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Accessible Movies

Webpages should be accessible by as many site visitors as possible, including people who rely on closed captioning or other alternative methods for using webpages. At UW-Madison, websites must comply with U.S. Section 508 Guidelines. Every effort is made to prepare movies for accessibility before posting.

Making videos accessible:

1. In the page footer, list the name and email address of a person who can be contacted to request an audio transcription or alternative format.
2. Consider posting transcription of the movie dialog on the same page as your movie. Create the audio transcription as a plain-text file; use Word and Save As plain text, or create the text in a text editor. If you already have script for your movie, creating the audio transcription might not take long. If you don't have a script, listening to the movie and creating the text file takes about 1 hour for each 10 minutes of audio. For long movies, contact webmaster@engr.wisc.edu or the DoIT Help Desk for information about purchasing transcription services.
3. After you have an audio transcription, you can use software licensed by the University of Wisconsin System — Hi-Caption® software from Hiawatha Island Software Company. Download the software from:

   http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility/hisoftware/

   With Hi-Caption, you can import your audio transcription and add timing points for displaying the text to create a .smi file. When the .smi file is uploaded to a web server along with your movie, the closed captioning appears. Set the file permissions for both the .wmv and .smi files to allow read permission for everyone. It takes about 15-30 minutes for each 10 minutes of audio to add timing points with Hi-Caption.

Tutorial:

Captioning with Hi-Caption

Examples:

These College of Engineering webpages have links to movies that were closed captioned with HiCaption:

• 2005 Engineering EXPO

• UW-CREATe: Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology

• Engineering Development Office

• Geological Engineering Program

Tips:

• Visit the College of Engineering Closed Captioning webpage for settings in Windows Media player that optimize viewing closed-captioned movies.

• Other video formats such as QuickTime and RealPlayer can also be closed captioned. Visit the DoIT Streaming Media Accessibility website for information.

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Copyright 2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Date last modified: 12-Dec-2005
Date created: 07-Jan-2005
Content By: webmaster@engr.wisc.edu
Web services: webmaster@engr.wisc.edu