Accessibility and Office DocumentsAccessibility and Office DocumentsThis is the sixth in a series of articles about accessibility and office documents. As more and more information is now shared with the general public via the World Wide Web (WWW), this article continues the discussion of web sites and accessibility. In future articles in this series we’ll deal with specific applications that can be used on line to communicate information and how the needs of those using Assistive Technology (AT) need to be considered.
Many of us grew up with television and motion pictures, and apart from a few home movies, few of us every thought we could be the stars of our own media productions. For those of the younger generations, the use of various media to communicate is commonplace, and all evidence suggests it will become the norm in the years ahead.
Any sampling of the popular social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook shows the extensive use of media. Those who prepare web content for the public might be quick to get on the media bandwagon. With new podcasts and webinars appearing every day, it is easy to understand the need to create content in multi-media form. But before you jump into the mix, it makes sense to learn as much as you can about media documents and accessibility.
By and large, documents made with video and audio content are not a problem except when the content becomes inaccessible to all users. The accessibility problem occurs most commonly when the document presents content using the spoken word thus making it inaccessible to users with deafness and hearing impairments. It may also be inaccessible to users with blindness if the content is present visually in a way the user cannot access or use the information.
For this discussion, we are referring primarily to web video and audio files such as QuickTime Movies, Windows Media Player files and the like. This list would also include video files created with Adobe/Macromedia Flash commonly called Flash Video. It is noted that Flash can also be used to create “rich media” documents which are essentially animations. These types of animations are also sometimes used for navigation which presents an even greater accessibility challenge.
Accessibility guidelines in the United States require that when video content is presented on the WWW, it needs to have the audio content provided in an equivalent caption which is synchronized with the presentation. Audio-only documents may be captioned or transcribed and a copy of the transcript provided. Without a doubt, creating accessible video documents is much more complicated and will likely require the services of professionals skilled in this type of production.
Converting video documents into an accessible format is typically accomplished using captioning that is synchronized with the video so that the words are displayed at the same time they are spoken. Captions come in a number of different formats and are created in several different ways depending on the type of technology in use. Techniques include closed captioning and open captioning.
Most people are familiar with the closed captions used on broadcast television. The technology to deliver this service, developed in the 1970s to help provide services to the deaf and hard of hearing communities, has been required on all televisions sold in the United States for decades. Compared to web-based systems of captioning, the close captioned system on television is very limited and can only be controlled by the “decoder” built into the television set.
While closed captioning is text that is transmitted at the same time, but separately from the content, the open captioning technique uses text that permanently embedded in the content. This type of captioning, which is similar to the “subtitles” seen in foreign language films, can be controlled by the author/designer in terms of style and location, but not by the user except in cases when the content is offered in two formats (captioned and not captioned).
Authors using the web to share video or audio content with the public can use either closed or open captioning techniques. Most of the media players (e.g., Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, etc.) currently used in the personal computer industry are capable of displaying closed captioned text in the player. These features generally may be turned off and on by the user.
The text could also be open captioned and embedded in the video. In this technique, the user will not be able to turn the captioning off. It is also noted that most open captioned media, when played in a small media player, is nearly impossible to read. As such, this is not the preferred method.
In live (or real time) closed captioning situations, the services of a trained captioner or captionist are typically required. These individuals possess stenographer skills and utilize specialized equipment to capture up to 250 words per minute with 98% accuracy. More information about captioning services is provided below.
There are also some new innovative techniques that can be used to close caption live content. CaptionMic is a system that produces captions with the help of speech recognition technology. With this technology, a trained “voice captioner” repeats or echoes what is spoken into a microphone attached to a computer which runs the application. The application converts the voice captioner’s words into text and inputs them into the captioning software. (See www.ultech.com). It is noted that speech-to-text technology has still not advanced to the point that the systems can translate the words of more than one speaker at a time. Accuracy of speech-to-text systems, though improving, still is less than 100%.
Once the spoken words are captured, the process of creating an actual captioned product depends on the type of media application and player being considered. Regretfully, there are no universal standards at this time and the software and methods used to create captioned media vary based upon the media application. The two most commonly used standards are Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) and Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI). SMIL is used in QuickTime and RealPlayer; SAMI is used with Windows Media Player. In both standards, the text used for the caption is saved with synchronizing information (time stamps) indentifying when the text should appear.
There are a number of software applications, including some free and open source versions, available to help author/designers add captions to video/audio media. Please see the Appendix for more info.
Finding a trained captionist or captioner may be the largest and most expensive challenge to organizations producing live video/audio content for the web. There are a number of professionals around the United State who can provide this service (see Appendix for listing). Given some new technologies, the captioner no longer needs to be in the same room with the speakers to be able to capture the spoken work. In the so called “remote captioning” method, the captioner can be located anywhere as long as they have direct telephone access to the speakers. One particular technique called Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is sponsored by the National Court Reporters Foundation and supported by the National Court Reporters Association's CART Task Force. The National Court Reporters Association has established training and certification standards (see Appendix for more information).
Audio description is a technique used to help users “visualize” what is appearing on the screen. The technique involves having an “announcer” describe the visual content in as much detail as possible. The audio description is an enhancement of the caption, not a replacement. Though technically not required by accessibility standards, the technique is growing in popularity. See examples at webaim.org
As noted earlier, audio-only documents may be captioned or transcribed and a copy of the transcript provided. Transcripts do not necessarily contain a verbatim record of the spoken word as they can also contain additional information which helps the reader understand the content (see also audio descriptions). Transcripts can also be created without the use of a trained captioner or captionist making them less expensive to produce.
As noted on the WebAIM website, transcripts are often preferred by screen reader users. “Most proficient screen reader users set their assistive technology to read at a rate much faster than most humans speak. This allows the screen reader user to access the transcript of the video and get the same content in less time than listening to the actual audio content.” (See http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/ )
There are some in the disability community who argue that most captioning is so poorly constructed and executed that a major overhaul is needed. Joe Clark, a journalist and accessibility consultant in Toronto has developed the Open and Closed Project with a goal of writing a set of standards for captioning, audio description, subtitling, and dubbing, based on research and evidence. Clark calls for field testing and the training and certification of practitioners who will produce captioning that is accessible and usable.
Despite these criticisms, the need for synchronized captioning and transcription services is required by the accessibility standards of Section 508. Organizations that consider using media to bring their message to the public need to educate themselves on the techniques required and will need to recognize that the tools and skills needed to accomplish this may be expensive.
WebAIM
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/
Universal Design in Maine blog
http://udmlti.edublogs.org/2008/04/02/accessibility-of-web-20-video/
Media Access Group at WGBH Boston
http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/guides/mag_guide_vol7.html
Captioning Web
http://www.captions.org/
National Captioning Institute
http://www.ncicap.org/
Joe Clark’s website
http://joeclark.org/access/captioning/
Captioning Web – Search Engine
http://www.captions.org/services.cfm
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)
http://www.cartinfo.org/
Automatic Synch Technologies
http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/
CC Maker
http://www.ccmaker.com/
CaptionMax
http://www.captionmax.com/
Captionate – Flash video
http://www.buraks.com/captionate/
C-Print
http://www.ntid.rit.edu/CPrint/
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/caption.asp
National Association of the Deaf
http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=99547
Captioning Web
http://www.captions.org/softlinks.cfm
WebAIM
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/software.php
Maine CITE provides additional resources that can help you with your goal of creating accessible documents. http://www.mainecite.org/awd/accdocs.html
John Brandt is a web designer and consultant who works with the Maine CITE Program in the area of accessibility and universal design. He may be reached at jeb@jebswebs.com
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