1. Problem - General knowlege

(This part may not be included in the final paper.)

ViiKii

Source: http://canarytrap.net/tag/fansubbing/
ViiKii.net is a collaborative translation and subtitling platform for streaming video that distributes that tasks of translating television shows and other media from around the world across an entire community of users.
The way Viikii.net works is that people can register for the site and contribute to subtitling uploaded video files in over 200 languages, line by line. Currently you can publish any video that is already on YouTube. (Link)Users can also edit and revise each other’s translations, refine the timing of the subtitles, or upload new files and put in requests for translations.

Source: http://www.viikii.net/inboxes/listing/mithrakrishprem/1
The subs on Viikii are "soft subs" meaning the subtitles are not attached to the video - so the video is coming from one source such as YouTube or Myspace or the original broadcaster's website and the subtitles are coming from the Viikii server so you can't download subtitles with the video.

Soft subs

Source: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_59952.htm
Soft subs are subtitles that are distributed SEPARATE from the video file. They come as a text file, using extensions like .SUB, .SRT, etc. The reason for the different extensions is that there are different formats used for soft subs.
The purpose of soft subs is so that a single video file (referred to as the RAW file) can be distributed all over the world. Then the viewer can pick & choose which language he would like to view the subtitles in. With the correct media player or an auxiliary program, softsubs are superimposed on the footage and appear indistinguishable from hardsubs. (Link) Hard subs are subtitles that are rendered into the video itself.