With the tremendous growth of video content creation space, we get a little dizzy while consuming too much of everything presented before us. It takes effort for us to watch one content after the other, and we become tired after a while of consumption. It gets tiring as well if the content is less comprehensive. But, how do you know that the content you put out meets the standards of many viewers, whether the content is accessible and inclusive?
We’d like to tell you that you’ve almost reached there if the content you put out covers all your bases effectively- to be specific, do you use closed captioning for your videos? Keeping the needs of your audience helps in the continuous iteration and improvement of your setting; it also helps to keep the content competitive. Every video content is part of a marketing strategy these days, hence most people are now making sure to do it the right way. But, that’s not our prime point. We intend to throw some light on the tremendous impact one small step can make on people’s lives.
Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001, praised the importance of “same language subtitling” innovation on film songs on TV, first used by PlanetRed and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in 2009. An astonishing finding during that time was that it helped 150 million people to become fluent readers.
Here’s the clipping of Bill Clinton’s talk at the Clinton Global Initiative.
It is amazing to notice that the same clip has been subtitled to offer the readers a sense of understanding of the importance of this powerful tool. They have done it in a way which makes it hard for us to take our eyes off the caption while the clip is being played.
Why is Adding Subtitles and Closed Captions to Educational Videos Vital?
Closed captioning a video helps improve functional reading in everyone and not just the ones with hearing disabilities. Here is why we want to talk more about adding subtitles and closed captions to videos, mainly for videos brought out solely for educational purposes.
Supports Clarity of the Content
Every educational video aims to help children learn new things. Grasping new ideas gets difficult when they are exposed to videos that lack clarity, not just in the visual sense. There can be audio issues with the content, and it can grow when there are other setbacks such as the usage of complex accents or technical terms. Subtitles and closed captions can keep such issues at bay and support children in focusing on the content without trouble.
Assist Children with Hearing and Learning Disabilities
Each year, thousands of students are born with hearing and learning disabilities. The existing educational system doesn’t provide good accommodation to them, and when this happens, their chance of success in higher education is greatly impeded. Only less than 20% per cent of young talent receive accommodation and support during their post-s education. Captions are a helpful way to assist children who have difficulty processing speech, which is why you should seriously consider subtitling and closed-captioning videos.
Strengthen Reading Comprehension in Children
Several pieces of research in the past have shown that reading comprehension in students seems to improve when subtitled and closed-captioned videos are used to educate them. Adding captions helps children visualize content; such videos also increase the literacy rate of children during their early academic years.
Improves Focus in Children
We are living in a world where gadgets rule everything starting from our minds to our brains. We’re not joking when we ask you this- how long do you think you can concentrate on doing something without touching your gadget? The continuous exposure to and use of gadgets all the time have a huge impact on the concentration and attention span of our generation. The case is no different when it comes to children. With the pandemic sliding into our lives, children are equipped to attend classes online, and most of them are equipped to multi-task from a very early age.
Most of them are not going to focus for long when someone lectures on screen. Hence subtitling and close captioning a video will help keep them glued. It also helps them retain and recall information as their auditory and visual skills are being used during that time.
Caters Accessibility and Diversity in Learning
Noways, most creators that put out educational videos on the web have the vision to help students across the globe. It would be unfeasible for children from different geographical locations to access the content if they cannot comprehend the content. There might be chances for them to understand the basics of the language. However, the chance of understanding technical terms and their spellings is slim, sometimes even zero. There is why closed-captioned videos play great importance as it makes the content more viable.
When you put content out, it is crucial to ensure that it serves the purpose in all aspects. Seeing that the challenges of your content are taken care of is a rewarding feeling, especially when it provides value to those who consume it. So why don’t you think of making it whole? As Elise Roy says, when we design for disability, we all benefit.
