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Thread: Captioning Compliance

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From: Karla Kmetz
Date: Tue, Mar 19 2013 2:03PM
Subject: Captioning Compliance
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Hi All,

I am trying to make sure that our lecture videos offer captions that are
compliant with recommended/required standards.

So far, I have this information from TechSmith for ADA compliant
captions<http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-mac-compliant-captions.html>;:

- One to three lines of text appear onscreen all at once, stay there for
three to seven seconds, and are then replaced by another caption.
- Timed to synchronize with the audio.
- Do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the
picture.
- Require the use of upper and lowercase letters.
- Use a font similar to Helvetica medium.
- Have good resolution.
- Include not more than 32-characters-per-line.

Does anyone know if this is the information I should go by, or if there are
newer, more comprehensive standards available?

Many thanks,

Karla

--
*Karla Kmetz, M.Ed.*
Instructional Designer
Distance Learning and Instructional Media
Services<http://www.nelson.usf.edu/dlearn/online.html>;
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, POY 238
Phone: 727-873-4474
Check out our blog <http://usfspdistancelearning.wordpress.com/>; for news,
strategies, and events.

*"Technology is revealing more clearly to us now what has always been a
truth, that everyone has something rare and powerful to offer our society."
~ Aimee Mullins<http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_the_opportunity_of_adversity.html>;
*

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Mar 19 2013 2:24PM
Subject: Re: Captioning Compliance
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Those are good general concepts, but shouldn't be regarded as hard and fast rules. Some comments:

- One to three lines of text appear onscreen all at once, stay there for
three to seven seconds, and are then replaced by another caption.

I generally try to avoid 3 lines, in order to minimize interference with content. Also makes the caption faster to read so the user can focus on the content more.

The 3-7 second rule is not helpful as a hard and fast rule. If a caption is short and followed quickly by other caption text, then less than three seconds may be fine. If the audio has a lot of spoken information in a short period of time, you either need to compromise on the time each caption is in view or on the matching of the captions to the audio in a verbatim way, or a little of each.

- Timed to synchronize with the audio.

Absolutely.

- Do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the
picture.

Absolutely, when possible. When the entire frame is filled with important content, a tough decision needs to be made though.

- Require the use of upper and lowercase letters.

This is best practice, but no one is going to be sued under the ADA due to using all caps. You can still see this being done on TV sometimes, but mixed case is definitely better. When procuring captioning services, ask for mixed case and you'll get it.

- Use a font similar to Helvetica medium.

What is "Helvetica medium"? There's lots of argument about the best font for captioning, and there has never been agreement. Don't pick something that is hard to read (so Helvetica is ok) and if users ask for something different, try something else.

- Have good resolution.

I'm not sure what this means in the context of Camtasia - when captions are text they are rendered clearly. If the captions are "burned in" as part of the video then low video resolution will result in harder to read captions.

- Include not more than 32-characters-per-line.

An area of debate. Some captioning agencies will suggest longer.

Other "rules" that come to mind:
- captions should be a verbatim representation of what is spoken, although you can edit out the filler (uh, ah, etc.)
- follow conventional rules for grammar and punctuation, but don't correct the grammar of the speaker
- always check your spelling
- end punctuation always indicates the end of a caption; the next sentence begins with a new caption
- include important non-speech information, such as sound effects or speaker identification
- break captions at natural pauses or intervals, if possible
- If there is no speech or sound for 5 seconds, the previous caption should be cleared from the screen.
- Music should be indicated by the use of the Unicode eighth note.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://twitter.com/awkawk
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility

From: Sandy
Date: Tue, Mar 19 2013 3:21PM
Subject: Re: Captioning Compliance
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>
> - captions should be a verbatim
> representation of what is spoken, although you can edit out the
> filler (uh, ah, etc.)

A friend who reads lips *hates* when what he calls "para-language" is
taken out. He relies on a combination of lip-reading and captions, if
they're available. He sees the "uh" and "ah" but isn't sure if it's a
word that the captions didn't catch or a mumble.

just a thought.

Sandy

From: John E Brandt
Date: Tue, Mar 19 2013 7:29PM
Subject: Re: Captioning Compliance
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We just did a webinar about captioning and I pulled these resources
together:

Are there standards or guidelines for providing captions?
http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1201

Captioning Key from The Described and Captioned Media Program
http://www.dcmp.org/captioningkey/

Media Access Group at WGBH Boston - Suggested Styles and Conventions for
Closed Captioning
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/captioning/faq/sugg-styles-conv
-faq.html
http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_multimedia/accessible-digital-media-gu
ide/adm-guidelines-appendices#ADM_Guidelines:_Appendix_3

If you're from/in Canada....;-)
http://www.dcmp.org/caai/nadh20.pdf

If you're from Down Under!
http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/practical-web-accessibility/media/caption-guid
elines

and, always worthy of a read
Captioning Sucks
http://captioningsucks.com/standards/

~j

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA

-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Karla Kmetz
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:04 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Captioning Compliance

Hi All,

I am trying to make sure that our lecture videos offer captions that are
compliant with recommended/required standards.

So far, I have this information from TechSmith for ADA compliant
captions<http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-mac-compliant-captions.h
tml>:

- One to three lines of text appear onscreen all at once, stay there for
three to seven seconds, and are then replaced by another caption.
- Timed to synchronize with the audio.
- Do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the
picture.
- Require the use of upper and lowercase letters.
- Use a font similar to Helvetica medium.
- Have good resolution.
- Include not more than 32-characters-per-line.

Does anyone know if this is the information I should go by, or if there are
newer, more comprehensive standards available?

Many thanks,

Karla

--
*Karla Kmetz, M.Ed.*
Instructional Designer
Distance Learning and Instructional Media
Services<http://www.nelson.usf.edu/dlearn/online.html>;
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, POY 238
Phone: 727-873-4474
Check out our blog <http://usfspdistancelearning.wordpress.com/>; for news,
strategies, and events.

*"Technology is revealing more clearly to us now what has always been a
truth, that everyone has something rare and powerful to offer our society."
~ Aimee
Mullins<http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_the_opportunity_of_adversity.
html>
*
messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

From: Karla Kmetz
Date: Thu, Mar 28 2013 6:51AM
Subject: Re: Captioning Compliance
← Previous message | No next message

Thank you everyone for these resources! So very helpful!

On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 9:29 PM, John E Brandt < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> We just did a webinar about captioning and I pulled these resources
> together:
>
> Are there standards or guidelines for providing captions?
> http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1201
>
> Captioning Key from The Described and Captioned Media Program
> http://www.dcmp.org/captioningkey/
>
> Media Access Group at WGBH Boston - Suggested Styles and Conventions for
> Closed Captioning
>
> http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/services/captioning/faq/sugg-styles-conv
> -faq.html
>
> http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_multimedia/accessible-digital-media-gu
> ide/adm-guidelines-appendices#ADM_Guidelines:_Appendix_3
>
> If you're from/in Canada....;-)
> http://www.dcmp.org/caai/nadh20.pdf
>
> If you're from Down Under!
>
> http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/practical-web-accessibility/media/caption-guid
> elines
>
> and, always worthy of a read
> Captioning Sucks
> http://captioningsucks.com/standards/
>
>
>
> ~j
>
> John E. Brandt
> www.jebswebs.com
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> 207-622-7937
> Augusta, Maine, USA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Karla Kmetz
> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:04 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: [WebAIM] Captioning Compliance
>
> Hi All,
>
> I am trying to make sure that our lecture videos offer captions that are
> compliant with recommended/required standards.
>
> So far, I have this information from TechSmith for ADA compliant
> captions<
> http://www.techsmith.com/tutorial-camtasia-mac-compliant-captions.h
> tml>:
>
>
> - One to three lines of text appear onscreen all at once, stay there for
> three to seven seconds, and are then replaced by another caption.
> - Timed to synchronize with the audio.
> - Do not cover up graphics and other essential visual elements of the
> picture.
> - Require the use of upper and lowercase letters.
> - Use a font similar to Helvetica medium.
> - Have good resolution.
> - Include not more than 32-characters-per-line.
>
> Does anyone know if this is the information I should go by, or if there are
> newer, more comprehensive standards available?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Karla
>
> --
> *Karla Kmetz, M.Ed.*
> Instructional Designer
> Distance Learning and Instructional Media
> Services<http://www.nelson.usf.edu/dlearn/online.html>;
> University of South Florida St. Petersburg, POY 238
> Phone: 727-873-4474
> Check out our blog <http://usfspdistancelearning.wordpress.com/>; for news,
> strategies, and events.
>
> *"Technology is revealing more clearly to us now what has always been a
> truth, that everyone has something rare and powerful to offer our society."
> ~ Aimee
> Mullins<
> http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_the_opportunity_of_adversity.
> html>
> *
> > > messages to = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>
> > > >

--
*Karla Kmetz, M.Ed.*
Instructional Designer
Distance Learning and Instructional Media
Services<http://www.nelson.usf.edu/dlearn/online.html>;
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, POY 238
Phone: 727-873-4474
Check out our blog <http://usfspdistancelearning.wordpress.com/>; for news,
strategies, and events.

*"Technology is revealing more clearly to us now what has always been a
truth, that everyone has something rare and powerful to offer our society."
~ Aimee Mullins<http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_the_opportunity_of_adversity.html>;
*