General Best Practices for Inclusive Video and Audio Creation
- Use the decision tree below to determine what alternative communication formats you need for your multimedia (e.g., captions, descriptive transcripts, etc.). Alternative communication formats will vary by media type.
- Ensure the video player or podcast platform you select is accessible. Reach out to the Digital Experience team with any questions before selecting a platform.
- Script what you are going to say before recording a video, if possible. This script can then be used for both captioning and transcripts.
- Use clear language and spell out acronyms.
- Avoid flashing and animated content in videos. This content can trigger epilepsy and vestibular disorders. While you can add a trigger warning to a video, keep in mind that anyone can develop epilepsy or a vestibular disorder at any point in their life so your video could be their first trigger, so they wouldn't know to pay attention to a trigger warning. While animation can be fun, it can also be harmful.
- Use a tripod stabilizer when recording any handheld iPhone videos. Without a tripod, there is often a regular shake and abrupt turns in the recording. Also remember to slowly zoom in. Abrupt, fast, and shaking movement is a trigger to folks with vestibular disorders and too much movement of an iPhone camera during a long duration of time can make anyone watching the video sick.
- Make any overlay text readable, ensuring it follows the color contrast guidelines and ensuring it is not placed in the area in which captions will appear if someone has captions enabled.
- Some people use mouth movement to help understand spoken language. When feasible, ensure that the speaker’s face is visible and in good light.
- Use human transcribed captions for any live stream accommodation requests or for any pre-recorded videos. If you don't receive a request for captions for a live event, you can use automated captions. Just remember to edit the captions on the recorded video before publishing it.
How to Request Alternative Communication Formats
Please submit a request through the Event and Multimedia Accessible Communications Request Form at least two weeks in advance.
Please submit a request through the Event and Multimedia Accessible Communications Request Form during the early planning stages of your live streamed event (the recommendation is two months notice).