This thread is for discussing the idea of getting high-quality captions for presentations videos.

Issue:

While several video recordings of presentations are captioned via YouTube's auto-generated captions, they aren't ideal. Quality of captions depends much on each presenter (e.g. not speaking too fast or abruptly, mumbling, etc.)

For a deaf/hard-of-hearing viewer, the main concept/meaning taught from presentation will probably be understood, but details like technical or cultural terms, which auto-generated captions often fumble, get lost in the process.

Also, for those learning English as a second/foreign language, they may use captions anytime when they don't understand verbal terms/phrases.

Consequence:

For the deaf/hard-of-hearing audience, especially who cannot attend weekly or live far, videos with auto-generated captions are usually ignored promptly, knowing that it may not be worth the struggle/hassle to watch.

If ChiHackNight wishes to solve the issue, we should explore the idea of having high-quality captions.

Bonus:
With high-quality captions, hearing audience can watch and understand presentations without sound. Let's say you're on the train and been wanting to watch the presentation, but you'd forgotten to bring your EarPods. Ta-Da. High-quality captions saves the day. :)

Possible Solutions:

1) Use a professional service, like rev.com. (@salduros has used Rev and vouched for its quality and cost)
* Pros: 99% accuracy, 24-hrs turnaround and very affordable at $1 per minute (If every month has four 30-min presentations, it'll cost around $120).
* Cons: Spend $$$; Looking for a sponsor

2) Use community contributed captions via ChiHackNight volunteers (suggested by @easherma + @kevinwei)
* Pros: not having to spend $$$ and/or time to seek out a sponsor
* Cons: Possible inconsistency in turnaround time. How long will it take for a video w/ community-contributed captions to be ready to upload after the night of presentation?

On a separate note: @derekeder likes the idea of having copies of presentation transcriptions (converting audio to text) for archiving. Similar to captioning service, Rev offers the same cost and accuracy, but with quicker 12-hr turnaround time.