In this issue:

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It’s hard to believe, but it is (or will very soon be) back-to-school time for many of our readers. This time of year is among our favorites here at the DCMP—we’ve been working all summer to bring you a spate of new captioned and described videos (some of which are available now, with many more coming in the next few months). Here are some of the highlights:

Series

• Biology Classics – A four-part series with 12-minute episodes devoted to each of the following microscopic organisms: Paramecium, Hydra, Planaria, and Daphnia. (Find information about how these titles apply to your state’s academic standards, illustrated product guides, and PDF teaching guides on the website of the production company, BioMEDIA.)
• Inside the Living Cell – A five-part series consisting of a “highly visual tour of the processes that keep life operating” that includes the following titles: The Cell: Unit of Life, How Cells are Controlled, How Cells Obtain Energy, The Outer Envelope, and How Cells Reproduce. (Additional supplementary resources are available on BioMEDIA’s website.)
• ECO=KIDS Explore – A five-part series profiling the different types of green power that are becoming increasingly popular: solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, ethanol, and hybrid cars.
• Real Life 101 – We’ve added over 25 episodes from the TV series Real Life 101, which explores a wide variety of career fields from the perspective of professionals who populate them. Check out the DCMP’s Real Life 101 flyer [PDF] for a listing of all the titles currently available.

Individual Titles

• The World of Frogs – Introduces and describes the development of the frog through the four stages of its life cycle.
• Let’s Talk Myths – Investigates Ancient Greece, the Greek and Roman mythology stories, and provides detailed information about the Greek gods and goddesses involved in these myths in a talk-show format.
• Our Early United States: Colonial Settlements – Explores colonial America from its very first settlement to the establishment of the thirteen British colonies. (A video quiz about this program is also available.)

(A full listing of every DCMP title released since May 15, 2009 is also available.)

Of course, these are only a few of the many new titles to go along with the thousands of titles listed in the DCMP catalog. If you want to be kept up-to-date automatically as new titles become available, you should definitely subscribe to our RSS feed either via e-mail or your favorite RSS feed reader. Or, you could follow the DCMP on Twitter (and become a fan of the DCMP on Facebook) where this information is also available in real time. We’ve also just begun posting video previews of selected new DCMP titles over at the DCMP YouTube channel.

Accessibility Descends on the National Media Market!

Check out the DCMP’s National Media Market ad/flyer, [PDF] which will appear in the official Media Market program.

This year, back-to-school time for teachers means fresh starts, new minds, and a vast opportunity for learning. For parents, it means a quieter house during the day, busy (if not busier) schedules, and the making of new memories. For the DCMP, this year, back-to-school time means the 2009 National Media Market!

As you know, the DCMP picks only the best and most-used media to make accessible and include in its collection. Well, how do we know which titles are the best? (Aside, of course, from the wonderful suggestions and recommendations that you, our readers, send us.) Many of these titles can be found at the National Media Market, which is called “the premier event of our industry.” We find everything from award-winning, stand-alone titles to classics every library collection needs to have available to its users. While there, producers and distributors share information about new technology, like delivery systems and proven educational technology intended to support the educational video content we choose.

For four days, 55 of the nation’s top-quality educational media producers and distributors offer on-demand previews of new releases, products, and services, and the DCMP will be there to not only look for new titles to add to the collection, but we’ll also be presenting on why it’s essential to have accessible media available to teachers, students, and other buyers and users of educational media.

Want to join us this year in Lexington, KY? Then go to nmm.net to learn more, and sign up today! (A limited number of National Media Market “travel grants” are available for potential attendees for whom out-of-state travel may be problematic.)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE YOUNG DESCRIBED FILM CRITIC CONTEST (YDFC)

The first annual YDFC—a Listening is Learning initiative of the American Council of the Blind’s Audio Description Project in which young people who are blind or have low vision were invited to submit short reviews of any described movie—concluded in early July with the announcement of six contest winners from three grade-level ranges. The DCMP applauds the contest winners and encourages everyone to get started on their entries for next year’s edition of YDFC.

Sophomore Category (7-10)

First Place—Cricket Bidleman; San Diego, CA

Second Place—Ashley Robinson; Atlanta, GA

Junior Category (11-15)

First Place—Shanae Bethea; Atlanta, GA

Senior Category (16-18)

First Place—Jessica Laurie; Georges Mill, NH

Second Place—Grecia Ramirez; Atlanta, GA

Third Place—Alexis Griffin; Atlanta, GA

Honorable Mention—Alexandria Gooch; Jonesboro, GA

DCMP CONVERSION OF STREAMING MEDIA COMPLETE

The “RealPlayer era” is over at the DCMP; as of the middle of August, all 2450 DCMP streaming videos are now available in any browser with Flash Player installed (that’s between 98–99% of you, according to Adobe’s stats).

If you have streamed a DCMP title in the past 6 months, you have already noticed the uptick in quality afforded by the switch to the more efficient FLV format. We appreciate your patience as we completed this process, and hope that you check out some of your “old favorites” to see the improvement in quality for yourself!

SURVEY SPOTLIGHT

A few newsletters ago, we wrote about a survey of teachers of students with visual impairments designed to measure these teachers’ awareness and use of described videos. We’ve completed our evaluation of the results, and a PDF summary is available from our website.

Also, Aberdeen Captioning (one of our approved captioning service vendors [PDF]) recently conducted a survey about broadcast closed-captioning use. The results of the survey lend more support to a position that we’ve always believed to be true: Captioning is useful (and appreciated) by more than “just” those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Described and Captioned Media Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf.

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