Live Event Setup
Live captioning of FCC proceeding. Courtesy, FCC Live.
A live web video event, often called live streaming video, can be as simple as a live casting of a government hearing or meeting or as complex as a multimedia webinar involving multiple elements such as participant registration and support, video production, chat screens, speaker and participant management, and video file archiving.
In the latter case, to support all of these elements, webinar packages contain many functions in addition to video display. Because these events are so complex, organizations can either buy/license the software or hire a production vendor who often specializes in a particular software package.
Regardless of your needs, setting up the captioning component should be relatively straightforward.
- Ask the webinar or streaming vendor if their software supports real-time captioning. Some may say that their chat screen allows someone to type a transcript. This has two inherent limitations:
- First, the transcript may have to be produced with a standard keyboard, not a stenocaptioning or voicewriting system. Stenocaptioners produce text at 180 - 250 words per minute, much faster than anyone can type on a computer keyboard.
- Second, using the chat screen for captions may mean that the participant reading the captions cannot participate with the chat function.
- Contract with a realtime captioning or voicewriting service provider. The vendor may be able to provide that service for you or may recommend some resources.
Because there are a wide variety of live streaming video and webinar packages and realtime captioning service providers to choose from, it is good practice to ask your viewer community for feedback. They may alert you to presentation factors that you may not be aware of, such as the challenges inherent in using the chat window for captioning display.