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On 1/18 Eric Stoller wrote about the lack of a captioning option on the Vimeo web video platform.
As Eric pointed out in an earlier post, "accessible videos are an ethical mandate for all who create video content."
Eric writes,
"Until Vimeo adds captioning capabilities to their site, higher education has an ethical/legal mandate to look elsewhere for a more accessible option."
As of this writing, Vimeo has not responded to Eric's post.
I do not know the people who run Vimeo, and all that I know about the lack of captioning in the Vimeo platform is what I've read in Eric's blog. But I think that this is a good example of where companies need to engage customers and potential customers in social media.
I'd like to find a way to positively and constructively engage Vimeo on this issue. My assumption is that the people at Vimeo care about accessibility.
The fact is, Vimeo is not alone in being reluctant to engage criticism of their products or services in social media.
What are some possible reasons why a company may not respond to critiques like Eric's?
Didn't See the Post: Maybe nobody from Vimeo saw Eric's blog. I often wonder if anyone in the companies that we write about on IHE actually read the posts. I wish I knew a way to encourage more ed tech company and publishing people to join our IHE community. Any ideas?
Passive Choice Not to Respond: My guess is that Vimeo's failure to respond can be explained by a lack of a social media policy, as opposed to a policy that forbids (or discourages) engagement. Does Vimeo have a policy that both trains and protects its employees around social media?
Active Choice Not to Respond: Maybe Vimeo is like Apple, and has an active policy to not forbids participation by employees in social media.
I think that Vimeo has a great platform, but I would be very reluctant as a campus ed tech buyer to move forward with the platform until the issues that Eric raises are addressed. Increasingly, I choose which vendors I want to work with as partners by the commitment I see to open dialogue. If a company does not empower its employees to engage the larger ed tech community via social media then I am skeptical that we will share enough cultural traits to build a good relationship.
Vimeo people, what say you?
How do we invite and encourage our colleagues who work for ed tech companies to consistently and actively engage our community on social media platforms?
