Caption Studies: Creativity and Inclusion

Catalog description

This course explores creative captions and representations of sound in films and videos with a focus on the ethical value of accessibility and inclusion. This class is for students who are interested in studying innovative approaches to captions and sound, and in learning more about how media could be more inclusive of different experiences, including D/deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing individuals’ experiences with sound, silence, and multiple languages. The course emphasizes the ethical value and complexity of making media more accessible through stylized captions and sound. Students will read articles and other texts about innovative approaches to captions and sound, watch films and other media with creative captions and representation of sound, and analyze and reflect on possible approaches. Students will consider the ethics of different experiments with creative captions and sound, discuss possible decisions that can be made to make media more accessible, and construct arguments for the value of captions, sound, and access across languages and communities.