Multimedia Transcripts & Captioning Guidelines

Transcripts: Basic transcripts are a text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content.

Captions (pre-recorded): Captions (called “subtitles” in some areas) provide content to people who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing. Captions are a text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content. They are synchronized with the audio and usually shown in a media player when users turn them on. The term “Captions” alone is typically associated with pre-recorded videos.

CART Captions (real-time): Communication access real-time translation (CART) is a service in which a trained CART captioner listens to the speech and instantaneously translates all speech to text. At Brock University, MS Teams meeting organizers can set up and offer CART captioning instead of the Microsoft Teams built-in live captions that are automatically generated. This typically requires procuring a captioning service, scheduling their services, and using the meeting details to share a captioning URL with the CART service provider.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) sets out the compliance requirements for alternative formats, transcripts, and captioning of multimedia content including pre-recorded audio and video content. It states in section 14.4:

• 1. By January 1, 2014, new internet websites and web content on those sites must conform with WCAG 2.0 Level A.
• 2. By January 1, 2021, all internet websites and web content must conform with WCAG 2.0 Level AA, other than,
  1. success criteria 1.2.4 Captions (Live), and
  2. success criteria 1.2.5 Audio Descriptions (Pre-recorded).

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) sets out the implementation requirements for multimedia transcripts and captioning. In states in 1.2 Time-based Media: Provide alternatives for time-based media:

• Success Criterion 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A): Captions are provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media, except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labelled as such.

AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION (ASR)

Automatically generated transcripts are produced within a few minutes of uploading video to either of Brock’s supported video hosting options, YuJa and Microsoft Sharepoint (including Stream). Both tools will thereafter allow the transcripts to be applied as captions. This includes videos uploaded directly to the YuJa Media Library or through Brightspace’s Insert Stuff button, as well as Microsoft Teams recordings.

Note that Brightspace’s internal “Video Note” tool does require that the uploader specify an auto-generated transcript during the upload process.

Automatic Speech Recognition is not perfect and transcripts can contain errors with word recognition, spelling, and grammar. Both YuJa and the Microsoft options provide the means to edit the generated text.

See below for links to step-by-step help articles on editing transcripts on these platforms.

Human-Assisted Captions

Human-assisted captions combine ASR captions as a starting point with a human editor to further increase the accuracy of the caption to 99%+. They take longer to produce but might be the best and most appropriate option for someone in need of caption-related accommodations in your course.

• For instruction: Brock University Student Accessibility Services will follow-up with instructors who are teaching courses with an identified student who requires accommodation.
• Online meetings: Individuals hosting online meetings with MS Teams that require real-time captioning can procure the service following Brock University’s regular procurement policies and procedures and then follow the steps Microsoft has outlined.

RESOURCES

• Government of Ontario. (2005). Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
• World Wide Web Consortium. (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
• World Wide Web Consortium. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.
• Use CART captions in a Microsoft Teams meeting (human generated captions).
• Brock University Marketing and Communication. Brand standards for video.