As an English/ASL interpreter and interpreter educator, I’ve seen a lot of captions. I’ve also done my fair share of captioning and advocating for captions in my own areas of work. This site is simple playground for testing some approaches to improving the quality of captioned media. I took an excellent course from the DCMP (Described & Captioned Media Program). It made me think about tools that I would find helpful in my own captioning work.
Caption File Checker
The first such tool is the caption file checker. The checker reviews a caption file and considers several factors: FCC regulations; DCMP’s caption key; and, DCMP’s formatting guidance. The tool is in a functional BETA stage at present. Upload a caption file. You’ll receive an immediate report. The report includes alerts about errors in various categories of severity and type. The report is downloadable.
The caption file checker has limitations. The tool has no access to the original media file. It cannot check how well captions are synched to the source. It also cannot verify if captions appear on the correct part of the screen. Additionally, it does not ensure that the captions are complete. Instead, the tool checks for formatting and other issues visible in the caption file (caption length, timing, etc.).
What’s Next?
I hope to continue exploring ways to expand this tool. Let me know how it works for you!
Danny McDougall, PhD