"Telecaption VR-100" closed captioning converter
date: label: date made
content: 1992
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: "Telecaption VR-100", fifth generation closed captioning converter unit. model NCI 200 A black metal housing with a textured finish. Push button controls on front labeled (right to left): "Power", "Text Caption". Two coax connectors, four RCA connectors, one switch, and two dial adjusters on the back, along with an 66" 2-conductor polarized power cord and a polarized outlet. Paper label on bottom reads in part: "Model No. VR-100 / Serial No. 27779 / Date 9214EC / Assembled in Mexico." Other printed labels on back.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Telecaptioning is a method of making the audio tracks of television programs and video recordings accessible for people with hearing impairments. Telecaptioning (also called Closed Captioning) required several steps, technical, economic, and political, in order to be successfully implemented. A set of standards was required so that the telecaptioning decoders would function with any manufacturer’s TV receiver without excessive modification or interference with the operation of the receiver. A set of procedures was needed so that programs’ audio tracks could be transcribed (a task that required people to physically type the transcriptions), which required funding and coordination with content producers. Federal government interest in making this service available required political intervention, in this case resulting in the establishment of the non-profit National Captioning Institute (NCI) in 1979. This unit was donated by the family of John E. D. Ball, the founding president of the National Captioning Institute.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Development of telecaptioning occurred during the 1970s and regular broadcasts of selected programs began in 1980. Since that time, technical advances have produced several generations of increasingly affordable and capable telecaptioning decoders. Ultimately, these devices shrank to the size of computer chips that could be installed in TV receivers during the manufacturing process. In addition to enabling access for people with hearing impairments, telecaptioning has been used to advance literacy among both native and non-native language speakers.
label: Description (Brief)
content: References:
label: Description (Brief)
content: Mary Stevens, “Captioning Gives Deaf Whole Story,” Chicago Tribune (5 May 1989), https://www. chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-05-05-8904100174-story.html, accessed 1 March 2023. Carl Jensema, “A Demographic Profile Of the Closed-Caption Television Audience,” American Annals of the Deaf 132, no. 6 (December 1987): 389-392, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= &esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi298WBxrv9AhV-FVkFHWzcC0oQFnoECDYQA Q&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fstable%2F44389879&usg=AOvVaw24LiPPPFmtOorZYLyVTToV. Peter M. Nichols, “NTY,” Home Video (10 February 1995). Staff, “John Ball, founding president of the National Captioning Institute (NCI),” Washington Post, (13 April 2010): B6.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Elizabeth Ball
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0079.03
label: accession number
content: 2023.0079
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0079.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telecaption converter
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 in x 7 5/8 in x 7 in; 5.08 cm x 19.3675 cm x 17.78 cm