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Re: Accessible videos

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Feb 4, 2017 7:23AM

WCAG 1.2.5 (level AA) says so. For me, it is the one that I am least
comfortable with.
Firstly, very few online video players offer the ability to play a
separate audio track, such as would be necessary for audio description
of videos (the other solution is to create a separate video with audio
description).
Secondly, most online type videos (instructional videos, promo videos
etc.) are such that you don't need an audio description if you have a
text transcript and can hear the dialog.
You need audio description for enjoying full length movies (I mean,
just try to watch "Castaway" or "Lost Highway" without seeing it, even
a text transcript would not be sufficient"), but I don't think audio
description does much for a 2-minute video. In fact movies promotional
or informational videos are so packed with dialog that an audio
description would get in the way. For that a transcript is much better
(users can read it, stop it, pause the video if they are confused).
Thirdly, you can construct an audio description of the video by
synching the transcript with the video using ARIA live regions.
See a demo (well, hear a demo, you need a screen reader) at:
http://ncamftp.wgbh.org/ibm/dvs/sintel-clip.html
(I find this one really awesome!)

Bottomline, yes, it would be ideal to make this happen, but given the
limited benefit and technical complexity, I would put it at the bottom
of my accessibility to-do list, not unless you feel the video is the
absolute core of your message or business, and audio description
delivers something crucial that a transcript does not.



On 2/3/17, <EMAIL REMOVED> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> If you provide a descriptive transcript for a video, do you need an audio
> description as well? Why? NOTICE: This email message, including any
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