What Does Accessibility Mean for Multimedia?

Carie Fisher

Sr. Accessibility Trainer/Dev @ Deque Systems HCI Ph.D. Student @ Iowa State University Pronouns: she/her Twitter/LinkedIn: @cariefisher Slides: noti.st/cariefisher

Agenda

Intro to Multimedia & WCAG What Are Captions? What Are Transcripts? What Are Audio Descriptions? What is Sign Language Interpretation? Tips & Tricks for Multimedia

01 Intro to Multimedia & WCAG

Accessibility Talks (a11yTalks)

Accessibility Talks (a11yTalks) Website: a11ytalks.com YouTube: youtube.com/c/accessibilitytalks

Multimedia Types & WCAG Requirements

Captions Transcripts Audio Descriptions Sign Language Interpretation

02 What Are Captions?

Captions...

Are not the same as subtitles Include text synchronized with multimedia Are for people who cannot hear the spoken words Are considered either “open” or “closed”

Example of Open & Closed Captions

Resource: youtu.be/k6VmSjEIiks

Example of Captions (language view)

Example of Captions (edit view)

Auto-Captioning

Example of Bad Captions

Resource: youtu.be/7MuDgfX9C2w

WCAG Requirements for Captions

03 What Are Transcripts?

Transcripts...

Are text-based documents with spoken words and important visual info Include sound effects and other visual descriptions Are similar to captions but include more details and time-stamps Are helpful for many people and SEO

Example Transcript (landscape)

Example Transcript (portrait)

WCAG Requirements for Transcripts

04 What Are Audio Descriptions?

Audio Descriptions...

Include a narrator who explains visual information verbally Convey visual information that dialogue and other sounds cannot When very detailed are called extended audio descriptions Primarily help people who are blind or have low vision

Example Audio Description

Can you guess the mystery movie trailer in this audio clip?

Example Audio Description

Resources: youtu.be/O7j4_aP8dWA (trailer with AD) youtu.be/z1qy5wSZAQI (trailer without AD)

WCAG Requirements for Audio Descriptions

Note: If all of the information in the video track is already provided in the audio track, no audio description is necessary.

WCAG Requirements for Extended Descriptions

05 What Is Sign Language Interpretation?

Sign Language Interpretation...

Can be cost-prohibitive to many organizations Is when you add a video or live-stream of an interpreter Is very important for people who are Deaf Includes 300 different versions throughout the world

Example of Sign Language Interpretation

Resource: youtu.be/PRnHVMBsLYg

WCAG Requirements for Sign Language

06 Tips & Tricks for Multimedia

Steps for Making Your Multimedia Accessible

Create captions and work on accuracy Add transcripts and audio descriptions Leave sign language to the pros

Presentation Tips

Text & Font Families Speaker Info & Sharing Color & Contrast Images & Visual Aids

Quote

“Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists — it is making a new space, a better space for everyone.” George Dei

Questions?

Slides: noti.st/cariefisher Article: cariefisher.com/a11y-media LinkedIn/Twitter: cariefisher

What Does Accessibility Mean for Multimedia?