WGBH Releases "CC for Flash" - Free Tool to Simplify Captioning for Flash

CONTACT:
Mary Watkins
mary_watkins@wgbh.org
phone: 617 300-3700 voice
617 300-2489 TTY

March 8, 2007

WGBH Access Division Creates "CC for Flash" to Simplify Captioning  
for Adobe Flash Technology

Accessibility and Search Enhanced by Free Tool; Easy-to-Embed Flash- 
Based-Media Player also Available

Use of Adobe® Flash® technology to add dynamic and engaging video  
content to Web sites is growing exponentially. With WGBH's new  
solution, developers are able to more easily add captions in Flash.  
Now, millions of users who are deaf or hard of hearing are better  
able to experience Web-based video in Flash and search engines are  
able to capitalize on captions as search metadata for SWF content.

WGBH, Boston's public broadcaster and a decades-long pioneer in  
developing access solutions to media for audiences with disabilities  
has created a component for Flash, CC for Flash, that can be authored  
into any SWF file for playback in Adobe Flash Player.  The component  
is easy to use, and freely available from the NCAM Web site at http:// 
ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/ccforflash.

Funding for development of CC for Flash was provided by a grant to  
WGBH's Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible  
Media (NCAM) from the NEC Foundation of America, with additional  
support provided by Yahoo!

CC for Flash: The Details

• Uses external files produced in the W3C's Distribution Format  
Exchange Profile (DFXP) of the Timed-Text Authoring Format.

• Imports existing formats such as Apple QuickTime's QTtext, with  
support for Microsoft's SAMI format soon to follow.

• Exposes many of its internal functions through ActionScriptTM  
language so that the author can control and customize many of the  
features.

• Can play back caption metadata that has been embedded in the video  
by tools such as Captionate.

• Can be linked to any video playback components in Flash or directly  
to Netstream objects in the SWF of the FLV file.

• Allows the author to set the caption display box coordinates and  
default text attributes, like background color, text foreground  
color, font face and size, opacity, etc., at authoring time. At  
playback time, any text attributes that are explicitly defined in the  
external caption file will override the defaults.

• Captions can be added after the video content in Flash is posted,  
allowing for flexibility across production and distribution  
environments.

• Allows captions to be searched.

• Comes with an optional player, ccPlayer for Flash, which allows  
those unfamiliar with Flash programming to embed video content in  
Flash into a Web page with minimal effort.

• Is compatible with Flash MX2004 (7) and 8 authoring packages.

A Best Friend for CC for Flash: MAGpie

MAGpie, NCAM's free do-it-yourself captioning and description  
application allows developers to create captions once, and then to  
output those captions in multiple formats, including QuickTime,  
Windows Media, and Real.

NCAM has now added the W3C's new timed-text format, the Distribution  
Format Exchange Profile (DFXP), to MAGpie's caption export options.  
MAGpie version 2.0.2 is the only tool available today for authoring  
DFXP caption files.  With MAGpie and CC for Flash, it's now easier  
than ever to provide captions for Flash Player compatible video content.

WGBH's Media Access Group can also provide Flash caption authoring  
services for long-form content not easily handled by MAGpie, and for  
producers who would rather outsource their captioning work. WGBH's  
Media Access Group, since 1972 the leader in providing captioning and  
description to the broadcast, film, educational and online media  
worlds, is now the first organization that can provide DFXP captions  
for Flash presentations.

About NCAM and WGBH

The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media  
at WGBH is a research, development and advocacy entity that works to  
make existing and emerging technologies accessible to all audiences.  
NCAM is part of the Media Access Group at WGBH, which also includes  
The Caption Center (est. 1972), and Descriptive Video Service® (est.  
1990).  For more information, visit access.wgbh.org.

WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the  
source of fully one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup, along with some  
of public television's best-known lifestyle shows and children's  
programs and many public radio favorites. WGBH is the number one  
producer of Web sites on pbs.org, one of the most trafficked dot-org  
Web sites in the world. For more information, visit www.wgbh.org.

Adobe, ActionScript and Flash are either trademarks or registered  
trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or  
other countries.

Received on Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:08:12 UTC