In the history of our planet, littering is a relatively new problem. It was around the 1950s when manufacturers began producing a higher volume of litter-creating material, such as disposable products and packaging made with plastic. Much like the boom of manufacturers creating more disposable packaging, new video content is being pushed out to streaming platforms in incredible volumes every day.
Along with all this new video content, there are noticeable similarities between littering and a prevalent problem in our industry: inaccessible media – specifically poor captioning quality. Instead of it being food wrappers, water bottles, plastic bags, or cigarette butts, it’s misspellings, lack of punctuation, missing words, or the wrong reading rate (words-per-minute on the screen) that affects readability.
The motives behind littering and choosing poor-quality captioning are similar and it generally boils down to one of the following reasons: laziness or carelessness, lenient law enforcement, and/or presence of litter already in the area. Both are very selfish acts, allowing one person to take the easy route by just discarding their trash wherever they please, or in the case of captioning, choosing the quickest & cheapest option available to fulfill a request without any regard to the quality. When it comes to organizations enforcing the guidelines and standards, if their efforts are relaxed, it will encourage a lot of people to not follow them. And the presence of other content creators getting away with inaccessible media will, no doubt, encourage others to take the same route.
In The Big Hack’s survey of over 3,000 disabled viewers, four in five disabled people experience accessibility issues with video-on-demand services. “66% of users feel either frustrated, let down, excluded or upset by inaccessible entertainment.” In fact, “20% of disabled people have canceled a streaming service subscription because of accessibility issues.” It’s clear: inaccessible media is polluting video content libraries.
Viewers that do not utilize closed captions may not always think about how poor-quality captions affect the users that do, just like the consequences of littering on the community and animals that all share the Earth’s ecosystem are often overlooked. Education and awareness are important tools in reducing the problem. If we allow it to become commonplace, much like litter, bad captioning will wash away into the “ocean” of online video content and become permanent pollution our video “eco-system.”
So, what can we do about it before it’s too late? Much like with littering, we can start with community cleanups. Let the content creators know that you value captioning and would enjoy their content more if captions were present and accurately represent the program to all viewers. Find their websites and social media pages and contact them – make them aware. And if it’s on broadcast television, let the FCC know.
Clean communities have a better chance of attracting new business, residents, and tourists – the same will go for the online video community. Quality captioning is your choice and, for the sake of the video community, please evaluate the quality of work done by the captioning vendors that you’re considering and don’t always just go for the cheapest and quickest option. Help keep the video community clean.
“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.” - Qui-Gon Jinn
One could imagine the kinds of responses people might give when asked to list humanity's greatest achievements. A quick internet search reveals such monumental accomplishments as the building of the pyramids, the advent of flight, or the recording of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." Not surprisingly, few of these lists include the creation of language — more specifically grammar — as great accomplishments, but how many of humanity's greatest achievements would have been possible without the ability for human beings to communicate with one another in precise terms? The phrases failure to communicate or communication breakdown are commonly heard, and indeed, poor communication seems to be a handy scapegoat for a myriad of failures, including marriages, wars, and road construction projects. It seems natural for humans to go straight to the source and blame language when things go wrong, so what exactly is the point at which language loses all meaning?Read
Audible exhales could be heard throughout the nearly 1 million square feet of exhibit space as the final closing announcement was sent over the loudspeakers of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Some, involuntary gasps of panic from what was left of 103,000 NAB attendees that just realized they didn't make it successfully through the 4 halls of the convention; and others, sighs of relief from the exhibitors of the 1,700 companies as they realized that the past 31 hours of standing on their feet is over.
That closing message also marked the 7th consecutive year of Aberdeen Broadcast Services exhibiting in the South Lower Hall at the NAB Show. This time, with a new location and a fresh look. As we continue to grow as a company, so does the size of our booth and the gathering of our team.
Upgraded 20'x20' booth complete with a 10'x4' triangular overhead hanging sign.
In the years past, Aberdeen has had a nice presence in a 10'x20' space just beyond the main product demonstrations from Red Digital Cinema, Blackmagic Design, and Adobe Systems. This year we were right in the middle of all that activity adjacent to Amazon Web Services.
We could not have predicted the perfect balance of inquiries across our 3 divisions. Frequent visits from producers looking for further education on the new closed captioning laws. TV stations looking to continue to free up their resources in the tape-less world. International producers looking to expand their audiences with multilanguage translations. And, unexpectedly, a dozen universities whose attention has focused on captioning their online courses after the recent lawsuit filed against a couple of Ivy League schools.
This year saw new innovative video and broadcasting technologies introduced at a rate only Flash Gordon could keep up with. 8K display systems, 10-ounce Micro Cinema Cameras, a storm-chasing Jeep Wrangler that would make Bill Paxton salivate, and drones. Drones EVERYWHERE. And like the drones, attendance is soaring: in six years, the turnout has grown to over 21,000 and now represents 164 countries!
It’s also encouraging to see the overall growth in the broadcasting industry at large. After all, the NAB was originally founded as the National Association of Radio Broadcasters and it wasn't until 1951 that the name was changed to include television broadcasts. Now, just “broadcasters” seem to cover it all.
2015 Aberdeen Broadcast Services Exhibitors
(Left to right) Michael, Tony, Arif, Kyle, Matt D., Steve, Becky Isaacs, Nathan, Ryan, Ed, and Matt Cook.
NAB Show, THANK YOU and we’ll see you again next year. April 16-21, 2016.
My whole life I’ve had an affinity for the English language (and alliteration). Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation have always been incredibly important to me – even to the point where I will comment on friends’ Facebook statuses with corrections! So naturally, one of my favorite aspects of closed captioning is being able to use my love and knowledge of the English language, professionally, every single day.
Here at Aberdeen, we strive for the best. That expectation starts at the initial point of contact when you first call our office, and it extends all the way down to the accuracy of the captions and subtitles that we ultimately deliver back to you.
One rule that I take pride in is using the serial comma. This is a rule that Aberdeen has decided to put into common practice for all of our captions, and it made the grammar nerd in me very happy.
A serial comma is the comma used immediately before the conjunction that ends a list of three or more. For example: I bought bananas, apples, and oranges. The serial comma is the comma before the “and.”
In the above example, the comma probably isn’t even noticed, and if it were removed the context of the sentence would stay the same. But let’s give a different example.
I dedicate this award to my parents, Jesus Christ and God. Notice the ambiguity? Do I mean to say that my parents are Jesus Christ and God? Or do I mean that the award is dedicated to three separate entities: my parents, Jesus Christ, and God? The simple addition of the serial comma removes all confusion.
Some may argue that the serial comma should only be used in instances where confusion might occur, and that it should be omitted in any instance where there’s no room for ambiguity. However, as the writer of the above examples, I know what I meant when I wrote them. I know that my parents are not Jesus Christ and God, therefore not including the comma could make complete sense to me. In my mind, perhaps that second example leaves no room for confusion because it should be obvious that my parents are not, in fact, Jesus Christ and God. As such, the choice to only use the serial comma in some instances and not in others leaves the rule open to too much interpretation.
You will never come across an example where using the serial comma creates confusion. The original purpose in omitting the serial comma was solely for journalistic reasons, to save column space when writing for a newspaper.
At Aberdeen we provide captions and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing community. When captions are scrolling past on your screen, there’s not often time to be able to stop and ponder what the meaning of a sentence was supposed to be; by the time you’ve figured it out, the caption is already long gone.
Would you be confused reading this sentence? Today I spoke to my mom, a pastor and a convicted murderer.
The next time you’re writing keep this in mind, because you don’t want people to have to wonder if your mom is a convict or not.
Written by: Jackie Blackwell, Caption Editor at Aberdeen
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning and can be a daily nuisance to closed captioners and transcribers, who rely solely on what they hear when captioning and transcribing programs. Here is a list of the most commonly misused homophones that I tend to encounter while captioning:
adverse vs. averse—adverse means unfavorable. Averse means reluctant.
descendent vs. descendant—Apparently, descendent is now considered a dead word. Always stick with descendant when referring to something derived from an earlier person, animal, or thing.
complement vs. compliment—Complement is something that adds to something else. A compliment is something nice that someone says about you.
inequity vs. iniquity— Inequity is an injustice. Iniquity is a sin.
insure vs. ensure—Insure relates to insurance only (think car insurance.) Ensure means to guarantee something.
peak vs. peek vs. pique—Peak is a high point, such as on a mountain. Peek is when you look at something. Pique means to excite your interest.
profit vs. prophet—Profit is a net income or measure of gain. A prophet is someone who foretells future events.
whose vs. who’s—Whose is something that belongs to someone else (Whose idea is this?) Who’s is a contraction meaning who is or who has. (Who’s learning about homophones today?)
Have you ever noticed how fast you speak sometimes? I know we all notice the speed at which we drive down the freeway, even if we pretend not to, but have you ever stopped to think about the speed at which you speak? And more so, could a dragon help you realize this?
I don’t know about you, but I had never thought about any other way of typing than to actually use my fingers and strike the keys on a computer keyboard. I know I’m not the fastest typer out there, but I’ve always felt proud of my 70 wpm typing speed. Somehow I managed to write all my college papers without ever missing a deadline. Granted, some of those papers were written the night before they were due and sometimes even printed out 30 minutes before class started, but they were always on time. Then, of course, I was left walking like a zombie throughout campus for the rest of the day; nothing a good cup of coffee could not fix, right?
About 2 months ago I applied for a transcriber/caption editor position at Aberdeen Captioning, and while going through the interview process I was asked to transcribe an 8-minute long video. As soon as I opened the video and saw the length of it, I thought, “Piece of cake,” so I started typing away. After half an hour of changing back and forth between Microsoft Word and Media player, rewinding the video several times, and being nowhere close to being done, I found myself talking to the computer and saying, “Hold your horses!” Needless to say I needed a break, but I kept thinking, if only I could type faster, or even better, if the people in the video could speak slower, this task wouldn’t be as frustrating.
Within my first week at the job I was introduced to my new dragon friend; Dragon Naturally Speaking. Doing justice to its epic name, this speech recognition software has made my transcribing experience a lot more interesting from the moment I started using it. Remember how in the movie Eragon, the dragon Saphira, could read Eragon’s thoughts? That’s more or less how this program works. Obviously Dragon doesn’t type what you’re thinking, but after a short training, the program learns how to understand your voice and you’re good to go! So instead of typing what people say in a video, you speak the words and Dragon types it for you. Pretty neat huh?
Despite being excited about using a new program, I still had my doubts. Could this voice recognition software really be faster than my 70 wpm typing? I mean, that’s a decent typing speed, right? Besides, when I type I can fix my mistakes immediately whereas with Dragon it’s easier to keep dictating and then go back and fix my mistakes later. I was skeptical about this dictation program’s effectiveness against my own. If there’s one thing I remember from my biology classes in college is that I have to test my theories to obtain an answer, so I decided to put an end to my doubts and find out if all my years of typing would help me compete with this dragon.
Two minutes of typing. I don’t remember ever surrendering so fast, not even when I ran 3 miles under 100⁰ F weather in cross-country! I had to face it; I can speak significantly faster than I can type. The Dragon Naturally speaking software is a great tool that tremendously improves your typing speed, especially if you’re typing a long paper; after all, Dragon doesn’t get tired of typing and I hardly believe anyone would ever get tired of talking. I mainly use the program to dictate what other people speak, but I can’t help to wonder how much it would’ve helped me in college when I had to write those 10-page papers. This program types words that I don’t even know how to spell, automatically capitalizes words after periods and what’s best, I can keep training it to understand me better every time I notice a mistake; that’s a keeper, if you ask me.
YouTube and Google now index video content based on text in closed captions and subtitles, enhancing the discoverability and SEO ranking of videos that include them. This capability means that closed captions help your video appear in search results for keywords contained within the captions, potentially driving more views and engagements.
Mark Robertson authored an article on his website titled "In-Depth Look at YouTube Closed Captions, SEO, and YouTube Indexing," where his insights reveal that closed captions not only boost accessibility but also expand your video's global reach through multi-language subtitles. This broadens the appeal of your content to a global audience, including those with hearing impairments and non-native speakers of the video's language.
Beyond viewer accessibility, the strategic use of closed captions contributes significantly to SEO. Captions allow Google’s algorithms to understand better and index the video’s content, which can enhance the video’s visibility in search results. This approach to SEO is not just about improving accessibility but also about maximizing content discoverability and engagement on digital platforms. Properly implemented, closed captions can increase viewer retention, reduce bounce rates, and expand the global reach of videos by making them accessible to non-native speakers and those in sound-sensitive environments.
Furthermore, closed captions can significantly influence user engagement metrics, such as watch time and interaction rates, which are crucial for boosting SEO rankings on YouTube. By providing a text version of the video's audio, you cater to a wider range of user needs and preferences, which improves the overall user experience and could lead to higher rankings in search results and recommendations.
To implement closed captions effectively, it’s important to use recognized subtitle file formats like SRT or VTT, which are readable and indexable by search engines. Also, consider updating your captions regularly to include new keywords and to enhance SEO impact. Engaging professional transcription services can ensure the accuracy, readability, and SEO optimization of your subtitles.
In summary, adding closed captions to your YouTube videos is a straightforward yet powerful tool to enhance video accessibility, viewer engagement, and SEO performance. For more details on captioning your web or YouTube video, please visit our page on YouTube-Ready Captions.
Aberdeen Captioning has been qualified as a “YouTube Ready” vendor by DCMP. As a DCMP “Approved Captioning Service Vendor,” Aberdeen is committed to providing quality captioning in multimedia formats, now including your YouTube videos. This allows your YouTube video to be captioned according to DCMP guidelines and with a customer satisfaction guarantee. Aberdeen offers different choices for your YouTube video and will work closely to establish a package that is right for you.
Need multi-language translation for your YouTube video? No problem! Aberdeen will provide a professional and experienced translator to ensure that your message is understood globally. All you need is a YouTube account.
Working for Aberdeen Captioning as a Transcriber has allowed me to stay home with my daughter (and will also allow me to stay home with the baby we are expecting). I love the flexibility of working at my own pace, often while my daughter is sleeping or playing and in the evenings or on the weekends when my husband is home. Often my friends with children tell me they wish they had a gig like mine! However, an even greater gift has been the actual programming that I transcribe. Most of the jobs that I receive are Christian in nature, such as church sermons, Bible studies, conferences, worship services, and youth Christian programming. In addition to my own church life and walk with God, receiving this consistent Biblical speaking and encouragement through my work has been indescribably great! Of all the programming there is out there, what could be better than listening and typing about God?
My work experience prior to this has been in Finance and Credit, including working for a Collection Agency, which was really the exact opposite of what I wanted to do with my English degree. It just wasn’t where my heart was. So I felt like it came naturally for me to do transcription work, not because I was necessarily a fast typist (although now I am), but because I tend to pay close attention to detail and actually enjoy editing and learning new words. I know...I’m a big dork! Nevertheless, there was definitely a learning curve for me in the first couple months until I got down the Aberdeen Captioning style. I was always flipping through my training manual to see when it was appropriate to use ellipses, chevrons and double dashes, not to mention when to spell out a number or not. That took me a while. Luckily, the staff at Aberdeen Captioning was very helpful and patient. After a couple of months, I finally got all the rules down. To avoid mistakes, I always look up scripture in websites like BibleGateway.com to be sure of punctuation and spelling. I also keep Merriam-Webster.com open while I’m working, as well as helpful search engines like Google.
Thank you Aberdeen Captioning for this opportunity to work for your company. You have been a blessing in my life. I look forward to many more years of working and growing together.
I believe the Lord gave me this opportunity to work at home, part-time, doing transcription work for Aberdeen Captioning. While I was on maternity leave, after the birth of my daughter in the spring of 2006, I was conflicted and stressed out thinking about how I was going to leave my precious newborn in a daycare so I could go back to work. I didn’t know what to do. My sister, who already worked full-time for Aberdeen Captioning, suggested it to me as a possible alternative to going back to my previous employer. I knew it was the answer I was looking for.
Working for Aberdeen Captioning as a Transcriber has allowed me to stay home with my daughter (and will also allow me to stay home with the baby we are expecting). I love the flexibility of working at my own pace, often while my daughter is sleeping or playing and in the evenings or on the weekends when my husband is home. Often my friends with children tell me they wish they had a gig like mine! However, an even greater gift has been the actual programming that I transcribe. Most of the jobs that I receive are Christian in nature, such as church sermons, Bible studies, conferences, worship services, and youth Christian programming. In addition to my own church life and walk with God, receiving this consistent Biblical speaking and encouragement through my work has been indescribably great! Of all the programming there is out there, what could be better than listening and typing about God?
My work experience prior to this has been in finance and credit, including working for a collection Agency, which was really the exact opposite of what I wanted to do with my English degree. It just wasn’t where my heart was. So I felt like it came naturally for me to do transcription work, not because I was necessarily a fast typist (although now I am), but because I tend to pay close attention to detail and actually enjoy editing and learning new words. I know...I’m a big dork! Nevertheless, there was definitely a learning curve for me in the first couple of months until I got down the Aberdeen Captioning style. I was always flipping through my training manual to see when it was appropriate to use ellipses, chevrons, and double dashes, not to mention when to spell out a number or not. That took me a while. Luckily, the staff at Aberdeen Captioning was very helpful and patient. After a couple of months, I finally got all the rules down. To avoid mistakes, I always look up scripture on websites like BibleGateway.com to be sure of punctuation and spelling. I also keep Merriam-Webster.com open while I’m working, as well as helpful search engines like Google.
Thank you Aberdeen Captioning for this opportunity to work for your company. You have been a blessing in my life. I look forward to many more years of working and growing together.
A very important part of the captioning process is the initial transcription of the programming. If the captioning company uses first-rate transcribers, the quality of the captioning is inevitably superior to companies that use subpar transcribers.
There are many ways the transcription can get completed. Some companies choose to have the same person who transcribes the program also perform the editing, syncing, and placement of the captions. Although this may be the most economical way to caption, it doesn't allow for a second or third quality control of the captioning. The more people involved in the closed captioning process, the better the overall quality of the captioning will be. It’s recommended that when you contract with a captioning company, you ask them who does their transcription.
If you really want to forecast the quality of work you may expect from a captioning company, ask them what transcription guidelines they follow. Where did they come up with the guidelines? Are the guidelines tested by the viewing public? Did they make up the guidelines themselves without any research? If they don't have any guidelines or they made them up with no research to back them, you know you are not using the right company. Ask them about their certification process. Unfortunately, all captioning companies use different standards and guidelines (if any at all), but here are some general closed captioning guidelines (many of these guidelines follow DCMP) transcribers should be following:Read
