Inside Captioning

A primer on the subject of captioning that does a remarkable job of covering a lot of topics, in an organized fashion suitable for any captioner’s reference library

Kevin Wm. Daniel, RMR CRR,
in the Journal of Court Reporting

Here, in one place, is everything you’ve ever wanted to know about closed captioning and related technologies, written by one of the foremost experts in the field. This book will take you through the history of captioning, the technology, the laws, the social issues, and case studies.

The light, easy-to-read style makes this book suitable for techies and non-techies alike

Whether you’re in the broadcast business, you’re deaf or hard-of-hearing, or you’re a court reporter or realtime captioner, this book has something for you.

Inside Captioning is now out of print, but I do have a more recent (and more comprehensive) book, The Closed Captioning Handbook.

ISBN 9780965960908 (Trade Paperback)
1997 Cyberdawg Publishing
260 pages

Whether or not you are a technology buff, this is fascinating reading from a premier person in the burgeoning field of communications.

—Tom Willard, Editor,
Newswaves for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People

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The Glossary and references are worth the price of the book.

—Robert MacPherson in Beyond Hearing

Table of Contents

FORWARD BY MARTIN BLOCK
PREFACE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AN INTRODUCTION TO CAPTIONING
• What Are Captions?
• Uses of Captioning
THE HISTORY OF CAPTIONING
• A Brief Captioning Timeline
THE TECHNOLOGY
• Inside a Color Television
• Elements of a TV Picture
• A Guided Tour of the VBI
• Line 21 – Home of Captioning
• The Line 21 Character Set
• Formatting Options
• Standards and Conventions
• Watching TV on Your Computer
• Standards, they are a-changin’
CAPTIONING AROUND THE WORLD
• Language Issues
• International Captioning
OFFLINE CAPTIONING
• Creating the Text
• Timecoding
• Caption Placement
ONLINE CAPTIONING
• Online Captioning Concepts
• A Typical Newscast
• Realtime Technology
• Bloopers
• Stenocaptioning vs. Speech Recognition
CAPTIONING EQUIPMENT
• Encoders
• Decoders
• Character Generators
• Captioning Software Systems
• Stenotype Keyboards
RELATED TECHNOLOGIES
• Captioning Live Events
• Realtime in the Courtroom
INTERNET CAPTIONING
DEAF CULTURE
• Sign Language vs. Captioning
• Calling Deaf People on the Phone
THE LAW
• State Laws
• Federal Captioning Laws
• Who’s In Charge?
• The Television Decoder Circuitry Act
• The Americans With Disabilities Act
• The Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996
HOW TO
• How to Hire a Captioner
• How to Get Your Favorite Show Captioned
• How to Develop Your Stenocaptioning Skills
• How to Get a Realtime Captioning Job
• How to Start a Captioning Company
CASE STUDIES
• Local News
• Local News Nationally
• Network News
• Sports Captioning
• Local Government
• The U.S. Senate
• Church Captioning
• Bilingual Captioning
• Captioned Theater
CAPTIONING GLOSSARY
CAPTIONING RESOURCES ONLINE
• Web Sites
• Mailing Lists
BIBLIOGRAPHY & SUGGESTED READING
CONTACT INFORMATION
INDEX