Audio Description in Higher Education Terrill Thompson Technology Accessibility Specialist UW-IT Accessible Technology Services University of Washington tft@uw.edu uw.edu/accessibility What's the most difficult WCAG 2.0 success critieria to meet? 1.2.5

Demos and links to resources: https://staff. washington Show Demo 1 (non-described, then follow link to Described Version)

WCAG 2.0 Level A 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded): An alternative for time-based media or audio description of the prerecorded video content is provided for synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.

WCAG 2.0 Level AA 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded): Audio description provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.

How can we meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA SC 1.2.5?

There are many ways.

Q: Do all videos need to be described? A: No! Some videos are accessible by audio alone. Be proactive when creating video Lecturers should describe all visual content If multiple speakers, have them introduce themselves

Public Videos 57 known UW-affiliated YouTube channels Over 7,000 videos Nearly 2,500 hours of programming At least 18 videos with over 100,000 views Cost to caption (@ $2/min) = $300,000 Cost to describe (@ $10/min) = $1.5 Million

Lecture Capture As of Fall 2016: 58,370 videos in our system 9,914 videos (over 6 million minutes) viewed Cost to caption (@ $2/min) = $12 million Cost to describe (@ $10/min) = $60 million

Why Making Accessible Video Isn't an Undue Burden Cost of Producing a 10-minute documentary-style video: $10,000 Cost to caption (@ $2/min) = $20 (0.2%) Cost to describe (@ $10/min) = $100 (1%)

Which videos are the highest priority? As with captioning, need to prioritize Videos that are required viewing for students who need description (an accommodation) Videos that are likely to be required viewing for students who need description Videos that: Are popular Provide critical content Discuss Demo 1 again; show Demos 2 & 3

YTCA can help with prioritizing. Show Demo 4 https://github.com/terrill/ytca

To describe or not to describe. That is the question.

Which method should we use? "How to Meet 1.2.5" Sufficient Techniques Provide a second, user-selectable, audio track that includes audio descriptions Provide a version of a movie with audio descriptions Advisory Techniques Use the <track> element to provide audio descriptions (advisory = "based on technology that is not yet stable")

Which method should we use? (continued) If dramatic work: Outsource for human-narrated description Else if need for description is minimal and simple: If media player supports <track>: Do It Yourself! Else: Outsource for human-narrated description OR text-to-speech

Which vendors provide human-narrated description? "Services Involved with Audio Description" http://www.acb.org/adp/services.html List of 75+ providers In Spring 2017, narrowed the list to 18 providers that seemed to provide relevant services, contacted each by email or web form Prices vary significantly, based in part on complexity of the description ($12 - $75/min.) Turnaround: 24 hours – 6 weeks Final list: 6 providers http://uw.edu/accessibility/videos

Which vendors provide text-to-speech description? 3PlayMedia Automatic Sync (in beta through December 2017)

Is "extended audio description" required? 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded): Where pauses in foreground audio are insufficient to allow audio descriptions to convey the sense of the video, extended audio description is provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media. (Level AAA) Show 3PlayMedia Toddler description (local), then Demos 5 and 6

If using 3PlayMedia, which voices/speeds are best? Research: Three students who use description Watched 9 versions of two short videos Voices: Michael, Allison, Kate (British) Speeds: Slow, Medium, Fast Watched 7 additional videos, described with various settings Results: Male/female voice should be distinct from voice of speaker(s) in video Slight preference for Medium Michael Slight tendency to dislike the fast voices, especially Fast Kate.

How can we deliver a "described version"? Add a link: "Available with audio description" Use Able Player https://ableplayer.github.io/ableplayer Free, open source, HTML5 media player Fully accessible player controls Supports multiple versions of a video (described vs non-described); user can toggle using "Description" button

Multiple versions in Able Player <video data-able-player> <source type="video/mp4" src="path_to_video.mp4" data-desc-src="path_to_described_video.mp4"/> </video>

Multiple YouTube versions in Able Player <video data-able-player data-youtube-id="xxx" data-youtube-desc-id="yyy"> </video> Show Demo 7

How can we deliver a "second audio track"? JW Player Video.js Oz Player

JW Player Prior to version 6: "Audio Description Plugin" Played an Mp3 in sync with video Included optional "ducking" feature that lowered program audio when description audio was playing Version 6 and higher: Supports multiple audio tracks for a single video via HTTP Live Streaming (HLSV4) Not yet supported in all browsers Unsupported browsers require Flash fallback

Video.js Supports multiple audio files per video with a plug-in: https://github.com/sprice/videojs-audio-tracks Uses HTTP Live Streaming Not yet supported in all browsers

Oz Player Audio description via a separate audio file Toggled on/off via an AD button Works across all browsers https://www.accessibilityoz.com/ozplayer/

The HTML5 <track> element

The <track> element <video src="myvideo.mp4"> <track kind="captions" src="mycaps.vtt"> <track kind="descriptions" src="mydesc.vtt"> </video>

A closer look at <track> kind - The type of text track src - Address of the source file srclang - Language of the text track label - User-visible label <track kind="descriptions" src="mydesc.vtt" srclang="en" label="Audio description (English)">

Different kinds of <track> captions subtitles descriptions chapters metadata

WebVTT Format Stands for "Web Video Text Tracks" https://w3c.github.io/webvtt/ WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 Michael Young, President, University of Washington 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.000 Tracy Mitrano, Director of IT Policy, Cornell University 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:32.000 Edward Ray, President, Oregon State University

Able Player supports <track> Full support for all HTML <track> elements (captions, subtitles, descriptions, chapters, & metadata) Chapters, captions, & descriptions are automatically assembled into an interactive transcript Supports description tracks by exposing description text in an ARIA live region at appropriate times during playback Optional feature (enabled in preferences): Pause video during audio description Show Demo 7 again, use Preferences to use TTS description

Chrome used to support <track> Two extensions released by Google Accessibility: HTML5 Audio Description (via Screen Reader) HTML5 Audio Description (via Text-to-Speech) Screen reader version: Inserts a <div> into page with role="alert" Adds to <title>: ". has audio described video" No longer supported Last updated in 2012 Dependent on “Enable <track> element” experiment in chrome://flags/ (which no longer exists)

How can we create our own WebVTT description track? Simply use your favorite text editor (e.g., Notepad) Use any captioning tool Amara.org Dotsub.com NCAM Caption and Description Editing Tool (CADET) http://ncamftp.wgbh.org/cadet/

Captioning Tool Example Shown: Amara.org

Another DIY Option: YouDescribe Enables DIY crowd-sourcing of YouTube descriptions Describers can record audio clips via the website and sync them with the video Descriptions can be "inline" or "extended" Viewers can control volume of description independently of program audio https://youdescribe.org

Developing In-house Capacity for Producing Audio Description Training: http://www.acb.org/adp/education.html DCMP Description Key: http://www.descriptionkey.org/

Questions?