The push towards increasing the use of closed captioning online was initiated by a call from disability advocates for Congress to pass an update to the Communications Act that would mandate captions on all online video content that has also appeared on TV. Closed captioning is mandatory on most TV programs in the US, but media organisations are not required to provide this service online.
In response to this call, executives at US media companies say they are working hard to make online video content more accessible to people who are Deaf or hearing impaired. According to the New York Times, ABC.com has just started posting Dancing with the Stars episodes online with captions, and ESPN is offering captions with its live streams of World Cup matches.
Realisation of the importance of accessible design on the Web has been growing in the US over recent years, with websites like YouTube developing a number of projects to make videos more accessible to everyone. YouTube users can caption videos with CaptionTube or via the relatively new and more accurate voice-recognition software.
The practice of captioning online videos, however, is only just beginning to gain a foothold in Australia. Currently, the ABC is the only network offering captions on online videos on their iView player.
Speaking to the New York Times, Larry Goldberg, the Director of the Media Access Group at the PBS affiliate WGBH, said, “every generation of technology that comes out seems to be a bit late on accessibility”. With this in mind, legislation mandating captioning on online video content is the logical next step to ensure people who are Deaf or hearing impaired are not left behind as TV moves online.
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