Closed Captioning on YouTube
During my recent speaking engagements, I received a number of queries regarding digital media accessibility for users with hearing impairments. This week Ars Technica reported the introduction of new legislation that would extend closed captioning to “some Internet video.” The proposed law indicates that 18 months after the law is enacted, the Federal Communications Commission must establish regulations dictating closed captioning of video provided over the Web.
Edward Markey (D-MA) and co-sponsors have also recommended improvements in a number of related areas, such as audio input accessibility of remote video devices. Functions for closed captioning will be triggered by a specific control and appear in a more prominent location in the menu options. You can read “21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008” (H.R. 6320) for all the proposed mandates.
I must credit the finding of this information to Raving Lunacy, an interesting blog exploring a variety of self-described “oxymorons for the 21st century” topics. The author considers H.R. 6320 an update of the Communications Act of 1934 and raises a potentially important social media issue:
While the bill can be read to only apply to commercially produced video, the line between personal and commercial has been blurring on the internet for some time. Video sharing sites like YouTube who are trying to monetize themselves may be considered commercial soon. Other sites who use pre and post roll advertisements are definitely commercial.
Most digital cameras allow you to make video, so you can be seen by millions. With this legislation, the cost of video sharing will go up. It is one thing to provide closed captioning for the twitter whore, it is another level of complicated to provide a text description of somebody doing the funky chicken while jumping off his garage.
One thing that intrigues me is how enforceable this amendment will be in the private sector. I gleaned last week that the dichotomy between a government mandate and its commercial adoption is still rather severe. Would be interested to learn how the language is crafted to discern the purpose of different media types.
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