Accessibility for Video and Podcasts...

According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level A and AA for prerecorded content. (There are additional requirements for live content that we need to consider if we do live broadcasts). The university is required by federal law to meet the standards for levels A and AA. 

Video

Captions/Transcripts (WCAG 2.0 level A)

If your video has a spoken audio track (a script):

Provide accurate captions with correct punctuation that communicate all spoken words and sound effects in the video. 

• Captioning guidelines 

  • No caption should appear for less than two seconds

  • Aim for 1-2 lines, about 32 characters per line.

  • Add descriptions of sound in square brackets (such as [music] or [laughter]) to help people understand what is happening

  • If there’s more than one speaker, add tags like ”>>BERMAN:”, at the beginning of a new line, to identify speakers or change of speaker

  • If someone is spelling a word or speaking the individual letters of an acronym, caption it with hyphens, as in S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G

  • The U.S. Department of Education's Described and Captioned Media Project provides a set of guidelines for the captioning of video content: http://www.captioningkey.org/quality_captioning.html#1

• Recommended workflow for short videos is to upload completed video to YouTube and upload video script as the caption file. 

  • YouTube will automatically time the captions to the video. 

  • Use YouTube editor to tweak the timing and/or add description of music or environmental sound if necessary.

• Recommended workflow for lecture-length video is being explored with CAEN Lecture Capture services. Contact is John Pariseau jparisea@umich.edu CAEN has a paid Amazon service available that he would be willing to test with a few of our videos. Workflow has not been established yet.

If your video has no spoken audio track (i.e. words overlayed on visuals):

Provide a descriptive text transcript  (only if no audio description track is provided)

Using text (.txt) format allows assistive technologies (screen readers, braille readers, etc) to process the transcript.

• Create a text document describing the contents of the video and link to it immediately after the posted content.  The script/caption file can be used as a starting point, but should be edited to accurately describe the finished video.

• Upload to YouTube as a caption file. YouTube will display it as a transcript if the user chooses that option

Another (better) option

• Upload text transcript file in .txt format to a folder in a public hosting space (i.e. Github) 

• Provide a text link to the transcript next to the video (immediately before or after). 

Audio Description (WCAG 2.0 level AA)

• Provide an audio description 

  • Create an alternate audio track that provides information about action, scene changes, characters, on-screen text and other visual content during pauses in the original audio. Link to it immediately after the posted content.

  • Audio description example - with and without description

  • Audio description example - 2 min video by Described and Captioned Media Program

  • Also acceptable: upload a second version of the video and link from the description as University of Washington does here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxFfn5Reg2g

Description guidelines

• Understand what someone who can't see needs to know. This can include:

  • Who is on screen

  • Who is speaking

  • The location

  • Lighting, colors and textures

  • Physical appearance of the characters

  • Facial expressions

  • Movements, actions, mannerisms, gestures

  • What is causing any unidentified sounds

• Use complete sentences whenever possible, unless identifying a character

• Avoid using the phrase “we see”

The U.S. Department of Education's Described and Captioned Media Project provides a set of guidelines for the description of video content: http://www.descriptionkey.org/index.html

*The Gold Standard*

These correspond with the WCAG 2.0 AAA standard. These are optimal best practices but are not legal requirements. 

Sign language interpretation:

Embed a video of a sign language interpreter in the video stream

• Link to synchronized video of sign language interpreter

Extended Audio Description:

Create a second version of the video with pauses that are long enough to describe significant storytelling developments without having the narrator talk over the subjects.

• Use the html5 <track> element to specify a timed descriptions track for the video

When cleaning up YouTube auto captions

A few things to keep in mind:

• If there's audio that's not words (like background music) note it in square brackets, ie. [background music] or [background music: marching band playing The Victors]

• If there's a long stretch of action that's happening with no related words, put some description in square brackets ie. [student walking through autumn leaves]. The captions are machine-readable, which means they can be accessed by blind users.  

• Punctuation and capitalization matter. It can be a little tricky to break up people's run-on speech patterns, but there's cognitive strain associated with having to guess at and fill in punctuation and capitalization when you're reading. 

So this: "the arctic is really important because what's happening here is driving change all over the globe at the toolik field station i manage the environmental data center so we are one of the departments that provide supports to scientists one of the ways we do that is by collecting baseline environmental data so we do environmental monitoring of the landscape."

Is easier to take in as this: "The Arctic is really important because what's happening here is driving change all over the globe. At the Toolik Field Station, I manage the Environmental Data Center, so we are one of the departments that provide supports to scientists. One of the ways we do that is by collecting baseline environmental data, so we do environmental monitoring of the landscape."

Also, imagine having #1 read to you in a monotone computerized voice without the pauses cued by punctuation...

Podcasts (or other audio-only content)

Provide a transcript edited to include all dialogue and recordings that make up the podcast.

• • Link to the transcript should immediately follow the link for the audio.

  • Example: This American Life does this well.

Helpful How-To

• 3Play Media How-To 

• WCAG 2.0 How to Meet the Guidelines - customizable filter that gives suggested solutions  

The Legal

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights legislation that prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, state and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation. There are some provisions of the ADA that directly affect higher education. Title II applies to public universities and Title III applies to private universities. 

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

Section 504 (pdf file) is a civil right legislation applicable to all universities that receive federal funding. It states: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States…shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…"

Section 508

In 1998, Section 508 was added to the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities and requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.