We are located in Middlesex County, North of Boston, MA
What are the current rules regarding closed captioning?
The principal laws mandating closed captioning in America are the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the Telecomm Act) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Following the Telecomm Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued regulations requiring video program distributors (broadcasters, cable operators and satellite distributors) to gradually phase in closed captioning of their television programs to 100% in 2010, while captioning of pre-rule programming increases to 75% in 2012.
For more detailed information on the FCC's regulations governing captioning, please visit: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, coupled with the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, requires all electronic and information technology provided by Federal agencies to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and the general public. This means that all informational and training videos and other multimedia productions developed, procured, maintained, or used by any Federal agency must be open or closed captioned to provide access to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
For more detailed information on Section 508 please visit: http://www.section508.gov
Following the Telecomm Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued regulations requiring video program distributors (broadcasters, cable operators and satellite distributors) to gradually phase in closed captioning of their television programs to 100% in 2010, while captioning of pre-rule programming increases to 75% in 2012.
For more detailed information on the FCC's regulations governing captioning, please visit: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, coupled with the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, requires all electronic and information technology provided by Federal agencies to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and the general public. This means that all informational and training videos and other multimedia productions developed, procured, maintained, or used by any Federal agency must be open or closed captioned to provide access to the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
For more detailed information on Section 508 please visit: http://www.section508.gov
Web accessibility for the deaf and hearing impaired
The World Wide Web presents an incredible opportunity to people with disabilties. In addition to providing a communication protocol that is inherently accessible and relatively easy to use, people with disbilities find that they can pursue education, employment and entreprennerual opportunities never before possible.
However this opportunity is also a challenge found in the current evolution of the Web: moving it from a text-based interface to a multimedia operating environment. It is this environment that presents barriers to the deaf.
For example, each time a web site includes a video clip which also includes sound, the deaf are locked out.
The solution is relatively simple: implement closed captioning. Closed captioning is now an industry standard as televisions have built in capitioning functionality. Deaf users are no longer required to purchase a separate captioning box .
However this opportunity is also a challenge found in the current evolution of the Web: moving it from a text-based interface to a multimedia operating environment. It is this environment that presents barriers to the deaf.
For example, each time a web site includes a video clip which also includes sound, the deaf are locked out.
The solution is relatively simple: implement closed captioning. Closed captioning is now an industry standard as televisions have built in capitioning functionality. Deaf users are no longer required to purchase a separate captioning box .
Subtitles as an alternative to Closed Captioning
Current implementions of "Web captioning" are not the same as television captioning. Rather than captioning within the video clip, subtitles can be used on web video. Subtitles are most often seen on multi-language video DVD's but can also be used on web video. Google has recently begun to support captioning on videos they host.