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CaptionKeeper Recycles TV Captions for Web Streaming

WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) announces the availability of software which enables closed captions created for broadcast and video to migrate to the Web.

CaptionKeeper™ software automatically converts line-21 captions created for television or video into Web-streaming formats. The software, now available for purchase, uses existing closed-caption data to create caption text suitable for live or archived multimedia presentations via RealPlayer, Windows Media Player and QuickTime Player formats.

CaptionKeeper can be used to:

• Repurpose existing captions of live or pre-recorded television programs for Web streaming
• Repurpose captions of videos archived by universities, libraries and other public and private organizations for online use (distance learning, video kiosks, indexed archives)
• Meet Federal requirements (Section 508, 1194.24-C) by transferring captioned training or educational video content to Web-streaming formats
• Make multimedia content searchable by using captioning text as metadata

The KDE Accessibility Project

The KDE Accessibility Project (also by way of slashdot):

"Our goal is to make the entirety of the K Desktop Environment and (by necessity) its underlying technologies usable by and as efficient as possible for disabled users of all types. We like to make a complete accessible desktop as a free alternative to the expensiveness of commercial assistive technologies. By cooperating with other free solutions, interoperability with other accessibility software programs (e.g. GNOME applications) can be ensured. Making all of KDE fully accessible is a huge task, but it also involves very small things. A missing keyboard shortcut might be just a bit annoying for most people, but it makes the programs unusable for others. This is why the KDE Accessibility Projects aims to raise the awareness of accessibility issues among all people involved in KDE."

Sphinx

Sphinx is a speaker-independent large vocabulary continuous speech recognizer under Berkeley's style license. It is also a collection of open source tools and resources that allows researchers and developers to build speech recognition system. Sphinx 4 (beta) was released September 24. [From slashdot.]

Educators increasing use of video streaming for the deaf

From the Ohio News Network, September 29, 2004:

.....
     "Nobody in the hearing world cared if the video was a little jerky because they had a soundtrack with it," said David Stecca, chief executive of Deaf Video Communications of America Inc. of Wheaton, Ill. "Video streaming is still far from perfect, but with high-speed Internet connection, a deaf person can now see good, clean-motion sign language over the Internet."
.....
     Alton Brant, an associate professor of American Sign Language at Clemson University in South Carolina, said deaf people are becoming technologically literate through online programs and other devices at a faster rate than many hearing people.
     "I now see everything moving increasingly away from the classroom or campus setting and going online," Brant said. "The possibilities for deaf communication with video streaming and other improving technology are endless.

Accessibility in Distance Education

This site is a good guide for making online learning materials available to people with disabilities. Included are recommendations for delivering audio and video materials.

Databases of Assistive Technology

Industry Canada has compiled this list of Web-based resources that catalogue assistive devices, their manufacturers and vendors and service providers and practitioners in the fields of assistive technology, rehabilitation and research.