Speaker 1: Enhancing Accessibility of Video and Audio Hello everyone, I'm Cherry. We are the Hashtag Idea Project team from the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. This video is about how to enhance the accessibility of videos and audios. Videos and audios play an essential role in teaching and learning. For example, the flipped classroom instructional model makes heavy use of videos as pre-class learning materials. Animation videos could also be used to illustrate abstract concepts or models. Instructors may upload pre-recorded videos or podcasts online for students to access the learning content under asynchronous teaching mode and to learn at their own pace. Researchers may use videos to showcase research findings and public education. If the video and audio are inaccessible, it is possible that some students may be unable to access the content and participate in learning activities. It hinders equal opportunities of participation. In this video, we will cover essential tips that will make video and audio more accessible. It is important to note that software and computer programs are constantly and rapidly developing along with the changing accessibility functions. Refer to the specific media editing tools and media players for the latest status of accessibility-related functions. Please also keep in mind that the points mentioned in this video are not exhaustive and do not guarantee full accessibility. We should always consider diverse needs of users. We also encourage you to refer to our toolkits to further explore the accessibility of videos and audios. About production. We will need to consider accessibility throughout the whole production stage. It is important to consider the accessible practices throughout the whole production stage, from creating the storyboard and script at the very beginning of the planning stage through the filming and recording editing to the dissemination stage. It would be relatively easier and time-saving to modify the media that are somewhat accessible than to try to convert inaccessible materials to become more accessible. You could learn more about the needs of diverse users and possible practices for creating more accessible video and audio. The W3C accessibility guidelines would be a choice for reference.

Speaker 2: Media players.

Speaker 1: Regarding media players, we will need to be aware of three things. Selecting media players with accessibility functions, referring to player-specific accessibility support updates, and being aware of restricted access to certain platforms. It is important to consider the accessibility of media players and channels. It is always good to consider the context as well as the diverse characteristics and needs of the target audience. Make the choice of media player in response to their needs accordingly. Select media players that support a wide range of accessibility-related functions whenever possible. The playing mode of the media players would affect the accessibility of the video or audio to users. A general underlying principle is to select media players that allow users to choose options they are comfortable with and that match their access needs. The following are six examples of recommended options. Allow users to adjust video speed so they can watch the video at their own pace. Different people are comfortable with different watching speed. Some users may find original speed too fast that they miss out lots of the important information when watching. Conversely, some users may be running out of time and would need to finish watching the video in shorter time. Provide timestamps of meaningful segments or video chapters to facilitate users to find and re-watch certain parts of the video more easily. Allow users to freely set how captions are displayed, such as text style, text size, colors, and position.

Speaker 2: It will make the captions more readable to more specific groups of people.

Speaker 1: Support the use of interactive transcript for audience to access the transcript and media file at the same time. Select and click on a particular part within the transcript text and go to the corresponding part in the media file directly.

Speaker 2: Allow users to access the media players on different devices and browsers.

Speaker 1: Allow users to access alternative formats of media within the same player, such as sign language interpretation. An example of media player that supports all these is the Able Player. It is an accessible cross-browser open-source HTML5 media player, which includes a full set of player controls that are keyboard accessible, properly labeled for screen reader users, and controllable by speech recognition user. It is free of charge. It also supports video upload via YouTube and Vimeo. Refer to player-specific accessibility support updates. Always refer to the media player-specific accessibility support updates to facilitate your planning, as well as the process of the whole production stage. Some example updates from Able Player, YouTube, and Vimeo are provided in our toolkit. If you would like to learn more about this issue, please refer to it. There might be varying extent of restricted access to online media player platforms and applications at some geographical locations. Some audience may not be able to access your content in this case. It is always important to consider context, characteristics, and needs of the target audience, and modify the choice of online media player platforms, or provide alternative means to access the content accordingly. Regarding creating content or storyboard, we will need to be aware of three things. Being mindful of inclusive language and disability representation. Writing descriptive scripts and avoid vague narration. And avoiding too much flashing content. Be mindful of inclusive language and disability representation. Use inclusive language in storyboards and scripts. Avoid biased language. Consider disability representation and diversity in mind when drafting storyboards and scripts. Portray disabled people as ordinary people in the society as they are. Do not create an impression of separateness, specialness, and dependence. Avoid focusing on their medical conditions. Avoid portraying disabled people as a passive receptant of help from others. It is also good to portray diversity. Some people with disabilities in everyday society situations and campus environment. Avoid emphasizing too much on some people with disabilities, who have remarkable achievements as role models through storytelling or first-person sharing in storyboards and scripts. After all, the accomplishments of people with disabilities are worth celebrating on the basics of their competence instead of their disability status, just as it is to celebrate the accomplishments of people without disabilities. Write descriptive scripts and avoid vague narration. It is becoming more and more common to create screen recording for tutorials and step-by-step demonstration of certain topics and skills, such as the use of computer programs. Don't assume that all audience can see what is being shown on the screen. They may not be able to use a mouse for system control or follow the narration at your pace. When drafting a script and narrating the screen recording, avoid using vague descriptions such as click here, this, there, this button, or that slide. It is suggested to use more descriptive and precise phrases, such as the text box at the top right of the screen. Verbalize the contents that are being shown, such as the location, direction, and name of the target object. Avoid too much flashing content. The creative use of animation or flashing contents in the video may promote user engagement. However, be aware of the overuse of animation or flashing objects in the media. Content that flashes more than three times per second may trigger unpleasant feelings, especially to people who are photosensitive. Animation or flashing contents may distract some users from the main content, especially people who have difficulties in reading or concentrating. Users of obsessive technologies such as screen readers and magnifiers may not be able to interpret the rapid-changing animated content in time before the content goes away. Do not convey important information solely by animation or flashing contents. If the use of animation cannot be avoided, you can provide an option to allow users to play, pause, or stop the autoplay of the flashing contents. It allows users to read content at their own pace or as they want to. Regarding shooting, we will need to be aware of two things. Avoiding shaky video and ensuring the front view of speakers and sufficient lighting. Shaky video may cause motion sickness or distract viewers. Try using different tools or methods to keep the camera steady during the shooting, such as a tripod and a stabilizer. Ensure front view of the speakers and sufficient lighting. Some audiences may use loop reading and speakers' facial expressions to facilitate the interpretation and understanding of the content. It facilitates loop reading and observation of facial expressions or any other non-verbal expression. Regarding editing, we will need to be aware of two things. Avoiding extreme differences in sound effects and putting text overlays on playing backgrounds. Keep the volume level consistent whenever it's possible. Unexpected sound or extreme difference in sound effects within the same video or audio may be shocking or distracting to some audience. If there will be any sudden loud noise or any potentially triggering scenes in the media, mention this information in a webpage to alert the users. For example, users may want to turn down the volume of their earphone before playing the media file. Avoid overlay text on a busy background of a wide range of colors. It could be difficult to ensure sufficient contrast between the colors in the background image and the text. It is difficult to read the overlay text. To make the text more readable, we may put text overlay on a painted background, insert a solid background behind the text, or insert a darker overlay to the screen. It will be less likely that the audience would miss the text. It is also important to check and ensure sufficient color contrast between the background and the text overlay. Regarding alternative presentations, we would need to be aware of four things. Providing captions and using auto-captioning effectively. Providing transcripts and timestamps. Providing sign language interpretations. Providing audio description for videos. Provide captions and use auto-captioning effectively. Captions are the text description of the dialogue and background sound of media content. The information conveyed by the caption and associated media should be synchronized and equivalent.

Speaker 3: Another point is avoiding long and complicated sentences. Divide long bodies of text into different sections.

Speaker 1: Audience should be able to receive the same information if they access either the media or the captions alone. Caption could enhance accessibility to deaf and hard of hearing users. It will also be useful when the media content involve many specialized topics and jargons. Or audience are not familiar with the language used in the media. Or when audience is in a sound sensitive environment in which playing out the audio loud is not allowed. If the media with captions are uploaded online,

Speaker 2: the captions would improve the search engine optimization of the media content. The content may reach more potential audience.

Speaker 1: There are different types of captions depending on how it is displayed. Closed captions can be toggled on or off by the audience while the media is being played. Open captions cannot be toggled on or off by the audience while the media is being played. If you embed the captions in the video file directly, make sure the font, font size, and color contrast of the text against the background are accessible and easy to read. It is also important that the burned-in captions should not block any part of the video content. If burned-in captions are needed, it is suggested to use under-video captions so that the captions will not overlap with the media content. You may also want to be aware of the accuracy of the auto-generated captions. Caption quality is crucial to the access and understanding of the media. Whenever it's possible, edit the auto-generated captions afterward to improve accuracy and to improve your own captions and timestamps. In virtual teaching, it is common to record video conferences and online classes for playback afterward. The real-time auto-captioning function may only be able to capture the speaker's voice. The speaker may need to repeat any question or feedback from the audience for everyone to listen to it clearly. Audience may identify the name before speaking. Read out the content in the checkbox before replying to it. Also, check whether and how auto-captioning function will be able to capture the speech content or speakers in individual breakout room sections during video conferences. An example for tools for real-time auto-captioning in class is WebCaptioner. It is free and no installation is needed while using it. Another tool is the auto-transcription for cloud recordings on Zoom. For more guidelines and tools, please refer to our toolkit. Provide transcripts and timestamps. Transcripts are the text version of the content conveyed by the video and audio. Audience should be able to receive the same information if they access either the video and audio or the transcript alone. Audience may encounter low bandwidth and unstable internet connection or limited data plans on mobile phones to load the media. Transcript may be particularly preferred under such situations because users do not need to struggle to load the whole media to access the media content and captions. Transcript can be converted to alternate formats for screen readers, braille and translate to other languages to cater for the diverse needs of different users. When displaying the transcript, you could put the content in logical paragraphs to facilitate readability and understanding. For dialogue, when there is more than one speaker, indicate the speaker who is talking. Include the description of the tone of voice. This could help the audience to identify who is speaking that line and understand the content more logically. Another important point is providing a transcript in accessible ways. There can be different methods of posting the transcript, partly depending on the media hosting method, media player functions and delivery method of the media file. The transcript may be available as a separate text file for downloading as a separate web page or embed in the media player. Some media players can support the use of interactive transcript. Audience can access the transcript and the media file at the same time. They can select and click on the particular part within the transcript text and go to the corresponding part in the media file directly. There are tools available for editing your transcripts. One example is the automatic transcription with cloud recording by Zoom. The auto-generated transcript contains timestamps that can be edited afterward to improve accuracy. The transcript can be downloaded as a text file in web VTT format for further editing and use.

Speaker 2: Another example is the caption and description editing tool. You can download it for free from their website.

Speaker 4: Provide sign language interpretation.

Speaker 1: Provide the sign language interpretation of the video and audio to cater for the access needs of deaf and hard of hearing audience and those in need. There are different methods to provide sign language interpretation in videos and audios. For example, as an overlay window at the bottom right corner of the video. Split the original video screen into two parts side by side with the speaker's video screen on the left and the window showing the sign language interpretation on the right. Provide audio description for video. Audio description provides the narration of key visual elements in the video, such as speaker's names. It will promote the access and understanding of the video content to audience with visual impairment. It should include the audio from the default soundtrack plus additional information that are important to the video that is only visually conveyed. A simple test to know if your audio description could capture the key element is by comparing the understanding of the video content and experience of watching the video with eyes closed and re-watch the same video with eyes opened. Avoid default autoplay of media. The unexpected content and default autoplay may be inaccessible to some users of assistive technologies such as screen readers. There is a chance that these unexpected sounds or flashing content trigger seizures or discomfort in some people. The unexpected sound could also be shocking or distracting to some users. If there will be any sudden loud noise or any potentially triggering scenes in the media, mention this information in a web page to alert the users. For example, users may want to turn down the volume of their earphone before playing the media file. A solution is to allow users to control playback of the media at their own pace whenever it's possible. Users may want to revisit certain parts of the media content at their own pace. This video does not contain any business promotion elements. Software, programs and operating systems are constantly and rapidly developing along with changing accessibility functions. Statements in this video about the functions of any software, programs and operating systems may no longer represent their current status. The recommended practices in this video are not exhaustive or the best solutions for each situation. It is possible that the hyperlinks of the cited resources in this video might be edited or removed by the corresponding contributor after publication of this video.

Speaker 5: References You may find the full references on screen now. You may also refer to the text version of the reference list below the video player on the web page. Acknowledgement This project is funded by the UGC Special Grant for Strategic Development of Virtual Teaching and Learning. The first author, Gloria Ma, would like to acknowledge the support of the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme offered by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. To cite this video, please follow the suggested citation. This work is licensed under Attribution Non-Commercial Sharee-Alike 4.0 International. For more guidelines on creating accessible digital educational materials and virtual learning environments, please refer to our Virtual Learning Accessibility Toolkit at https://vlaccessibilitytoolkit.hku.hk or download the full text in PDF from HKU Data Repository. You may scan the QR code on screen now to visit the database. You may also download the set of cheat sheets for quick reference and sharing. You are highly encouraged to watch the other videos in this ID Leader's Self-Learning Series to enrich the knowledge of the basic concepts, practical tips and resources of enhancing the accessibility of virtual teaching and learning. Here comes to the end of this video. Thank you for watching. Let's begin our journey towards co-creating accessible virtual teaching and learning.