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Re: Transcribing & Captioning in Higher Ed

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From: Mills, Teresa
Date: Apr 13, 2011 3:45PM

Regarding: As I understand 508 though, media can be left uncaptioned if there is an
alternative method for the student to achieve the same learning outcomes. Do
others agree with this?

I strongly disagree.

ADA or the 504, which ever would apply to your college (maybe both) would cover accommodation. If a qualified person with a disability asks for a reasonable accommodation, then the college would comply (i.e. Braille course material or a desk that a wheelchair could fit underneath). If you adopt 508 as many States and colleges have, 508 was meant to be proactive and build in accessibility. That is why we have standards (i.e. standards software, web, and multimedia that define accessibility requirements). Electronic and information technology should comply with relevant standards

Relevant to your question:

1194 Web and Internet Standards
Standard B: Multimedia & Captioning

(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.
There is an equivalent standard in the multimedia standards.

Alternative content for video will include both captions for spoken words and auditory descriptions of relevant actions taking place on the screen. These alternatives should be synchronized with the actions taking place on the screen.
Captioning for the audio portion is important as individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing will not be able to hear the auditory content. Synchronized captioning is required so someone reading the captions could also watch the speaker and associate relevant body language with the text of the speech.

Individuals who are blind or have low-vision may require audio descriptions to access the visual information in multimedia. Audio descriptions are verbal descriptions of the actions and images displayed in a video that are inserted during pauses in the regular dialogue or audio track. Audio descriptions are only necessary if significant information that is presented visually is not discernable from the dialogue or audio track.

For a video, a transcript or alternate method, unless the technology you are using can't be made accessible(or meet the applicable standards), would not be acceptable. The standard is clear that it must have synchronized captions.

However for audio (1194.22 A, non-text element), a transcript would be appropriate because you are dealing with sound (not multimedia) and this would provide equivalent information (assuming the same content was in the transcript as in the sound file.

In addition, you will want to make sure that your player for videos meet the software standards and the controls (i.e. play, pause, volume, mute buttons) are accessible.

Hope this helps with your research,
Teresa