大象传媒

GooTube

• By Paul Crichton
• 18 Oct 06, 04:30 PM

Well, it has been all over the web, in the papers, and on the TV. You've almost certainly seen that Google has for - the popular video sharing website.

It's a remarkable story, with YouTube only being online for eighteen months. And it is also a tacit admission that hasn't been an unqualified success. Commentators are speculating over whether this signals the start or end of another dotcom bubble, or if there is a bubble at all. It's a story with more angles than (excellent exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, by the way).

So here's our angle on things.

This means a bit of a new start for Youtube - whether it gets a re-brand or not. Wouldn't it be great to see a new web application added, one that allows users to add closed captioning to video content? Closed captions being a ponsy way of saying subtitling, in case you were wondering.

For a lot of people, adding closed captions is just going to be too much hassle. But suppose 10% of videos added had them? That would make a real difference. And with videos now being tagged with meta data, it would be straightforward enough to provide that as an option in the search functionality, too.

If you want to see why this is useful, check out . Unless you know sign language, it's going to be a frustrating five minutes. Now check out , and the value of added subtitles becomes clear.

If we take as evidence of an interest in accessibility by the internet giant - and it's an experiment that postdates Google Video - maybe it will be considered somewhere down the line.

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