Podcasts, Vodcasts and<br />Accessibility
EASI
Presenter
Dick Banks
What are they?
Podcasting/Vodcasting are Internet technologies that can be used to provide users with information materials they can use anytime, any place, even when they are not connected to a computer.
Podcasts - audio + transcription
Audio is NOT multimedia so no streaming
Vodcasts - video + transcription
Must be streamed
What are they technically?
RSS = Really Simple Syndication
Feed = The title of the program or course. Example: It's About People not Technology
Item or Episode = The parts of the feed. weekly, monthly
Subscription = automatically delivered to your desktop.
Relatively simple to create
How can they be used?
course audio - lectures and/or test review
mini lessons with audio and visuals, eg., glossaries with sound and images, slides with voice-over explanations
audio or video case studies containing interview with experts or other speakers
multimedia presentations created by students - UW-Madison
Educational podcasts & vodcasts
Lectures can be interactive learning
Podcasts and vodcasts can be passive listening and watching
Transcriptions permits the user to interact with the text with underlining and adding notations while listening and watching
Providing transcripts for users with disabilities is a form of universal course design
The Dark Side of <br />Podcasting and Vodcasting
sufficient bandwidth to download
limited usefulness for the hearing impaired
audience participation.
Training issues
Time consuming - particularly Vodcasting
Vlog = Video Blog
Combination of Vodcast and Blog.
Vlog can be interactive
Transcriptions are the Key!
Podcast and Vodcast accessibility come down to ONE major issue. TRANSCRIBING.
Listen to the audio and type the transcription - Lecture Recorder
Use something like Dragon NS
Outsource
Consider These Stats<br />Jeffrey Daniel Frey's Blog
the average person talks at 140 words per minute
there are 4.5 letter per word on average
140 * 4.5 = 630 characters or key strokes
add spaces between words (140) and punctuation (30)
800 characters spoken per minute
Consider These Stats<br />Jeffrey Daniel Frey's Blog
the average person can type 60 words per minute
60 * 4.5 = 270 chars or key strokes
spaces and punctuation added - 340
340 characters typed into 800 characters spoken 2 1/2 minutes = 1 min. of audio
Transcription Issues
Quality of recording
Classroom - Conference room - Recording equipment
Terminology
Medical - Legal - Discipline specific
More than one speaker
Final editing
Voice Recognition<br />Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro
What is acceptable accuracy
95% with minimal training
Listening and talking can be a challenge.
Recording profile - .wav - .mp3 .wma
Digital recorder
7 profiles
In most cases, one half hour of training will give satisfactory results.
Outsourcing <br />CastingWords.com
Vector Graphics Text<br />for Streaming Video
It isn't really text. It is a picture of text.
Vector graphics text = closed captioning
Up to this point, the only choice for portable devices like IPODS
iPhone and iPhone type devices may change the rules
While primarily for the deaf, audio transcriptions and stream text in videos are helpful to other populations.
Section 508 Requirements
requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology, Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by that of employees and members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be placed on that agency to do so.
Section 508 Requirements<br />Part A
Information Technology Includes
Information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, information kiosks, World Wide Web sites, etc and it mentions multimedia.
Section 508 Requirements<br />Part B
software applications and operating systems
web-based intranet and internet information and applications
telecommunications products
video and multimedia products
self contained, closed products
desktop and portable computers<br />
Section 508 Requirements
(a) requires that a text equivalent for every non-text element be provided on a web page.
(b) says that equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation should be synchronized with the presentation.
(m) requires that web pages which provide proprietary files on their site such as Real Audio or a PDF also provide a link to a plug-in that will allow the user to get the file.
Interim Solutions<br />Accommodation
(b) says that equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation should be synchronized with the presentation.
Synchronized = Accessible
Transcription = Accommodation
Next Week
We will look at RSS and managing your Podcast and Vodcasts from subscription to creation.
Questions or comments<br />dick.banks@gmail.com