Sample Video and PowerPoint Presentation

Dr. JoAnn Rolle Former Professor, Business and Management University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Maryland. View Revised Video | Read the transcript (Video requires the free RealOne Player)

Dr. Rolle's video and PowerPoint presentation introduces an important business software program to her students. Created and revised with the help of a technical support staff, the presentation uses Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) to synchronize the video and PowerPoint slides for display in the RealOne media player.

The Problem | How it Was Fixed | Lessons Learned

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The Problem

The lack of alternative text in Dr. Rolle's original video presented accessibility challenges to students who were unable to:

• play the video or
  
• hear the audio.

How it Was Fixed

A transcriber and a multimedia Web programmer implemented two major accessibility changes:

• An HTML transcript makes the dialogue and slide descriptions universally accessible in an alternative (text) format. (How To: Audio and Video: Transcripts)
  
  
• Synchronized captions make the video accessible to students who cannot hear, or who do not have speakers. (How To: Audio and Video: Captions)
  

The improvements provide access to Dr. Rolle's presentation for students who:

• cannot hear or see,
  
• have technical problems with the video, or
  
• want to print out a version for later review.

Other students, including students with specific learning disabilities, may also benefit from the improvements, especially when the dialogue is unintelligible or unfamiliar.

Audio descriptions of the slide content were not included in this presentation, but they would further improve accessibility.

Lessons Learned

1. Captioning tools are available, but may require patience. For example, Media Access Generator (MAGpie)—a captioning tool developed by the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)—was considered for this project, but was slow and unresponsive. It may work better with Windows Media Player or QuickTime. Even with these drawbacks, captioning tools can still be helpful (especially if you are unfamiliar with SMIL or SAMI) and they will certainly improve over time.
   
   

   To learn more about MAGpie, visit the NCAM/Media Access Generator (MAGpie) Web site.

   
   
2. Create captions in stages. First, synchronize sentences, then phrases, then fine-tune the text to make sure the captions read easily.
   
   
3. The SMIL (captioning) programming took approximately 30 minutes per one minute of video.
   
   
4. If possible, provide the video in two formats (for example, RealOne and Windows Media) to increase accessibility.
   
   
5. Test the presentation on a dial-up modem to expose problems not readily apparent in the development environment.
   
   
6. Try to find someone in your office willing to develop transcripts, and/or work with others to encourage your institution to find and pay for a reliable transcription service.