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Re: question about audio descriptions of video

for

From: John E Brandt
Date: Nov 9, 2011 9:33AM

IMHO...

You have two groups of individuals with disabilities that might find the
video inaccessible.

For folks with low vision who use screen readers, I think you might have a
"pretty picture" conundrum.

If you asked a bunch of screen reader users their opinion on what should be
verbally "described" it would come to some folks wanting a very detailed
description of everything the non-screen reader user "sees." You will also
hear the opinion of something like, "I don't care, I am not spending 15
minutes listening to someone's description of a group of athletes doing
tricks and dancing with basketballs as a promotion to come support the
college team." And you will find some folks squarely in the middle. You will
not be able to make everyone happy with your verbal description.

More about the "the pretty picture conundrum" is in one of my blogs
http://jebswebs.net/blog/2010/12/writing-alt-descriptions/ - but the
essence is shoot for middle ground.

For folks in the Deaf community who need synchronized captioning to better
understand spoken content on videos, they would probably be fine with the
video as is, with maybe the music mark at the beginning as Andrew suggests.

Now, regarding your State policy issue, it appears that they are referring
to folks from the low vision/blind camp, hence the reference to the "pretty
picture" issue. The message conveyed in the video - I think everyone would
agree - is that you have a talented groups of young women athletes at your
university and you encourage folks to support the women's basketball team.
You might simply add to the current description something like "...in this
video see our talented women athletes perform amazing ball handling
activities..."

~j

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