DCMP & Fred Rogers Productions: Sign Language at Scale

Date & Time

Thursday, March 21, 2024 - 9:20 AM PDT  

Location

Platinum 7  

Description

Fred Rogers Productions and The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) recently partnered to produce American Sign Language for six iconic children's television series. This session will explore the workflows, technology, and challenges faced in producing and distributing “broadcast quality” ASL at scale. Educational videos are used in classrooms to reinforce concepts and to bring new perspectives that might otherwise be missed or misunderstood. To make these videos accessible, teachers use captions and audio description. For Deaf and hard of hearing students, captions often do not provide equal access to the material, especially with Early Learners who may not have strong reading skills. While classrooms provide ASL through live interpreters, DCMP recognized an opportunity to improve the integration of ASL into educational content, bringing consistent and accurate ASL tailored for each program. DCMP and Fred Rogers Productions created channels of communication between producers and ASL experts, developed guidelines and procedures for collaboration, and pushed the limits of production quality. The result is a body of work consisting of over 150 episodes from Alma’s Way, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Donkey Hodie, and Through The Woods. Additional seasons are coming soon, and production is underway for Odd Squad and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. All episodes are available on dcmp.org – not only with ASL, but with audio description and captioning.  

Audience

• Higher Education
• Information & Communications Technology
• Disability Specific
• K-12 Education
• Media & Publishing

Audience Level

Intermediate  

Session Summary (Abstract)

This session explores the workflows, challenges, and successes of a unique partnership between Fred Rogers Productions and The Described and Captioned Media Program to produce American Sign Language for six iconic children's television series.  

Primary Topic

Education  

Secondary Topics

• Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC)
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Video & Live Streaming
• Web

 

Session Type

General Track  

Presenters

• Kyle Sisk
  Described and Captioned Media Program
• Erin Dodson
  Fred Rogers Productions
• Jason Stark
  Described and Captioned Media Program

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