Content in Motion | Curating Europe’s Audiovisual Heritage Conference, December 3-4 2015; www.euscreenxl2015.eu The presentation looks at the story of Amara – the world’s most popular crowdsourcing platform for subtitling video. The software was born out of a desire to see video become more accessible. This is made possible through the use of captions, for viewers with hearing loss, as well as subtitles, for anyone who doesn't speak the language a video was recorded in. Amara is developed and maintained by a mission-driven nonprofit organization, the Participatory Culture Foundation. The platform has grown from a simple DIY tool into a complex ecosystem. Amara currently integrates volunteer and community-based approaches to subtitling, as well as professional services (for sustainability purposes). Amara is used in many ways by individuals and organizations alike. Some people volunteer by captioning videos upon request, but there are also larger communities that gather around a specific organization or video publisher and translate videos – some into dozens of languages. Additionally, organizations including TED, the US National Archives, and Vimeo, have all used Amara to make video more broadly accessible.

1. Amara

2. What is Amara?

3. Visit Amara.org – plug in a video URL…

4. Amara Editor – Easy way to make subtitles

5. The Early Years

6. Where did Amara begin?
Amara: 2010
A simple tool

7. First Generation Editor & Awards
UNAOC
US Federal
Communications
Commission
The Tech Museum

8. Inspiration
Global collaborative community

9. Interesting uses during Arab Spring

10. How has Amara evolved?
• Individual Users
• Volunteer Communities
• Organizations
• Amara On Demand
• Hosting Platforms
Amara: 2010
A simple tool
Amara: 2015
Communities + technology

11. Amara &
Mission
Volunteer
Communities
On Demand
Team
Individual Users
Organizations
Hosting Platforms
The Amara Ecosystem

12. Massive Collaboration?

13. TED Called
…looking to expand their volunteer
translation community

14. TED began using Amara in 2012

15. TED’s Community

16. 33%
67%
In 2014, over 33% of all TED video
views had subtitles enabled
During 2014, TED had 18 distribution
deals across 10 countries

17. TED volunteers created over 16,000
subtitles in 2014. During that period,
11,000 new translators joined the project.

18. TED Open Translation Project
2014 Annual Report

19. Amara in 2015

20. Sustainability
Platform • Services • Integrations

21. Amara Enterprise Clients
Comprehensive solution for captions & subtitles

22. Amara On Demand Clients
Professionally crafted captions & subtitles

23. Amara + Vimeo Direct Integration
Accessibility tools in every Vimeo creator’s hands

24. Mission
Translation • Accessibility • Future of Work

25. Scientific American
Going viral in Hungary

26. Before 2015, SciAm’s
most popular video had
less than .5 million views
Currently, the most viewed
video has 1.5m views, most of
which originated in Hungary

27. Prof. Andreas Formiconi
University of Florence
#EDMU2014
Prof. Mara Mills
New York University
Disability, Tech, & Media
Amara in Education
Students using Amara for hands-on accessibility learning

28. Amara On Demand Team
Global team of over 1,500 professionals

29. What’s Next?

30. Key platform improvements, under development now
Machine Assisted
Captions (MAC)
Next-Generation
Amara Teams

31. Thank you!