The Carroll Center for the Blind Implements HiSoftware's Hi-Caption Studio for Distance Learning Program.

Solution Enables Center to Caption Hundreds of Multimedia Files for Accessibility Compliance

NASHUA, N.H. -- HiSoftware (www.hisoftware.com), a leading provider of software, services and managed operation solutions that monitor and optimize Web content, quality and regulatory compliance, announced today that The Carroll Center for the Blind located in Newton, Mass., has implemented HiSoftware's Hi-Caption Studio to create and test captioning of multimedia files for the Center's Carroll Tech Web-based distance learning program. Hi-Caption allows the Center to quickly and easily caption hundreds of audio and video training files for Section 508 compliance.

Brian Charlson, vice president of computer training services at The Carroll Center for the Blind, said, "As an organization that serves the needs of the blind and the visually impaired, it is extremely important that we provide complete access to our services and materials for all users and instructors. Hi-Caption not only provides us with the technology necessary to ensure that our multimedia courses meet the highest standards in accessibility compliance, but is also easy to understand and does not require programming skills. Without Hi-Caption we would have to manually caption hundreds of files."

Carroll Tech is the effort of a dedicated group of individuals who work at The Carroll Center for the Blind. While the Center offers onsite technology courses, Carroll Tech was formed to assist blind and visually impaired individuals around the world through the use of training classes on the Web. Instruction is offered in access technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, Braille embossers, note-takers and scanners. Each course is comprised of text, videos, exercises, quizzes and chat sessions.

Carroll Tech offers Web-based courses in Microsoft Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint, as well as training on using any of a number of Braille, speech or large print devices. An average Carroll Tech course is comprised of 12 lessons, with each lesson consisting of three to five videos, and also includes audio. Developers at Carroll Tech initially used Hi-Caption Studio to caption multimedia for its beginner series of courses, which consisted of much longer videos than would be used for a typical course. Hi-Caption allowed the developers to interactively and easily create formatted captioning files, without having to learn the code behind it, but with the power of making the code accessible. Hi-Caption also allows developers at Carroll Tech to immediately test the files as they are developed. As new content is developed for updated courses, Carroll Tech is also using Hi-Caption to caption videos for those new courses.

"The Carroll Center for the Blind is a well-respected organization whose goal is to provide services and technology for assisting those individuals who are blind or visually impaired," said HiSoftware President and CEO, Kurt A. Mueffelmann. "We are pleased to be working with the Center to help further its mission of being on the forefront of technology to provide universal accessibility."

About Carroll Center for the Blind

The Carroll Center for the Blind, located in Newton, Mass. is a private, non-profit agency that serves persons of all ages who are blind or visually impaired. Throughout its 68-year history, the Center has pioneered innovative methods for blind persons to gain independence in their homes, in class settings and in their work places. New and evolving technologies, combined with time-tested adaptive methods, individual attention and personalized care and therapies developed by the Carroll Center's professional staff have provided the blind community with many opportunities for success and independent living.

About HiSoftware

Founded in 1998, HiSoftware is a leading provider of software, services, and On-Demand solutions that test, repair, monitor and enforce Web content, quality, and regulatory compliance. The company's solutions empower content developers, Web site architects, and executives to work collaboratively to create and manage corporate Web standards for accessibility, privacy, security, search engine optimization (SEO), site quality and performance, branding, competitive intelligence, and application transaction testing (AppTest). HiSoftware's customers boast many of the world's largest public and private sites including US and international government agencies and Global 2000 companies such as Gateway, HP, California State University, US Department of Transportation and Microsoft Government. For more information about HiSoftware visit www.hisoftware.com.

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