Introduction to Video Accessibility Course

Video Transcript

Welcome to an introduction to video accessibility. My name is Kristina England. I'm the digital accessibility specialist at the president's office, and I'll be facilitating this training. The agenda for this training is as follows. We'll go over who benefits from video accessibility, effective communication requirements, including captioning, transcripts, audio description, and sign language interpretation. We'll also go over key video accessibility best practices. And finally, we'll wrap up with how to leverage the video accessibility checklist.

Now let's talk about who benefits from video accessibility. The entire disability community benefits from video accessibility. That's one in four Americans that identify as having a disability, whether temporary or permanent. The following disability communities directly benefit from video accessibility-- the low vision and blind community, the chronic illness community, the deaf and hard of hearing community, the deafblind community, the epilepsy, vestibular disorder, and motion sickness community, the neurodivergent community, which includes ADHD, autism, dyslexia, et cetera, and the temporary disabilities community, including concussions and temporary head injuries.

It's important to remember that with accessible design, you must focus on disabled people. It's true that accessible design can benefit everyone, including the non-disabled community. For example, if you forget your headphones and you're on a train, you can actually watch the video on mute with the captions on if they are available. However, it is important to focus on the access needs of disabled people when designing for accessibility.

Some teachings de-center disabled people by focusing on how non-disabled people benefit from accessibility. This takes the focus away from inclusion to what's in it for me. Not all accessible design will benefit non-disabled people, and that's OK, because they are not the goal audience.

For example, inaccurate or poorly formatted captions can be frustrating to a non-disabled person in a situational moment, such as traveling on a train, but that person can watch the video later without the captions, while a deaf or hard of hearing person cannot.

Another reason it's important to include the disability community in your design process is if you don't, you can actually inflict harm with your video. One of the most overlooked disability communities when it comes to accessible design is the epilepsy, vestibular disorder, and motion sensitivity community. Temporary and permanent vestibular disorders are created by a change in the person's balance system that prevents them from processing the sensory information involved with controlling balance and eye movements.

People can acquire a vestibular disorder at any point in their life. If we design animations and footage without this community in mind, we can trigger a seizure, migraine, or vertigo. We can also make someone nauseous or physically sick. It's important to note that this community is not a monolith, so some people actually only get triggered by physical circumstances like being in a car or on a boat, but a large amount of the community also gets triggered by animations.

Other communities that benefit from accessible motion design are the neurodivergent community, pulsating or flashing effects can increase anxiety, and anyone with a temporary head injury. Now let's go over understanding effective video communication requirements. These requirements help include various members of the disability community, including the blind, deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing communities.

The first effective communication aspect to go over when it comes to videos is captions. First, we're going to go over the difference between closed and open captions. Closed captions are provided via an uploaded file and remains separate from the video. People watching the video have the option to turn the captions on and off. Closed caption formatting can be customized if the video player permits the use of a .VTT file.

Open captions are burnt into a video. Open captions cannot be shut off, and open captions cannot be customized, so they will not meet the readability needs of everyone in the deaf and hard of hearing community. Now let's take a deeper dive into closed captions.

Closed captions are the preferred option for anyone in the hard of hearing and deaf community that uses captions, due to the fact that they can customize the font size and type, the background color behind the captions, et cetera. I'll show an example of this in the next slide.

Note that not everyone in the deaf community uses captions. If sign language is a deaf person's primary language, providing sign language interpretation ensures the content is provided in the most accessible format. When creating closed captions, the only way to provide customization is to use a .VTT file. However, not all platforms accept . VTT files, so if the platform does accept another closed caption format, it's best to provide some form of closed captions.

Now, I wanted to show an example of how someone can go ahead and customize their closed captions if a .VTT file is uploaded to a video. So I'm actually on massachusetts.edu. This is a video player that's been provided through our Brightcove video management platform. And when I actually hover over the closed captions field, I have some menu options.

I have the English CC option that I can turn on. This is automatically turned on on this video. I can shut the captions off. And then I have caption settings. So I'm going to go ahead and select caption settings. And when I do that, the video has an overlay that comes on top of it, and I get options to change the text, color and opacity, the text background color and opacity, the caption area background-- that includes the color of the background and the opacity.

I can change the font size, the text edge style, and I can also change the font family. And if I go in and change the font family, just so you can see the change, the font family then changes what the font looks like, because it's a different font within the captions. So that is how you can go ahead and customize how video captions look when a video has a .VTT file uploaded to it for closed captions.

Now you're probably wondering, can I use open captions for a video? You can use open captions for a video when it's the only way to provide captions. For example, some social media platforms only support open captions. In that scenario, open captions are the most inclusive option for anyone needing captions. An example of where you can only use open captions is on Instagram with Instagram Stories and Reels.

So what are the elements of quality captioning? Per the DCMP captioning key, which is the industry standard for captions, captions should be accurate, which means errorless captions are the goal for each production. They should be consistent. Uniformity in style and presentation of all captioning features is crucial for viewer understanding.

They should also be clear-- a complete textual representation of the audio, including speaker identification and non-speech information provides clarity. They should be readable. Captions are displayed with enough time to be read completely, are in synchronization with the audio, and are not obscured by, nor do they obscure the visual content.

And finally, equal. Equal access requires that the meaning and intention of the material is completely preserved. If you decide to develop your captions in-house rather than using a third party captioner, keep in mind the following formatting considerations. Captions should be no more than two lines. When captions are broken into two lines, the line breaks should happen at a logical point where speech normally pauses.

Line break examples are provided on the DCMP captioning key text page, which will be part of this learning path. You should aim for five to six words per line, or about 32 characters per line. Mixed case characters are preferred for readability, however, you can use capital letters for screaming or shouting.

You should use white for the font color. The font should be medium weight, sans serif, have a drop or rim shadow, and be properly spaced. The use of a translucent box is preferred, so that the text will be clear. Finally, consider caption placement when there are two people on screen speaking, or when you show a presenter's name at the bottom of the video.

Here are some other captioning considerations when creating your own captions. Sounds and music should be captioned, if necessary, for the understanding and/or enjoyment of the media. Punctuation and formatting of sounds depends on the type of sound. Examples of how to caption sound in music can be found on the DCMP sound effects and music page.

Also remember to identify speakers, whether they are on screen or off screen. Speaker identification formatting will vary, so again, reference the DCMP key, this time the speaker identification page, when learning to identify speakers. Finally, convey emotional state or tone if not conveyed through captions. For example, if someone whispers, indicate that they are whispering.

As mentioned earlier, you can develop your own captions for a video, or you can submit it to a third party captioning service. The university has a contract with 3Play Media for captioning videos. Currently, you can submit your video to the digital experience experienced team to have it captioned by 3Play Media. We'll include a link to the request form in this learning path.

When using a third party for captioning, you should always review the completed captions to ensure they are accurate. For example, you should confirm speaker identification, confirm names and terms are spelled correctly, et cetera.

Now that we've gone over captions, let's talk about transcripts. Transcripts are not the same as captions. Transcripts can be used by the blind, deafblind, neurodivergent, and epilepsy, vestibular disorder, and motion sensitivity communities. Both captions and a transcript are needed, as they serve different communities.

The deafblind community's only access to videos is through reading a transcript on their Braille display. Transcripts can be interactive and play in sync with the video, or they can be provided as non-interactive HTML content, either on the page, or linked to from a page or social media post.

Interactive transcripts that move with the video can be inefficient, because they require playing the video, and they can also trigger motion sickness. Thus, it's better to provide an HTML static page of the transcript.

There are two types of video transcripts. There are basic transcripts and descriptive transcripts. Basic transcripts are a text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content in a video. Basic transcripts are also required for audio only content, such as podcasts.

Descriptive transcripts include the speech and non-speech content of a basic transcript, along with the visual information provided in audio descriptions. If you are providing audio descriptions for the blind community, you need to also provide a descriptive transcript for the deafblind community, as the deafblind community cannot access audio descriptions.

Another key component of effective communication with videos is audio description. Audio description, also known as AD, is defined as the verbal depiction of key visual elements in media and live productions. AD is meant to provide the blind and low vision community with information about visual content in a video that is considered essential to the comprehension of the program.

In any case where visual content isn't conveyed either through audio description or by the speakers in the video, not providing AD would prevent the blind and low vision community from gaining a complete understanding of the given program. Audio descriptions are not needed if there is no visual information, or if the speaker is conveying that visual information themselves.

There are additional communities that benefit from audio description. While audio description was originally designed for the blind and low vision community, it can also be used by anyone that has experienced a head injury that is affecting their visual processing abilities, and anyone in the neurodivergent community that may benefit from the spoken description of visual events.

Now I'll provide two examples of audio described videos. The first video will be the Frozen trailer. The second video will be by Indiana University on information security. If you would like to check out other audio described video examples, you can do so on Netflix.

[BEGIN VIDEO PLAYBACK]

- From the creators of Tangled and Wreck It Ralph. Disney. A carrot nosed coraline snowman shuffles up to a purple flower peeping out of deep snow.

- Hello.

- He takes a deep sniff. His nose lands on a frozen pond. A reindeer looks up and pants like a dog. Seeing the reindeer slip on the ice, the snowman smiles and moves towards him, though actually he's running on the spot. The reindeer falls on his chin. The snowman uses his arm as a crutch. The reindeer paddles his front legs.

Head over heels, the snowman crawls along the ice. The reindeer does the breaststroke. The snowman rolls his body, but flips onto his back. The reindeer's tongue sticks to the ice. The snowman hurls his head, twig arm and reindeer lips tug at the carrot. The carrot flies off and lands in soft snow.

The reindeer goes after it with snowman and his body parts hanging on his tail. The snowman puts himself back together again, and glumly contemplates his noseless state. The reindeer jams the carrot back in place and pants like a proud puppy. The snowman pats him with his stick for an arm, then goes to sneeze. He grabs his nose with both hands. His head shoots off. Frozen, coming this winter in 3D.

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

After watching the Frozen trailer with audio descriptions, you probably now get a sense of what audio descriptions are and how detailed they can get around visuals. We'll now move on to the Indiana University video, which is specifically around information security awareness.

[BEGIN VIDEO PLAYBACK]

- A cartoon wolf in a sheep costume sits behind a laptop with a glowing paw print symbol on the top. The wolf types out an email and then clicks the mouse button to send. A chicken sits behind a laptop with a glowing chicken foot symbol on the top. It cocks its head and reads an email. Janice@henagram.com. Exciting deals offer. Dear Miss Henrietta, your friends on Henagram invite you to join them for a special discount offer for season basketball tickets. Claim your Henagram ticket discount now. Sincerely, Janice.

The chicken is about to click on the link to claim tickets.

- Hold on. I would rethink this one. If you have not verified the sender, do not click on links in emails at all. If the email refers to a known website, type that website address into a new browser window instead to verify its authenticity.

- The chicken opens a cackled browser window and types henagram.com, then clicks on discount deals for basketball tickets. A pop up window, no discounts available at this time.

- Even for trusted contacts and emails, it's a good idea to hover over the link first without clicking on it. This should reveal a small pop up with the actual destination URL. Only click if you trust that revealed URL completely.

- Hovering over the link in the email reveals bigbadwolfrid.com.

- This email is definitely a fish, so think before you click.

- The wolf in the sheep costume holds the laptop, which is open to a page titled Wilfred's Yummy Chicken Recipes. A sheep glares at him as chickens blink their eyes in disbelief.

- There are even more ways to recognize a wolf in sheep's clothing, but not clicking any links from unknown senders is a good step. Find more tips to recognize, rethink and report on phishing.iu.edu.

- Phishing.iu.edu

[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

One thing to notice about the Indiana University video is the audio descriptions. When they don't have a place to add them that naturally flows in the video, what they do is they actually pause the video and either add the audio descriptions before an action has taken place within the video, or after an action has taken place in the video. So that is an odd option with audio descriptions, where you can actually go ahead and pause the video, add your audio description track with that static pause, and then continue on and add audio descriptions where you need to in a video where they weren't considered during the pre-production process.

Now let's talk about sign language interpretation and why it matters for video accessibility. Everyone has a primary language. For some people in the deaf community, their primary language is not English, it is sign language. There are multiple types of sign language in the United States, including the more commonly known American Sign language, and less well known community based sign languages, including Black American Sign Language, Hawaii Sign Language, and Plains Indian Sign Language.

As already noted, others in the deaf community rely on captions. English may be their primary language due to either being raised during the oralist period, aging into disability, or choice. Note that some people in the community do leverage lip reading as an additional way to follow the speaker, but many in the community do not.

One question you'll have during video production is whether sign language is needed for a video. For any videos developed at the university, it's important not to assume your viewers prefer captions. When you have access to your video's primary audience, ask them if they need sign language interpretation and build it into your production process.

For example, when developing a training video for all employees, you may be able to work with HR at the campuses to identify if any employees at the university need a sign language version of the video. If you do have employees that need sign language interpretation, confirm which type of sign language.

For videos that will be used for marketing to the public or conveying important information, it's recommended that marketing provide an American Sign Language version of the video. Here is a quick example of a Disney movie that had sign language interpretation applied to it. When using Disney Plus and watching Ant-Man, you can turn on sign language interpretation, and a sign language interpreter is clearly visible, and they are directly in line with the video. So that is an example of sign language interpretation built right into a film.

The last aspect I want to go over when it comes to effective communications and videos is providing the ability to speed up or slow down videos. This video function allows various members of the disability community to change the speed of the video. Blind people listen to the spoken word so much, many in the blind community can understand words spoken at much faster rates than sighted people can and prefer to speed up videos.

In fact, Netflix released the ability to speed up videos in 2020 for the blind community. The deaf and hard of hearing communities may prefer to slow down a video to give them time to read the captions. In some neurodivergent people may prefer to slow down a video to allow for more time to take in the audio or to read the captions.

The final thing I would like to note is that Brightcove has this functionality built in. When using a video player outside of Brightcove, you should confirm this feature is built in so that the blind, the deaf community and the neurodivergent communities can have equal access to the video at the speed they need.

Now that we've gone over effective communications when it comes to videos, I want to walk through some additional video accessibility best practices. Let's go over general best practices when it comes to pre-production. First, it's recommended you develop a script and identify what important visual content will need to be described, either audibly by the speaker or through audio descriptions-- for example, graphs, equations, images, et cetera.

If you are designing content for the video, such as transition slides or speaker name displays, ensure the design passes color contrast requirements by using the WebAIM Contrast Checker. And also remember to select a readable and familiar font. The contrast checker will be available under the resources section of this learning path.

Ensure any animations or footage created for the video cannot trigger a seizure, vertigo, migraines, or motion sickness. Do not use flashing, blinking, and strobing effects, as well as any disoriented movement-- for example, handheld video shake, spinning movements, pinch and zoom effects, or horizontal slide effects. Finally, identify any places where the location of the captions will need to be adjusted.

There are additional pre-production considerations when using a sign language interpreter in a video. When a sign language interpreter is needed, please design the sign language interpreter display with the following best practices in mind. The background and the signers clothing should be solid colors that contrast with their skin tone. There should be good lighting, so it is easy to see the signers hands and face.

The interpreter should be positioned so you can clearly see the video contents as well as the signer-- for example, on the bottom right of the screen. Finally, the interpreter should follow the same pace as the speech and sound in the video for anyone that leverages both lip reading and watching the sign language interpreter to understand the video content.

Now let's cover best practices during the production process. First, ensure anyone speaking in the video talks at a standard, rhythmic pace, so that the captioner can caption at a readable presentation rate. Ensure any on-screen presenters are well lit, so that anyone in the deaf or hard of hearing community that relies on lip reading can clearly see the speaker's mouth.

And finally, ensure speakers follow the script, if you have scripted ahead of time, and have essential visual content information that needs to be conveyed. The final best practices we'll go over are around post-production.

First, develop, review, and apply captions to the video. If you outsource the captions, you should always review the completed captions for accuracy. Always use an accessible video player. Publish the video to Brightcove, which provides keyboard access and the ability to customize captions and the video speed. Publish a transcript or descriptive transcript alongside the video.

Publish an audio described version alongside the non-audio described video if the visual information has been done via separate track. If you share the video on social media, remember to include a link to the transcript and to an audio described version if the visual information isn't conveyed in the video. You can do this via the post or in a post comment. A note that a transcript is required when providing videos via social media.

Finally, if using a video for training, never require it to be played to move forward. Several members of the disability community may prefer to actually read the transcript over the video, or, if it's a deafblind employee or student, their only choice will be to use the transcript, so requiring the video actually presents a barrier.

Before we wrap up this training, I wanted to provide an example of a university video that actually has captions and a transcript. This video is on UMassP. It is the Full SPARC video, and you can find it via the website search. The transcript is included below the video with the option to expand and view the transcript. The transcript does not rely on playing the video.

Future improvements for this video would be considering the addition of audio descriptions if visuals are not described within the video, addition of a sign language interpreter, if needed, and redesigning the slides to consider caption placement.

As we wrap up this training, we wanted to provide everyone with the ability to check their work along the way. Rather than having to refer back to this training, we've created a video accessibility checklist. What we recommend is once you complete this video and mark this video as complete, you will then have access to a second step in which to save the video accessibility checklist as a favorite. So go ahead and do that after you complete this video in a minute.

There is a lot to learn about video accessibility, and it can be easy to forget a step. We've created an interactive checklist that you can reference throughout the production process. Finally, I'd like to thank you for attending this training, and if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the Digital Experience team. Also know that this training could evolve over time. We are all learning and growing together, so expect additional checklist items as we go. Thank you again and have a great day.