Inside Captioning

by Gary D. Robson

"Inside Captioning" is for anyone interested in closed captioning, not just the broadcasters. it contains information about all aspects of captioning, The Technology -- EIA-608, EIA-708, captioning equipment, timecodes, how a color TV works, European Teletext, ATV/HDTV, digital captioning (MPEG, DVD, CD-ROM, D1/D2) and a guided tour of the VBI. The History -- how Line 21 captioning came about, milestones in captioning development in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, and the history of machine realtime and realtime captioning. The People -- including case studies of captioning news, sports, church services, city government, the U.S. Senate, the Internet, live theater, and multilingual realtime captioning. The Vocabulary -- a 20-page glossary of captioning terminology. The Laws -- The ADA, the Television Decoder Circuitry Act, the Telecommunications Reform Act, and other U.S. & Canadian laws. The Procedures -- Captioning standards and practices, and "How to" sections on getting shows captioned, hiring captioners, becoming a captioner, and starting a captioning company. And More! Bloopers, deaf culture, contact information, related technologies (e.g., CART), voice recognition, and an examination of international and multilingual captioning issues.

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gary Robson never decided what he wants to be when (if?) he grows up. In addition to being a successful author with 750,000 copies of his books sold, he’s been a software engineer, microelectronics designer, adjunct college professor, curriculum designer, and voice actor. He has owned a bookstore, a tea & game shop, and a small-town newspaper. Most recently, he was executive director of a wildlife sanctuary.

Along the way, he became an expert in closed captioning technology for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, which resulted in three books, three U.S. patents, and a TEDx talk.

Throughout all of life’s journeys, one thing remained constant for Gary: writing. Dozens of books, hundreds of articles, and a handful of technical manuals. Most was nonfiction, until he tried writing children’s books. His Who Pooped in the Park series of animal scat & track books for kids are his best-known and best-selling books.

At last, Gary is semi-retired. The kids are on their own, so it’s just him, his wife, two dogs, and two cats. Settled in a small town near Yellowstone Park, surrounded by lots of books and really good tea, he finally has time to write what he loves to read: fantasy!

His latest book is The Bounds of Magic, book 1 in the Tryllevær Saga, and there’s more to come!