The primary objective of this project is to better understand subjective live captioning preferences across different closed captioning user classes in Canada, including Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing users of captions. The mutual aim of broadcasters, caption providers, and user stakeholder organizations is to provide the best captioning possible; progress toward that goal will be aided greatly by a better understanding of how consumers evaluate captioning.
Project Objective
Rationale
Television is an almost ubiquitous medium that provides entertainment and vital information to millions of households in Canada. Closed captioning of live television programs, which is particularly challenging, extends the accessibility of these programs to the Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing communities.
There is little understanding of what users’ live captioning preferences are. This project will provide insight into user preferences and enable captioning of live television programs to meet a broad spectrum of users' needs.
How we got here
December 2015
Inception
Members of the English Broadcasters Group (EBG) meet with members of the Captioning Consumer Advocacy Alliance (CCAA), in response to CRTC Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2015-325-2, to address aspects related to a closed captioning quality standard for live television programming in Canada.
January 2016
Comments submitted to the CRTC
The EBG and CCAA agree on a common purpose to improve the quality of live captioning in Canada, and recognize that an appropriate system for measuring accuracy needs to be found. The EBG, CCAA and caption providers agree to proceed with a proposal to evaluate the “NER model” as a potential system of evaluating caption accuracy in Canada.
April 2016
Preliminary evaluation
Preliminary evaluation of the NER model is inconclusive. A 2 year trial of NER, modified for Canada, is initiated by the EBG with CCAA support, following a CRTC decision; at the same time, the CCAA, with EBG support, pursues an independent research initiative aimed at establishing user preferences in live captioning.
July 2016
Research proposal
A research proposal for Understanding User Responses to Live Closed Captioning in Canada is submitted to the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund to conduct a survey amongst Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing users of live captioning.
November 2016
Research project initiation
Stakeholders from the EBG, the CCAA, captioners and the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund meet in Toronto to review the project charter and formally launch the live captioning research project.