History of Closed Captions
The National Bureau of Standards teamed up with ABC-TV for an experiment in 1970. The Bureau wanted to digitally encode data in a part of the television signal to send precisely timed information nationwide, but unfortunately this experiment failed. Even though the experiment resulted in failure, it successfully sparked the idea for closed captioning as we know it today. In 1971, at the first National Conference on Television for the Hearing Impaired two new technologies were revealed for captioning television.
The first program to have closed captioning successfully displayed was ABC's broadcast of "Mod Squad." After this success the government began funding new technology to achieve a true captioning service, and in 1973 the engineering department of the Public Broadcasting System started a project with the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In the same year, ABC began broadcasting "The Captioned ABC News" which was the only accessible newscast for Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers at that time.
In 1976 PBS engineered the captioning consoles used to caption programs that were prerecorded. In the last stage of the consoles development PBS realized the need for a nonprofit organization with the single purpose mission to closed caption accurately. So, in 1979 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare installed the National Captioning Institute (NCI). NCI's mantra: "to promote and provide access to television programs for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community through closed captioning technology (NIC, 2013)."
Although the history of closed captions is a triumphant one, it has also had its struggles with politics. In the 1980's CBS originally did not want to participate using the line 21 technology (the process of broadcasting on the vertical blanking interval, and not visible unless using decoding circuitry), CBS wanted to use teletext technology. As a result of this choice the Deaf community began protesting CBS, and by 1984 they agreed to begin using line 21 technology (Berke, Jamie 2011).
Accurate closed captions on television programs, YouTube, Netflix, teaching aids, etc... is still an on going battle. It is important people are educated about their importance and how to provide them accurately. The YouTube videos below properly explain how to caption ones videos as well as their importance.
The National Bureau of Standards teamed up with ABC-TV for an experiment in 1970. The Bureau wanted to digitally encode data in a part of the television signal to send precisely timed information nationwide, but unfortunately this experiment failed. Even though the experiment resulted in failure, it successfully sparked the idea for closed captioning as we know it today. In 1971, at the first National Conference on Television for the Hearing Impaired two new technologies were revealed for captioning television.
The first program to have closed captioning successfully displayed was ABC's broadcast of "Mod Squad." After this success the government began funding new technology to achieve a true captioning service, and in 1973 the engineering department of the Public Broadcasting System started a project with the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In the same year, ABC began broadcasting "The Captioned ABC News" which was the only accessible newscast for Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers at that time.
In 1976 PBS engineered the captioning consoles used to caption programs that were prerecorded. In the last stage of the consoles development PBS realized the need for a nonprofit organization with the single purpose mission to closed caption accurately. So, in 1979 the Department of Health, Education and Welfare installed the National Captioning Institute (NCI). NCI's mantra: "to promote and provide access to television programs for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community through closed captioning technology (NIC, 2013)."
Although the history of closed captions is a triumphant one, it has also had its struggles with politics. In the 1980's CBS originally did not want to participate using the line 21 technology (the process of broadcasting on the vertical blanking interval, and not visible unless using decoding circuitry), CBS wanted to use teletext technology. As a result of this choice the Deaf community began protesting CBS, and by 1984 they agreed to begin using line 21 technology (Berke, Jamie 2011).
Accurate closed captions on television programs, YouTube, Netflix, teaching aids, etc... is still an on going battle. It is important people are educated about their importance and how to provide them accurately. The YouTube videos below properly explain how to caption ones videos as well as their importance.