Google does not always create accessible products (GoogleWave). However, sometimes they do a good job of increasing the accessibility of an existing service. I hope that Vimeo gets the message that accessibility is important.

In the first major step toward making millions of videos on YouTube accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google unveiled new technologies that will automatically bring text captions to many videos on the site.

[Google] combined their automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology with the YouTube caption system to offer automatic captions, or auto-caps for short. Auto-caps use the same voice recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for video.

Yesterday’s post on Vimeo, YouTube, accessibility and closed captioning was read, and commented on, by Blake Whitman, Director of Community at Vimeo. Please note that I do not have any ill will towards Vimeo. They make neat things. I just wish that they made them accessible…which really means that their “things” aren’t as neat as they could be.

According to Blake:

I thought I would respond here as I believe there may be a misunderstanding regarding our intentions. We care a great deal about closed captioning and we fully intend to provide such support as soon as we can assign developers to the project. While YouTube has large staff and ample resources, we are a small and dedicated team that works tirelessly to meet all of our users’ needs. We did not mean to offend you or anyone else who would like to see CC support on Vimeo, and we will develop a closed captioning system as soon as we are able to. We apologize for the wait.

Blake was responding to my comment on the lack of captioning technology for Vimeo videos. My comment was driven by a comment that Blake left on the Vimeo forums:

[Captioning] is a very big project and not something that can just happen overnight. We have a lot of higher priority features in the cue right now, and when we find the appropriate time, we will definitely look into offering CC support.

My question to Blake and the folks at Vimeo is how can you “care a great deal about closed captioning” while not actually actively supporting its development?

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I used to be a huge fan of Vimeo. Their user interface and HD video capability is top notch. Unfortunately, Vimeo has decided that accessibility is not a priority. 8 days ago on the Vimeo forums, the topic of accessibility via closed captions / subtitles was added to the Vimeo Community Forums - Feature Request section. Vimeo’s response to this request was extremely saddening:

We have a lot of higher priority features in the cue right now, and when we find the appropriate time, we will definitely look into offer CC support.

Vimeo is telling its community that users with hearing impairments do not matter.

Thankfully, YouTube has now made it very easy to add captions to videos. In fact, YouTube allows for HD uploads, accessible videos and better uptime than Vimeo.

It’s really easy to add captions / subtitles to a YouTube video using dotSUB:

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Hundreds of Oregon State University students took over the Valley Library on Thursday, October 1st. (via the Oregon State University Admissions Blog)

It was a successful flashmob, although I really think that OSU (Oklahoma State University) and UNC (University of North Carolina) have set the bar for successful university flashmobs:

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Wow. I think I’ve watched/listened to this amazing Michael Jackson Medley at least 10 times now. Sam Tsui is awesome!

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII. via Huff Post

This guy is the co-host of FOX’s morning show, FOX & Friends. According to Brian Kilmeade’s website, “FOX & Friends,” “has been the No. 1 morning program on all of cable news for more than seven years.”

WTF? Who watches this garbage? Hitler Youth Recruiters? Anti-miscegenation Hobbyists? Stormfront Forum Posters? Racial Eugenics Supporters? This guy makes overtly racist and derogatory statements on a popular news program and he gets to keep his job!?? Race is a sociological construct…we are all the same species you moron!

Dear Fox News, Fire Brian Kilmeade immediately.

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At one point the discussion lit a fire under the Admiral, and the talk of human rights turned personal for Edward James Olmos. The “Old Man” launched into a passionate speech about casting off the idea of race as a cultural determinant, and said we were one race, the human race. His voice echoed throughout the chamber growing louder until - I kid you not - he was yelling, “So Say We All,” and the crowd answered right back. Hell, even I yelled it, I was in the fraking United Nations with Adama, the gods themselves could not have stopped this moment. It was surreal - the entire audience turned into one massive optimistic/role-playing/saddened goosebump, because who knows when we’ll ever hear those words again?

The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.

Oregon State University has a new social media directory page. Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and WordPress are the primary communication mediums for OSU’s social media presence. I’m sure this list will continue to grow as more and more departments engage in social media implementations.

Facebook pages and groups

• Oregon State University
• Oregon State Athletics
• Terra Magazine
• College Colors Fridays
• Corvallis Science Pub
• New 2 OSU: Class of 2013

Flickr photo feeds

• Oregon State University
• College Colors Fridays
• Benny On The Move

Twitter Feeds

• Oregon State University
  

YouTube

• Oregon State University
• College Colors Fridays

Other Social Media, Video and Audio Sites

• OSU Media Manager
• OSU iTunes University
• Zinch

OSU Bloggers

• Admissions Blog
• blogs.oregonstate.edu
• Ecologue: Sustainability at OSU
• Marketing
• Transmissions from the Ice Sheet
• Web Communications
• Sea Grant Climate Change Blog

Wikis

• OSU on Wikipedia
• OSU Wiki

via the OSU Dialog blog

A fantastic version of this classic song. It was shared by a friend to my partner Wendy who in turn sent it to me. It’s a powerful and very moving rendition. This song always reminds me of those who have supported me along the way.