Docsoft announced today the launch of Stanford University’s Captioning site http://captioning.stanford.edu which utilizes customized Docsoft technology to caption media files for posting to the worldwide web. As a part of the Stanford Captioning Project, University and Docsoft developers worked together to customize a software and hardware solution designed to convert spoken content in digital audio and video files into searchable written format for transcriptions and captioning, into a custom interface for web-based management of the University’s media assets.
Captioned web files contain a specially marked up text file that has time stamping added to it. Since the file includes text, it can be searched for content and indexed by all major search engines, increasing the visibility and utility of the media file. In addition, the text can be re-purposed for alternative uses. It could be sent to a Braille output bar which makes the core information of the video available to a deaf/blind user or it could be translated into a second language for multi-lingual audiences. Another function, due to the time-stamping of the file, allows for search of the file itself for key phrases or concepts, which is a hugely valuable tool for researchers and librarians.
“Creating captioned media for the web can be difficult and require expensive technologies and/or software that are complex to work with. The primary goal of the Project was to develop a system and workflow that was easy and simple to work with and as seamless as posting a video to YouTube” states Docsoft President Phillip Miller. “Docsoft is proud to have been involved with this Project and we are enthused to see our product being utilized in such a groundbreaking way.”
Stanford University is currently using Docsoft technology to produce captioned media on a regular basis. For more information on the Stanford Captioning Project, please visit http://captioning.stanford.edu/
