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Thread: 508 compliance for video?

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From: Paxton Brewer
Date: Mon, Jan 11 2016 12:15PM
Subject: 508 compliance for video?
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I know that we need to caption the video content on our berkeley.edu websites for the hearing impaired.

But it has just been brought to my attention that we might be required to have a descriptive audio track for vision impaired users. What are our mandates?

http://508compliantresource.com/How-To-Make-A-Video-508-Compliant.asp



Paxton Brewer
Web Developer
UC Berkeley Extension
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Phone: x34810
Cell: 831-325-8659

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Mon, Jan 11 2016 12:23PM
Subject: Re: 508 compliance for video?
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Hello,

Audio descriptions are required per 1194.24.d

Ryan E. Benson
On Jan 11, 2016 2:15 PM, "Paxton Brewer" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> I know that we need to caption the video content on our berkeley.edu
> websites for the hearing impaired.
>
> But it has just been brought to my attention that we might be required to
> have a descriptive audio track for vision impaired users. What are our
> mandates?
>
> http://508compliantresource.com/How-To-Make-A-Video-508-Compliant.asp
>
>
>
> Paxton Brewer
> Web Developer
> UC Berkeley Extension
> Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Phone: x34810
> Cell: 831-325-8659
>
> > > > >

From: Wyant, Jay (MNIT)
Date: Wed, Jan 27 2016 1:28PM
Subject: Re: 508 compliance for video?
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Sorry to be late to the party - catching up on my forum emails. I'd like to add a caveat to Ryan's point. It is my understanding that audio description is only necessary if there is key visual information that is not conveyed by the existing audio. Thus, we encourage our video creators to be mindful when writing scripts to include all the information for the speaker ("As the slide shows, widget manufacturing has grown by 31% this year.") WCAG 2.0's "Understanding SC 1.2.5" calls this out by noting "if all of the information in the video track is already provided in the audio track, no audio description is necessary."

Best,

Jay

From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
Date: Thu, Jan 28 2016 1:01PM
Subject: Re: 508 compliance for video?
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I would agree, expect on one point. Frequently, very frequently, there is text on the screen, whether it's information about the speaker or text about the content and that visual text is not spoken or narrated. It may be supplemental to the narration, but it's still critical to the overall message of the video. So, while "audio-description", per se, may not be needed, additional narration to give voice and thus access to that text-based content is necessary. So, I would just caution content producers to use the 'is it a talking-head video' criteria for providing audio-description with caution.

Cheers,

Gary

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Fri, Jan 29 2016 2:43PM
Subject: Re: 508 compliance for video?
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> I would agree, expect on one point. Frequently, very frequently, there is text on the screen, whether it's information about the speaker or text about the content and that visual text is not spoken or narrated.

Absolutely, I've seen many videos including those that give health advice and knowing whether the advice is coming from a MD or someone else is very relevant to the patient's perception of the information. Similarly, videos that have links or other text at the end where the user can read more are another area where this comes up. Similarly, the dress, occupation, status, and perceived race/ethnicity of people in the video may also have an influence on people's decisions. For example, if a video encourages people to get a Flu shot and it shows people from all walks of lives getting that vaccination but doesn't communicate that in audio it could affect the person decision. I'm not suggesting race or ethnicity be called out -- if that was even possible but simply saying that directors make decisions to use people in the videos to reach an audience and know that the people in the video represent a diverse set of occupations, ethnicities, and income levels may encourage people to make appropriate decisions.

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
SSB BART Group
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From: Joshua Hori
Date: Fri, Jan 29 2016 7:20PM
Subject: Re: 508 compliance for video?
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While audio descriptions are meant for the visually disabled, it also assists students on the spectrum.

I'm a little hesitant in stating diversity in descriptions unless it directly calls for it within the video. For instance, while watching a video on racial cultures, there may be body signals which some students don't pay attention to until you point them out with an audio description. Or there may be little cues, or facial expressions which are overlooked on first watch, but made aware with the audio descriptions. A Muslim man may shoo a dog away, as dogs are seen as dirty in their culture, but a student may just think that the person doesn't like dogs. Or that sitting with your foot facing someone is derogatory in the Muslim culture, but a student may just see the person as rude and offensive. Or describing how "organized" lines work in China. Those people aren't fighting, they're just trying to pay the bills in their civilized fashion.

On the other hand, a diverse group of students would just be considered "students". It wasn't a decade ago that people were offended by referring to others by their race, it may be best to not take audio descriptions that way. You could assume someone is one race, when really they are a different race altogether. I'm one of those people. Everyone swears I'm Latino, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Greek, Indian, or Arabic. I'm none of these.

As for the voiceovers, I was always lead to believe those were actors and never actual doctors. Actual doctors would never give medical advice over the internet as everyone is different, just like accommodating disabilities.

Sincerely,

Joshua Hori
Accessible Technology Analyst
University of California, Davis
Student Disability Center
54 Cowell Building
Davis, CA 95616
530-304-5482