We have received all clear to go ahead with our Transcription Software evaluation project in an attempt to find a suitable tool for UCEM.
What are transcriptions, captions and subtitles? aren’t they the same? Well, no – not really.
Transcription is a written version of voice, music or group of these. At UCEM, for videos, we try to provide a transcript as a minimum. This helps with accessibility and also for students who prefer to read rather than watch a video, international students who may have English as a second (or subsequent language), and or for people who may access these resources in a noisy environment.
What is a caption? “Captions are a text form of audio information in video and animations. This includes the words that are spoken, who is speaking when it is not evident, and important sounds like music, laughter, and noises” (W3C, 2016). Captions differ from transcripts because captions are synchronized with the visual content to contextualize them.
Subtitles are synchronized with the media similar to captions, but they are used to translate a video from one language to another. Patrick Loftus says “Captions assume the viewer cannot hear and subtitles assume the viewer doesn’t understand the language” (Loftus, 2018)
Here is a fun Quiz about Captioning. See what you know about captioning.
Captioning 101: Are you ahead of the class (QUIZ)
References:
- Loftus, P. (6 March 2018). Captions vs. Subtitles: Do You Know the Difference? Available at: https://www.3playmedia.com/2018/03/06/captions-vs-subtitles-do-you-know-the-difference/ [accessed 5 July 2018].
- W3C. (15 September 2016). Video Captions. Available at: https://www.w3.org/WAI/perspective-videos/captions/ [accessed 5 July 2018].
I am a Learning Technology Researcher and the Chair of the Online Learning Research Centre at the University College of Estate Management. My principle research interests lie in the area of social implications of information and communication technologies, especially eLearning.