Information for Captioning Vendors
Captioning Guidelines
The "Captioning Key" captioning guidelines must be followed when performing DCMP captioning work. The guidelines provide an overview of the types, methods, and styles of captioning; transcription; presentation rate; text; language mechanics; sound effects; music; foreign language/dialect; and other special considerations.
These are the only such guidelines available in the United States, and they will be useful to anyone (agencies, businesses, schools, and others) desiring to learn how to caption or better perform the task. The guidelines have been translated into other languages, received international distribution, and have been utilized in various settings as a basic reference.
Captioning Evaluations
Each year the DCMP awards work to vendors that appear on the U.S. Department of Education (ED) "Approved Captioning Service Vendors" list.
Vendors desiring to be added to this list are required to pass a DCMP evaluation which requires vendors to submit captioning examples that provide evidence of technical capabilities and demonstrate adherence to DCMP captioning guidelines, including the use of correct spelling and punctuation.
It is the mission of the DCMP to increase the quantity and quality of captioning across the U. S. Therefore, on a limited basis, the DCMP evaluation is also administered to vendors that desire to be on the approved ED list but do not wish to immediately perform DCMP work. These vendors understand that their appearance on the list may mean an increased ability to secure captioning work from other government agencies or the private sector.
DCMP approved vendors demonstrating their ability to provide quality captions for YouTube have received a special designation and appear on the “YouTube Ready” qualified captioning vendors page.
Vendors interested in taking the DCMP evaluation should complete the
Captioning Evaluation Request form.
Other Assistance
The DCMP also provides Caption It Yourself guidelines for anyone (teachers, parents, and others) who needs to caption their own productions.
Vendors or others may e-mail or call the DCMP with questions about captioning or with requests for assistance. Visitors to our website are invited to review captioning research and other information in our Clearinghouse section.