Sunday, November 11, 2012

Caption Action 2: November 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for November 2012.

This month's newsletter seems to be all about numbers. So here they are, from small to big:

1. That's you! We need you to push these targets to caption:

Ford, the car maker. Ford has a branded web series, "Escape My Life" which just posted its final episode. See it (or not) at http://www.youtube.com/user/fordescape?feature=watch. No captions. If you are on twitter you can tweet @fordescape.

We don't get it. Why do companies continue to produce web series without any captions? Don't they understand that deaf and hard of hearing people are consumers too? In fact, we have noticed advertisements for this series around the web. Do they seriously expect us to buy their cars when they are ignoring us?

Machinima and Syfy. They have a hot new web series, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. (How hot? It was just released Friday, November 9, and already has over 950,000 views for the first episode.) It was actually supposed to be on television, but they released it as a web series instead. See it (or not) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT79x4qM4FE&feature=plcp. On twitter, tweet @Machinima_com AND @syfy. We have sent tweets to many media sites that reported on this web series to make them aware of the neglect of deaf and hard of hearing.

Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1703375

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

It Has Been FIVE Years Already!!

Five years. That's how long deaf and hard of hearing people (and family and friends) have been asking Yahoo to update their video player to support closed captioning. Yesterday @yahoocare was asked about updating the Yahoo video player.

Their response did not give us much hope that Yahoo would be updating the video player anytime soon. Here is the Twitter exchange:


How do we know it has been five years? Easy! Yahoo has a website, suggestions.yahoo.com that is searchable. We searched it on the key terms captioning and deaf. Below are the requests that were submitted to Yahoo FIVE years ago:


People are STILL sending Yahoo requests for captioning, as recently as four months ago:


This is why we are pushing the Yahoo petition so hard. We don't have any other way to show Yahoo that we are damn serious about wanting them to update their video player NOW. It has been way too long already. As the evidence above shows, Yahoo has had PLENTY of time to update their video player to support closed captioning!

Pass it on....tinyurl.com/captionYahoo

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Friday, November 2, 2012

Web Series You Aren't Watching: 2. Electric City

Some web series are publicity magnets. One of them is Tom Hanks' Electric City. Electric City, which is exclusively on Yahoo with no captions, is at http://electriccity.yahoo.com. What is it about? Here is the description from Wikipedia:

"In a post-apocalyptic setting, mankind is reduced to small settlements whose main business is to produce electric power. With fossil and nuclear fuel sources mostly depleted, the communities are dependent on naturally created electricity, be it by air, water, or muscle power (the latter of which is used as a punishment for criminals and other undesirables of this society). Under the motto "All in service to all" everyone must contribute to society's welfare."


Do you notice something odd about the picture above? There are no captions, but there is a "talking head" symbol accompanied by the words "English, Francais, and Espanol." Those are the languages that this web series is available in...for hearing people!

That's right. For this web series, instead of investing in upgrading their video player to make it accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people, Yahoo chose to invest in voice translation of their web series.

When it debuted, Electric City received a lot of publicity because of Tom Hanks' involvement. In addition, it was an early web television programming effort from Yahoo. Coverage was extensive, including interviews with Tom Hanks. Just a sampling follows:
  • Mashable - Interactive ‘Electric City’ Web Series From Tom Hanks Debuts
  • New York Times - Apocalypse Soon: Tom Hanks Discusses His Web Series ‘Electric City’
  • Entertainment Weekly - Tom Hanks' dystopian web series debuts on Yahoo
What about the next web series Tom Hanks produces? If it is only on Yahoo, you're out of luck. There won't be any closed captions unless Yahoo updates its video player to support closed captioning.

So there you have it...another reason to sign the caption Yahoo petition, or pass on the url http://tinyurl.com/captionYahoo!

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Web Series You Aren't Watching: 1. Burning Love

Why do we have a petition asking Yahoo to update its video player to support closed captioning, now? One reason is because deaf and hard of hearing people do not have access to popular Yahoo entertainment productions like Burning Love, a reality dating parody of ABC's show The Bachelor. On the show, a "thick-headed, single man" chooses from among "demented beauties," including a homeless lady.

In fact, Burning Love, which includes guest appearances by celebrities, is so successful on Yahoo that Yahoo together with Paramount, recently ordered two more seasons of Burning Love. This news was reported last week by Variety and others.. If Yahoo does not update its video player soon, this means deaf and hard of hearing people will miss out on not one, but THREE seasons of a top web television program. Season 2 is going to be a parody of The Bachelorette, and season 3 will parody Bachelor Pad.


 Burning Love is but one of the many reasons why we need to convince Yahoo to update its video player NOW. The longer we wait, the more we miss out on. There is no excuse. Other companies have already updated their video players and are accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people, while Yahoo remains totally inaccessible!

If you haven't already done so, sign the caption Yahoo petition at http://tinyurl.com/captionYahoo! If you have already signed, pass this URL on to other people - and they do not have to be members of Facebook to sign!


Sample news media reports:

MSN.com: Hilarious Bachelor Parody Leads to Bachelorette Parody
The Wrap: Ken Marino Preps 'Burning Love' Seasons 2 & 3: Which Comedic Heavyweights Will Cameo?

Sample reviews:
BuzzSugar: Watch Ken Marino, Ben Stiller, and Jennifer Aniston Hilariously Spoof The Bachelor 
Wired:
Wired: 11 Web Series to Heat Up Your Summer (Plus a Few to Avoid)
Tubefilter: Yahoo Picks Up Ben Stiller’s ‘Burning Love’ For Two More Seasons

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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Caption Action 2: October 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for October 2012.

We like to start off with good news, so here is some that many of you have waited for. Just in case you don't know already, here it is:

Netflix and the National Association of the Deaf reached an agreement whereby 100% of Netflix's programming will be closed captioned by 2014! Details on NAD's website: http://www.nad.org/news/2012/10/netflix-and-national-association-deaf-reach-historic-agreement-provide-100-closed-capti.

The September 30, 2012 deadline for Internet captioning of television programs not edited for Internet broadcast, has already passed. Keep your eyes on the next deadline coming up. Here is the language from the Federal Communications Commission's page on Internet captioning (http://www.fcc.gov/guides/captioning-internet-video-programming):

March 30, 2013: Live and near-live video programming must be captioned on the Internet if it is shown on TV with captions on or after March 30, 2013. Near-live video programming is defined as programming that is performed and recorded less than 24 hours before being shown on TV for the first time.

Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1692712

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Sunday, September 16, 2012

Caption Action 2: September 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for September 2012.

We are finally going to begin to enjoy the fruits of our labors. On September 30, 2012, the first aspect of the Internet captioning requirements from the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) takes effect. Starting September 30, 2012, television programs that are shown on the Internet without any editing, are required to be closed captioned on the Internet. This article from the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) explains and has other upcoming Internet captioning deadlines as well: http://www.coataccess.org/node/10107.

Remember the petition asking Yahoo to update their video player to support captioning? Thanks to you, it has gone past 1,000 signatures! We need to keep it going until Yahoo updates their video player. We actually have two versions of the petition, one at causes.com, which is past 1,000, and one at change.org. Here are the links again: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1670136 and http://www.change.org/petitions/yahoo-inc-add-closed-captioning-support-now. Comments posted to both make it very clear people want this!

Read more:

http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1684423

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Friday, August 10, 2012

New Blog: Captioned Web TV

As the number of captioned web television programs grows, but remains small relative to the overall amount of web television out there, we realized we have a problem. The problem is that there is no easy way to quickly find all captioned web television programs. And there is no way to quickly find a captioned web television program in your favorite category.

The solution? We have launched a new blog, Captioned Web TV, at http://captionedwebtv.blogspot.com/. On this blog we will be putting the captioned web tv programs and channels we know of and find. Each program or channel is labeled so you can find what you want to see.

Plus, we will be doing something different with this new blog. We are going to authorize selected people to post to the new blog. That way, other people can help add new captioned web television programs also. Contact us by posting a comment if you want to be authorized; include your contact information so we can contact you directly. A Facebook contact is preferred.

This blog is brand-new and we have only just started adding posts. The first category we are working on is Family for family and child friendly web television programs. More categories will be added such as Animation, Comedy, Drama, Gay, Black, Science Fiction, Horror, News, and Sports. We are sorry to have to report that in doing so, we discovered that one such program has several programs have stopped captioning already. Perhaps the exposure from this new blog will help to encourage producers to continue to closed caption their web television programs.

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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Caption Action 2: August 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for August 2012.

Caption Action 2 is taking aim at a specific target: Yahoo! Inc. Why Yahoo? Yahoo has known for years that they needed to update their video player to support closed captioning. However they have not, to date, updated their video player to support closed captioning. Meanwhile, Yahoo has become a source of original video content. The company has a high-profile web series, "Electric City," produced by Tom Hanks.

The Yahoo video site, http://screen.yahoo.com, has some of the most popular web television programs, such as "Burning Love." (To see original programming on Yahoo, select the top button labeled "Y! Originals." This goes to http://screen.yahoo.com/yahoo-originals/, with videos in the categories comedy, living, news, sports, finance, and entertainment.

Yahoo also carries video from other sites such as Hulu, embedding the Hulu video player. The problem is Yahoo's own video player does not have an option for displaying closed captions.

Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1671969

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Caption Action 2 Petitions Yahoo!

Caption Action 2 has decided to take on Yahoo. Why Yahoo?

For years the deaf and hard of hearing community has been asking Yahoo to update its video player to add support for closed captioning. When we recently asked Yahoo about it, the response was that they were "working hard" to get it done but could not give an exact date. Our feeling is that we have waited long enough! It is time to give Yahoo a big push to make adding closed captioning support a number 1 priority. How are we going to do it? A petition! Caption Action 2 leader Robert Goodwin has started a petition on Change.org:

https://www.change.org/petitions/yahoo-inc-add-closed-captioning-support-now

We need big numbers to show Yahoo the deaf and hard of hearing community is serious about wanting them to add support for closed captioning, NOW.

Yahoo has a section on its website devoted to professional web video: screen.yahoo.com. Yahoo has also recently made big investments in professional video and one result is the recently launched, high-profile Tom Hanks-produced web series Electric City. (Electric City is at electriccity.yahoo.com). In addition, top Yahoo web series such as "Burning Love" frequently turn up on media lists of web series.


How much of a priority are we at Yahoo? Obviously we, the deaf and hard of hearing (and hearing who use captions and subtitles) are not much of one! It looks like for the launch of Electric City, Yahoo added a special feature: voice translation in three languages: English, French, and Spanish. But they could not be bothered to stop and think "What about captions? Shouldn't we add closed captioning support?"


Yahoo is behind other web video players: Hulu, Google (YouTube), Netflix, DailyMotion, and Blip all added support for closed captioning a long time ago. How hard can it be to add support for closed captioning if all those others have already done it? Yahoo can afford to pay their new CEO $71 million as has been reported in the news. Thus, they certainly can afford to invest in an immediate upgrade to their video player to add closed captioning support.

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Caption Action 2: May 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for May 2012.

In the last newsletter, we reported that we were going back to previously contacted web series producers to ask again, for captions. There have been a few successes.

Some producers have responded to say that they will caption, though they haven't started yet. One of them is the producer of travel web series: Others have said they will look into captioning or have requested information on how they can caption their web series.

Since the previous newsletter, these web series have begun captioning:

Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1654042

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Caption Action 2: February 2012 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for February 2012.

There have not been many new captioned web series in the past few months. We are going back to some of the hundreds of producers who were contacted previously, to ask again for captions.

Newly added is:

Divine: The Series
http://www.youtube.com/user/divinetheseries
A dark, supernatural web series about a priest who sees the the resurrection of an immortal being named Divine.


Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1593033

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Caption Action 2: November 2011 Newsletter

This is the Caption Action 2 newsletter for November 2011.

We now have four captioned web series: two professional, slick productions and two traditional web series.

First, the professionally done ones: A Wendy web series, sponsored by Macy's. http://www.facebook.com/WendyTheSeries. The character is Wendy from Peter Pan, and Peter, called Pete here. To see the videos, click on "videos" in the menu at the left. The videos are YouTube videos displayed on Facebook. You can see the closed captions from the YouTube videos on Facebook. All six episodes are already posted.


Read more: http://www.causes.com/causes/306249-caption-action-2-internet-closed-captioning/actions/1470148

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