Monthly Archives: November 2009

Google/youtube automatic captioning

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Posted by maxporter on November 19, 2009 – 7:01 PM
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So, as you may or may not know, Google took over Youtube a while ago.

Today, google wrote in their blog that they will provide automatic captions on Youtube and Google video channels. Full story here.

Two key details: it uses automatic speech recognition software, and now instead of creating an .srt file and uploading it, you can upload a transcript without timestamps.

This video is in the blog that I just linked, but it is a promo video of the software:

The Google public policy blog is also interesting to read – they presented the technology in DC, so Gallaudet and NAD and etc. were in attendance.

Not gonna lie, this is a pretty neat development, even though I’m not so fond of corporations in general.

Also, like Ken Harrenstien says in the official Google blog, there’s other benefits. For example, the text could be translated. It will probably be hilarious babelfish style but that is still a neat idea.

Random trivia: apparently a deaf engineer helped develop this technology. Also, a vice president at google, Vincent Cerf, is deaf.
When I was a child, I got a book about prominent deaf people in history named Movers and Shakers: Deaf People Who Changed the World. I completely devoured it and read it several times.
So I generally appreciate seeing deaf people in the public eye. There are some exceptions, hah, but still.

I am hoping that it does not turn out to be vaporware but actually becomes so strong that it expands pretty much everywhere.

See, here’s the thing.

In the beginning, the Internet was EXTRAORDINARY for deaf people because it was just text and pictures. It cut down on communication barriers for a lot of deaf people.

Then when video capability came along, all of a sudden, deaf people could speak in ASL to each other over large distances!

But a lot of hearing people weren’t captioning their videos, so a large portion of the Internet was becoming inaccessible to deaf people.

This development, provided it is not vaporware, is exciting.

Also, Marlee Matlin testified on the behalf of the NAD at FCC hearings on Nov 6 to discuss the importance of accessibility on the Internet when developing a National Broadband Plan. Captioned public domain video here.

For all of its flaws, I personally find that the Internet is more accessible as a whole than most other mediums and I experience fewer communication barriers when talking with hearing people online than when I talk to them in real life. So the possibility of having the Internet become even more accessible for me in terms of deafness is nice.

EDIT:
BBC did a nice article on this.

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Barred

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Posted by maxporter on November 16, 2009 – 1:49 AM
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When I was a small child, movies were mostly available on VHS tape and theaters. Then, when I was in middle school, DVDs became popular. Napster didn’t happen until later, and p2p didn’t become widespread until I was in late high school.

So, whenever a movie came out in the theater, most people went to the theater to watch it.
I also was mainstreamed in a hearing school – I was the only deaf kid in my school.

Because of these factors, all of my friends growing up would gush about the latest movie that came out last weekend. “Oh my god, did you see Lord of the Rings? It was great.”

But movie theater owners did not (and still do not) provide subtitles, even though the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and mandates equal access for all disabled people.

Because movie theater owners do not provide subtitles, I often found myself sitting in my homeroom while all of my friends chattered on about the latest movie and glumly thinking about how long I would have to wait for it to come out on video or DVD so that I could watch it with subtitles.

The worst part was: the more popular a movie was, the longer its theater run would be. Therefore, the movies that my friends were talking the most about were exactly the movies that I would have to wait longest to watch. And, by the time the DVD finally came out 9 months later, everybody had stopped thinking about that movie and was buzzing about the latest most popular movie.

For example, when Lord of the Rings came out, every single person in my grade would not shut up about the damn movie for approximately 3 or 4 months. This is an eternity when you are 12 years old.
In a desperate attempt to fit in, I read the books and joined Lord of the Rings themed message boards. (This is actually what got me into Internet culture in the first place.) I never liked the books, and in fact still have not finished Return of the King, but I stayed on the forums because I met interesting people and so that I could “research” the movies enough to be able to hold a conversation at a time when the only thing people would talk about was that goddamn Lord of the Rings movie.

If I recall correctly, the movie was premiered in late 2001 and did not come to DVD until mid-to-late 2002. By the time I was finally able to watch it with subtitles, everybody else had started talking about the big movie of 2002.
And… it was so anti-climatic. “What, people have been talking about this for months?” It was a really good movie, granted, but not OMG SO GOOD that I would have willingly waited almost a year to watch it.
I also was removed from the culture while I watched it: removed from the excited atmosphere that most people viewed it in when it premiered, it had a lot less impact.

Fast-forward to today. p2p has changed the world, and I generally don’t pay attention to blockbusters these days. I’m also able to keep up with pop culture in a way that I wasn’t able to when I was younger because so much of it takes place on the Internet.

So everything is good now?

Not at all. Movie theater owners still refuse to provide subtitles for most English-language movies. And, as we move into an age where more content online becomes audiovisual, the issue of equal access by subtitling visual media is still with us.

I just can’t wrap my brain around this stumbling block that this audist society has placed in front of us.

What is the harm of providing subtitles? Why deny a large segment of the population the opportunity to watch your movie?

It is discrimination, no matter how much you try to beat around the bush and claim this and that.

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Rip: A Remix Manifesto

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Posted by maxporter on November 14, 2009 – 5:34 PM
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In class the other day, we saw this amazing movie named RIP: A Remix Manifesto. I strongly recommend nabbing it (or it can be watched in full on Hulu), especially if you enjoy culture jamming, copyleft, etc.

However, it is not subtitled. I couldn’t even find a transcript.

So I decided to write an email and send it to the filmmaker and production team. I didn’t really expect a response.

But they wrote back. And it was awesome!

Here are the details for interested parties.

My Email

Hello,
My name is [maxporter] and I am a deaf individual. I’m really interested in media production and remixing stuff (especially film).
I was lucky enough to be sitting in a university course that screened “RIP: A Remix Manifesto,” so I had a live captionist who was captioning stuff. Within the first 5 minutes I loved it and I was completely captivated from start to end.
However, if I had been watching the film on my own, I wouldn’t have been able to follow it because it is not subtitled.
To me, the film aims to encourage equal participation in culture in a hands-on manner… so it’s, frankly, a little bit hypocritical to deny a large segment of the population (with a vibrant culture of its own – check out dsdj.gallaudet.edu or ASL vlogs on Youtube) the opportunity to participate in this process.
Even a transcript would be better than nothing but I wasn’t able to find one.
I definitely want to download the film and donate but… I don’t think I could do that in good conscience because, how am I gonna rewatch it when I don’t understand what is being said? How do I show it to my buddies when they can’t understand what is being said either?
It’s not just deaf people who would benefit – studies show that many hearing people appreciate captions or subtitles because then they can check the captions if they misheard something or whatever.
Cost is often brought up as an obstacle but I feel that you’d gain a larger audience if you included subtitles, therefore helping even it out – and, besides, much of the film’s message is making art accessible to everybody.
Thank you for taking the time to read this; thanks for making the film.
[maxporter]

The Filmmaker’s Response

Hi, [maxporter] – thanks for writing. We do have subtitles, and are definitely working on ways to have them displayed in multiple languages. Right now its just a time issue, however, as we have been busy and swamped for an entire year. We will get there, though, likely next spring, with a free streaming version in multiple languages that you’ll be able to read.

So cool that you had a live captionist! Do you mind if I ask which university?

Best,
Brett

The Producer’s Response
Hi [maxporter],

Thanks so much for your email and interest in Rip! A Remix Manifesto. We’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed the film and were able to view it with a live captionist.

Unfortunately the DVD of Rip does not include closed captioning. Our sincere apologies for this inconvenience. I have attached the transcript of Rip for your reference – I know this isn’t quite what you’re looking for but hopefully it can be of some help. We will be including closed captions on all of our future DVD releases.

Best,
Cassie England
B-Side Entertainment

Attachments to this comment:
RIP_-_A_Remix_Manifesto_Transcipt.txt

So that turned out pretty damn well. I am more happy about that than I can say.

When they get the subtitled version out I’m going to their website right away in order to download the film and donate like $8 or whatever. And then tell all my friends about its awesomeness.

I guess the moral of this story is, if you watch a movie that isn’t captioned, write the people who made it :)

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