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Contact:
Heather York, VITAC
703-807-2763
heather-y@vitac.com
October 13, 2008 - Canonsburg, PA - VITAC, the nation's leading provider of accessible media services, helped the Internal Revenue Service
to reach the largest possible audience with the agency's economic stimulus videos, currently available on YouTube.
The public service announcements began as American Sign Language (ASL) videos with no audio.
Text transcripts were posted along with the video. The new format, created by VITAC for the IRS and its partners, the
National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government (DHHIG), include captions and
voice over.
"This is a three-in-one model which is more favorable in increasing visibility and outreaching efforts to native ASL
and hearing taxpayers alike - video clips for everyone to receive the same information," said IRS Producer/director
Toby Silver, who is deaf. "Releasing ASL videos levels the playing field for deaf taxpayers by presenting an
alternative to written text-based English. VITAC has provided me a one-stop shop for captioning and voice over
resources."
VITAC's ASL-fluent Director of Offline Captioning, Dina Smith, worked with Ms. Silver to
create and synch open captions to the programming. The captions were then recorded as audio, with narration and
sound engineering by VITAC's Audio Description Department.
"We are honored to have been chosen by the IRS to provide this valuable service," said
VITAC President Patricia Prozzi. "The agency's dedication to reaching the broadest possible audience with this
important message is evident in these videos, and we're proud to have been a part of it."
"As a deaf producer/director, it was empowering to plan, design and produce deaf-centric
ASL videos for the TV screen," said Silver. "Knowing the deaf community, I was able to cater to the needs of the
targeted audience. ASL videos has been shown to be one of the most effective communication tools within the deaf
community on the Internet since ASL is a visual language."
To view the Economic Stimulus Payment Video Clips, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/NADASLTV
Information about the Economic Stimulus Package can be found at: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=177937,00.html
About VITAC
VITAC Corporation, a Merrill Communications Company, is the nation's leading provider of
closed captioning and other accessible media services, with offices in Los Angeles, CA, Washington, DC, and headquarters
in Pittsburgh, PA. VITAC provides closed captioning for broadcast networks, cable TV, home video / DVD, teleconferences
and Internet programs worldwide. Among the company's largest clients are NBC Universal, BBC America, BET, BET J, CBS, CBS
Studios, CNN, Headline News, C-SPAN, Discovery Networks, FOX, FSN, FSN Regional Networks, Fox Television Studios, Mark
Burnett Productions, MTV Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment, truTV, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros. Television, The
Weather Channel and the Federal Government..
Merrill Corporation, founded in 1968 and headquartered in St. Paul, MN, is a leading provider
of outsourcing solutions for complex business communication and information management.
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