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Educational Opportunities >> Classes & Workshops >> Introduction to Video Interpreting

This is a six-week online course offered through the College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University. It is the first in a series of four courses that will lead to a Graduate Certificate in Video Interpreting. Like all courses in this sequence, this course may be taken for graduate credit, for CEUs, or both.

Introduction to Interpreting in Video Settings is the first known academic treatment of this unique interpreting venue. Largely unexplored before 2003, this new specialization has transformed sign language interpreting from community resource into billion-dollar industry, a paradigm shift unprecedented in our field. While this new technology has been a boon to the Deaf community in terms of making communication potentially much more accessible, little study has been done of the ramifications of this access.

This course will discuss the history, theory, practice, and ethos of video interpreting. Course questions include Does this new paradigm suggest a new model of interpreting? Who ought make decisions about interpreting, and how ought those decisions be made? Can the existing Code of Professional Conduct be reconciled with the requirements of video interpreting? What are the benefits and costs of the corporatization of interpreting?

Here is a list of topics we will explore in this course:

  • History of interpreting via telecommunications
    • Current State of the Industry – how we got here
    • Business Practices – the corporatization of interpreting
    • Supply and Demand in interpreting
      • Is this form of interpreting an unlimited resource?
    • Working Conditions for Communications Assistants
    • How working conditions for VIs have changed since 2003
      • Skyrocketing call volume
      • Safety issues – a case study
    • Industry response to issues of ergonomics and fatigue
    • Comparative practices of vendors
  • Ethical Considerations of Video Interpreting
    • Community Concerns
      • The shift away from interpreting as community resource
    • International Concerns
      • The effect of VRS in the US on Deaf communities in Canada and around the world
    • Ethical practices of consumers, interpreters, and vendors
      • The manufacture of minutes
    • Professional Impact of Corporatization
      • Is video work a step forward towards professionalization?
  • Models of Video Interpreting
    • Theoretical Models – Lessons from the past
      • Educational Interpreting and “Leveling the Playing Field”
    • Service Models of Video Interpreting
      • Interpreters as Communications Assistants
      • What is functional equivalence in telephonic communication?
        • FCC definitions of the task
        • Reconciling Video work with theories and practices of interpreting
        • Reconciling Video work with the Code of Professional Conduct
  • Ask the Managers
    • What questions do you have about working in video settings?
      • Representatives from different companies will discuss your questions in an online roundtable
  • Towards an Inferential model of interpreting in video settings
    • Video games and Video interpreting
    • Making meaning in the absence of information
      • Satisfying and Recognition-primed decision making
    • Virtual Interpreting
  • Directions for the future
    • Are current business models sustainable in protecting this precious new resource?
    • Should interpreters and the Deaf community hold vendors accountable?
    • What should the role of RID and interpreters be in making decisions about interpreting in this new venue?
    • Are there alternative approaches to satisfying the ever-increasing demand for this service?

We are currently exploring the potential for establishing this Program of Study as a Certificate Program at Northeastern University. To read about the entire program, including specific courses and topics, please click here.
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NEW! Online course available for interpreters! Please click here to read about the new Introduction to Video Interpreting course being taught by Dr. Rico Peterson>> NEW!

NEW! Two new programs of study opening for interpreters and interpreter educators at Northeastern University! The first Program of Study is intended for interpreters interested in working in video settings. Click here to find out more about the Interpreting in Video Settings Program>> The second Program of Study is intended for current educators of interpreting. Click here to read about the Teaching Interpreting Skills Program>> NEW!

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