This is great news for deaf and hard of hearing people — and, I think, for hearing people, too! While the world of Internet video has been hurtling forward, deaf people have been thrown backward to a time when television was not captioned. Why? Because almost none of the video on the Internet is subtitled or even closed-captioned! Almost none of the content on YouTube, Google, or any of the news sites is captioned. And you know all those movies and television shows the iTunes Music Store started selling recently? Not captioned. Yeppers. It’s like the old days all over again for deaf people.
And what about for yourself, when you’re sitting at your cubicle at work and you want to watch some Internet video but can’t turn up the volume lest you disturb your neighbor? Yes, I bet my fellow “hearing” people would like captioning on Internet videos, too!
Just think about how closed captioning — something originally created for deaf people — has changed your life. You now can watch multiple televisions in airports, bars, at the gym– all by reading the captions that were put there ostensibly for “the hearing impaired”! Think about all the words you’ve learned to spell, all the late nights you’ve been able to sit up and watch TV without disturbing your roommates or family. And what would life be like if we didn’t learn what the words were for all those sounds we took for granted, like the “mewling” of kittens, or the “tittering” of swallows?
I joined Google Video this evening, and made my first video. It took me about 45 minutes to caption a two-minute video; granted, it was my first attempt. I uploaded my video to Google, and I added the captions. After Google finishes processing my video, I will blog it here.
Thanks to Jared Evans for posting the entry Google Video Has Captions Now!!!
Daniel Greene 