Vendor Info
The DCMP first works with educational media producers/distributors, captioning vendors, and description vendors by offering information concerning media accessibility issues. Some examples of these resources are captioning and description research, requirements of federal and state laws, history of description and captioning, learning benefits of accessible media, and guidelines for creating description and captioning.
The DCMP also assists in the marketing of educational, accessible media products and services by maintaining a database of educational, accessible media available for purchase from producers and distributors. Additionally, the DCMP maintains lists of vendors performing description/captioning work, makes this information available to clients and consumers seeking this service, and provides guidelines for performing the description and captioning of educational media.
The National Association of the Deaf has a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate and select educational media to be described and captioned. Rights are negotiated to (1) describe/caption titles as required, (2) make unlimited numbers of DVD copies and loan these at no charge to registered members, and (3) deliver the content digitally to registered members.
Information for Media Producers and Distributors
DCMP Media Acquisition
Titles approved by the U.S. Department of Education are annually identified as high-priority items for purchase and inclusion in the DCMP collection. These titles are most commonly used in schools across the United States.
If the DCMP does not have a listing of your best-selling items, please contact us. We are also interested in information you have regarding the alignment of your media with academic standards.
Making Your Media Accessible
Accessible media can benefit everyone. When your products are described and captioned, new markets are opened to you. Visit the Learning Center section of this site for information about accessible media, and contact us when you have questions.
Description is the verbal depiction of key visual components in a television broadcast, webcast, film, video, CD-ROM, DVD, multimedia, live event, or other production. Inserted into natural pauses in the program's soundtrack, the description provides information about visual elements that otherwise would remain inaccessible to someone who is blind or visually impaired.
Captioning is a textual display of the audio information of a live television broadcast, webcast, film, video, CD-ROM, DVD, multimedia, live event or other production. Captions are not limited to the display of spoken dialogue or narration in textual format, but also include speaker identification, sound effects, and music description.
Back to TopInformation for Captioning Vendors
Captioning Guidelines
The Captioning Key guidelines must be followed when performing DCMP captioning work. The guidelines provide an overview of the elements of quality captioning, presentation rate, speaker identification, text, language mechanics, sound effects, music, foreign language/dialect, and other special considerations. These are the only such guidelines available in the United States, and they will be useful to anyone (agencies, businesses, schools, and others) desiring to learn how to caption or better perform the task. The guidelines have been translated into other languages, received international distribution, and have been utilized in various settings as a basic reference.
Other Assistance
The DCMP also provides Caption It Yourself guidelines for anyone (teachers, parents, and others) who needs to caption their own productions. Vendors or others may email or call the DCMP with questions about captioning or with requests for assistance. Visitors to our website are invited to review captioning research and other information in our Learning Center.
Back to TopInformation for Description Vendors
Description Guidelines
The Description Key guidelines must be followed when performing DCMP description work. The guidelines cover a range of topics from preparing to describe to determining what information needs to be described and how to describe it. These are the only such guidelines available in the United States, and they will be useful to anyone (agencies, businesses, schools, and others) desiring to learn how to describe or better perform this task.
Other Assistance
Vendors or others may email or call the DCMP with questions about description or with requests for assistance. Visitors to our website are invited to review description research and other information in our Learning Center.
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