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Thread: Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and WCAG compliancy

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From: Wing Kuet
Date: Fri, Aug 21 2020 1:43AM
Subject: Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and WCAG compliancy
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Does anyone have a view on whether the auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos meets WCAG compliancy for the success criteria1.2.2 Captions (Level A)?

The reason I ask is because the auto generated closed captioning is not always accurate to what is actually spoken in the video. E.g. phonetic sounds from different languages are misinterpreted sometimes.


Regards,

Wing Kuet
Accessibility Consultant & Software Tester
Test Partners Ltd
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From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Fri, Aug 21 2020 2:16AM
Subject: Re: Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and WCAG compliancy
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On 21/08/2020 08:43, Wing Kuet wrote:
> Does anyone have a view on whether the auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos meets WCAG compliancy for the success criteria1.2.2 Captions (Level A)?
>
> The reason I ask is because the auto generated closed captioning is not always accurate to what is actually spoken in the video. E.g. phonetic sounds from different languages are misinterpreted sometimes.

The criterion doesn't specify anything about accuracy - there's probably
an implicit intention that captions should be 100% accurate. But even
for human-generated captions, errors can slip through.

My personal take would be: if the Google autocaptions are completely and
utterly broken (very low accuracy rate), a hard fail under 1.2.2. If
there's the occasional word/sentence that's incorrect, I'd squeak that
through as a pass but note to the client that they really should spend
the time to clean up the autogenerated captions.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Fri, Aug 21 2020 4:51AM
Subject: Re: Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and WCAG compliancy
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Also, make sure captions are factually accurate, pay special attention
to numbers / figures.
If your video advertizes a product for 300 dollars but captions say 30
dollars, a client is not exactly going to be satisfied when they find
out the price is 10 times what they thought was advertised. An extreme
example, but I've often seen auto captions mess up numbers.
You can do the same with key facts, figure out the top 3 facts video
is communicating and make sure captions accurately convey this.
Rest is more about quality of work rather than accessibility conformance.

On 8/21/20, Patrick H. Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> On 21/08/2020 08:43, Wing Kuet wrote:
>> Does anyone have a view on whether the auto generated closed captions from
>> YouTube videos meets WCAG compliancy for the success criteria1.2.2
>> Captions (Level A)?
>>
>> The reason I ask is because the auto generated closed captioning is not
>> always accurate to what is actually spoken in the video. E.g. phonetic
>> sounds from different languages are misinterpreted sometimes.
>
> The criterion doesn't specify anything about accuracy - there's probably
> an implicit intention that captions should be 100% accurate. But even
> for human-generated captions, errors can slip through.
>
> My personal take would be: if the Google autocaptions are completely and
> utterly broken (very low accuracy rate), a hard fail under 1.2.2. If
> there's the occasional word/sentence that's incorrect, I'd squeak that
> through as a pass but note to the client that they really should spend
> the time to clean up the autogenerated captions.
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Tue, Aug 25 2020 7:31PM
Subject: Re: Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and WCAG compliancy
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I think the accuracy of the captions would be covered by the fact that
captions are an accessible alternative so they should convey the same
information the author intended to convey with the audio.

Unfortunately, that doesn't simply mean the caption needs to be 99% accurate
because both the number and types of errors in the caption could be
important.

To me, that says relying solely on auto captioning to conform to that part
of WCAG 2.1 is not possible. If you are going to use auto captioning to
meet WCAG 2.1, it needs to be part of a process that involves doing at least
the things that Patrick and Birkir suggest.

Maybe some day auto captioning will reach the point where we always can just
assume it is accurate enough, but I don't think we are there yet.

Just my opinion for what it is worth.

Thanks!
Tim Harshbarger
Senior Accessibility Consultant
Deque Systems
-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of
Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2020 5:52 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Auto generated closed captions from YouTube videos and
WCAG compliancy

Also, make sure captions are factually accurate, pay special attention to
numbers / figures.
If your video advertizes a product for 300 dollars but captions say 30
dollars, a client is not exactly going to be satisfied when they find out
the price is 10 times what they thought was advertised. An extreme example,
but I've often seen auto captions mess up numbers.
You can do the same with key facts, figure out the top 3 facts video is
communicating and make sure captions accurately convey this.
Rest is more about quality of work rather than accessibility conformance.

On 8/21/20, Patrick H. Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> On 21/08/2020 08:43, Wing Kuet wrote:
>> Does anyone have a view on whether the auto generated closed captions
>> from YouTube videos meets WCAG compliancy for the success
>> criteria1.2.2 Captions (Level A)?
>>
>> The reason I ask is because the auto generated closed captioning is
>> not always accurate to what is actually spoken in the video. E.g.
>> phonetic sounds from different languages are misinterpreted sometimes.
>
> The criterion doesn't specify anything about accuracy - there's
> probably an implicit intention that captions should be 100% accurate.
> But even for human-generated captions, errors can slip through.
>
> My personal take would be: if the Google autocaptions are completely
> and utterly broken (very low accuracy rate), a hard fail under 1.2.2.
> If there's the occasional word/sentence that's incorrect, I'd squeak
> that through as a pass but note to the client that they really should
> spend the time to clean up the autogenerated captions.
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >


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Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
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