In this session, University of Wisconsin- Madison discusses their accessibility policy, budgeting, prioritization, costs and benefits derived, and best practices for deploying video captioning technologies. 3Play Media was awarded a state-wide captioning contract with UW System in 2010. 3Play Media provides video transcripts and captions for 26 campuses across the state and one extension program. Like many universities, a majority of classes are not captioned. But UW-Madison wants to make sure those that need captions aren’t dissuaded from asking for accommodation. They added a notice at the bottom of their webpage to inform students about this option. Furthermore, the University of Wisconsin is working towards accessibility proactively. Having vendors, contracts, and a reliable workflow in place is the necessary accessibility framework that facilitates an agile response to captioning needs. Presenters: Dusty Smith Digital Media Manager | University of Wisconsin, Madison Tole Khesin VP Marketing | 3Play Media

1. Accessible Video Captioning for
Blended Learning and Lecture Capture
Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference
July 8, 2013
Dusty Smith
Digital Media Manager
Tole Khesin
VP of Marketing
University of Wisconsin - Madison
3Play Media
dustins@engr.wisc.edu
tole@3playmedia.com

2. Agenda
Highlights from recent accessibility data
Captioning basics
Accessibility laws
Value propositions
UW– Madison’s Accessibility Policies
Budget and prioritization
Accessibility technologies & workflows
Q&A

3. Accessibility Data
• More than 1 billion people have a disability
• 56.7 million report a disability in the U.S.
• 48 million (20%) in U.S. have some hearing
loss
• 11% of postsecondary students report
having a disability
• 45% of 1.6 million veterans seek disability
• 177,000+ veterans claimed hearing loss

4. What Are Captions?
• Captions are text that is time-synchronized
with the media
• Captions convey all spoken content as well
as relevant sound effects
• Originated in the early 1980s from an FCC
mandate for broadcast TV

5. What Are Captions?
Terminology
• Captioning vs. Transcription

6. What Are Captions?
Terminology
• Captioning vs. Transcription
• Captioning vs. Subtitling

7. What Are Captions?
Terminology
• Captioning vs. Transcription
• Captioning vs. Subtitling
• Closed Captioning vs. Open Captioning

8. What Are Captions?
Terminology
• Captioning vs. Transcription
• Captioning vs. Subtitling
• Closed Captioning vs. Open Captioning
• Post Production vs. Real-Time

9. How Are Captions Used?

10. Accessibility Laws
Section 508
•
•
Added to Rehabilitation Act in 1986
Applies to federal agencies and organizations
with federal subsidies
Section 504
•
•
Part of Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Anti-discrimination law
ADA
•
•
•
Updated in 2008 via ADAAA
For schools, same requirements as Section 504
Netflix lawsuit implications
21st Century Communications & Video
Accessibility Act (CVAA)
•
Applies to content that airs on TV and the Internet.

11. Accessibility Laws
Section 508
•
•
Added to Rehabilitation Act in 1986
Applies to federal agencies and organizations
with federal subsidies
Section 504
•
•
Part of Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Anti-discrimination law
ADA
•
•
•
Updated in 2008 via ADAAA
For schools, same requirements as Section 504
Netflix lawsuit implications
21st Century Communications & Video
Accessibility Act (CVAA)
•
Applies to content that airs on TV and the Internet.

12. Accessibility Laws
CVAA Deadlines
Phased In: All prerecorded programming that
is not edited for Internet distribution
Phased In : Live & near-live programming
originally broadcast on television.
Sep 30, 2013 : Prerecorded programming that
is edited for Internet distribution.
Mar 30, 2014: Archival programming

13. Value Propositions
• Accessible for deaf and hard of hearing
• For ESL viewers
• Flexibility to view anywhere, such as noisy
environments or offices
• Search
• Reusability
• Navigation, better UX
• SEO/discoverability
• Used as source for translation

15. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a
public
land-grant institution established in 1848.
Enrollment: 42,818
Undergraduate, graduate
and professional students
from 50 states and
130 countries
Faculty and staff: 21,355
Budget: $2.8 billion
935-acre lakefront campus
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

16. College of Engineering
Approximately 4,000 undergraduate students
Approximately 1,550 graduate students
Approximately 11,000 professional engineering education students
Over 5500 Hours of Video
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

17. UW Web Accessibility Policies
The policy specifies that every non-text
elements posted on the web–including
podcasts, audio files and transcripts–must
have a text equivalent. Equivalent
alternatives for any multimedia presentation
must be synchronized with the
presentation.
www.wisc.edu/policies/wwwap.php

18. UW Web Accessibility Policies
UW-Madison Exemption Policy
Does Policy have teeth?
Is it enforced and by who?
What laws does UW pay attention to?
Different campuses in UW system

19. UW-Madison Captioning Contracts
SCOPE: Contract for Media Captioning
and Transcription Services for captioning
Web media in conjunction with projects
involving the delivery of video to the Web
and mobile environments.
www.bussvc.wisc.edu/purch/contract/wp5251.html

20. Prioritize What Gets Captioned
How do you decide?
Will your budget play a role?
Who makes final decision?

21. Engineering Prioritization
We prioritize by design of use and permanence.
We try to caption all of our promotional videos.
The class videos are generally not captioned, due to costs
Faculty, students, anyone can make the requests

22. Problems
Price is a big problem
Knowledge of the laws
Creators don’t know how to caption
DIY route has many obstacles

23. Who Pays?
This is a huge factor. It drives what gets captioned.
Accessibility is not handled on a centralized level
Fragmented to each department or individual.
McBurney Disability Resource Center
Contingency (Guarantee Reserve) Funding
www.vc.wisc.edu/Docs/AccommodationFundingPolicy2010.pdf

24. Tips and Tricks
DCMP Captioning Key
www.dcmp.org/ai/captioningkey/
Use YouTube to get a rough caption
Useful in searches
English as Second Language

25. Media Systems in Engineering
Classroom Recording: Mediasite & Ncast
Desktop Recording: Mediasite & Camtasia
YouTube
Caption Providers: 3Play Media & AST

26. Mediasite Automated Workflow
Automated workflows make it easy!
Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI)
SubRip (SRT)
Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP) file

27. Mediasite Automated workflow

28. Questions?
Dusty Smith
Tole Khesin
Digital Media Manager
College of Engineering, UW-Madison
dustins@engr.wisc.edu
VP of Marketing
3Play Media
tole@3playmedia.com