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Re: Captions and transcripts

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From: Mark Magennis
Date: Jan 6, 2012 11:12AM

In the W3C example, text is the intended vehicle for presenting the information and is designed to contain all of the information. So it's not necessary to provide a second text version (captions) because it won't contain any more information. The visual and auditory content of the video version (a talking head for example) does not contain any more information, it just presents it in a way that's easier for some people to understand.

In your example of the text transcript, the intended vehicle for presenting the information is a video. A captioned video provides deaf or hard of hearing people with access to the auditory information at the same time as the visual information. A transcript does not include the visual information (even if it's just a taking head you have facial expressions and body language), so does not have all the information that a captioned video would.

Mark


On 6 Jan 2012, at 16:11, Kevin White wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have a client who has asked a question that has got me thinking. The question is basically 'are captions needed if a transcript is provided'? This is for video content that contains dialog only so no audio description is necessary.
>
> My immediate reaction was 'Yes'. However, we had a bit of a chat and there is an argument that suggests the transcript is sufficient. This argument centres on the following paragraph from the W3C (http://tinyurl.com/7g3335j):
>
> Captions are not needed when the synchronized media is, itself, an alternate presentation of information that is also presented via text on the Web page. For example, if information on a page is accompanied by a synchronized media presentation that presents no more information than is already presented in text, but is easier for people with cognitive, language, or learning disabilities to understand, then it would not need to be captioned since the information is already presented on the page in text or in text alternatives (e.g., for images).
>
> What this seems to suggest is that if the information in the video already presented in text on the page then the captions are not required.
>
> Does this not then imply that captions are never required if a full transcript is provided on the page?
>
> Thanks for any thoughts,
>
> Kevin
>
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