Greater access for all
Online learning materials increasingly include a range of video materials such as documentaries, news items, YouTube videos, theatrical performances and interviews. However, for the deaf or hard of hearing, people with vision impairments, or people with cognitive or learning difficulties, uncaptioned videos or material without transcripts limit access.
Creating Accessible Video Content
Creating Accessible Microsoft Stream videos
Creating Accessible Microsoft Teams Meetings
What is captioning?
Captioning transcribes all of the audio elements of a video, including dialogue, sound effects and descriptions of music and song lyrics (if they are important in the context of the video). Captions have long been available on television and DVD s, and for cinema screenings and theatrical performances. They are now becoming more common on online videos, with most media players supporting them.
Captions may be either 'open' or 'closed'. Open captions are encoded onto a video and will be seen by anyone who watches it. Closed captions can be turned on and off by the viewer.
Captioning benefits
Deaf and hard of hearing people are not the only ones who benefit from captioning. Captions benefit those who have, for example, auditory processing disorders/dyslexia, or who come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Everyone benefits when captions accompany dialogue that is spoken very quickly, by people with different accents and where there is competing background noise. Captions can also help to clarify brand names, full names and titles, and industry-specific or technical terminology.
Why captions are important
Below are three videos that discuss the challenges for students without access to captioning. The first is from the previous CEO of Media Access Australia (the company is now called the Centre for Inclusive Design). The second video shows some of the challenges relating to poor captioning. The third video discusses an academic’s perspective on addressing the needs of students within the classroom through accessible materials.
Engaging Auslan interpreters for events
Learn more about the protocols for engaging Auslan interpreters and captioning services for events and activities at Griffith.
