1. Syracuse University, Information Technology Services

2. BASICS OF VIDEO CAPTIONING
Sharon Trerise & Kara Patten

3. Agenda Part I – Captioning Basics & Vendors Part II – DIY Captioning
Terminology, the law, benefits
Costs: vendors vs DIY
Caption vendors
Part II – DIY Captioning
Workflow and resources
Tools
Hands-on

4. Terminology Transcript - Guidelines Open captions (example)
Closed captions (example)
Audio descriptions / Video Descriptions (example)
Subtitles (example)
Automated captions through YouTube (example)
ASL / CART
ASL: American Sign Language
CART: computer-aided real-time transcription

5. Captioning: Who benefits? Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing
Age
Number of individuals
% of population
>6 years old
691,883
1.8%
18 – 34
2,309,000
3.4%
35 – 44
2,380,000
6.3%
45 – 54
2,634,000
10.3%
55 – 64
3,275,000
15.4%
65 and over
8,729,000
29.1%
Total US Population 294,043,000
38,225,590
13%
Source: Gallaudet University Library, Local and regional deaf populations, Updated February 2014

6. Captions: Everyone benefits
Captions: Improving Access to Postsecondary Education
Video created by DO-IT at University of Washington

7. Video Captions: Who benefits?
Non-native English speakers
Easily translated to native language
Benefit from text + audio
Benefit from information in multiple modalities
Enhances concentration for people with learning disabilities, autism and attention deficits
Working / studying in a quiet or noisy environment
Reliance on mobile devices means viewing videos anywhere
All students
Transcript used as study guide; highlight important info
Improved comprehension
Teaches new vocabulary; reinforces correct spelling

8. Transcripts as study aids
Easy to copy & paste to create a study aid
97% of MIT OpenCourseWare students said interactive transcripts enhanced their learning experience
Search for a given word within video or scan whole video library for keyword
Interactive Transcript / Universal Design features
Users can search and find what they are looking for and instantly navigate to that point in video (saves time)
Example: Lynda.com; 3PlayMedia; CaptionSync
Clipmaker lets you make video clip reels using the transcript itself

9. Research shows the benefits for ALL students
Oregon State University survey
Students who used captioned video achieved a full GPA point increase over students who didn’t (Robert Collins, SFSU, 2007)
More engaged
More responsive to questions about video
Better able to make connections to their lives
Using captions more than doubled the retention & comprehension levels (Gary Robson, 2004)
50% of students used transcripts as study aids when they were available (Univ. of Wisconsin)

10. Benefits of providing a transcript/ captions for web-based video
Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Options
YouTube gives priority to videos with high quality captions
Impact of captioning on # views (3PlayMedia research)
13.5% increase in views in first 14 days
Over time, 7.5% increase in views

11. Legal / Policy Requirements
Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act & Americans with Disabilities Act
“Equally effective access”
Jacksonville State Univ: Captioning FAQ #5 - How Do The Captioning Laws Apply To Educational Institutions?
Case law
National Association of the Deaf v. Harvard & MIT (MOOCs)
Synchronized high quality captions
NOT YouTube automatic captions
SU’s IT Accessibility Policy (draft)
WCAG 2.0 AA Guideline 1.2 Time-based media

12. Copyright – what to do? Caption It!
Attempt to get video owner to caption
Attempt to get permission to caption from copyright holder (sample letter)
Caption it – give credit to the copyright owner
3rd party vendors may refuse to caption copyrighted materials (i.e. movies, news clips, etc.)
YouTube videos that aren’t your own
Embed the video on your site
Add a plug-in to display captions
How to caption YouTube videos you don’t own
Videos hosted on commercial sites (e.g. NBC, CNN)
Caption then host them for playback in password protected application
No one in US has been sued for creating captions for video
In education setting, more likely to be sued for failing to meet accessibility law if don’t add captions

13. Captioning Decision Tree
Flow diagram of Video Captioning Decision tree.
Is video for academic use?
If Yes
Has an accommodation been requested?
If Yes – Caption through Office of Disability Services
If No – Will the video be used multiple semesters?
If Yes – Caption video
If No – No need to caption
If No
Who is the intended audience?
Syr.edu web page available to public – Caption video
Archived content – Caption upon request

14. Scenarios Content Captioning Requirements
Videos posted on syr.edu or college owned sites
Required
Video used in MOOC (Online course with open access)
Video used in Online course with restricted access (pswd reqd) – used multiple semesters
Video used in online course – 1 time use**
Required if needed as an accommodation
Live lecture broadcast
CART required if needed as an accommodation
Video lecture capture posted on course website; 1 time use
Videos posted on syr.edu or other college owned sites – captioning is required
Videos used in MOOC (online course with open access) – captioning is required
Video used in online course with restricted access and used multiple semesters – captioning is required
Video used in online course with video used one time – captioning is required if needed as an accommodation
Live lecture broadcast – CART is required if needed as an accommodation
Video lecture capture posted on course website, video used one semester only – captioning is required if needed as an accommodation
Requirements: Instructor must make it very clear at the beginning of class that videos will be used in class and ask if captioning is required by any student.
**Requirements:
Instructor must make it very clear at the beginning of course that videos will be used and ask if captioning is required by any student

15. CART
CART
ASL
When CART is provided, get transcript from CART provider to caption the video
Use YouTube to synchronize transcript & caption video
No need to pay for transcript again

16. ASL / CART Decision Tree

17. Audio description/ Described video
What is it?
Self-Driving Car Test video
HTML5 video accessibility and the WebVTT file format
When is it required vs When is it needed?
Vendors that provide descriptive audio
DCMP list
The Audio Description Project
Description Key
Significant cost
AMAC: 20 – 30 business days turnaround
$4.80/min standard content; $7.10/min complex content
How to avoid the need for audio description
Communicate all information visually & audibly

18. Video Players Insure accessibility
Does it support closed captions?
Does it support audio descriptions?
Can you operate the player’s buttons without a mouse?
Do control buttons have alt text (usable with a screen reader)?
Is the player supported in all major browsers?
Comparison of accessibility features

19. Captioning Process Using a captioning vendor
Your time commitment depends on level of integration between captioning vendor & hosting platform
Ensemble & CaptionSync ($2.59/min)
How to Caption Content with Automatic Sync Integration (4:50)
Ensemble & Rev.com ($1/min)
Captioning with Ensemble and Rev in Answers.syr.edu
Ensemble’s Automatic Captions ($.05/min)
Need to review and edit for accuracy

20. Integrations: Mix and Match
Video Hosting
Captioning
Ensemble
Vimeo
YouTube
Panopto, MediaSite
Lecture capture
Caption Advantage (local)
CaptionSync
CaptionEx
3PlayMedia
Rev.com
SpeakerText
Amara

21. How to decide among all the options? Costs and Considerations
Audience & playback features
Academic videos – may want more features like interactive transcripts &/or audio description
Promotional or event videos – basic captions are sufficient
Turnaround time needed
Generally pay more for faster turnaround / PLAN AHEAD
How much time & expertise can you contribute
One click:
Ensemble & CaptionSync ($2.59/min)
Panopto & 3PlayMedia
Multiple steps:
Ensemble & CaptionEx ($1.75/min)
YouTube/Ensemble & Rev.com ($1/min) – instructions
Even more steps – Amara captions; DIY captioning
Vendor Information in answers.syr.edu

22. Cost Considerations Vendor vs DIY
3rd party vendor
DIY
Minimal time commitment
Generally no worries about quality
Predictable turnaround
May not be a budgeted expense
Takes 8 – 10x length of video to transcribe & caption
Availability of staff/ students to meet deadlines
Quality of transcript & caption synchronization
Keep $$$ in-house

23. Comparison: Vendor vs DIY Example with 3 minute video
Rev.com & $1/min = $3
Submit request on Rev.com website
Your time min.
CaptionSync & $2.59/min = $7.77
Submit request
Your time ~ 1 min.
Time needed to transcribe & caption = 8 – 10x length of video
$12/hr = $.20/min
3 min video * 10x * $.20 = $6
Your time ?
Supervise student
Perform quality checks

24. Comparison: Vendor vs DIY Example with 30 minute video
Rev.com & $1/min = $30
Submit request on Rev.com website
Your time min.
CaptionSync & $2.59/min = $77.70
Submit request
Your time ~ 1 min.
Time needed to transcribe & caption = 8 – 10x length of video
$12/hr = $.20/min
30 min video * 10x * $.20 = $60
Your time ?
Supervise student
Perform quality checks

25. Resources Captioning Resources in answers.syr.edu YouTube Help
Creating subtitles and closed captions
Synchronizing your transcript with video using YouTube
Download your YouTube videos
*How to search for videos with captions in YouTube
Captioning Facebook videos

26. Part II: DIY Captioning

27. Process of Captioning Create transcript (most time consuming)
Break transcript into segments
Synchronize & time stamp transcript segments with video
Quality check & adjust timings
Upload caption file

28. Getting a Transcript Use script if available
CART service provides a transcript
Type it using various play-back applications
Create it with voice recognition
Hear & speak
Voice recognition of presenter
Works best if train the voice recognition software
Obtain draft using YouTube automatic captions and edit*

29. Quality Control
WCAG & guidelines can be met by open or closed captions
Include all dialogue
Sound effects
Identify the speaker
FCC requires 99% accuracy for TV captioning
4 Criteria
Accuracy
Synchronicity / Timing
Program completeness
Placement & size

30. Caption Quality
Accurate: Captions must match the spoken words in the dialogue and convey background noises and other sounds to the fullest extent possible. (99% accurate)
Spelling, punctuation, capitalization
Include identity of speakers, music, sound effects, audience reaction
Legible with appropriate spacing & contrast for readability
Synchronous: Captions must coincide with their corresponding spoken words and sounds to the greatest extent possible and must be displayed on the screen at a speed that can be read by viewers.
Complete: Captions must run from the beginning to the end of the program to the fullest extent possible.
Properly placed: Captions should not block other important visual content on the screen, overlap one another, or run off the edge of the video screen.

31. Caption Quality & Comprehension
Impact on comprehension at different error rates Caption error rate > 3% shows steep decline in intelligibility of content.
Source: CaptionSync Research Studies, AST’s Research on Accuracy and Comprehension

32. Other factors affecting video quality & caption quality
Speakers with heavy accent
Background noise
Multiple people talking at once
Complex terminology
Complex & technical subjects are challenging if transcriber doesn’t have the background
Location names, people’s names

33. Try It When you have a transcript Creating a transcript
YouTube to synchronize & edit
‘Cuse Cast 2/8/16
Transcription keyboard shortcuts
Enter: Add the subtitle.
Shift + space: Pause or play the video.
Shift + left arrow: Seek back five seconds. 
Creating a transcript
YouTube
‘Cuse Cast 2/1/16
If multiple speakers, need to identify them

34. Other Tools Express Scribe (free and paid versions) Camtasia
Can use with MS Word (spell ck & easy editing)
Reset Hot keys for controlling video playback
Adjust playback speed
Camtasia
Sync with a script
Use Speech to Text for creating captions
Add captions manually

35. Caption File Formats
.srt
YouTube (.srt, .smi, .sami, .vtt) Ensemble (.vtt, .xml) Kaltura (srt, dxfp, xml) Vimeo (srt, vtt, dfxp, scc, sami)
.dfxp

36. Converting caption file formats
3PlayMedia Subtitle Converter Tool (free)
Subtitle Edit (free)
Many other online options
Rev.com Caption Converter – don’t use this one**

37. Converting file formats
MP4 is preferred file type
Compressed to save disk space, yet high quality
Can embed in PPT
Supported by Apple devices
Handbrake (open source) to convert DVD video to MP4
Preserves captions & subtitles if present in saved output

38. Video Captioning Resources in answers. syr
Video Captioning Resources in answers.syr.edu Get Help: