Jack Thompson replied, in part, to queries about the feasibility and cost of
captioning videotapes:

 >> These things can be taught, but it is best done by example.  Closed
captioned videotape is nothing more than a simulacrum.  It may make one feel
good, but it is no replacement for the real thing.

 >> It is not my intention to seem unfriendly in posting this response.

 >> After more than 20 years of instructing, I have arrived at some conclusions
and they are related above.  David asks, "how common is it now to include
closed captions on material made to be distributed as recordings, as opposed
to broadcast?"

 >> As one who has prepared videotapes for broadcast as well as for recordings
(i.e., for in-house broadcast) I can tell you that the cost to combine all of
the elements discussed here would exceed the allocated funds.  Whatever they
are. Unless you are selling toilet seats to the US Military.


 Jack, I'm puzzled--if the latter is true, how is it that many TV programs are
closed-captioned and that TV sets and VCRs with closed-caption decoders are so
common? I've noticed that one of our local newscasts credits a sponsor for its
closed captioning, but I had no idea it was such a big-ticket item. And that
comment doesn't seem to correlate with your first response, which was that all
one needed to add captions was two tape decks and a character generator
(assuming access to a master tape and transcript). Are you speaking
specifically of small-run instructional materials (I gather that is what much
of your own work consists of)? Or is it that I've muddled issues of generic
"captions" on a program with "closed captions," which I presume require more
specialized equipment to produce?

 Actually, the materials I personally am interested are not classroom or home
instructional tapes but most often short biographies or documentaries on
artists; sometimes things that give art museum visitors a little more context
or background than is practical to provide in the form of wall texts or
brochures. Footage of the artist working in the studio, for instance, or "how
prints are made" for the general audience. Visitors love these (sometimes to an
extent that causes curatorial staff some chagrin), and they are understandably
frustrated when they cannot understand the sound tracks, whether because they
have hearing losses or because of noise in the area.

 It's not really a matter of expecting tapes to substitute for personal
instruction (although TV learning programs are presumably of some value to
someone), it's a matter of making materials more useful for everyone and of
allowing people with hearing impairments to get the benefit of materials that
are accessible to others. I'm hoping this is not going to turn into another
thread (I won't say "debate") about accessibility requirements.

 Anyway, it sounds as if it's not going to be an option for us very often. Our
bookstore manager says he does not recall seeing any commercial releases of
art videos offered with closed captions, and from what you say we can't expect
small producers to provide that option, either.

 Thanks for your input.

 David A. Penney
 Exhibitions Manager
 The Baltimore Museum of Art


 E-mail from:
 David A. Penney in Baltimore, Maryland
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 22-Dec-1996