Over the past couple of years – and after several lawsuits filed against a few Ivy League schools – a growing number of universities are working toward accessibility compliance with their online video courses. Initially, the process can be overwhelming and take up a lot of resources. One university even resorted to removing its public library of 20,000 free educational videos because of a complaint filed by the Department of Justice. Unfortunately, because accessibility requirements are often met by a big-bad lawsuit when standards are not met, the whole process gets a negative designation right from the get-go.
Where to Begin
It appears that the initial obstacle for universities is a lack of appropriate education on both the requirements and the benefits of closed captioning. Often, universities do not take the proper initiative in allocating suitable funding or appropriately equipping the classrooms until the school is approached by an organization advocating for accessibility rights – at which time the need to comply becomes a time-crunched burden with a possible lawsuit attached.
It’s important to know that public and private educational institutions must provide equal access for students with disabilities in agreement with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as detailed in Title II (publicly-funded universities & vocational schools) and Title III (privately funded). Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 also ensure equal accessibility in any system of higher education that receives federal funding.
Beyond ensuring equal accessibility to all students, closed captioning is used as an effective learning tool by a significant percentage of students who do not self-identify as having difficulty with hearing. The availability of lecture and video transcripts helps students review and retain information outside of the classroom. It also aids students with learning disabilities, as well as ESL students.
Breaking Down the Roadblocks
Universities should not be overwhelmed by the thought of having to equip classrooms with an array of expensive technologies. The closed captioning process is simple. As long as clear audio can be transferred via the internet or a phone line, real-time captioners can write remotely to a variety of web platforms across multiple devices already available to students – devices such as mobile phones or laptops.
Furthermore, the educational value and benefits of closed captioning are often overlooked when it’s perceived as economically burdensome. Captioning is not only for the deaf and hard of hearing. Recognizing the value of captioning as a successful tool for all students should motivate all administrators to provide captioning on all their online courses.
The instant popularity of live video streaming apps like Periscope, Snapchat, and Facebook Live proves that authentic, in-the-moment content effectively captures the attention of audiences worldwide. Today, one out of five videos on Facebook are broadcast live and are watched three times longer on average than non-live. Considering that more than 5% of the world’s population – about 360 million people – have some degree of disabling hearing loss, there’s a significant number of users that the social networking service cannot ignore when over 100 million hours of videos are watched a day.Read
The final deadline of the FCC’s Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) pertaining to online videos is quickly approaching. On July 1, 2017, video clips (both straight-lift and montage clips) of live and near-live television programming (such as news or sporting events) will need to observe the following turnaround times for posting online with captions:
For clips of live programming, up to a 12-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
For clips of near-live programming, up to an 8-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
Live & Near-live Programming
Live programming is defined as programming shown on TV substantially simultaneously with its performance. When the Commission evaluates the compliance of captioning standards on live programming, there’s an understanding that live programming cannot be perfect since there’s a human element to live captioning and no opportunity to review and edit captions in a live setting. Therefore, there’s a little bit of leeway provided given the nature of live programming.
Near-live programming, which is programming that is performed and recorded within 24 hours prior to when it is first aired on television, is evaluated under the same standards applied to live programming. Although the FCC encourages measures to be taken prior to the program’s airing to improve its captioning quality, it’s understood that the window of time to make those corrections is very limited.
Revisiting the Internet Captioning Rules
The rules of the CVAA require video programming distributors that show programming on TV to post captioned clips of their programming on their own websites or applications ("apps"). Currently, the video clips rules do not apply to third-party websites or apps.
The Internet closed captioning rules only apply if the video programming was shown on TV in the U.S. with captions.
"Full-length video programming" is video programming that is shown on TV and is distributed to end-users in its entirety.
Excerpts of full-length video programming (with the same video and audio) captioned for television and posted online are denoted as video clips, or “straight-lift clips”, and require captioning as of January 1, 2016. The timeline for posting captions on videos online is within 15 days after the date of its initial broadcast.
On January 1, 2017, the law extended to “montages,” or edits composed of multiple single excerpts (“straight-lift clips”). For example, an hour-long talk show that aired on television may appear as multiple segments on the web afterward – say, abridged interviews of each of the guests. Those clips, all stemming from the original full-length program, are required to be captioned.
As of July 1, 2017, live and near-live programming will have to follow the turnaround times noted at the beginning of this post.
It’s also important to remember that consumer-generated media (e.g., home videos) shown on the Internet are not required to be captioned unless they were shown on TV with captions.
Repurposing caption files for the web can be as simple as reformatting and a quick file conversion. After all, the videos have already been transcribed. It’s just a matter of matching your video player’s specifications for web play-out. To learn more about getting your Internet clips compliant, please contact us.
Earlier this month at NRB Proclaim 17, we hosted a brief talk with broadcasters regarding the most updated FCC laws pertaining to closed captioning. Although it was intended as a review of the laws that are already in place, it proved that many of the laws are still not known, or unclear, to many broadcasters.
The talk was hosted at the Learning Arena located in the vendor exhibit hall. The goal of the Learning Arena is to foster true interaction between exhibiting companies and convention participants to share and connect; highlighting relevant education and training.Read
It has been a year since the FCC published updated guidelines pertaining to the closed captioning requirements for online video clips. The notice specified that excerpts of full-length video programming captioned for broadcast in the U.S. and posted via the video programming provider or distributor's website or app would need to have captions present.
This only applied to single excerpts or single “straight-lift clips” from a full-length program.
In that announcement, the FCC also marked January 1, 2017, as the date that this law will extend to “montages,” or edits composed of multiple single excerpts (“straight-lift clips”). For example, an hour-long talk show that aired on television may appear as multiple segments on the web afterward – say, abridged interviews of each of the guests. Those clips, all stemming from the original full-length program, will now be expected to be captioned.
This also warrants a reminder that Internet closed captioning rules only apply if the video programming was shown on television in the U.S. with captions. Consumer-generated media (e.g., podcasts, home videos, or tutorials) shown on the Internet are not required to be captioned unless, of course, they were shown on TV with captions.
On Deck
Another deadline for Internet video clips will be stepping up to the plate in mid-2017. On July 1, 2017, video clips of live and near-live television programming (such as news or sporting events) will need to observe the following turnaround times for posting online with captions:
For clips of live programming, up to a 12-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
For clips of near-live programming, up to an 8-hour delay is permitted in posting a captioned clip after the programming has been shown on TV.
Currently, these are the only dates remaining on the FCC’s initial 2012 release of Internet video programming requirements. We wouldn’t bet on this being the last.
Repurposing a caption file for the web can be as simple as reformatting and a quick file conversion. After all, the videos have already been transcribed. It’s just a matter of matching your video player’s specifications for web play-out. To learn more about getting your Internet clips compliant, please contact us.
Every year on March 2 (Dr. Seuss’ birthday), kids head off to school and celebrate reading with a program called Read Across America. Teachers set up cozy areas of the classroom where kids can relax and get lost in their favorite books.
But have you heard of Read Captions Across America? It is celebrated just like Read Across America but with an added twist—kids are encouraged to “read” educational programming that has the closed captioning turned on. The purpose is to raise awareness that closed captioning can promote literacy and foster reading skills. This celebration was founded by the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) in partnership with the National Education Association.
Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP)
DCMP promotes and provides equal access to learning for students who are blind, deaf, or hard of hearing. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf, the DCMP verifies and monitors the capabilities of captioning companies on their ability to meet their captioning requirements.
DCMP sets standards and offers guidelines for closed captioning, adhering to a reading speed (also called words per minute) that is appropriate for beginning readers to follow. Aberdeen Broadcast Services relies on DCMP’s Captioning Key as the basis for our closed captioning rules. We use it to train our new caption editors and transcribers on the importance of closed captioning quality. These guidelines help us adhere to the preferred captioning style of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
In 2011, Aberdeen Broadcast Services produced a PSA to help promote this event. You can view the video below, but remember to turn on the captions!
To learn more, visit the Read Captions Across America site here. There you will find access to appropriate media to share with students on this special day. DCMP even offers classic Dr. Seuss cartoons that are closed-captioned.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the global web-standards organization, accepted an Emmy Award earlier this month for its work developing standards to make video content more accessible on the web with text captioning and subtitling. In the category of “Standardization and Pioneering Development of Non-live Broadcast Captioning,” the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized W3C’s development of Timed Text Markup Language (TTML).Read
On November 10, 2015, the FCC held a roundtable event concentrating on the accessibility of public, educational, and government (PEG) video programming. With the increasing number of local governments and educational institutions feeling the pressure to become compliant, this all-day event was focused on promoting a discussion on the benefits, best practices, current obligations, and solutions - both technical and financial - of adding closed captioning to PEG video programming. The event was comprised of local government professionals, policymakers, captioning vendors, consumer groups, engineers, and others working in applicable fields of video programming.Read
In September of 2012, the FCC announced the obligation for closed captioning on all full-length Internet video programming that was previously broadcast on television in the United States with captions. In accordance with further rulings, multiple deadlines are imminent in relation to “Internet video clips,” as well as timelines for the presence of captions on videos once repurposed for the Internet.
The following blog was written by one of our clients, Simon Roberts, from Rock Church San Diego.
Since the Rock Church San Diego launched Closed Captioning at the 10 am live stream recently, I've had several inquiries into how we went about adding this essential feature.
I figured the best way to answer this is simply to write about it. So, in what is hopefully the first of many posts regarding church technology projects, let's begin.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Approximately 17 percent (36 million) of American adults report some degree of hearing loss. Source: Deaf Statistics for USA
