When the Huskers take the field for the first home game against Arkansas State on September 2nd in Memorial Stadium, all fans will have access to a new captioning program that will enhance the football game-day experience for hearing impaired fans and for anyone who has ever missed the referee’s call or the PA announcement. All PA and big screen programming and announcements (play descriptions, scoring, player information, referee and penalty announcements, in-game promotions, entertainment action, advertising videos, emergency messaging, and post-game messages) will be transcribed and distributed to all fans via Twitter at @HuskerCaption. Fans who do not have devices enabled to access Twitter may check out iPads at the East and West Stadium Guest Services.
Christy Horn, Nebraska’s ADA/504 Compliance Officer said this service is unique because it “allows fans to be able to read captioning on mobile devices anywhere in and around Memorial Stadium.” Additionally, the information sent via Twitter does not disappear after the conclusion of the play, but remains as part of the Twitter feed until deleted. Memorial Stadium Guest Services will still have assistive listening devices available for check out by fans who do not wish to participate in the pilot.
Unlike pre-produced content, which typically uses an off-line captioning process, live and unscripted events require real-time captioning. To achieve this, the Huskers will utilize three game-knowledgeable transcribers, who will be located onsite in West Memorial Stadium, rather than using a third party located outside of the stadium. This will allow our fans to have nearly instantaneous and highly accurate information.
