New technologies create new opportunities for DCMP members
Hundreds of hours of new innovative accessible media will be available to
DCMP members during each of the next five years! This will be made
possible through a special collaboration and partnership.
A bit about our partner, CaptionMax
CaptionMax is a nationally-recognized, full-service captioning and media
description company that provides services to the broadcast, corporate, home
entertainment, educational, and government media industries. They have
provided top-quality captioning services since 1993 and have been on the
forefront of media description for the blind and visually impaired since
2003.
In 2006, CaptionMax was awarded two 5-year competitive awards for the
purpose of captioning and describing non-broadcast educational media.
A partnership between CaptionMax and the NAD enables the DCMP to provide
this accessible content to DCMP members through its free-loan distribution
network in DVD format, or instantly streamed via the DCMP Web site.
What is description?
Description is the verbal depiction of key visual elements in a television
program, video, DVD, or other multimedia presentation. Inserted into
natural pauses in the program's soundtrack, the description provides information that otherwise would remain inaccessible to someone who is blind or visually
impaired without the assistance of a sighted person. It is similar to
captions in that both are important tools for equal access to educational media
for people with disabilities. While captioning has enjoyed almost four
decades of development and successful implementation, description is still
relatively new to the scene.
Description originated in the theater in the 1970s and 1980s, and was originally
called "audio description." Overtime, it was adapted for use in films and
on television, and it was called "video description." Both terms are still in use
by the various organizations and companies that produce description; we at the
DCMP use the term "description" to mean description as it applies to multimedia
presentations.
But wait, there's more!
State-of-the-art
services that go beyond standard captioning and description practices
are made possible by funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education. DCMP
members will have access to media with some or all of
these exciting new interactive features:
- Auto-play DVDs with voiced-navigation instructions, large-type,
high-contrast coloring, and exciting new user options for the blind and visually impaired
- Caption and subtitle choices (i.e., verbatim or edited, larger or
smaller text, and variable placement and higher contrast of lettering)
- Expanded Description, which pauses the production automatically at certain points to
allow for a more in-depth description of the content
- Enhanced Captioning, which is "clickable" words and phrases in the caption to
offer more in-depth information
- Accessible "extra" content (i.e., captioned and described
supplemental material, and screen-reader compatible DVD-ROM features)
Immerse Yourself!
Take the plunge into greater interactivity by reviewing the listing of titles provided through the emerging technologies partnership, arranged with the newest titles listed first.
More information about these innovative accessibility features is available from Emily Bell’s article about CaptionMax’s Universal Access to Media program.