1. Accessible Video in a Diverging Web Environment Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) 2005 International Convention - Orlando, FL October 2005 http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/publications/kleinpubs.html David Klein K. “Fritz” Thompson

2. Overview  Introduction  Web-based video players  The technology  Creating accessible video  Flash video  Our Flash player  Future of Web-based video

3. Introduction  Law, Health Policy & Disability Center Grant-funded Research & Training Center

4. Our Needs  Provide accessible Web-based training  High quality video with quality audio  Closed captions  Transcripts  Supporting documents (PowerPoints, Handouts, etc.)  Different formats (QuickTime, Windows Media Player, Flash)  Efficient development and deployment

5. Players  QuickTime  Windows Media Player  Real Player  Others  Flash  Java  ?

6. The Technology  Clients and servers  Plugins or whatever  Downloading  Embedding video in Web pages  Captioning  Flash Understanding how the pieces fit together helps for producing accessible video

7. Clients vs. Servers Server Clients

8. Clients vs. Servers  Server  Stores HTML, video, caption text, other files  Files can be stored on different servers  Client  Displays HTML in browser  Launches players  Assembles/packages the pieces  Video  Caption  Video Player  HTML

9. Client View Browser Window Embedded Player Video Captions

10. The Player / Plug-in  Embeds the player in the browser  ActiveX  Internet Explorer  Plug-ins  Netscape  Firefox  Opera  Need to account for both in the HTML  User must install if not available

11. Accessible Video and Web Pages Accessibility of player controls  Best as standalone players  Real  Windows Media Player  Best as embedded  QuickTime  Flash

12. Embedded Captioned Video HTML File ServerClient Video File Caption File Combining File

13. Embedded Players  Different technologies among browsers  versus  versus  Control user experience  Player size  Automatic startup  Surround video with supporting information supporting informationsupporting information  Difficult to implement when players are not up to date  Valid HTML?

14. Process - Creating a Video Process - Creating a Video  Shoot (or acquire) video/audio of highest possible quality  Acquire secondary audio source and/or CART file if possible  Capture, edit and compress video  3 output formats:.mov,.wmv, and.flv  Make audio tapes for transcription

15. Captioning – Technologies  XML  Extensible Markup Language  SMIL  Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language  SAMI  Microsoft® Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange  QuickTime caption file  Apple  Flash  Macromedia

16. Process - Transcribing Audio or Video  High quality audio makes better movies and better transcripts  Transcribe  Includes speaker identification and non-verbal elements ([Laughter], [Inaudible])  Transcript saved in 3 formats  MS Word.doc  Accessible.pdf  Plain.txt for caption file  Proof and correct

17. Process - Precaptioning Steps  Text is broken up into “caption-sized chunks” (based on Captioned Media Program guidelines)  Special characters eliminated (“smart” quotes, em dashes, etc.)  Caption timing software (MAGpie or HiCaption MAGpie HiCaptionMAGpie HiCaption  Both let you transcribe directly or import prepared text files  Both attach timecodes to text in real time  Both export in plain text, SAMI, QuickTime SMIL or RealPlayer SMIL  Proof and Correct

18. Caption Files  Caption text  Time codes for synchronization with video  Text Formatting  Font and font size  Carriage returns  Bolding, colors, etc.  Speakers  Language support

19. Captioning – QuickTime  Video .mov file and others  Caption file Caption file Caption file .txt  QuickTime caption file  SMIL SMIL .smi or.mov  Integrates video and caption files

20. Captioning – Media Player  Video .wmv  Caption file Caption file Caption file .smi (XML / SAMI)  Integration file Integration file Integration file .asx  Integrates video and caption files

21. Captioning – Flash  Video .flv  Caption file  Whatever (.txt,.xml,.smi)  XML configuration file XML  Flash player (Shockwave) .swf compiled from Flash code  Integrates video and caption files

22. Final Assembly (QuickTime)  The movie - moviename.mov  The caption file - moviename_captions.txt  The SMIL file - moviename_smil.mov  Avoid.smi file extension .mov extension elicits QT playback Captions display automatically as part of SMIL standard

23. Final Assembly (Windows Media Player)  The movie - moviename.wmv  The SAMI file - moviename.smi  Captions and timing info  The ASX file - moviename.asx  Includes URLs to movie & caption files User must toggle captions in Windows Media Player “View” menu

24. Final Assembly (Flash Player )  The Flash playback engine - moviename.swf  The movie - moviename.flv  The caption file -moviename_captions.txt  Same file as QT  The caption control file - captions.xml  Includes URLs to movie & caption files User can toggle captions in our Flash video player with CC icon (on by default)

25. Flash Video  Becoming more accessible by version 6  More integration with video  Frustrated with “player wars”  Lack of standards compliance  Continual, relentless upgrades  Difficulty in upgrading – pushing users toward paid versions  Hijacking of media types / file extensions

26. Flash – Compress Video  Create.flv file from movie (.mov,.avi)  Method 1  Import into Flash library and compress  Sorenson Spark within Flash  Export to external file or drag to timeline  Method 2  Or compress using non-Flash application  Sorenson Squeeze

27. Create XML Configuration  Open configuration file (XML) configuration file configuration file  Add settings  Video location  Caption file location  Video size and width in pixels  Video total time in seconds

28. Combine Files  Upload  Video (.flv)  Caption file  Caption configuration (caption.xml)  Flash file (.swf)  Incorporate embedding tags in HTML HTML  

29. Flash Security  Keep files in same folder  Use BASE attribute  </object  And  And  Test thoroughly, especially among browsers and browser versions

30. Satay Method for Validated XHTML  Eliminates the use of the tag.  Uses only the tag.  Anything that a browser doesn’t understand is ignored.  If Flash is not installed within a browser, a default message will be displayed.  http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay/ http://www.alistapart.com/articles/flashsatay/  http://allinthehead.com/retro/234/embedding- macromedia-flash-in-xhtml http://allinthehead.com/retro/234/embedding- macromedia-flash-in-xhtml http://allinthehead.com/retro/234/embedding- macromedia-flash-in-xhtml

31. Satay Method Example  You do not have the Flash player installed. See http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer.  You do not have the Flash player installed. See http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer.

32. Future  Our Flash video player development  Customized controls  More configuration options in external XML file  Embedded formatting in captions  Speech recognition  Real-time voice recognition  Automatic time codes (real-time)  Searchable / Linkable video

33. Resources  WebAIM  http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/ http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/  World Wide Web Consortium Web Video Standards  http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/ http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/  Hi Software (HiCaption)  http://www.hisoftware.com/hmcc/acc4mcc.html http://www.hisoftware.com/hmcc/acc4mcc.html  National Consortium on Accessible Media (MAGpie)  http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/ http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/  Captioned Media Program  http://www.cfv.org http://www.cfv.org  National Association of the Deaf  http://www.nad.org/ http://www.nad.org/

34. Contact  Law, Health Policy & Disability Center  http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/ http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/  LHPDC Bulletin Board (download Flash playback engine)  http://disability2.law.uiowa.edu/dbtac http://disability2.law.uiowa.edu/dbtac David Klein 280-1 Boyd Law Bldg. College of Law University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 319-335-6748 david-klein@uiowa.edu K. “Fritz” Thompson 280-1 Boyd Law Bldg. College of Law University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 319-335-6748 kenneth-d-thompson@uiowa.edu