CAPTIONING AND CART

Open and Closed Captioning

Like subtitles, captions display spoken dialogue as printed words on the television screen. Unlike subtitles, captions are specifically designed for viewers who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Captions are carefully placed to identify speakers, onscreen and offscreen sound effects, music, and laughter.

Closed captions are hidden as data within the television signal, and they must be decoded in order to be displayed on your TV screen. With either a set-top decoder or a caption-ready TV set, you can switch captions on or off for programs that you watch. Since 1993, all televisions with a screen larger than 13" sold in the U.S. must have a caption decoder included; if you have a television made before 1993, you'll need a separate decoder to view the captions. With closed captions, you have the option of turning the captions on or off on your TV. Videos and DVDs can also have closed captions. In fact, is it sometimes possible to see two sets of captions when viewing a DVD movie, if the "English Subtitles" and "Closed Captions" options are both selected!

Open captions, in contrast, are always visible on the visual screen. Open-captioned videos might be used, for example, for an informational presentation related to a museum exhibit, and the captions make it possible for museum-goers to follow the video even if they can't hear the narration. Open captions are also used with training videos; in this way, companies can make sure that their training materials are accessible to hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf employees. In recent years, many airlines have added open-captioned videos that explain emergency procedures at the beginning of flights.

Open-captioned movies are now showing all across the country. A limited number of feature film prints with open captions circulate around the U.S., and organizations such as InSight Cinema (see below) work with local Deaf and Hard of Hearing organizations to promote the screenings of these movies in those communities. In Colorado, you can find current open-captioned movie listings (for Denver, Aurora, Fort Collins, Greeley, Colorado Springs, and Louisville) at the ColoradoDeaf.com website: www.coloradodeaf.com/movies/oc.htm. Movie fans can also submit requests for specific captioned films at this site.

CART Captioning: Computer Assisted Real-Time Transcription
See section below
Website: www.ColoradoDeafCommission.Com/Assisttech/CART.aspx

Information About Captioning
Assistive Listening Technology and the Captioned Media Program (Publication 75)  
Captioned Media Project and National Association of the Deaf  
Website: www.cfv.org/caai/nadh75.pdf

CPC Computer Prompting and Captioning Company
1010 Rockville Pike, Suite 306
Rockville, MD 20852
Phone: (301) 738-8487
Fax: (301) 738-8488
TTY: (301) 738-8489
Toll Free: (800) 977-6678
Email: info@cpcweb.com
Closed captions, webcasts, DVDs, subtitling, teleprompting, real-time captions, technical support.
Website: http://www.cpcweb.com/

The Caption Center Online

Captioned Media Program
"The mission of the Captioned Media Program (CMP) is to provide all persons who are deaf or hard of hearing awareness of and equal access to communication and learning through the use of captioned educational media and supportive collateral materials. The CMP also acts as a captioning information and training center. The ultimate goal of the CMP is to permit media to be an integral part in the lifelong learning process for all stakeholders in the deaf and hard of hearing community: adults, students, parents, and educators."

The CMP provides a free-loan media program of over 4,000 open-captioned titles on video, CD-ROM, and DVD (see www.cfv.org/freeloan.asp). Deaf and hard of hearing persons, teachers, parents, and others may borrow materials. There are no rental, registration, or postage fees.  Several hundred titles are also streamed on the CMP web site. An additional service is a clearinghouse of information and materials on the subject of captioning. These resources are available in print or online to consumers, agencies, businesses, and schools. The clearinghouse also maintains a database of captioned media available for purchase.
Website: http://www.cfv.org/

Closed Captioning Frequently Asked Questions
Website: www.robson.org/capfaq

InSight Cinema: "The Audience Is Reading"
InSight Cinema is a national non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the big screen movie-going experience to the 30 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) audiences in the United States. This web page contains links to current captioned movie listings by city and state.
Website: insightcinema.org

"Murphy Was a Captioner"
Article on why errors appear in captioning, and a description of the captioning process
Website: www.robson.org/gary/captioning/murphy.html

National Association of the Deaf
How to File a Captioning Complaint
Website: www.nad.org/infocenter/infotogo/tech/captioncomplaint.html

National Captioning Institute
Mission: "A non-profit corporation whose primary purposes are to deliver effective captioning services and encourage, develop, and fund the continuing development of captioning, subtitling, and other media access services for the benefit of people who require additional access to auditory and visual information. As its resources permit and opportunities unfold with the development of new technology, NCI will support services to deaf, hard of hearing and other people who, for whatever reason, wherever situated and irrespective of their economic conditions, are limited in their ability to participate fully in the world of communications, heard, seen or written."
This site contains descriptions of the captioning process, captioning terms, the different types of captioning, related laws, Frequently Asked Questions, and more. Check the "About Captioning" tab to find articles and information.
Website: www.ncicap.org/index.asp

Questions from Captioning Consumers
Website: captioning.robson.org//caption_faq/consumers.html

Television Captioning Frequently Asked Questions
Website: www.shhh.org/html/baker01.htm

Watching Television with Others
Website: www.hearingfocus.com/better/tv.html