Category: News

Outsourcing Subtitles to India

Oh, brother. Captions / subtitles fall victim to India outsourcing. The Infoweek article [Thanks, Stone Deaf Pilots] gives a good example of what happens when you send English translation to a place where English isn’t the first language. For example, in the movie My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Uma Thurman utters the line “We have a zero-tolerance …

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WGBH Grant for Captioning

From news release: WGBH has received a $600,000 grant from the Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to support its efforts to make handheld media accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Titled “Captioning Solutions for Handheld Media and Mobile Devices” (award number H133G070122), the grant provides WGBH’s …

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Courageous Blogger Award

I generally don’t take online awards seriously since they’re usually a way to help the person starting the award gain more traffic or a popularity contest. However, on occasion they provide meaning and value. Christy of Writer’s Reviews created such awards that I think meet the criteria. They are: * The Inspirational Blogger Award * …

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Bionic Woman: The Next Generation

Someone wrote me a note about Bionic Woman, the TV show, that’s coming back this fall. I haven’t taken much of an interest until I received the email about one of the characters. Jamie Sommers has a deaf sister, but the produces filled the role with a hearing actress. In fact, I like the actress …

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Expectant Deaf Dolphin

‘Chat line’ to aid calf of deaf dolphin is a fascinating story of a deaf dolphin expecting a calf and how she will learn to communicate with her baby. Dolphins have poor eyesight, so their hearing is critical for survival. I wonder how the Service figured out she was deaf.

Ear Cleaning Product

The appropriately named article Eew Tube tells of a product where we’d be able to see inside our own ears so we can clean them safely instead of use Q-tips (oh, excuse me… “cotton swabs”). I quit using cotton swabs years ago when I learned the cotton swab caused an ear infection I had. It …

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Digital TV Challenges

From Deafnetwork: By Cheryl Heppner On February 17, 2009, analog television will be cut off and television in the U.S. will go totally digital. If you watch television as a cable or satellite user, you will be able to get the conversion to digital from your cable or satellite provider. If you are in one …

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TV Documentary on Deaf Life in America

Gallaudet University reports that “Through Deaf Eyes,” a two-hour PBS documentary exploring nearly 200 years of Deaf life in America, airs on March 21, 2007 at 9pm ET (check your local listings). “he film presents the story of Deaf life in America – a story of conflicts, prejudice and affirmation that reaches the heart of …

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NCAM/CC for Flash

WGBH Access Division Creates “CC for Flash” to Simplify Captioning for Adobe Flash Technology http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/ccforflash/ Accessibility and Search Enhanced by Free Tool; Easy-to-Embed Flash-Based-Media Player also Available Use of Adobe® Flash® technology to add dynamic and engaging video content to Web sites is growing exponentially. With WGBH’s new solution, developers are able to more easily …

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Babel Neglects Deaf Audience

The Oscar nominated movie, Bable, has a deaf Japanese woman character who struggles to communicate with her father. The irony is that Japanese deaf moviegoers couldn’t follow the movie as explained ‘Babel’ ignores deaf audience. Variety also has a report. Embarrassing, but not surprising overssight.