think of the what, why, when, how and where of their surroundings. It is also the first step towards picking language skills as they learn to listen to the grown-ups, understand the context in which the questions are asked, and answer appropriately. He states: “I am not sure when I picked up this habit following the birth of our daughter, but I quickly got into the flow of things, asking her tens of questions every day. In the midst of this, I had an epiphany. It occurred to me that posing these questions to my girl was very similar to narrating a scene. Going about one's daily activities is akin to living in an embedded described video.”

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION: AN AID TO LITERACY (#347)

      Does audio description contribute to the understanding of literature? Author Joel Snyder thinks it does, as description itself is an art form. Read what he says about the connection of audio description, literacy, and children. (2009).

    • DESCRIPTIVE VIDEO: USING MEDIA TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE WRITING (#354)

      A lesson plan from ReadWriteThink about using description to improve students’ written communication skills. This plan focuses on utilization of Disney’s popular The Lion King, but teachers can broaden their approach to this lesson by utilizing any one of the hundreds of accessible titles available from the DCMP collection.

    • LIGHTS, CAMERAS, PENCILS! USING DESCRIPTIVE VIDEO TO ENHANCE WRITING (#362)

      The authors (Helen Hoffner, Eileen Baker, and Kathleen Benson Quinn) relate how described television programming can enhance reading and writing ability as well as provide a motivating educational stimulus in today’s entertainment culture. Vocabulary, concept development, background knowledge, language precision, and descriptive writing are just some of the ways descriptive video can be used to enhance classroom instruction. From the Reading Teacher magazine, 2008.

    • Value of DCMP Audio Description: A Producer’s Perspective (#371)

      Hilari Scarl, director and producer of the DCMP video See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary, writes about the quality of the audio description DCMP added to her production and how it enhanced her product. She writes: “To say I was moved by the eloquence of both the descriptive choices and the talent of the VO actor is an understatement. As an artist, I was deeply touched by the amount of work, care, and skill that went into audio describing my film. I was doubly moved that blind people, including the two blind people who are in the documentary (singer/musician Raul Midon and Terry who interacts with my comic CJ Jones) can now access my film. As a filmmaker, our deepest desire is to have people--all people--have the opportunity to experience our work, and it broke my heart every time I learned that someone in one of my audiences experienced the film through the existing audio or through a companion whispering to them throughout the film.”

  • Description Guidelines

    • GUIDELINES FOR AUDIO DESCRIBING MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS (#207)

      Sign language interpreters are a necessary accommodation for people who are deaf and use signing as a means of basic communication. They are necessary in virtually any situation in which there is an interaction between people who are deaf and those who communicate only orally. However, because blindness or vision impairment does not necessarily present a fundamental barrier to communication, parallel accommodations have usually not been sought or even considered necessary for the aforementioned venues and situations. In this article, Dr. Elizabeth Kahn, an experienced audio describer, details some reasons why description is necessary at live events. She also provides guidelines for presenters and attendees at such an event.

    • DESCRIPTION KEY FOR EDUCATIONAL MEDIA (#222)

      Developed through a partnership between the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), the Description Key began in 2006 as recommendations, suggestions, and best practices culled from an extensive literature search and meta-analysis. AFB then assembled an expert panel in description and education for children with visual impairments to help evaluate description strategies for educational material, and the list of recommended practices was then subjected to a consensus review process and public review. These first-ever guidelines and preferred techniques are provided primarily for companies performing DCMP description work. They will also be useful to anyone (agencies, schools, parents, and others) desiring to learn how to describe or to better perform the task. These guidelines review how to describe educational media, what to describe, and the technical elements that are part of the description process.

    • DESCRIPTION TIP SHEET (#227)

      This short, one-page document outlines the essential description guidelines found in the Description Key for Educational Media. What to describe as well as how to prepare, voice, and write description are all covered in this for-print tip sheet.

    • STANDARD FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION AND CODE OF CONDUCT FOR DESCRIBERS (#304)

      The Audio Description Coalition talks about standards that reflect audio description’s origin as a means to making live theatre performances accessible. Also shares that other art forms and media call for variations from these principles. Discusses responsibilities of audio describers and audio description trainers.

    • GUIDANCE ON STANDARDS FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#337)

      This comprehensive set of instructions for audio describers was developed in 2000 by the Independent Television Commission (ITC), the body that controls commercial TV broadcasting in the United Kingdom (UK). In the UK, the Broadcasting Act of 1996 requires a minimum proportion of digital television programs to be audio described. Section 20(1) of this act charged the ITC with developing and maintaining relevant guidelines. The guidelines it developed were based extensively on research by the European Audetel (Audio Described Television) Consortium, a now-defunct group that conducted extensive research in the mid-1990s regarding the technical, artistic, logistical, and economic issues associated with audio description. The ITC document serves as an excellent resource that explores in considerable detail (with practical examples) use of the present tense; prioritizing information; giving additional information; signposting or anticipating the action; stating the obvious; highlighting sound effects; use of proper names and pronouns; adjectival descriptions; use of adverbs; colors and ethnic origins; use of verbs; logos and opening titles; cast lists and credits; and other considerations.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION FOR CHILDREN—GUIDELINES (#338)

      Based on feedback from parents, children, and teachers and in consultation with a speech and language therapist, guidelines for audio describing for children were drawn up. Includes information on how children with visual impairments acquire language and overviews their complex needs. Provides suggestions for the amount of description that should be added to children’s productions, and information on description of songs, music, and sound effects. Royal National Institute of Blind People, Great Britian, 2009.

    • THE ACB AUDIO DESCRIPTION PROJECT GUIDELINES (#355)

      This short document was drafted by the Audio Description International (ADI) Guidelines committee in 2003 and serves as a useful reference of guidelines for audio describers. The Audio Description Project, formerly the ADI, an initiative of the American Council of the Blind, makes these guidelines available.

    • VIDEO DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES: “HOW TO KNOW WHAT TO SAY” (#356)

      Segment taken from the interactive VDRDC/DCMP webinar, "Do It Yourself," Educational Description: Guidelines and Tools. This segment features a presentation by Rick Boggs from The Accessible Planet (TAP). Rick offers guidelines on how to provide video description for the blind or visually impaired.

  • Description Vendors

    • DESCRIPTION SERVICE VENDORS (#179)

      Listing of description service vendors across the United States.

  • History of Description

    • DESCRIPTION TIMELINE HIGHLIGHTS (#193)

      Since humans developed the ability to speak thousands of years ago, they have used communication to describe information to educate one another. More recently, the evolution of media as a learning tool has contributed a great deal to education. However, students who are blind or visually impaired have had to rely on mindful teachers or peers to “turn pictures into words.” Now, description is bringing greater accessibility to these students and their educators. This timeline takes a brief look at the evolution of description in media from its roots in accessible theater productions to the innovative emerging technologies that promise to move media closer to the goal of equal access for all.

  • Research and Studies

    • FEASIBILITY STUDY RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DESCRIPTIVE LOAN SERVICE (#190)

      This 1992 study was conducted by the Captioned Films/Videos Program (now the DCMP), with the principal investigator being Leo E. Persselin under the direction of the National Captioning Institute. It was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, and required by the ED as part of the Contract No. HS01005001 awarded to the National Association of the Deaf in 1991. The objective of the study was to: “Conduct a comprehensive study that will provide the funding agency with recommendations on any future loan service of video-based materials for visually impaired persons.” Some conclusions and recommendations of the study included the following: (1) the existing accessible media are not exclusive of one another nor of a future loan service, (2) encouragement and support should be extended to all who have something to offer in expanding access to descriptive video, (3) all reasonable avenues should be explored for establishing a descriptive video loan service as soon as possible, and (4) the possibility of described videos being made available through commercial video rental stores should not be discarded without thorough investigation.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION: RESEARCH INTO AWARENESS LEVELS (#229)

      As part of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Office of Communications (Ofcom) Access Service Review, this report details the results of Ofcom’s advertising campaign to increase public awareness about audio description on British television. Prior to the campaign, fewer than 40% of UK adults (and fewer than 37% of visually impaired UK adults) were aware of audio description services, a severe departure from the level of familiarity with captions (known as subtitles in the UK) at 90% and sign language interpreting at 86%. Ofcom commissioned this study to measure the effectiveness of its campaign to educate the general public about audio description, as well as to: (1) establish awareness levels of audio description within the visually impaired community, (2) investigate usage of audio description services, as well as other tools used to access television, within the visually impaired community, and (3) understand media consumption among groups of visually impaired people, and identify any differences that might exist from the UK population as a whole.

    • THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION: AN INVESTIGATION AS A DISCURSIVE PROCESS (#231)

      Philip J. Piety’s study investigates the language used in a selection of films containing audio description and develops a set of definitions that allow productions containing it to be more fully defined, measured, and compared. It also highlights some challenging questions related to audio description as a discursive practice and provides a basis for future study of this unique use of language. From the Journal of Visual Impairments and Blindness (JVIB).

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION TEXT FOR INDEXING FILMS (#233)

      Access to audiovisual materials should be as open and free as access to print-based materials. However, we have not yet achieved such a reality. Methods useful for organizing print-based materials do not necessarily work well when applied to audiovisual and multimedia materials. In this project, Canadian researchers James Turner and Suzanne Mathieu studied using audio description text and written descriptions to generate keywords for indexing moving images. In the second part of the study, they looked at the possibility of automatically translating keywords from audio description text into other languages to use them as indexing, with encouraging results.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION FROM A DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE (#234)

      In her paper about audio description (AD), Sabine Braun outlines a discourse-based approach to AD focusing on the role of mental modeling, local and global coherence, and different types of inferences. Applying these concepts to AD, she discusses initial insights and outlines questions for empirical research, with an aim to showing that a discourse-based approach to AD can provide an informed framework for research, training and practice.

    • WHO'S WATCHING? A PROFILE OF THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED AUDIENCE FOR TELEVISION AND VIDEO (#239)

      The American Foundation for the Blind completed a study in 1997 of the viewing habits of blind and visually impaired people and the impact of video description. This version is accessible to blind and visually impaired people using screen readers as well as to people accessing the internet through slow connections. Limited print copies with complete graphics, available at no charge, can be requested from the American Foundation for the Blind Information Center.

    • DCMP SURVEY OF EDUCATORS REVEALS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR DESCRIBED EDUCATIONAL VIDEO (#241)

      In April 2009, the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) solicited input from teachers of students with visual impairments (TVIs) around the U.S. in an attempt to measure the awareness of the availability of described educational video-based media (video) and to uncover trends concerning overall video usage among TVIs. An online survey was publicized by way of various e-mail lists, websites, and professional development organizations; this effort resulted in 222 unique responses, summarized in this article.

    • A COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVE APPROACHES TO VIDEO DESCRIPTION FOR ANIMATED COMEDY (#269)

      This study explored the feasibility of using a first-person narrative style for video description of an animated comedy, Odd Job Jack. It found that viewers who are blind find the first-person style more engaging, entertaining, and preferable but less trustworthy than the more conventional third-person description style. Conducted by Deborah I. Fels, John Patrick Udo, Jonas E. Diamond, and Jeremy I. Diamond in 2006.

    • EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE STYLES OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION IN AN ANIMATED COMEDY (#328)

      This thesis investigates the impact of conventional and alternative styles of audio description on the blind and low viewers' comprehension, entertainment experience, trustworthiness of the audio description narrative, and style preference. Author John Riccio asked 18 blind and low vision participants to watch three episodes of the television show Odd Job Jack in a single audio description style. Each participant was asked to complete a pre and post study questionnaire, and a post episode questionnaire at the completion of each episode. Results indicated that the alternative style of audio description provided better understanding, entertainment value, and is more trustworthy.

    • CORPUS-BASED ANALYSIS OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#291)

      This paper presents an investigation into the automated analysis of audio description scripts for 91 films. The investigation reveals some idiosyncratic features of what appears to be a special language. The existence of a special language is explained in part by the fact that audio description is produced by trained professionals following established guidelines, and its idiosyncrasies are explained by considering its communicative function – in particular that it is being used to tell a story.

    • ADDING AUDIO DESCRIPTION TO TELEVISION SCIENCE PROGRAMS: WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON VISUALLY IMPAIRED VIEWERS? (#297)

      Science programs on television present much of their information only visually. For people who are visually impaired this reliance on visual cues limits access to the learning and enjoyment such programs offer. Emilie Schmeidler discusses the intent to provide visually impaired people with more access to the programs' content and to make viewing more satisfying by ensuring that people with disabilities have the same access to information and opportunities that people without disabilities do.

    • REDUCING MULTIPLE INTERPRETATIONS OF MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS WITH MATHSPEAK (#305)

      MathSpeak contains a standardized set of rules (based on the Nemeth code) for presenting math expressions in a non-ambiguous format. Check out this study that first explains how multiple interpretations inhibit the learning of mathematics by print-disabled individuals who rely on spoken communication. Then the study overviews the capacity of MathSpeak for reducing these multiple interpretations inherent in spoken mathematical expressions

    • CONTRASTING VISUAL AND VERBAL CUEING OF SPACE: STRATEGIES AND DEVICES IN THE AUDIO DESCRIPTION OF FILM (#314)

      A study by Maija Hirvonen, University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2012. Analyses how shot distance is reflected in audio description by syntactic and semantic means. Four different-language audio descriptions of two films were utlilized, contrasting the visual source text with the verbal translation. The study aims to show how audio description can make use of diverse representational strategies and linguistic devices in rendering shot distance. These strategies and devices could be used purposely to compensate for visual cues so as to give an idea of space similar to that conveyed by the visual representation.

    • AUDIO-DESCRIPTION (#321)

      Paper in 2004 by Bernd Benecke, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich, Germany. Deals mainly with two aspects of audio description: the development (history) of this mode of language transfer and the main steps in the preparation of audio description. Overviews status of television description in Germany at the time it was written.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION: PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION, PRACTICE AND STANDARDS IN SPAIN (#322)

      This article looks at the context of accessibility in Spain, and after a general picture of the Spanish reality on media accessibility, it goes into describing and analyzing the standard for audio description approved in 2005 by the Spanish Ministerio de Trabajo (Ministry of Labour). By Pilar Orero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

    • USING HTML5 AND JAVASCRIPT TO DELIVER TEXT-BASED AUDIO DESCRIPTIONS (#325)

      IBM Research Tokyo partnered with the National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH to research ways to deliver online descriptions via text-to-speech (TTS) methods, rather than using human recordings. IBM and NCAM explored two approaches which exploit HTML5 media elements—video, audio, and track—as well as Javascript.

    • A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AUDIO DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES PREVALENT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (#326)

      Comparison of description guidelines by six different countries: Spain, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Greece, and America. Though, in principal the guidelines and/or standards are very similar in nature, there are minor differences in a few of the recommendations. These differences could potentially be because of different formats of film/television programming being produced in different countries, different ways of watching films/television programs, cultural differences leading to relative levels of understanding of set-ups specific to different films/television programs, and also different ways in which audio description is made available i.e. through products specifically targeted at blind or partially sighted people or as an alternative sound track via mainstream services. Royal National Institute of Blind People, 2010.

    • AUDIO DESCRIPTION, A VISUAL ASSISTIVE DISCOURSE (#335)

      Individuals who are visually impaired and blind face challenges in accessing many types of texts including television, films, textbooks, software, and the Internet because of the rich visual nature of these media. In order to provide these individuals with access to this visual information, special assistive technology allows descriptive language to be inserted into the text to represent the visual content. This study investigates this descriptive language. A thesis written by Philip Piety, Georgetown University, in 2003.

    • WORLD BLIND UNION TOOLKIT ON PROVIDING, DELIVERING AND CAMPAIGNING FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION ON TELEVISION AND FILM (#336)

      Though informally there has been much sharing of experience, the worldwide community has not worked systematically together to achieve our aim of an inclusive world of television and film. This document aims to gather the lessons learned in different countries, and to help build capacity across the World Blind Union membership to campaign for audio description. Defines description, and provides technical information and lobbying tips. World Blind Union, 2007.

    • ENHANCING MOVIE COMPREHENSION FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE VISUALLY IMPAIRED OR BLIND THROUGH HAPTICS (#343)

      This work proposes a promising multimodal approach to sensory substitution for movies by providing complementary information through haptics, pertaining to the positions and movements of actors, in addition to a film‘s audio description and audio content. In a ten-minute presentation of five movie clips to ten individuals who were visually impaired or blind, the novel methodology was found to provide an almost two time increase in the perception of actors' movements in scenes. Moreover, participants appreciated and found useful the overall concept of providing a visual perspective to film through haptics. A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of science at Arizona State University by Lakshmie Narayan Viswanathan in 2011.

    • THE ADLAB PROJECT: AND SOME IDEAS ON AUDIO DESCRIPTION (#344)

      A PowerPoint report of the European Erasmus Multilateral Lifelong Learning project’s goals to: 1) Create authoritative guidelines and/or proposals for the AD profession/industry in all Europe; 2) Develop curricula for universities in Europe: both for entertainment and for instruction; 3) Train audio describers and audio describer trainers; 4) Sensitize and influence decision-makers; 5) Create useful connections with the television industry and with the service providers. By Chris Taylor, 2013.

    • BLINDNESS SECTOR REPORT ON THE 2012 ABC AUDIO DESCRIPTION TRIAL (#345)

      This collaborative report, prepared by Blind Citizens Australia, Vision Australia, ACCAN, and Media Access Australia, aims to highlight the consumer experience of the audio description (AD) technical trial on ABC TV in order to persuade the Australian government to support a permanent AD service. Attempts to reflect the high demand for AD by consumers and outline the benefits of AD.

    • TRANSLATING AUDIO DESCRIPTION SCRIPTS: THE WAY FORWARD? –TENTATIVE FIRST STAGE PROJECT RESULTS (#346)

      Report on the 2006 testing of the hypothesis of translating or adapting audio description scripts as a faster and more financially viable way to create audio described films. Adapting the audio description from a script instead of creating a description script from scratch from the already dubbed version seems a viable alternative.

    • Autistic Spectrum, Captions and Audio Description (#373)

      Researcher and author Judith Garman looked at these two aspects of the autistic spectrum: 1) understanding human emotion and engagement; 2) momotropism. She then examined how audio description and captions could help with these problems. First, Audio description was originally designed for people who are visually impaired. Where it helps someone on the autistic spectrum is it identifies the emotion which may be difficult for them to pin down, and it also provides another input track to reinforce the information. If the person is struggling to identify the different people in the scene, audio description names the person so the visuals and the audio help create a complete picture. Second, captions also provide a reinforcement of what is going on visually and what is being said. Captions should identify the speaker and what’s being said, identify other sounds (birds singing, car tires screeching, etc.) and song lyrics. For somebody who is on the autistic spectrum captions give a greater depth of understanding and context by providing a second input stream. People on the autistic spectrum may struggle with audio processing, that is filtering out different sounds and distinguishing between what’s relevant and what is not relevant. If there is an audio overload, all or most of the audio could be rendered totally meaningless without captions to provide a backup.

  • Spanish

    • CHILDREN, MEDIA, AND RACE: MEDIA USE AMONG WHITE, BLACK, HISPANIC, AND ASIAN AMERICAN CHILDREN (#301)

      This report documents differences in the role of media in the lives of White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian children in the United States: which types of media they use, how much time they spend in various media activities, which media platforms and devices they own, and what the media environment is like in their households. From the Center on Media and Human Development, Northwestern University (2011).

    • SPANISH GUIDELINES FOR VIDEO DESCRIPTION (SPANISH) (#332)

      This general guide to the description of video, by Dicapta in 2012, proposes parameters, rules, and guidelines. The authors indicate that it is a difficult task to develop standards, given the creative and artistic nature of this activity.

    • PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT — VIDEO DESCRIPTION (SPANISH-LANGUAGE VIDEO) (#352)

      This public service announcement, produced in 2013, on "Video Description" is brought to you by the Family Center on Technology and Disability and Dicapta. It is narrated and described in Spanish, but has English-language captions. Explains that descriptions of the images in a program/video are often provided for viewers with blindness or low vision. Dicapta offers more information in Spanish about video description.

    • "DO IT YOURSELF" EDUCATIONAL DESCRIPTION: GUIDELINES AND TOOLS (SPANISH) (#353)

      Topics for this 2012 90-minute webinar include: 1) An update of the activities of the Video Description and Research Development Center; 2) The "Dos and Don'ts" of description; 3) Live demonstrations of two FREE software programs which can be used to add description to media; and 4) An overview of resources for obtaining described materials for use in the classroom. Note: this same production is available in English.

  • The Law

    • VIDEO DESCRIPTION (#324)

      Information from the FCC regarding video description which is “audio-narrated descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements. These descriptions are inserted into natural pauses in the program’s dialogue. Video description makes TV programming more accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired.” On August 25, 2011, the FCC adopted rules to implement the video description provisions of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA). These rules are effective as of July 1, 2012.

    • FCC'S VIDEO DESCRIPTION RULES NOW IN EFFECT (#360)

      2012 announcement from the FCC concerning description rules for certain broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

• DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM

  • About the DCMP

    • OPENING DOORS AT THE OKLAHOMA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF (#6)

      Bill Stark relates that the Oklahoma School for the Deaf (OSD) has long played a national leadership role in provision of accessible media services. Former OSD Superintendent John Gough directed the first federal captioning program in the 1950s, and today’s OSD Superintendent Larry Hawkins carries on that tradition with support for an expanded role at OSD in distributing free-loan described and captioned educational media. Learn about the National Accessible Learning Center at OSD and how OSD and the DCMP are opening the closed doors of inequality for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind.

    • GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY FOR CAPTIONING (#89)

      What is "grassroots advocacy"? It is advocacy at the very foundation or source. The author, Maryann Fau Barnett, overviews the path that led to captioning as we know it today. She also focuses on the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) and the fact that the DCMP needs to be constant, yet ever-changing. How does the DCMP do this? Through grassroots advocacy by making people aware of the program and its services.

    • DESCRIPTION + CAPTIONING = ACCESS (#180)

      Even though only 25% of educational videos and 1% of Internet content is captioned, and even though fewer educational media contain description, the DCMP’s free-loan media library is fills much of this need for up-to-date educational media in all subjects and grade levels. Bill Stark, the DCMP’s Project Director, discusses how the DCMP also provides guidelines for adding access to media and an information clearinghouse containing a wide variety of information.

    • DCMP FLYER (#183)

      A one-page flyer providing an overview of the DCMP services.

    • DCMP TRI-FOLD BROCHURE (#184)

      A two-sided tri-fold brochure providing an overview of the DCMP services. This printable design has page margins added to the layout for more universal printing capability. It is intended for two-sided printing on 8 1/2” x 11” paper. Capabilities of home and office printers will vary. Persons may also contact the DCMP and request that copies be mailed. NOTE: Those desiring a screen reader compatible version should refer to "DCMP Flyer."

    • DCMP LOW VISION BROCHURE (#186)

      A two-sided tri-fold brochure providing an overview of DCMP services. This printable design has been created for people with low vision. It is intended for two-sided printing on 11”x17” paper. Capabilities of home and office printers will vary. Persons may also contact the DCMP and request that copies be mailed. NOTE: Those desiring a document with no color or graphics should refer to the "DCMP Large Print Brochure."

    • DCMP LARGE PRINT BROCHURE (#187)

      A large print text version of the DCMP brochure that provides an overview of the DCMP services. This document contains no color or graphics and is presented in large text. NOTE: A braille-ready document and/or braille embossed copies will be made available upon request. Those desiring a low vision version of the brochure with color and graphics should refer to the "DCMP Low Vision Brochure."

    • DCMP BROCHURE: TEXT VERSION FOR BRAILLE EMBOSSING (#188)

      A version of the DCMP brochure that provides an overview of DCMP services. This document is a Word file, and it has been formatted for proper translation using braille translation software (such as Duxbury).

    • FIVE KEY REASONS TO USE THE DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM (#280)

      Do you have a child in your classroom or at home who has difficulty understanding educational media because he or she is visually impaired, blind, hard of hearing, deaf, or deaf-blind? A solution to this problem is the on-demand collection of described and captioned educational media provided by the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) through funding by the U.S. Department of Education. The DCMP is also the go-to center for information about educational media access, including tips for its effective use, research reports which support its need, and assistance in learning how to add descriptions and captions to media. And there is more--we answer teachers’ questions about equal access and help parents advocate for it. The five key reasons why you should utilize this opportunity are detailed by Jo Ann McCann.

    • DCMP TRI-FOLD BROCHURE (SPANISH) (#285)

      A Spanish-language two-sided tri-fold brochure providing an overview of the DCMP services. This printable design has page margins added to the layout for more universal printing capability. It is intended for two-sided printing on 8 1/2” x 11” paper. Capabilities of home and office printers will vary. Persons may also contact the DCMP and request that copies be mailed.

  • History - Captioned Films for the Deaf, Captioned Films/Videos Program, Captioned Media Program, and Described and Captioned Media Program

    • KENTUCKY TEACHERS KNOW CAPTIONED MEDIA IS ESSENTIAL! (#21)

      Written by Genny Lyman in 2004, as she related how Kentucky School for the Deaf teachers used captioned media to reinforce concepts, provide a "powerful connection between printed word and meaning," increase reading skills, and more! Ms. Lyman was a Captioned Media Program depository manager at the Kentucky School for the Deaf.

    • CAPTIONING TIMELINE HIGHLIGHTS (#25)

      Briefly reviews major events in the history of captioning from Emerson Romero putting captions between the picture frames of a film (1947) to the setting of new and improved rules for TV closed captioning by the FCC (2014).

    • HOW BIRD HUNTING IN NORTH CAROLINA SAVED CAPTIONING (#36)

      Reviews the pioneers of captioning, the early years (1960-1969), the birth of closed captioning (1970-1980), and the current Described and Captioned Media Program.

    • A LIBRARIAN'S VIEWPOINT (#41)

      Written in the 1980’s by a Captioned Media Program Depository Manager, with this introduction: “At the Arkansas School for the Deaf, the traditional role of librarian has changed to that of Information Specialist (IS). The school's IS, Fran Miller, provides testimonials from teachers throughout the state to support the fact that educational CMP materials are one of the most valuable resources.”

    • CAPTIONING CAPTURES CAPTIVATED AUDIENCE (#47)

      Al Van Nevel, Grand President of the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf (NFSD), writes about "an entire generation that has benefited from the CFD/DCMP programs." He touches upon the early history of "social club" use of captioned films, including the role of NFSD's Dr. Frank Sullivan in bringing the weight of the NFSD lodges across the country to support the initial federal funding of movie captioning.

    • DEAF CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND HERITAGE (#71)

      Hofstra University's Frank Bowe states: "Captioning began for reasons related to Deaf Culture." Dr. Bowe remembers the offering of free loan of films to deaf clubs and how he was one of many who created a club specifically so that deaf persons could watch a film every month. From those early beginnings, he looks at today and the proliferation of TV captioning, the arrival of DVD media with captions offered in a choice of languages, and the incumbent need for all of us to complain about noncaptioning "when we see it." (This article was written in 2002 before the author's death in August 2007.)

    • REPORT OF A CONFERENCE ON THE UTILIZATION OF CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#81)

      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.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#84)

      Originally published in 1976 in “Exceptional Children,” Malcolm J. Norwood, Chief of Captioned Films and Telecommunications, writes: "The future can be expected to see special education gain new strength through further technological advances." He mentions the development of a closed-captioning system, with efforts to receive permanent authorization to use it from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The time has come, Dr. Norwood writes, to apply technology to “…the problems of the handicapped educationally, culturally, and socially.”

    • MALCOLM J. NORWOOD (#87)

      Dr. Norwood is known as the "Father of Closed Captioning" and is recognized as one of the greatest achievers in the deaf community. Also revered as a pioneer, "Mac" was the first deaf professional to work at the Department of Education and was at the forefront of almost every research and development program related to captioned media for the deaf. He left a body of work for captioning that will most likely never be equaled or duplicated.

    • IN EDUCATION, TRANSITION, AND LIFE: TEACHERS MADE THE DIFFERENCE (#90)

      Dr. Ernest E. Hairston writes about two of his great teachers: William King and Malcolm (Mac) Norwood. Mr. King, teacher at the West Virginia School for the Colored Deaf and Blind (WVSCDB), became Dr. Hairston's role model by teaching him how to appreciate poetry and by shaping his literacy skills. Dr. Norwood became his teacher when the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision in 1954 opened the door for integration of black students from the WVSCDB into the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (WVSDB). Mac Norwood became Dr. Hairston's teacher and mentor and later recruited Dr. Hairston into the U.S. Office of Education Bureau of Education for the Handicapped. Dr. Norwood and Dr. Hairston then worked together on the federal level for many years, changing the lives of deaf persons forever with the initiation of closed captioning and other captioned media advancements. Copyright 1998 by Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center. Reprinted with permission.

    • EXCERPTS FROM THE “EDUCATIONAL CAPTIONED FILMS DEPOSITORY MANAGER’S HANDBOOK” (#91)

      Paper written and prepared by the Special Office for Materials Distribution, Indiana University, in 1977. Provides a brief history of Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) and a description of roles of various agencies administering components of the CFD program. Includes a flow chart of the hierarchical relationships of agencies within the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (BEH), Division of Media Services.

    • REPORT FROM CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#92)

      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.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#93)

      Written by Edmund Burke Boatner, and published by the American Annals for the Deaf in 1980, this article reviews the origin of captioning and the pioneers who resolved to create a mode of communication by which deaf audiences could enjoy films. The perseverance of many of these diligent people eventually led to the creation of Captioned Films for the Deaf. Mentions other supporters, such as the Junior League of Hartford and RKO. To quote Mr. Boatner: “No man ever won a football game alone. It was our team that won, and it was a great victory.” Also includes a letter of congratulations to Mr. Boatner from then-President Dwight Eisenhower after the passage of the Captioned Film Act (Public Law 85-905) in 1958. This act provided federal funding for captioning feature films.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF: BRIEF (#94)

      Remarks prepared by John Gough for the hearing before a Special Subcommittee of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate on S. 2511 (viewable here), a bill to provide for an increased program of Captioned Films for the Deaf. August 7, 1962.

    • MALCOLM J. NORWOOD--A LEADER IS GONE (#95)

      Malcolm J. Norwood's leadership from the early 1960s when the criteria and technology for 16mm captioning was developed, until the advent of Line 21 captioning for television broadcasting, was invariably enthusiastic, energetic, and innovative. Article contains a tribute to him printed in the Captioned Films/Videos for the Deaf Newsletter, April 1989, and his curriculum vitae.

    • FROM SOUND TO SUBTITLES (#96)

      In 1977 between 21,000 and 24,000 instructional films were available in the United States for loan or purchase from film distributors. Of these films, approximately 2,000 were nonverbal and could, therefore, be viewed in their original form by deaf persons. Another 885 educational films had been captioned. Overviews the activity of the Captioned Films for the Deaf program to close that gap. Prepared by the Special Office for Materials Distribution, Indiana University, Audio-Visual Center, Bloomington, Indiana (1977).

    • ORGANIZATIONS--NATIONAL EFFORTS RELATED TO DEAFNESS (#99)

      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.

    • SCHOOL LIBRARY SERVICES FOR DEAF CHILDREN: AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIAL (#103)

      Written by Patricia Blair Cory, Librarian and Visual Education Director at the Lexington School for the Deaf, and published in 1960 by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, Inc., this article concentrates on the responsibilities of librarians in regards to various educational media provided to deaf children. She states that librarians should familiarize themselves with the films in their collection and be prepared to evaluate each title for things such as clear identification of subject matter, age appropriateness, and whether or not the film depends too heavily on a soundtrack. The latter is an important topic in her paper, because at this time educational films were not captioned, and students had to depend on lipreading what the characters said, or have the material pretaught or preread before the showing. She urges librarians to use films that rely on visual cues to tell the story or explain the subject matter.

    • AN OVERVIEW OF PROGRESS IN UTILIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY FOR EDUCATING THE HEARING IMPAIRED (#105)

      Written by George Propp, teacher at the Nebraska School for the Deaf, for the 1978 Symposium on Research and Utilization of Educational Media for Teaching the Deaf. This article traces the inception and growth of the Captioned Films for the Deaf, as well as the evolution of technology in regards to captioning and how it relates to educational media. Mr. Propp states that the current concept for deaf education “will require a massive application of the resources that exist, as well as the development of technology that lies beyond our present dreams.”

    • GRAHAM ANTHONY OBITUARY (#106)

      Without the persistence of Graham Anthony, a member of the Board of Directors of the American School for the Deaf, a bill requiring Congress to establish an agency that would allow procurement, captioning, and distribution of suitable films for the deaf would likely have never made it to the House floor. Because of his diligence, the bill made it to the floor and was passed in 1958, thus creating government funding for the Captioned Films for the Deaf program. This paper is an excerpt from his obituary.

    • MEDIA SERVICES AND CAPTIONED FILMS (#141)

      Written in the early '70s by Dr. Malcolm J. Norwood, this article reviews the restructuring made within the program, with its emphasis remaining on how to “assess the educational needs and problems of handicapped children followed by the development of specific educational tools.” Discusses the first demonstration of closed captioning, presented by the National Bureau of Standards and the ABC Television Network. Mentions the departure of Dr. Gilbert Delgado from the program to serve as Dean of the Graduate School at Gallaudet.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS IN SCIENCE (#145)

      Written by Connie S. Nagy (Illinois School for the Deaf) in 1981, the article overviews the value of captioned films as a teaching aid in the science classroom. Ms. Nagy indicates that she prefers many times to use the film as a review at the completion of a unit of study. Use at the end of a unit ensures that students are more familiar with the vocabulary and the events in the film. Before showing, she likes to briefly explain to students what the film is about and point out any unusual or visually interesting components of the film. She uses the degree of interest shown by students after viewing (if they ask questions or if discussions are started) as a gage of the quality of the production.

    • AN INTRODUCTION TO THE 1978 SYMPOSIUM ON RESEARCH AND UTILIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA FOR TEACHING THE DEAF (#146)

      Dr. Robert E. Stepp, Jr. is a pioneer in usage of educational media in the education of deaf and hard of hearing students. In this paper, Dr. Stepp touches upon the support of the government of four Regional Media Centers for the Deaf, Project LIFE (Language Improvement to Facilitate Education), the construction of the PAL (Programmed Assistance in Learning) machine, three Specialized Offices for the Blind, Deaf, and Other Handicapping Conditions, and the captioning of "The ABC Evening News." He points out that educational goals for the “acoustically handicapped is to be independent as an adult” and that independence in learning can be achieved through use of educational media.

    • UTILIZING CAPTIONED FILMS FOR TEACHING COMMUNICATION SKILLS (#148)

      Written in 1981 for the Captioned Films for the Deaf lesson guide manual. Kathryn Silvis, Assistant Professor of Special Education at MacMurray College, encourages teachers to consider the use of captioned films as a tool for the teaching of communication skills (auditory training, visual communication, and speech). Ms. Silvis overviews the films that might have value in these areas, including those dealing with emotions, human relations, fables, children’s literature, poetry, safety education, community life, and others. She points out special features of films, such as a bouncing ball to indicate the number of beats each syllable of a word is prolonged in a song or rhyme. At the end of the article, she includes a form for analysis of the potential use of a captioned film for use in communication skills training, including attention to use of lip movements and their visibility for visual communication training. Captioned films, she concludes, provide the teacher with a motivating and enriching tool that can be utilized to enhance a teaching unit in any subject area.

    • “REELIZING” THE FULL POTENTIAL OF CAPTIONING EDUCATIONAL FILMS FOR THE DEAF THROUGH LESSON GUIDE UTILIZATION (#151)

      Written by Lester Graham, B.A., M.S., and Garry J. Loysen, M.S., in the early eighties, this paper affirms that while films have been and will continue to be the most visible and sought after facet of the Captioned Films for the Deaf program, another facet of the program is of equal importance: the lesson guides. Notes that the purpose of each lesson guide is to give the user insight into the message, content, purposes, and applications of each film in the collection. Reviews the origination of these lesson guides and suggests how media specialists can promote their use.

    • MICROCOMPUTER ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL MATERIALS PROJECT (#202)

      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.

    • "SILENT FILMS" REVISITED: CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#211)

      The silent films of the early 1900s had a huge audience, hearing and deaf, for public entertainment and instruction. The advent of "talkies," however, excluded deaf people from this means of access to mainstream American culture. In response to a new need for both captioned educational and entertainment films for deaf people, Congress passed Public Law 85-905 in 1958, which established Captioned Films for the Deaf as a federal program. This article addresses the history of the Captioned Films/Videos for the Deaf program, the kinds of films and videos available, and the procedures for borrowing them through educational and theatrical captioned film/video libraries. Also discussed are the various captioning processes and the implications of the availability of these materials for librarians who are concerned about the special needs of the deaf community.

    • PUBLIC LAW 85-905 (#212)

      Original text of Public Law 85-905, the public law that originally established Captioned Films for the Deaf. Also known as the Captioned Films Act of 1958.

    • THE MIDAS TOUCH OF ACCESSIBILITY (AND HOW THE DCMP IS STILL MAKING HISTORY) (#220)

      The concept behind the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) originated in a small town in Connecticut back in the early ‘50s, as people were deciding how to assure that those who were deaf or hard of hearing would have equal access to media that now included sound. They began a program called Captioned Films for the Deaf, Inc. In September of 1958, this program became federal Public Law 85-905, and so its name was changed to the Captioned Films for the Deaf program. Although the initial objective of the law was to provide subtitled Hollywood films to deaf people, teachers and other academic professionals were quick to recognize the potential of captioned films as untapped educational resources. Consequently, the Congress amended the original law to authorize the acquisition, captioning, and distribution of educational films. And since the DCMP is the modern manifestation of this program, its Golden Anniversary is celebrated from September 2008 to September 2009. Read about how the DCMP is making its own history and why the program itself, accessibility, and advocacy are worth more than gold.

    • AN INTERVIEW WITH MALCOLM NORWOOD (#221)

      In December of 1979, as a project at the University of Maryland, Karen Brickett interviewed Dr. Malcolm (Mac) J. Norwood, the "Father of Closed Captioning." Dr. Norwood relates how 10% of the general population would not accept captions on their TV screens, which necessitated the development of a closed-captioning system. He discusses the postponement of decoder sales until March of 1980, estimates of the number of potential viewers of closed-captioned TV, predicts 22 to 22½ hours of captioned programs will be available by the end of 1980, discusses the development of two captioning centers on the East Coast and West Coast, and addresses other exciting developments. This 25-minute production is the only known video of Dr. Norwood. Thanks to Karen Brickett Russell for sharing this record of captioning history.

    • THE DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM: A CLASSROOM STAPLE IN 21ST-CENTURY EDUCATION (#235)

      Susan Elliott, an educator who has been inducted into the National Hall of Fame for Persons with Disabilities, writes of her experience with technology and the DCMP, covering how difficult it is to access captions in this modern world and what accessibility means to students in this global economy. She writes, “The 21st century demands that classrooms be organized as learning communities that engage collaboratively in critical thinking, and the traditional model doesn’t meet this demand. Teachers are creating a new culture of engagement and thoughtful discourse,” and captioned media makes all the difference for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

    • PUBLIC LAW 87-715 (#243)

      In 1962 Congress amended previous legislation authorizing the captioning of entertainment films by passing Public Law 87-715, which added the captioning of educational films. That same year, the film Rockets: How They Work became the first educational film to be captioned.

    • "ROCKETS: HOW THEY WORK" (#246)

      In 1962 Congress amended previous legislation authorizing the captioning of entertainment films by passing Public Law 87-715, which added the captioning of educational films. That same year, Rockets: How They Work became the first educational film to be captioned. Indicating that the film was appropriate for the middle grades, the Captioned Films for the Deaf catalog described it as follows: “The film shows how rockets achieve motion and compares rocket power with other types of motive power and gives a clear picture of the basic scientific techniques on which the modern use of rockets is based.” A lesson guide for the film was subsequently written in 1969.

    • "THE ADVENTURES OF WILLIE SKUNK" (#247)

      Silent films had been used prior to 1930 in classrooms with students who were deaf or hard of hearing, but the advent of sound motion pictures made new films inaccessible. One of the first educational films ever captioned (1962), this primary-level film shows a family of skunks and how they live in their natural environment. A lesson guide was written for it and 70 other captioned educational films in 1968 at a DePaul University workshop, and these were printed in a bound volume for distribution across the United States.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF. HEARING BEFORE A SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE. (#248)

      Scanned copy of the hearing on August 7, 1962 to discuss S. 2511, a bill to provide for an increased program of Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD). The bill, designed to mandate government support of the captioning of educational films, was introduced by Senator Edmund S. Muskie, Maine, and co-sponsored by Senator Claiborne de Borda Pell, Rhode Island. The bill passed and became Public Law 87-715, supplementing the original law to establish CFD (Public Law 85-905) for the captioning of entertainment motion pictures. (A related DCMP article containing the remarks prepared by John Gough for S. 2511 is available here.)

    • STANDARDS FOR LIBRARY-MEDIA CENTERS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF: A HANDBOOK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIBRARY-MEDIA PROGRAMS (#250)

      Published in 1967, this handbook details the funding, people, research, and findings involved in creating standards for library-media centers in schools for the deaf. To make possible the development of such standards, the Office of Captioned Films for the Deaf made funding available to complete the performance standards and present them to professional associations interested on improving this aspect of the education of the deaf.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS DEPOSITORY MANAGERS: 1975 (#251)

      For over four decades, beginning in the mid-1960s, educational captioned films (later captioned videos and newer forms of media) were housed in residential schools for the deaf. These depositories mailed captioned media to registered users in their state(s) and/or region. This document is a list of those depositories, their administrators, and locations.

    • "ROCKETS: HOW THEY WORK"—TRANSCRIPT AND CAPTION SCRIPT (#252)

      Rockets: How They Work was the first educational film to be captioned in 1962 after the passage of Public Law 87-715. This document contains the film’s transcript and caption script. A lesson guide for the film was subsequently written in 1969.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF (#253)

      This paper was given at the twenty-second Meeting of the Conferences of Executives of American Schools for the Deaf in Colorado Springs, Colorado, October, 1950 by Edmund Boatner, one of the original founders of the Captioned Films for the Deaf program. This article originally appeared in the American Annals of the Deaf, Vol. 96 No. 3, pages 346-352. It has been re-typed in its entirety for historical and archival purposes.

    • THE LOGIC OF THE MOTION PICTURE IN THE CLASSROOM: FILMS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF (1915–1965) (#254)

      Motion pictures have been a powerful medium for entertainment and education since their inception. For awhile, deaf people could enjoy silent movies alongside hearing peers and the movies that were used in schools. However, when sound was introduced in films, that all changed. Bill Stark, Project Director of the DCMP, recounts the need for captioning, especially those of sound films; the inception of the Captioned Films for the Deaf program; and the evolution of captioning itself.

    • TRAINEES START FILMS CAPTIONING AT GALLAUDET (#370)

      From the “Silent Worker”, January 1960. Photo of J. Pierre Rakow, Stanley Benowitz, Robert Panara, and Leon Auerbach. The caption to the photo indicates that Rakow is shown training three teachers at Gallaudet College in writing captions for films which are “..now being purchased for deaf audiences.” The training actually took place as the three “…did the actual caption writing for a film ‘Assignment Paris.’” It is further noted that the Inauguration of the new government-funded captioned film loan service (Captioned Films for the Deaf) was expected to begin in two to three months.

    • The DCMP At Fifty (#374)

      In 2008, DCMP celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. “Golden Anniversary” web pages were developed, and here you will find a brief but informative chronicle of DCMP’s rich history in educational media accessibility.

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF: MY PERSPECTIVE (#375)

      Len Novick, who served as project director of the Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) program from 1978-1985, offers his perspective on the history of CFD during his tenure. He began his career as a media specialist in a school for the deaf, and, after CFD, he joined the National Captioning Institute (NCI) as vice president of external business development. He also briefly reports on his NCI experiences from 1986-1994, concluding that: “We were able to successfully ‘mainstream the technology’ of captioning, which was developed originally for deaf persons, to an accepted feature available to all TV viewers in the U.S.”

    • CAPTIONED FILMS FOR THE DEAF CURRICULUM WORKSHOPS AT BALL STATE UNIVERSITY (#376)

      Doin Hicks’ professional career began as a classroom teacher and football coach at the Missouri School for the Deaf. He went on to manage the implementation of Federal Law 94-142, as the founding Director of the Model Secondary School for the Deaf on the Gallaudet University campus. Later he held other teaching and administrative positions at Gallaudet, along with performing public service and consultancy work. Read his accounting of the Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD) Ball State University project of five-year duration (1964-1968). Each summer a group of experienced teachers, 25 to 30 in number, would be selected, based on demonstrated teaching skills and knowledge in particular subject areas. The participants would convene for a six-week period of intense activity to include receiving instruction in media-related topics and applying that knowledge and skill to the production of curricular outlines. These study guides would utilize textbooks and other print material currently in use and, in addition, provide suggestions and guides for use of visual media. To complete this task, workshop participants would be given access to a wide array of commercial media and materials.

    • Un padrino to Captioned Films for the Deaf: A Tribute to Gilbert L. Delgado (#377)

      The first Hispanic superintendent of a state school for the deaf, Gilbert L. Delgado has been called un padrino—a godfather—to children and adults who are Hispanic or deaf or both. Spending all his work life in education of deaf children and adults, he has been a mentor to many, and a national leader not only in education, but also in captioning and telecommunications. Bill Stark wrote this tribute to Dr. Delgado, who was the second Chief of Media Services and Captioned Films (MSCF) in the U.S. Office of Education. It is no exaggeration to say that there was a revolution in education of deaf children, spearheaded by Captioned Films for the Deaf from 1958 through the early 1970s. Dr. Delgado was a true visionary who was largely responsible for making this happen.

    • Dedication: Gilbert L. Delgado Administration Building (#378)

      An address given by Dr. Dion Hicks on March 31, 1995 at the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSC). On this occasion of the dedication of the NMSD administration building to Dr. Gilbert L. Delgado, Dr. Hicks overviews the accomplishments of Dr. Delgado, including this high praise: “I believe it is safe to say that Dr. Delgado has done more than any person in our country to encourage, support, and improve both education and welfare of deaf persons in other countries.” Students of Captioned Films for the Deaf history know that Dr. Delgado was the second chief of Captioned Films for the Deaf, following John Gough.

    • Described and Captioned Media Program: Seventy Years of Progress (1946-2016) (#379)

      The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) began as Captioned Films for the Deaf (CFD), with the goal of making movies accessible to persons who were deaf or hard of hearing through captioning. The program has undergone several name changes through the years, the most recent being in 2006 when the program was mandated to also serve children who are blind or visually impaired. From that point on, the DCMP has provided description on its free-use educational media, along with captioning this same media for those needing that access. Author Bill Stark provides a timeline and brief narrative of DCMP’s historical development, beginning in 1946 with the spawning of an idea for how to caption a film.

  • History - Captioning Manuals and Guidelines

    • LANGUAGE CONTROL IN CAPTIONED FILMS (#97)

      For many years, the only source of educational captioned media was the Captioned Films for the Deaf program. Captions were written by teachers at summer workshops, of two or more weeks duration, which were usually held on the campus of a residential school for the deaf. This 1977 paper provided guidelines to caption writers as to caption length and vocabulary (language was often heavily edited). For each film, it was determined which of three levels of captioning would be followed, ranging from very simple sentence patterns with no compound sentences to those with complex sentences.

    • CAPTIONING TECHNIQUES FOR THE CAPTIONED FILMS/VIDEOS CAPTIONING WORKSHOP: PART I (#100)

      Part I of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. This section includes general guidelines and an explanation of captioning levels. Prepared in 1988, Mike Waugh, workshop director.

    • CAPTIONING TECHNIQUES FOR THE CAPTIONED FILMS/VIDEOS CAPTIONING WORKSHOP: PART II (#101)

      Part II of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. Arranged in outline form, this section includes a definition of syncap and nonsyncap captioning, with examples of each. Also covers such topics as: math guidelines, line division, caption placement, and language manipulation. Prepared in 1988, Mike Waugh, workshop director.

    • CAPTIONING TECHNIQUES FOR THE CAPTIONED FILMS/VIDEOS CAPTIONING WORKSHOP: PART III (#102)

      Part III of a captioning manual prepared for teachers at summer workshops sponsored by the Captioned Films/Videos Program. This section is written in outline form and includes such topics as: sound effects, including onomatopoeia; grammar; lesson guide material; and “exception” films. Gives examples of acceptable captioning, and discusses how to caption syncap and nonsyncap films. Prepared in 1988, Mike Waugh, workshop director.

    • LESSON GUIDE FOR CAPTIONED FILMS: A TRAINING AND UTILIZATION GUIDE (#104)

      The forward to the first bound volume (1968) of educational Captioned Films for the Deaf lesson guides and a sample guide for the educational film The Adventures of Willie Skunk. Explains that lesson guides are prepared for “…teachers of the deaf for use in conjunction with captioned films and is intended to help avoid pitfalls inherent in the use of films as teaching tools.” Each guide contained these sections or components: film summary, purpose of film, preparation for film (teacher and student), follow-up, and additional resource materials.

    • NONVERBAL FILMS: GUIDELINES FOR THEIR UTILIZATION WITH DEAF LEARNERS (#118)

      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.

    • "ROCKETS: HOW THEY WORK" LESSON GUIDE (#244)

      This lesson guide for the first-ever educational captioned film, Rockets: How They Work, was written at DePaul University (Chicago) in 1968. “Even a good film loses its effectiveness if not used properly.” Provides a film summary, purpose of the film, preparation for use of the film, follow-up, and additional resources materials.

  • Recommend Media to the DCMP

    • RECOMMEND MEDIA TO THE DCMP (#8)

      If you would like to recommend media for captioning, description, and inclusion into the DCMP library, simply print this PDF, fill it out, and mail or fax it to us. You can also fill out the DCMP Media Recommendation Form online.

• ACCESSIBLE MEDIA UTILIZATION

  • For Educators

    • A VIDEO DECALOGUE FOR PEDAGOGUES (#9)

      Students don’t magically learn from a video just by staring at it. What you do before, during, and after the viewing will make video-watching a real learning experience. Adding a touch of humor, author Bill Stark of the DCMP provides ten rules for effective use of captioned and described videos. They won’t make you an instant expert, but they can help you avoid some major pitfalls and get your students excited about learning. Following these rules “… is made easier by the DCMP catalog, our lesson guides, and our instantly-delivered streamed content.”

    • SURPRISE! WE DO GET SOME SPECIAL SERVICES! (#68)

      Persons with a hearing loss do not get compensation for numerous economic disadvantages (no discount on a TV set because of uncaptioned programs, no option to buy a car without a radio, etc.). But the government has continued its funding and legislative support for captioning activities. Ms. Dickinson, a deaf teacher of deaf high school students in Colorado, reviews the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) services, how DCMP materials help learning come alive for her students, and how DCMP training materials help her continue to grow as a teacher.

    • DCMP HELPING DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS IN TRANSITION (#76)

      Transition is the buzz word in deaf services these days, but there does not seem to be a consensus on when to start the process or even what the process is. The author, Cindy Camp, Disability Specialist in Deafness at Jacksonville State University (JSU) and Outreach Specialist for the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet), explains that her main goal is to help students with a hearing loss to succeed in college. She emphasizes that captioning plays a crucial part in reaching her goal. Learn how she advocates for the use of captioning by college professors and how she has proven that the DCMP is a valuable resource for high schoolers as well as college students.

    • A TALE OF A TROLL AND HIS CAPTIONED MEDIA (#142)

      What does a troll do after he has retired from chasing goats? C. Paige Brooks, former editor and proofreader for the Described and Captioned Media Program, has written a “fairy tale” article that answers this question and reviews the various children’s literature available in the collection. She includes some characters that you might recognize. Links make for easy ordering.

    • EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE DCMP (#152)

      Wanda Shipman indicates that “despite the lack of equal educational opportunity for deaf students, each state has created a system of standards that must be met by all students.” The opportunity for equal educational opportunities is enhanced through teachers’ utilization of captioned media from the DCMP.

    • YOUTH AND CAPTIONED MEDIA (#156)

      Jennifer DiLorenzo, an alumna of Gallaudet University’s School of Psychology graduate program, reveals how the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) has helped her deal with important issues in her school by educating deaf students regarding social norms and pressures, such as conflict resolution, drinking, drugs, relationships, and communication skills. She includes a list of media that has been most helpful to her. Links make for easy ordering.

    • TESTIMONIALS OF TEACHERS WHO USE CMP CAPTIONED MEDIA (#191)

      Four teachers give their testimonials regarding their use of captioned educational media from the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP). Each teacher tells of both his or her experience using captioned media as a teaching tool in the classroom and why this accessible media is important in the education of students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

    • BLACK HISTORY MONTH (#203)

      Thanks to Carter G. Woodson’s efforts, people from all around the globe give tribute to prominent African Americans and study their achievements in the month of February as they celebrate Black History Month. Kathy Buckson, the administrative specialist for the DCMP, discusses how deaf African-American people are an essential element of the American identity and how the collective heritage of America should be celebrated every day. Accessible media from the DCMP can help you learn more about Black History Month, American heritage, and help you celebrate both year-round.

    • INTRODUCING CAPTIONED MEDIA IN THE EARLY YEARS (#206)

      In the March 2008 issue of the Clarke School’s “Mainstream News,” Information Outreach Specialist Melissa Griswold makes the case for captions in the classroom. In encouraging teachers to adopt captioned media early and often in their students’ academic careers, Melissa references the varied and proven literacy benefits of captioning, directs readers to programs such as the DCMP, and includes useful tips for teachers and parents. (Reprinted with permission.)

    • ON THE NEED FOR USABLE VIDEOS FOR DEAF-BLIND STUDENTS AND HOW IT CAN BE MET WITH CAPTIONING AND DESCRIPTION (#240)

      The DCMP recently conducted interviews in order to determine how accessible videos are used in the classroom with students who are deaf-blind and what other options need to be included in order for these videos to meet the widest need possible. Provides an overview of the results.

    • DEAFNESS AND BLACK HISTORY: ONE LEADER'S PERSPECTIVE (#245)

      To commemorate Black History Month and African Americans (especially the contributions of those who are deaf or hard of hearing), Ernest E. Garrett, III, past President of National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA), explains how the African-American community embodies a rich system of educational, political, and cultural supports, and yet, he notes that “Black Deaf Americans continue to experience gross deficits in access to education, economic parity, and social justice.” He also expands on how equal access plays a role in minimizing those deficits and provides an overview of his personal experiences as a deaf African American.

    • BLINDNESS AND BLACK HISTORY: ONE LEADER'S PERSPECTIVE (#249)

      To commemorate Black History Month and African Americans (especially the contributions of those who are blind or visually impaired), Freddie Peaco, interim President of the Metropolitan Washington Ear, outlines why it is important to preserve our culture, remember our history, and work tirelessly to ensure stereotypes are dispelled. She notes the roles equal access plays in achieving these goals and provides an overview of her personal experiences as a blind African American.

    • DEAF HISTORY RESOURCES (#256)

      A listing of resources that DCMP members and the general public can use and enjoy when teaching or celebrating Deaf History! Includes a captioning trivia quiz!

    • LOUIS BRAILLE: HUMANITARIAN, TEACHER, INVENTOR, AND FRIEND (#260)

      Author Mary Ann Siller provides background on the inventor of the Braille code, Louis Braille. She also provides information on many different resources for parents and teachers to utilize in celebration of the national "Braille Literacy Month." These resources include DCMP media, books, the Braille Bug Web site, membership groups providing literacy resources, and more.

    • AMY’S START TOWARD A SUCCESSFUL FUTURE: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE? (#261)

      Amy Johnson, a Sophomore at the Texas School for the Deaf, expresses some of her frustrations with IEP (ARD) meetings that began for her in the second grade. She often felt confused and overwhelmed. She got the idea in the eighth grade to produce a PowerPoint to help explain “what I expected in order to improve my education, help my future to be successful and plan my goals.” Her presentation was a success and everyone “…in the meeting really enjoyed and appreciated my presentation.” Later she even presented a PowerPoint at a conference for professionals that her mother attended, and participants agreed it was a great idea. PowerPoint, Amy says, is a good way for students to explain the ideas for their own future.

    • EXPECTATIONS IN TRANSITION MEETING—ENCOURAGING STUDENT PARTICIPATION (#262)

      Author Theresa Johnson reminds readers that secondary transition is not a new concept. It is an integral part of American culture—graduation from high school and moving on to college or work and life as an adult. However, in spite of past efforts, we continue to see alarming dropout rates of students in our schools, and the unemployment and underemployment rates of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing is dismal at best. Clearly, new strategies for better preparing students for a more successful transition after high school must be implemented. Renewed emphasis on student involvement, better planning, and improved collaboration among everyone involved in the process hopefully will lead to greater success. Theresa Johnson has worked in the field of deafness for thirty years, and is also the proud mother of Amy, who is deaf and a teenager who is busy setting goals for her future.

    • READ + LISTEN + RESPOND = NEW ADVENTURES: STORYTELLING FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED (#263)

      Mary Ann Siller writes that storytelling provides a language of learning that delights the imagination. She provides a listing of DCMP captioned and described videos that helps them enter new worlds, and a bonus annotated bibliography of children’s literature featuring characters who are blind or have low vision. Students and children enter new worlds through the description and captions provided on DCMP media for which she provides a listing. Don’t miss DCMP accessible media that provide unique multimedia links to “the world of the story”.

    • CHILDREN’S LITERATURE FEATURING CHARACTERS WHO ARE BLIND OR HAVE LOW VISION: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (#264)

      Approximately 50 book titles compiled by Mary Ann Siller. A reading motivation for students who are blind or visually impaired is to introduce them to books with visually impaired characters. The forty-eight titles in this bibliography compiled by Mary Ann Siller include stories about Ronald who has an array of humorous mishaps until he gets this glasses (Watch Out Ronald Morgan!), an emperor’s daughter who is blind (The Seeing Stick), Brian who is blind and learns to take care of his new parakeet (Brian’s Bird), and many more.

    • FOOTSTEPS TO INSPIRE US: DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING, BLIND AND LOW VISION, AND DEAF BLIND WOMEN (#265)

      There are too many inspiring deaf and blind women throughout history to name them all. An article from Jacksonville State University’s Cindy Camp touches on a few, and also provides additional Web sites and resources. Everyone needs these role models—footsteps enough like our own to inspire us. Women who are deaf and hard of hearing, blind and low vision, and deaf-blind have achieved in all facets of life. The children in your class can walk history’s pathways and learn to step forward with confidence.

    • SUMMERTIME COOL: IDEAS TO ENRICH AND TEACH (#267)

      Mary Ann Siller encourages us to support students and their families in their building of great summer vacation memories with new ideas that inspire, as well as teach. She reminds readers that the DCMP has numerous free-loan media items that support all nine areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) for kids who are blind, have low vision, or are deaf-blind. As you plan for activities this summer to keep your students’ skills at their highest level, look to these resources and to the “Summertime Cool Lesson Calendar” for ideas. When your students return to school in August, 2011, prepare to read and hear enthusiastic tales of cool fun!

    • RECOGNIZE AND REINFORCE SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAMMING (#268)

      Social skills programming is one of the nine key areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC). Mary Ann Siller announces a new social skills cinema contest open until May 27, 2011 for teachers and parents of students with visual impairments. Here is your chance to submit a short video on the theme, “Social Skills: Putting the C in Cool.” This contest is a perfect opportunity to show your colleagues a favorite lesson that you use to teach social skills at home, school, or in the community. Four winners will be announced, one each in these categories: (birth to 5, elementary, middle school, and high school) Top videos from each age category will be highlighted on TSBVI’s Facebook page, featured in the Texas SenseAbilities magazine, shared with your district administrators, and premiered at the 2012 TAER conference. DCMP is partnering in the project and will add the description and captioning to the four winning videos. It is hoped that this will be an annual contest.

    • DCMP: A VALUED RESOURCE -OR- MORE TOOLS IN THE UDL BELT! (#271)

      Debbie Pfeiffer is the Virginia Department of Education’s Specialist for Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Blind/Vision Impaired, Deaf-Blind, and Traumatic Brain Injuries. In this article, Dr. Pfeiffer discusses the challenges that teachers face today (more than ever) in meeting the varied needs of their students. She talks about the value of captioning and describing media and the wide variety of accessible media available through the DCMP, stating: “I now take advantage of every opportunity possible to make educators, administrators, and parents in Virginia aware of the DCMP as a valuable resource. Besides listing some of her favorite free-loan media from the DCMP library, she also includes some tidbits on easy navigation of the DCMP Web site.”

    • SOCIAL SKILLS: PUTTING THE "C" IN COOL (#273)

      In May 2011, the Texas Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Students Advisory Committee offered teachers, parents, and students with visual impairments across the United States and Canada an opportunity to submit a short video on the theme, "Social Skills: Putting the ‘C’ in Cool." The contest provided a perfect opportunity to highlight a favorite lesson to teach social skills at home, school, or in the community. Read the project overview and visit the links to the winning videos.

    • INTENTIONAL TEACHING WITH ACCESSIBLE MEDIA (#284)

      Jade Cox highlights the benefits of coupling intentional teaching methods with accessible media. The article provides an overview of intentional teaching and illustrates the academic and social successes that await deaf, blind, and/or deaf-blind students as teachers incorporate accessible media into sound instruction. It also shares links to additional resources on intentional teaching as well as DCMP resources.

    • DIFFERENTIATION: MEETING THE VARIED NEEDS OF STUDENTS THROUGH ACCESSIBLE MEDIA (#286)

      Differentiation is simply providing learning opportunities in a variety of ways to meet the needs of a variety of learners. Today's teachers walk into classrooms of students with multiple learning styles, intelligences, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, interests, and physical needs. Jade Cox, DCMP Educational Specialist, relates how accessible media is essential for deaf, blind, and deaf-blind students to actively participate and engage in learning; furthermore, teachers can easily integrate described and captioned media into differentiated instruction.

    • INCLUSION: BEYOND ACADEMICS (#287)

      Inclusion enables students with disabilities to participate and fully integrate into the school community. In an inclusive classroom, these students are able to see and experience appropriate social interaction that they might not experience in a more restrictive classroom. Their mastery of social interaction and understanding of social norms will serve as great assets for future success. Jade Cox, DCMP Educational Specialist, relates how DCMP has resources that take your classroom beyond academics and help teach social skills. We also provide you Listening is Learning and Read Captions Across America learning modules to teach you how use of inclusive media (described and captioned) helps your students without disabilities.

    • FCC "EQUAL ACCESS" REGULATIONS AND THEIR POSITIVE IMPACT (#288)

      Joanna Scavo, Aberdeen Broadcast Services, provides information for parents and teachers about the 2012 FCC rules for video description and captioning. She includes anecdotes about Tommy, who is blind, and Larisa, who is deaf, that illustrate the positive impact on children who are blind or deaf. The new Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act contains groundbreaking protections to enable people with disabilities to access broadband, digital, and mobile innovations—the emerging 21st century technologies for which the act is named.

    • EARLY LEARNING: IS TV/VIDEO WATCHING (OR OTHER "SCREEN TIME") BAD FOR YOUNG CHILDREN? (#289)

      The effect of television on children, especially on babies, is an intensely controversial subject. Every year rafts of studies and statistics appear about children's television habits, and some of them may seem alarming. However, research findings remain divided and can be confusing to educators and parents. Bill Stark, DCMP Communications and Accountability Administrator, shows how parents, grandparents, teachers, and other caregivers who coview with their children help guide their attention to media features salient for learning.

    • GO, CLASS, GO: USING DR. SEUSS IN EARLY READING INSTRUCTION (#302)

      Dr. Tamby Allman wrote most of this article while serving as a teacher of deaf students in a kindergarten/first grade, self-contained classroom in Highland Park, Illinois. Dr. Seuss books came to her mind as she sought beginner-level books to help her students move to more fluent reading and increase their sight vocabulary. However, so much of the joy of Dr. Seuss is the use of rhymes and nonsense words, her colleagues said, and are probably not an ideal choice for readers who are deaf. That worried Tamby too, but she’d seen her students picking the books off the shelves of the library, and she knew that many of them already had Dr. Seuss books, videos, and toys at home. In other words, the books met the most important criterion for authentic texts: appeal to the children. Read about her successful experiences with these books in early reading instruction.

    • CAPTIONED MEDIA: LITERACY SUPPORT FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS (#303)

      Captioned or subtitled media is a great tool for teachers looking to differentiate classroom instruction—research has shown that ELLs, students with learning disabilities, and students who struggle academically may all benefit from following along with captions while watching a classroom video. Learn more about the benefits of captioned media and additional resources for captioned material from this article that appears on the Reading Rockets website.

    • ANSWERING THE CALL: FINANCIAL EDUCATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (#363)

      Article by DCMP Educational Specialist Jade Cox covering the application of National Standards for Financial Literacy (K-12) and National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education utilizing DCMP described and captioned media.

    • DEEPER VIEWING - ACCESSIBLE MEDIA AS A TOOL TO ENSURE STUDENT LEARNING AND ACTIVE PARTICIPATION (#365)

      DCMP has coined the term "Deeper Viewing", and has defined it as: "Use of accessible media to master core academic content and improve the social-emotional and cognitive outcomes of all children."

    • BLACK DEAF CULTURE THROUGH THE LENS OF BLACK DEAF HISTORY (#366)

      Benro Ogunyipe, former National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) President (2011-2013), relates that Black Deaf people have one of the most unique cultures in the world, and in fact is largely shaped by two cultures and communities: Deaf and African-American. This article provides “A Brief Commentary on the History, Culture, and Education of Black Deaf People.” Also overviews recent accomplishments and recognition of Black Deaf people, including recognition of Black Deaf people in arts and entertainment, and provides a selected bibliography of books that the author feels are the cornerstone of the Black Deaf history, culture, education, experiences, and language.

    • Description on Videos: Improving Learning Opportunities for Everyone (#372)

      Make something unusual happen in your classroom! Use educational videos with description that was created for students with visual impairments. You’ll increase learning opportunities for your entire class, including students with visual awareness failures and those who are unable to gain meaning from standard video presentations due to learning differences or lack of proficiency in the English language.

  • For Interpreters

    • INTERPRETERS AND THE DCMP: THEY HELP BUSY TEACHERS (#57)

      Leslie Darling, an interpreter from Michigan, writes about how interpreters can guide teachers who are reluctant or inexperienced in finding captioned material. The best resource is the DCMP for grades K-12 (as well as all levels), and she provides sample testimonies from other educational interpreters to support this fact. "While captioning will never replace interpreters, interpreters will also never replace captioning. Both have a vital place in education."

    • CAPTIONING AND INTERPRETING OF FILMS AND VIDEOS--DO BOTH HAVE A PLACE? (#110)

      When a film or video has no captions, then it also has no value to a person with a hearing loss. That is, unless it is interpreted. Author Sheila Chapman, a registered interpreter, relates her experiences in interpreting films and videos, some tips for an interpreter to prepare for this type of interpreting, and reasons why captioning is better. Ms. Chapman's work as a freelance interpreter has included a lot of this type of interpreting. A great resource for those educational interpreters who select captioned media for the classroom is the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP), as captioned media items are available for all subject areas and grade levels. She also reminds readers that the DCMP collection has sign-language training materials, items providing an overview of deaf culture, and much more!

  • For Other Consumers

    • ABUSED DEAF WOMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES: A LACK OF INFORMATION (#4)

      Briefly touches upon the fact that thousands of women across America are abused each year and overviews types of abusive behavior. The Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) was founded in 1986, and ADWAS believes that violence is a learned behavior that should not be tolerated. Information on dealing with the problem is critical to deaf women and their families, but there is an appalling lack of it due to the failure of media producers to caption media vital to ADWAS advocate-training groups.

    • MAKING YOUR PRODUCTIONS ACCESSIBLE: HOW CAPTIONING AND DESCRIPTION CAN BENEFIT YOU (#15)

      Why should you make your media accessible? Why should you caption and describe your productions? Not only is it the right thing to do, but marketing opportunities exist for media companies based on the needs of the following groups: persons with a hearing loss, persons with a vision loss, the ESL population, senior citizens, persons with literacy problems, and persons in the global market. The result of captioning and describing your media items will most likely prove beneficial and rewarding.

    • CAPTIONING FROM A NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE (#45)

      Written in 2004, Howard Busby, Choctaw member of the Intertribal Deaf Council (IDC), briefly reviews the stereotyping of Native Americans in books and films. He then relates how the DCMP has involved Deaf Native Americans in its media selection process and focused on diversity and culturally appropriate materials.

    • CELEBRATE ASIAN CULTURE THROUGH THE DCMP! (#48)

      May is Asian History Month, and Cynthia J. Plue reviews how the DCMP helps emphasize multicultural diversity, use of DCMP videotapes is appropriate for learning about Asian perspectives, and how the DCMP is working with the National Asian Deaf Congress in video evaluation.

    • DEAF WOMEN UNITED WITH THE DCMP! (#50)

      Linda Merlino Clark reviews the activities of the Connecticut Chapter of DWU in evaluating videos for captioning by the DCMP. Ms. Clark also mentions captioned titles from the DCMP that offer support to deaf women and educate any viewer as to women's roles in society.

    • DEAF PEOPLE ARE PATIENT PEOPLE (#59)

      Read about the patience required if ... you are deaf and have to wait once a month to go to a selected nearby theater that is showing an open-captioned feature ... if you are deaf and have to drive down to the local videotape store and browse through several thousand videos to find those that are captioned... Jax Levesque points out the patience required to wait 30 years for the first movie to be captioned. Good news though, there is a secret program funded by the government that loans FREE captioned educational and entertainment materials. Know what it is?

    • THE DCMP CAPTIONS VIDEOS FOR THE SIGNWRITING LITERACY PROJECT (#63)

      Valerie Sutton, inventor of SignWriting, writes about the rationale for the system, how deaf persons should be proud of their "beautiful and expressive language" (ASL), how SignWriting is pioneering a new concept in Deaf Education, and how the DCMP has helped the project.

    • LIFE, ACTING, AND CAPTIONING (#67)

      Deaf actor Anthony Natale writes about his successes in movies and television as well as onstage. He also provides unique insights into being a deaf actor such as: "At first I thought it would be very hard to be a deaf actor, but I soon realized that hearing actors I know also have their own obstacles such as color of skin, physical disability, and appearance." Natale further states that he is proud to perform the role as spokesperson for the DCMP, as he is very appreciative of captioning and respectful of the captioning agencies that provide it.

    • HEAR ME (#120)

      It is estimated that at least 1760 children die annually from abuse and neglect (Child Welfare Information Gateway), while others endure abuse for many years. Studies show that rates of abuse among children with disabilities vary, ranging from a low of 22 percent to a high of 70 percent (National Research Council). In this article, C. Paige Brooks, a former proofreader and editor for the DCMP, examines the reasons why abuse is underreported and why death from abuse is underestimated. She also provides websites of support groups that are specifically geared toward meeting the needs of people who are deaf or hard of hearing and suffering from (or have suffered) abuse. Links to DCMP media, a national database of registered pedophiles, the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children’s website, and related articles are also included. (This PDF flyer outlining child abuse and neglect titles available from the DCMP is also available.)

    • A DEAF HERITAGE CELEBRATION (#139)

      Founded in 1817, the American School for the Deaf (ASD) is the oldest school of its kind in the nation. This article focuses on the ASD museum, one of the richest repositories of historical and cultural materials. Author Gary E. Wait describes the museum’s collection of essays and letters reflecting the social and cultural life of the Deaf community, as well as documentation related to the origin of Captioned Films for the Deaf. An overview of its artifacts, many of which had revolutionary impact on the education of children with a hearing loss, is also provided. Mr. Wait, ASD Archivist, further discusses many new reference and research services he has added to the museum’s offerings. Take a tour with Gary today, and let the celebration begin!

    • FINDING DEAF HERSTORY AND HISTORY: RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSROOM (#189)

      Dr. Harry Lang, a Deaf professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, has authored eight books in the area of Deaf Studies. In this article, Dr. Lang relates that a motivation behind his book writing is the fact that while Deaf people were contributors in nearly every significant event in American history, their stories have seldom been told. Edmund Booth, a Deaf forty-niner, and Laura Redden Searing, a Deaf poetess and Civil War journalist, are two such examples who came to his attention during his research. He concludes with an encouragement to Deaf and hearing scholars to continue the development of Deaf studies books and resources. One such valuable resource is the Described and Captioned Media Program, which has great captioned media to help bridge to Deaf studies.

    • MUFFLED JOURNEY (#208)

      By Erma Belz, the assistant manager of DCMP's Alaska Accessible Learning Center, this article raises awareness of the issues that accompany hearing impairment. It was written not to belittle or ignore the barriers and challenges of total deafness, but to illustrate the needs and obstacles that accompany a less than total loss of hearing. From her birth to present day, Belz walks readers through her life's journey from a mild hearing impairment to profound deafness.

    • IMPLEMENTING CLOSED CAPTIONING FOR DTV (#219)

      The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules impose obligations on broadcasters for captioning of digital television (DTV) programs, but there has been some uncertainty over exactly what is required. This paper sets out the main requirements defined by the FCC rules, summarizes what broadcasters should be doing to meet those requirements, and provides guidance on implementing the various links in the chain from caption creation through to emission. A method for transport of DTV closed captions is described using data services in the vertical ancillary data space of serial digital video signals, and several methods for feeding caption data to the ATSC encoder are identified.

    • PLENTY TO WORRY ABOUT: CHILDREN & STRESS (#257)

      In today’s modern world, children are feeling stress at younger ages than ever before. Whether the causes of stress are physical or emotional, internal or external, adult providers and caregivers who often tend to view the world of children as happy and carefree are surprised at how much stress children in their care actually experience! Jennifer DeGeorge, the resource specialist at the DCMP, provides an overview of the various causes of stresses children face and what you, as a caregiver, can do to help combat that and help encourage positive habits and high self-esteem—and which DCMP resources can help you achieve your goal of fostering stress-less kids! (Also note our attached flyer for additional DCMP media on stress and stress management, which can be found on page three of this article.)

    • CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT: CA/N (#258)

      Stories of child abuse and neglect (CA/N) represent a horrific reality that is difficult to comprehend, much less accept. Unfortunately, such difficulty does not stop people from abusing children, including children with disabilities. In this article, Harold Johnson, a professor of special education at Michigan State University, explains how to detect and prevent CA/N and that research indicates CA/N is experienced by children with disabilities at a rate that is three times that experienced by their nondisabled peers. CA/N destroys lives, devastates families, and damages organizations, but Johnson also outlines how to be proactive and stop that from happening.

    • WHO ARE THE BRIGHT SPOTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY? (#266)

      Every 13 seconds a child is abused. The numbers are even higher among children with disabilities. Author Harold Johnson writes that WE can protect children with disabilities from maltreatment, but to do so we MUST talk about this topic. Anyone can call the Childhelp Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD) if they suspect a child is being maltreated. Childhelp has also established a special hotline number to report possible instances of child maltreatment as experienced by children who are deaf/hard of hearing, i.e., 1-800-222-4453. Dr. Johnson writes about the “Bright Spot Project” which is used to gather needed knowledge to prevent and respond to instances of maltreatment experienced by children with disabilities. During the course of the past year a collaborative effort has been initiated to identify, document, and share the identity, knowledge, resources, and interests of individuals with expertise in both children with disabilities and maltreatment. Nominate “Bright Spots” in your community by sending an email message to Dr. Harold Johnson/Bright Spot Project Director (hjohnson@msu.edu).

  • For Parents

    • PARENTS' VITAL SUPPORTING ROLE IN DEAF/HARD OF HEARING EDUCATION (#55)

      Parenting a deaf/hard of hearing child presents a dizzying array of choices, settings, communication methods, philosophies and more. The DCMP supports parents by providing a wide range of captioned media which they can custom-fit to their child's unique learning needs.

    • BACK TO SCHOOL WITH DCMP . . . FOR PARENTS! (#107)

      Author Staci Bechard, teacher and librarian from the Montana School for the Deaf, overviews the support provided to parents and students by the DCMP and captioned media. Interviews were conducted with these consumers, and quotations are included in the article to support how captioned media "help open the door to the world." As one parent states: "It is a great way to build vocabulary and increase reading speed."

    • THE DESCRIBED AND CAPTIONED MEDIA PROGRAM: A PARENTING TOOL FOR THE TIMES (#109)

      Dr. Diana Poppelmeyer, Texas School for the Deaf, writes: "In this day and age, as is probably true of every generation, parents need all the help they can get, and the Described and Captioned Media Program is an often-overlooked resource." Parents can find titles about common issues, such as childhood illnesses, hearing siblings, and helping students succeed in school. But the DCMP also helps parents as they take on the role of advocate by having a long list of titles related to deafness, deaf culture, sign language, and more!

    • THE EQUAL ACCESS JOURNEY (#200)

      The captions are always on in this Kansas home, and it pays huge learning dividends for this family! Accessibility advocate and captioning enthusiast Michelle Rich describes her experiences as the parent of three children—one who is profoundly deaf, one who has a moderately severe loss, and one who is hearing. Michelle shares the history of her ongoing journey to achieve equal access for her children, her conviction that captions contribute to literacy, and how she became a captionist. She adds suggestions and inspirational tips for parents of—and other advocates for—children with exceptionalities.

    • IN PRAISE OF SIBLINGS (#259)

      Leeanne Seaver, parent of a deaf son, shares some reflections on “Siblings,” which she has developed into a workshop for families (contact her for more information at Leeanne@handsandvoices.org). Seaver is the Executive Director of Hands & Voices, which is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families and their children who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as the professionals who serve them. Hands & Voices is a parent-driven, parent/professional collaborative group that is unbiased towards communication modes and methods. Learn more by reading their Hands & Voices brochure [PDF] and visiting their website.