[YL] captioning works well on google video

[Phil Shapiro]

hi youthlearn community -

      this past weekend i experimented with creating captions for video
on google video and i discovered the captioning option works very
well.  in this experiment i composed a simple song using a public
domain melody, the spiritual "You've Got to Walk that Lonesome
Valley."  the song i composed, "You've Got to Ask," urges
listeners to expand their curiosity and wonder.

  you can view and hear the song at

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7105398314494242587&hl=en

or

http://tinyurl.com/ykshzc

       the captioning is an option available for anyone who uploads a
google video.  it's a bit time consuming to do it, but it sure can
look nice. google introduced the captioning option in september,
2006.

   appended at the end of this email is what the captioning text looks
like that you submit to google video.  it takes about 2 hours after you
submit the captioning text for the captions to appear underneath your
video.

   note -- you'll need to view the video at "original size" for the
captions to show up underneath the video -- otherwise they'll show up
right on the video itself in a less readable way. to view google videos
in "original size," click on the black triangle at the bottom right of
any google video window. from the pop-up menu, choose "original size."

         "original size" also gets you a video that doesn't look as
pixelated as "double size."

         chances are pretty good i'll be composing some other songs. if
you come up with the lyrics for a song, thanks for sending them
over this way. i might be able to find a public domain melody --
or could compose a melody -- to accompany the lyrics.

        songs can be very powerful. when they resonate in people's minds,
they get people thinking. we could use some more thinking.

       i'll be sharing the songs i compose with my nieces, who are
learning to read. these songs may be helpful to ESOL and adult
literacy students, too.

         lastly, it's worth mentioning the captioning currently works when
you view the video online. if you download the video from google
video, the captions won't show up.  if you'd like captions
embedded in your videos, you should do that within your video
editing software.  apple's final cut software is probably the
best software for doing that in a professional way.

           if you're interested in following new captioned songs on google
video, one way to do so is to follow the rss feed for the tag
"captionedsongs" on del.icio.us

           http://del.icio.us/tag/captionedsongs

            you can do so in your favorite rss reader, or via bloglines.com

             i'm a big fan of bloglines. i encourage all community
activists to use bloglines. someday i need to write about why
bloglines is such a powerful free tool.

                - phil

for those who might be interested, you can see an incredible rendition of
the song, "you've got to walk that lonesome valley" on youtube at
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SfXBDHeAfEc

i learned this song from arlo guthrie, pete seeger and mississippi john
hurt.   mississippi john hurt is considered one of the greatest guitar
players of the last century.

-------------


(the time code below indicates hours, minutes, seconds, thousands of
seconds for each caption. i created these captions iteratively. it took me
about 8 tries to get it right. each successive try came closer and closer
to the desired result.)


0:0:07.500,0:0:10.500
You've got to ask

0:0:11.000,0:0:13.500
You've got to wonder

0:0:14.500,0:0:17.000
You've got to dig

0:0:17.300,0:0:20.500
Deep down under

0:0:22.000,0:0:25.000
You've got to find

0:0:25.500,0:0:28.200
Whole new answers

0:0:28.200,0:0:32.000
You've got to ask

0:0:32.500,0:0:36.500
And you've got to wonder

0:0:37.000,0:0:40.000
You've got to ask

0:0:40.000,0:0:42.000
You've got to wonder

0:0:43.300,0:0:46.000
You've got to dig

0:0:46.000,0:0:50.000
Deep down under

0:0:50.000,0:0:53.000
You've got to find

0:0:53.000,0:0:55.700
Whole new answers

0:0:56.300,0:1:00.000
You've got to ask

0:1:00.000,0:1:03.000
You've got to wonder

0:1:03.000,0:1:06.000
You've got to ask

0:1:06.000,0:1:09.000
You've got to wonder

0:1:09.000,0:1:12.000
You've got to dig

0:1:12.000,0:1:15.000
Deep down under

0:1:15.500,0:1:19.000
You've got to find

0:1:19.000,0:1:21.000
Whole new answers

0:1:21.500,0:1:23.500
You've got to ask

0:1:24.800,0:1:28.000
You've got to wonder

0:1:28.000,0:1:31.000
You've got to ask

0:1:31.000,0:1:34.000
You've got to wonder

0:1:34.000,0:1:37.000
You've got to dig

0:1:37.000,0:1:41.000
Deep down under

0:1:41.300,0:1:43.000
You've got to find

0:1:44.500,0:1:46.500
Whole new answers

0:1:46.800,0:1:50.000
You've got to ask

0:1:50.500,0:1:53.500
You've got to wonder

0:1:54.500,0:1:57.000
You've got to ask

0:1:57.000,0:2:00.000
You've got to wonder

0:2:00.000,0:2:03.000
You've got to dig

0:2:03.000,0:2:06.000
Deep down under

0:2:06.000,0:2:08.000
You've got to find

0:2:09.000,0:2:11.000
Whole new answers

0:2:12.000,0:2:14.000
You've got to ask

0:2:15.000,0:2:25.000
You've got to wonder