Techniques for Creating Accessible, Closed Captioned Web-Based Video California State University - Northridge 22nd Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference Los Angeles, California March 22, David Klein K. “Fritz” Thompson

Interactive  Who are you?  Why are you here?  What would you like to know?  What are your expectations from this workshop?

Overview  Introduction to accessible web-based video  Creating captions with MAGpie (activity)  QuickTime (activity)  (Break?)  Windows Media Player (activity)  Using a Flash player (activity)  Embedding content in a web page  Process and Compression

Introduction  Law, Health Policy & Disability Center Grant-funded research, technical support, & training

Our Needs  Accessible web-based training  Quality video  Closed captions  Transcripts  Supporting documents (PowerPoints, Handouts)  Different formats  QuickTime  Windows Media Player  Flash)  Efficient production, development, and deployment

Our Video   Over 100 hours of online video for training  Mostly talking heads

Characteristics  User choice  Start with most accessible player – Flash  Multiple players and configurations  Embedded vs. Standalone players  Automatic play vs. press a key to start  Resizable Players  Uncaptioned versions  Platform agnostic (Windows, OS X, Linux)  Available metadata, transcript, supporting documents

Overview of the Technologies

Players  QuickTime  Windows Media Player  Real Player  Flash Player(s)  Others

The Technologies  Clients and servers  Plugins or whatever  Downloading  Embedding video in web pages  Flash

Clients vs. Servers Clients Server

Clients vs. Servers Server Clients Servers

Server  Server  Stores HTML, video, caption text, other files  Files can be stored on different servers  Files  HTML page  Video file  Caption text file  Combining file  Supporting files (transcript, handouts, PowerPoint)

Client  Displays HTML in browser  Launches players  Assembles and displays the pieces  Video  Caption text  Video player and its controls  HTML and surrounding content

Client View Browser Window Embedded Player with Controls Video Captions Links to supporting documents

Embedded Captioned Video Embed in HTML File ServerClient Video File Caption File Combine Files in Player

Captioning Technologies  Open formats  XML  Extensible Markup Language  SMIL  Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language  DFXP  Distribution Format Exchange Profile of the timed-text authoring format (TT AF)  Proprietary formats  QuickTime caption file  Apple proprietary format  SAMI  Microsoft® Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange

Download and Play  Wait for file to download before playing  Can be a long time  Freezes possible but can play back without freezes  Download and store for later play  No copy protection  Archive only

Streaming  Short wait for start of video  High bandwidth required  Fast server or multiple servers  Special network settings may be needed (multiple connections)  Fast connections  Freezes not uncommon  Problems at client end (firewalls)  Can copy protect  Required for live video  Possible for archived video

“Progressive download”  Short wait for start of video, depending on bandwidth  Slow connection possible  Freezes possible but can be replayed without freezes  Download and store for later play  Copy resistance  Archive only

Open Captioning  Simpler  Smaller file size  Embedded (burned in)  Static  May be hard to read  Doesn’t compress well

Closed Captioning  Captions can be closed  Benefit for people who would be distracted by captions  Not much other difference on the Web