Challenges of Captioning News

Challenges of Captioning NewsScrolled captions and the hybrid approach

ACMA Citizen conversation series Live captioning: lets talkRobert Scott, Henge Design Pty Ltd15 September 2015

What is hybrid?Method of captioning live or near-live programsUses offline pre-prepared techniques to produce pop-up block captionsSteno or respeaking used in truly live sections to produce scrolling captions

Hybrid captions are seen on:Nine Network (Ai-Media)Seven Network (Ericsson)

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The spectrum of live programsAll live programs are made with some degree of preparationThe more high-quality preparatory material is available, the more suited a program is to hybrid captioning

Hybrid elements in a talk show

Exploiting preparatory informationScripts and transcriptionsPrepared for telepromptersInterviews transcribed for legal checksVideo filesDigital video editing systemsDigital archivesVideo feedsMonitor incoming videos from interstate or overseasNews wiresProvide heads-up on storiesSong lyricsThe Voice may be live, but the songs were written way before

Newsroom computer systemsENPS and iNews used throughout Australia (and most of the world)Networked platform for:Journalists to peruse wires and compose storiesEditors to review materialDirectors and producers to organise material into bulletinsIntegrate with ancillary equipmentTelepromptersGraphics generatorsVideo serversCaptioning applications

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Which method is best?

The appearance of text is compelling

Saccadic eye movements

Limitation of teletext for scrollingDVB TeletextDesigned to display static textWords flash onRows jump upRapid succession of suddenly-appearing text

North American EIA608/708 Line 21Smooth, continuous scrollingWords are painted onAllows for more natural saccadic eye movements

Information chunks v. succession of wordsHybrids block captions allow:Viewers to read more at their own speedThereby commit time to also looking at the picture

Stenocaptioning and respeakings scrolled captionsDictate the viewers reading speedMonopolise the viewers attentionText is compellingScrolling teletext is a succession of suddenly appearing text

SynchronicityTelevision programs carry three information streams:PicturesSoundCaption text

All three are used by a viewer to understand a program, according to their abilitiesLip-readers read the lips of presenters in concert with captionsHearing-impaired use residual hearing in concert with captions

Temporal disconnects are confusing

Accurate, edited textScripts may contain errors, but these can be correctedAccess to people and place namesUnusual technical or scientific termsSteno and respeaking susceptible to mistranslatesSteno testified may appear TEFTD or therapists as THAEURP PEUSZRespeaking pianist may appear penis, visa may appear pizzaLanguage reduction can be done with more considerationPreserve important information

Reusable caption filesNational news is actually independent bulletins broadcast in separate marketsSydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Hobart, etcStories produced in one market but of interest to other markets will be syndicated to the relevant marketsStories in one bulletin may be played in a later bulletinHybrid allows caption once, use many times, whereas steno or respeaking requires the story to be captioned in each broadcast

Gaps between live and prepared

Presenters going off-scriptAd lib remarksUsually irrelevant throws with little information valueRephrasing the storyUsually same information phrased differentlyLittle if any impact on information-content-based assessmentProblems if last minute edit due to legal reasonsEarly outsVigilant cuers will notice these and quickly move to next storyNotification on talkbackIf it happens too much and has impact, just go live

Ready, set, caption!Preparation time is required for hybridNo prep = no words on screenSteno and respeaking should have prep timePeoplePlace namesUnusual terms, etc..but can produce words on the screen with no prep timeUsually results in poor-quality captionsMultiple mistranslates

Which method is best?

Thank you!

Any questions?

Referenceshttp://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2121343http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10991/http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2015/02/07/kruger-szarkowska-krejtz/