Archive for the 'internet' Category
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Jaman is an online movie site that specializes in indie, art house, and foreign films. Full-length feature movies can be downloaded to watch on your computer or television (no iPod or iPhone capability, yet) and cost $1.99 to rent and $4.99 to purchase. There are over 1,000 titles to choose from, and being that a lot of these selections are foreign, there are films available that come with English subtitles.
I am hoping that Jaman will show other movie download companies that subtitles/captions on downloads do work. Dear iTunes and Netflix: hint, hint.
Previously:
Emirates Airlines becomes first airline to offer closed captioning on inflight entertainment
dotSUB allows users to create their own captions
Blinkx
QuickTime – now with closed captioning
iTunes and closed captioning
Closed captioning on movie trailers
AOL is testing captioning on online videos
Project ReadOn – free web captions
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Ed. note: I updated this post at 14:35 PST on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 to add more information of each candidate’s voting record on accessibility & deaf tech issues, and upgraded McCain’s grade from “F” to “D-” based on his voting record.
This post over on Daily Kos by “slinkerwink” describes how Barack Obama is the only candidate with consistently captioned videos. That got me thinking, and I did some research: a report card grading each presidential candidate on their accessibility to the deaf.
DEMOCRATS:
Barack Obama - Grade: A+
Barack Obama’s website lists disability as a major issue in the main navigation bar and provides a PDF file titled “Disability Plan FactSheet” which states:
Investing in Assistive Technologies: Barack Obama believes we must use technology to make community based living a reality for more people with disabilities. Obama supports the Fostering Independence Through Technology Act, which offers 21st century solutions, such as home monitoring and communications technologies, to overcoming barriers for people with disabilities.
Obama’s campaign has partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning for all their online web videos. Every single video on Obama’s website is offered in closed captioned format and is easy to find. And while this isn’t a deaf-tech item, I thought it was noteworthy that his campaign video features a deaf actress using American Sign Language.
In Obama’s technology record, he supports net neutrality and supports bringing high-speed broadband to every American, which is important for ASL vloggers, video relay services, remote video interpreting, and the like.
Obama’s voting record on deaf-tech and accessibility issues stands as follows: he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, he voted for the Stem Cell Research Act of 2007 and the Stem Cell Research Bill (which is important for cochlear research,) and voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Barack Obama’s answers are here.
Hillary Clinton – Grade: C
Hillary Clinton’s website does not list disability as a major issue in her campaign, and has a very hidden, hard-to-find page that outlines her plan for Americans with disabilities. In the assistive technology area, she states she plans to:
- Doubling Funding for Assistive Technology Loan Programs. Assistive technologies should be affordable to all people with disabilities who need them. Expensive loans that weigh down people already struggling are not the answer. Hillary will double loan programs that enable people to purchase assistive technologies and support state initiatives like the Virginia Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority, which has helped Virginians of all income levels (including SSI and SSDI recipients) to access low-interest loans to purchase equipment like wheelchairs, Braille equipment, hearing aids, low vision aids, and communication systems. To ensure that financing such technology is never an undue burden on the work aspirations of people with disabilities, Hillary Clinton will require an income-contingent option that never requires more than a modest percentage of one’s income for repayment.
- Providing More Technical Assistance for Employers. Many employers are hesitant to hire people with disabilities because they are unsure about the accommodations necessary to enable successful work. President Bush has not kept his promises to fund programs that remove employment barriers that keep people with disabilities from work. He has cut funding for the Office of Disability Employment Policy by 41%, and his current budget proposes to cut the Office by an additional 34%. As President, Hillary Clinton will restore funding to the Office of Disability Employment Policy, with an emphasis on giving employers the tools to effectively employ people with disabilities. She will establish a new technical assistance resource center to provide real-time support for employers and help them link with local resources to implement workplace accommodations.
The video page has closed captioning (symbolized with a black “CC” graphic”) listed on some, but not all videos. Clinton has partnered with Project ReadOn to caption her videos, but as stated, not all of her online videos are captioned.
In technology, Clinton supports net neutrality, but voted for the Internet Access Tax Bill. She supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 and voted in favor of stem cell research and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Hillary Clinton’s answers are here.
REPUBLICANS:
John McCain – Grade: D-
John McCain was one of the senators that helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and served on the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University, the only four-year liberal university for the deaf. He resigned from the Board during the student protests over the appointment of Jane Fernandes as president of the University>. Fernandes doesn’t know American Sign Language and McCain supported her as president of Gallaudet, so I wouldn’t be too quick to say McCain is “in touch” with the deaf community.
His website does not list disability as an issue, nor can I find any sort of plan for Americans with disabilites. His online videos are not closed captioned. He does not support net neutrality, he voted for the Internet Access tax bill, and in 1995/96, he voted “NAY” on the Telecommunications Bill S652, which provided more accessibility for the deaf with stronger FCC regulations on closed captions and Relay services. However, he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and voted for stem cell research.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. John McCain did not respond.
Mike Huckabee – Grade: F
Mike Huckabee’s website does not list disability as a campaign issue, nor does it offer a plan for Americans with Disabilities. His online videos are not closed captioned.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Mike Huckabee did not respond.
Ron Paul – Grade: F
Ron Paul partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning on his online videos, but the first video on the page is “unavailable” and the videos on his website do not have closed captions. His website does not list disability as an issue, nor does it outline a plan for disabled Americans. Paul is also against the ADA Reform Act of 2007, stem cell research, and net neutrality.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Ron Paul did not respond.
Stone Deaf Pilots would like to officially endorse Barack Obama for President. He has the deaf and hearing impaired community’s best interests at heart and is willing to provide access for all. Please consider voting for Barack Obama if your state still has not had a primary election. A vote for Obama is an investment into a better future for the deaf and hard of hearing. To continue my support, I have created a Deafies for Obama page on MyBarackObama.com. Please consider joining and spreading the word!
If you are planning to vote for another candidate, please encourage them to make disability an issue on their campaign. Contact them and refer them to this post to help them understand how they compare to other presidential candidates on accessibility and disability issues.
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Wired recently found my post on Deaf Bunny and did an article covering them. Then Penny Arcade picked it up and turned it into a comic. I think it’s funny.
Click the image to see bigger – sorry, I had to crop this so it would fit the blog, so the talk bubbles are hard to read.
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Text 4 Deaf is a web-to-text message service that allows users to send a text message from the web site to a cell phone belonging to an individual or a group. The recipients can return the messages via their cell phones, and the messages will be delivered to the sender via Web.
Text4Deaf is a web-based service that allows two-way web texting – from the web to the phone and back. With other services, recipients can only reply to the sender’s phone or email address – not ideal for real-time planning or collaboration. It also offers unique features like Group Messaging, Scheduled Messaging, Reminders and SMS Forwarding.
The idea is to make text messaging easier to use and more accessible. Using a full-sized computer keyboard is much easier than typing on a cell phone, and the costs of Text 4 Deaf are much lower than what most cellular carriers charge for text messaging. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people use text messaging to communicate and stay in touch, but many others don’t have cell phones, so this service is providing a way for people without text-enabled cell phones to stay connected to deafies with text-enabled cell phones.
There are two plans, the Basic – which is free, and the Premium, which is $2.95 a month.
Text messages can be sent to an individual or to a group of up to 10. Via Text 4 Deaf’s website:
When using Group Messaging, you also have the option of web texting in Broadcast mode or Chat mode. In Broadcast mode, when someone in your group replies to the message, their reply only comes to you. Chat mode means replies are sent to everyone else in the group – like hitting “Reply All” to an email.
Text4Deaf web texts can be sent from any web-enabled device worldwide to any U.S. or Canadian mobile phone, and is compatible on either PC or Mac.
Previously:
GotVoice – read your voicemail
Jott – getting the hearing & deaf in touch via voice-to-SMS
Spinvox: voicemail to text service
Text transcripts on LiveJournal voice posts
SimulScribe – voice mail transcribing service
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dotSUB allows users to create their own captions/subtitles on online videos. From their website:
dotSUB is a browser based tool enabling subtitling of videos on the web into and from any language. There is nothing to buy and nothing to download. Recognizing the potential of global communication powered by the Internet, the founders of dotSUB created a web-based tool that enables video to be accessed in an open, collaborative, “wiki” type environment. The dotSUB tool gives anyone the ability to translate video content into multiple languages via subtitles rendered over the bottom of the video.
Previously:
Blinkx
QuickTime – now with closed captioning
iTunes and closed captioning
Closed captioning on movie trailers
AOL is testing captioning on online videos
CaptionKeeper – captions from TV to the Web
Project ReadOn – free web captions
Closed Captioning for Flash
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Editor’s Note: In this post I’ve got a link that is tagged with “(NSFW).” This means Not Safe For Work viewing, due to adult content.
I just discovered DeafBunny (NSFW), a deaf-owned adult entertainment company that films porn using deaf actors that communicate with each other in American Sign Language. There are even subtitles if your sign isn’t very good. Looks like they only have one movie so far – Naughty Deaf Roommates.
My first thought: “Huh, so that’s what they talk about in porn.” Interesting idea. I hope they keep it up.
Previously:
Sex-tech merges with deaf-friendly: a quiet vibrator
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Alessio Cartocci of the web accessibility work group Webmultimediale in Italy has developed an Internet video player with switchable multilingual subtitles and a resizeable sign language window that is superimposed over the player. Here’s a screenshot:
The player uses a SMIL file to synchronize the video, audio, and captioning text files.
Previously:
Subtitles for DivX movies
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Blinkx is an Internet search engine for video (and audio) content. It’s unique from other video search engines in that it uses speech-to-text technology, advanced video analytics, and reads text transcripts (including closed captioned files) to find videos. An useful feature for deafies: type “captions” in the search field and it will find captioned videos on the Internet.
Previously:
QuickTime – now with closed captioning
iTunes and closed captioning
Closed captioning on movie trailers
AOL is testing captioning on online videos
CaptionKeeper – captions from TV to the Web
Project ReadOn – free web captions
Closed Captioning for Flash
Listen to this as a podcast:
Via Accessible Web Design Workshop:
AOL is now testing closed captions for streaming news content from CNN that will enhance the online media experience for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captioned CNN video content will beavailable throughout the AOL network, including the AOL service, the free AOL.com Web portal, and the AOL Video portal.
I checked it out myself, and I didn’t find any captioned videos via http://video.aol.com/, but a search on their site found this page:
Closed captioning provides members who are deaf or hard-of-hearing with enhanced access to select video content including entertainment programming, news updates and AOL® Member Education tutorials. If available, closed captions appear directly beneath a video and correspond to the audio content.Available closed-captioned content includes:
- CNN closed-captioned Quickcast: The latest news updated 3 times a day. Go to AOL® Keyword: Video, then click the News channel.
- Princess Natasha: The latest Princess Natasha episodes can be viewed with closed captions at AOL Keyword: KOL, or by signing on to the AOL® service using a Kids Only screen name.
Previously:
CaptionKeeper – captions from TV to the Web
Project ReadOn – free web captions
Closed Captioning for Flash
Speche Communications: real time text streaming
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A Telecommunications Relay Service (also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay) is a service that the deaf and hearing impaired use to make and receive phone calls to and from hearing people who do not have TTY/TDD‘s. There are many kinds of Relay calls, such as video relay (which I recently blogged about) and the most common is TTY/Voice – Voice/TTY, or text relay.
Basically, how it works is rather simple; the TTY user calls the Relay operator, who also has a TTY. (Computers and smartphones can also be used in place of a TTY with internet relay services or built-in TTY software.) The TTY user types to the operator; the operator speaks to the hearing caller and “relays” the TTY user’s typed words to them. The hearing caller responds to the operator, who types the voiced words back to the TTY user. Most relay operators (also called “CA’s,” for “communications assistant”) will also type in background sounds to help make the call more personal for the TTY user, such as (person laughing,) (person coughing,) (dog barking,) (sounds angry,) etc. I’ve freaked out hearing callers before by asking, “Are you tired?” when the operator told me that they were yawning, and one time the person I was talking to was talking about my birthday surprise with someone else in the room, and the relay operator typed it all to me. That was funny.
Here’s a diagram of a standard text relay call:
When one person finishes typing/speaking and is indicating it’s the other person’s turn to speak, they say “Go Ahead” (the typing person types “GA”) and when the call ends, both parties say/type “SK” which means “stop keying.”
If a hearing caller wishes to call a TTY user, they can do so by phoning a TRS and giving the operator the number of the TTY user they wish to call. Most internet relay services allow deaf/TTY users to subscribe to a phone number of their own, so hearing callers simply call that number and then they are automatically connected to the TRS operator and the deaf person.
TRS are paid for by telecommunications fees and are a public service. In the United States and Canada, the number 711 automatically connects one with the TRS. Relay services are available in many countries, including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Denmark. TRS cannot be used to call 911 emergency services. Deafies in the US can make international calls, but deafies traveling overseas cannot call US relay services and must use the relay services provided in that country, if available.
A few downsides to using relay services are that the majority of hearing people don’t understand what it is. Usually when hearing people receive a relay call for the first time, they think it is a telemarketer and they hang up, meaning the deaf user has to ask the operator to redial and then wait while the operator explains the call. New frustrations ensue if the hearing person continues to hang up. I once had to call the parts department of a local motorcycle store to get something for my motorcycle and the service counter person hung up on me three times before I gave up and had my boyfriend call them and explain to them what was going on. They finally accepted my call and apologized profusely; they felt so bad that they gave me a 10% discount.
If you are a hearing person and you receive a relay call, it will go something like this: the relay operator will ask you, “This is IP relay anon 9033. Do you know how to use relay?” If you say “no,” they will go on to explain the service to you. The basic spiel is:
You are receiving a call form a person who is using a computer. I will voice what is typed and type everything I hear on your end of the line. You may begin responding when the person pauses or when you hear the words “go ahead.” Please speak slowly and in the first person because you are talking directly to the person. When you are finished speaking and ready for a response, you may pause or say “go ahead.” Relay will begin now.
Relay calls are a bit slower than a standard telephone call, which can be a little frustrating if you are in a hurry, but I suppose it’s just something we have to live with until the technology improves.
Another negative issue with relay calls is that they are often used by spammers/scammers. Many spammers in Nigeria discovered that they could use the relay to make free phone calls to the United States, and since an operator was speaking for them, the hearing caller did not hear the Nigerian accent and had no idea they were speaking to a foreigner; they thought they were speaking with a deaf person and of course, unscrupulous scammers played on the whole “sympathize with a disabled person” angle. More information on relay scams here: Link and link.
Relay services have been around since the early 1990′s, and the service has improved over the years. There is room for growth and improvement. I hope that this post will reach a lot of hearing people so that they will understand what a relay call is, and give deaf people a chance to call them. It’s extremely frustrating for me to receive a call from a potential employer and have them hang up on me because they got connected to the operator and thought they had the wrong number, or try to call the doctor and make an appointment and have the receptionist hang up on me because they don’t understand what the phone call is about.
Previously:
IP Relay
Video Relay
