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DCMP March Newsletter      View Online Or Forward to a friend.
 
Described and Captioned Media Program news.
March 3, 2015
 

New DCMP Titles for March

Laila Ali, stands smiling, wearing a dark, sleeveless dress. Logo says All In with Laila Ali.You won't believe the incredible lineup of our 47 new titles for March! You'll find some familiar names like Jack Hannah, Jamie Oliver, Laila Ali, and Jeff Corwin along with titles from award-winning producers like Litton Entertainment, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. From social issues to oceanography, each one is described and captioned, and many are available in High-definition video.

Members can instantly stream these and over 5,000 more accessible titles via PC, tablet, smartphone, and Roku. Teachers can embed DCMP videos in HTML documents and Learning Management Systems like Moodle, Edmodo, and Blackboard, and create Subaccounts for students to promote independent learning. Have an iPad or iPhone? Download DCMP's accessible app in the Apple App Store! 
 

Be Like a Girl AND Be Like a Woman

A young girl with freckles holds a baseball with a determined look on her face. Her long brown hair covers her right eye. She wears a blue sleeveless shirt that has red, yellow and green stripes around the shoulders and neckline.National Women’s History Month is the time to recognize not only the contributions of women’s events in history, but also in contemporary society. As we teach our children about the vital role of women today and in history, we reveal to them the present opportunities and hurdles of their generation, as they redefine what it means to be a girl in the 21st century.
 
Be Like A Girl: The 2015 Super Bowl ad “#LikeAGirl” won kudos all over the Internet for changing the conversation about what it means to run, throw, and do pretty much any activity "like a girl." It shows differences in how young women, boys, and young girls perceive the phrase. Watch it now!

Also, young girls (Grades K-5) will love DCMP’s films from Weston Woods that deliver messages from children’s books about equality and empowerment: 1) Amazing Grace. A young African-American girl who wins the part of Peter Pan proves that she can be anything she wants to be; 2) Madam President. A little girl imagines what her day would be like if she were Madam President. Finally, older girls will like DCMP videos that deliver messages of strength and confidence for girls, and include several on career aspirations and personal development: 1) Inspiring The Next Generation Of Female Engineers. Close your eyes and picture an engineer. You probably weren't envisioning Debbie Sterling. Ms. Sterling is an engineer and founder of GoldieBlox, a toy company out to inspire the next generation of female engineers; 2) Career Options For Women: Engineering. Introduces three more female engineers, and then DCMP’s entire Career Options For Women series further introduces successful women in the fields of telecommunications, biotechnology, and other fields. 
 
Be Like A Woman: “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives” is the theme for National Women’s History Month 2015. This theme offers the opportunity to weave women’s stories--individually and collectively--into the essential fabric of our nation’s history. DCMP has outstanding accessible media items that place an emphasis on positive role models and the importance of women from all backgrounds. As we celebrate all the women in American and world history whose influence has shaped our lives, we should not forget women who are deaf (also see the DCMP newsletter feature below) and women who are blind. Also, DCMP resources about Helen Keller are very unique.
 
 

Celebrate: March Is International Listening Month

Free classroom materials. Posters, brochures and certificates for Listening is Learning featuring a cute fennic fox and a teen girl with her hand to her ear.March is International Listening Month. The DCMP celebrates the month through its Listening is Learning (LIL) campaign. LIL is designed to remind everyone that description on videos is vital for students with visual impairments, but it can also improve the viewing experience and increase learning opportunities for everyone. 
 
Use of described videos offers public school teachers the opportunity to reach their entire class, including: 1) students with visual awareness failures (probably all students); 2) those who are unable to gain meaning from standard video presentations due to learning differences or lack of proficiency in the English language. Read more about how such video use expands the effectiveness of educational video-based media and appeals to diverse learners.

Help spread the word about this new way to promote literacy and learning! Order your free LIL posters, brochure, certificates, and lesson guide for your classroom, library, or office.
 

Deaf Herstory and History: Resources for Deaf History Month

Tilly Edinger, deaf scientist and founder of paleoneurology. Tilly has short brown hair, a scarf around her neck, and round tortoise-shell glasses.Deaf and hard of hearing people contributed in meaningful ways throughout history—as artists, writers, scientists, community leaders, and in many other roles. But Deaf women who were actively involved in both the Deaf and hearing political and social worlds have remained highly invisible. Read more about these women in the original DCMP article written by noted Deaf historian Dr. Harry Lang.  
 
The DCMP has comprehensive deaf-history resources to help you celebrate Deaf History Month (March 13-April 15), both those that are available to registered DCMP members and those that are available to everyone on our YouTube channel. Your students may especially be interested in viewing Rockets: How They Work, the first-ever captioned educational film, and the brand new DCMP title See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary. Also, learn about our deaf cultural selections, and visit our DCMP Learning Center to review a wealth of information such as the Captioning Timeline Highlights and The Logic of the Motion Picture in the Classroom: Films in Schools for the Deaf (1915-1965).
 
 
Quick Hits

Value of DCMP Audio Description: A Producer’s Perspective
Hilari Scarl, with a smile and long, curly red hair, wearing a green shirt and a round mother-of-pearl necklace.Hilari Scarl, director and producer of one of the new DCMP March videos entitled See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary, relates her feelings about the quality of the audio description DCMP added to her production and how it enhanced her product. She writes: “To say I was moved by the eloquence of both the descriptive choices and the talent of the VO actor is an understatement. As an artist, I was deeply touched by the amount of work, care, and skill that went into audio describing my film. I was doubly moved that blind people, including the two blind people who are in the documentary, can now access my film. As a filmmaker, our deepest desire is to have people–all people–have the opportunity to experience our work, and it broke my heart every time I learned that someone in one of my audiences experienced the film through the existing audio or through a companion whispering to them throughout the film.” Read all her comments here.


New Online Captioning Training Module
Post production Offline Captioning module.Pepnet 2, a federally funded project whose mission is to increase the education and career choices available to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, is proud to announce the release of an online training module, “Post-Production/Offline Captioning,” which provides an overview of the captioning process. It explains the value of captions, who can benefit from them, why quality captions are essential for access, and the legal issues surrounding captions. It’s free to everyone!


How a Blind Girl Envisions Characters From The Wizard of Oz
Emily, a young girl with long hair pulled back. She wears a pink dress with a dot pattern and a collar.In one of the new DCMP March videos entitled The Making of Emily’s OZ, viewers will meet Emily who is blind and seven years old. People are shocked when they find out that Emily or anyone blind watches movies. What does a person who is blind “see” when they watch their favorite movie? Emily answers the question, as she shares how she envisions characters from The Wizard of Oz. For an entertaining, inspiring, and informative experience, see how her visions of The Wizard of Oz were brought to life. Note: A 60-second excerpt of this production was aired by Comcast during the 2015 Academy Awards to promote their “first talking guide ever” for persons who are blind to locate movies.


In the News: Sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird
Scene from motion picture To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout, a young girl with short, dark hair in overalls, sits on a porch swing with her father, a broad-shouldered man wearing glasses and a three piece suit. His arm is around her.Until now, To Kill a Mockingbird has been 88-year-old Harper Lee's only published novel. This year, Go Set a Watchman, a novel featuring an adult Scout that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author completed in the 1950s, will be published. DCMP has what may be the only copy of the movie adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird that is described for the blind and visually impaired. Of course, it's captioned, too, and waiting to be viewed by you and your students. Watch it now, or add it to your Favorites.


DCMP Archived Webinars Teach You About Description
Free webinars.DCMP’s archived description webinars are a unique opportunity for anyone to learn about this critically needed accessibility. Newly added to our archive is “Inside Video Description: How Pictures Become Words,” produced by Audio Eyes, LLC. This webinar offers the film and television industry new opportunities to make media inclusive through description and to work with blind professionals. In addition, four other webinars from the Video Description and Research Development Center include: 1) “What Is Audio Description,” 2) “Do It Yourself Educational Description,” 3) “How You Can Add Audio Description to Any YouTube Video,” and 4) “Going Pro: Using YouDescribe in the Classroom and Beyond.” These provide a teachers' guide to using video description, a comprehensive overview of resources for obtaining described materials, the "Dos and Don'ts" of description, a free tool that anyone can use to add description to YouTube videos, and much more.


Young Described Film Critic Contest (YDFC)
Young Described Film Critic Contest. A thumbs up and a thumbs down illustration.The seventh annual YDFC, presented by the American Council of the Blind's (ACB) Audio Description Project, is under way, and this year we're hoping that even more students get involved in reviewing described films! Young people with a visual impairment have a chance to win prizes for themselves, recognition for their schools, and a chance to hold the awesome title "Young Described Film Critic of the Year!" Check out our online YDFC entry form.


 
 
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