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TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE
U. S. Department of Education Distance Learning Project for Deaf Students
A brand new service sponsored by the Department of
Education seems ideal for children and adults with a hearing loss. Captioned
media delivered to the home or school via streamed media.
NAD Announces Internet Video Streaming of Captioned Educational Videos
SILVER SPRING, Md., Dec. 9 -- The National Association of
the Deaf (NAD) announced today that it would begin the first-ever Internet video
streaming of open-captioned educational videos. No other streamed material of
this kind is captioned. Therefore, 28,000,000 Americans with a hearing loss are
the potential beneficiaries of this historic media event.
"Millions of Americans have been excluded from the
Internet's offerings of information, entertainment, and cultural content," said
NAD's Bill Stark. Stark, Project Director of the Captioned Media Program (CMP),
stated that: "As a U.S. Department of Education-funded program, the CMP has
provided free-loan captioned media to deaf and hard of hearing persons, their
families, and others who work with persons with a hearing loss for over four
decades. This through-the-mail service will now be supplemented by the latest in
digital technology."
Consumers will need to have RealPlayer installed on their
computers in order to view the streamed CMP videos. RealPlayer enables a
computer to receive audio and video files. A link to download a free version of
RealPlayer can be found on the CMP Web site at
www.cfv.org. All videos streamed by the CMP will have open (visible)
captions, with no special software needed for viewing.
Approximately 450 titles will be streamed by the CMP,
including productions such as "Blood, Heart, and Circulation," "Giant Sea
Turtles," "Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad," and "Lassie's Great
Adventure." There is no registration fee, and registered users may also borrow
from the CMP collection of over 4,000 open-captioned videos.
About the NAD
Established in 1880, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization safeguarding the
accessibility and civil rights of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing Americans
across a broad range of areas including education, employment, health care, and
telecommunications. The NAD is a dynamic federation of 51 state association
affiliates including the District of Columbia, organizational affiliates, and
national members. Primary areas of focus include grassroots advocacy and
empowerment, policy development and research, legal assistance, captioned media,
information and publications, and youth leadership.
More information about the NAD is available at
www.nad.org
About the CMP
The Captioned Media Program (CMP) provides all persons who
are deaf or hard of hearing awareness of and equal access to communication and
learning through the use of captioned educational media and supportive
collateral materials. The CMP provides free-loan educational and general-
interest open-captioned media to deaf and hard of hearing individuals as well as
teachers, parents, and others who work with individuals who have a hearing loss.
Funding for the CMP is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
More information about the CMP is available
at
www.cfv.org.
Contact Bill Stark at (800) 237-6213 (W), (864)585-1905 (H), or
bstark@cfv.org.
For an example of a captioned streamed video, visit the CMP
Web site at
www.cfv.org, choose the Media Room section and view a captioned TV-PSA
segment. |