Video & Audio
Black Widow can provide video captioning services for your online presentations as well as advice on developing web videos for promotion, advertising and training. We can also assist with audio transcripts.
Please contact us for further details.
Captioning
Captions are usually text versions of the spoken word but may also include audio descriptions of visual scenes and sound effects.
Captions allow the content of videos to be accessible to those who cannot hear the video's audio track. Although the main focus of captioning is the deaf or hard of hearing, it has also been found to help others - such as those who may not be fluent in the spoken language of the video.
Web accessibility guidelines recommend that captions should be:
- Synchronized - the text content should appear at approximately the same time that audio would be available
- Equivalent - content provided in captions should be equivalent to that of the spoken word
- Accessible - caption content should be readily accessible and available to those who need it
On the Web, synchronised, equivalent captions should be provided whenever video content is made available.
Open Captions
Most people are familiar with closed captioning via their TV. A hardware decoder within the TV can display captions that are sent as part of the TV/video signal. Open captions work in a similar manner but are provided as a supplement to the video information. This latter technique uses the functionality within common multimedia players to display the captions along with the video on demand.
Audio Descriptions
Audio descriptions provide additional information about what is visible on the screen. This allows video content to be accessible to those with visual disabilities. Audio descriptions are important if the visual content within a video provides important information that not available through the audio track.
Transcripts
Transcripts also provide an important part of making web multimedia content accessible. They allow anyone who cannot access content from web audio or video to read a text transcript instead. Examples include:
- Deaf/Blind Users
- These users access content through the use of refreshable Braille and other devices. Purely visual or audio information cannot be parsed for display on their hardware, so they rely heavily on alternative content formats.
- Deaf Users
- Deaf people cannot access any information that is available solely as audio content. Text transcripts allow them equal access to audio content.
- Screen Reader Users
- Many proficient screen reader users configure their software to read at a far faster rate than most humans speak. Transcripts allow these users to access information at their preferred speed compared to listening to the actual audio content.
- Others
- Not all of your sighted and hearing visitors may have access to multimedia players. Offering alternative formats maximises your opportunities to communicate effectively with all of your visitors.
- Search Engines
- Transcripts allow the content of your multimedia to be indexed and searchable.
Transcripts do not have to be verbatim accounts of the spoken word in a video or audio file. They can contain additional descriptions, explanations, or comments that may be beneficial.
For most web video, both captions and a text transcript should be provided. For content that is audio only, then a transcript will usually suffice.
