A draft guide for developing college policies and procedures for ADA compliance and more broadly on captioning media content and complying with HEAO.

2. Definitions

3. Considerations for Establishing Campus Procedures

4. Campus policy oversight

5. Obtaining copyright permissions

6. Captioning existing media

7. Purchasing new media

8. Equipment to view captions

9. Frequently Asked Questions

10. What is the turn-around time to get a piece of media captioned?

11. What is the cost of adding captions to media?

12. What should I consider when deciding to perform captioning services at my institution or send media out to a captioning vendor?

13. What should I look for when choosing a captioning vendor?

14. How do I get permission to add captions to materials that are copyrighted?

15. How do I know if a piece of traditional media is captioned and for web-based media players, how do I turn on the captioning?

16. Doesn’t the Fair Use Law allow educational institutions to make multimedia content accessible by adding captions?

17. Where should we start?

18. Are there other ways to make media presentations accessible?

19. How can I legally use a video recorded from broadcast television?

20. Appendices

21. Sample letter to obtain copyright permission

23. Before using an existing legally obtained video currently in inventory or recorded from a broadcast, obtain copyright permission to caption. The video may not be used unless it has been captioned. It will not be captioned without copyright permission. Be aware the process of obtaining copyright permission to caption a video is lengthy.

25. What if media used with a curriculum is not captioned? Will the instructor be required to change the course curriculum? What if the instructor refuses?

26. Who will oversee the quality of captions added to media to ensure the captions follow DCMP guidelines?

28. Who is responsible for securing and maintaining copyright permissions?

30. Will your campus perform captioning on-site or will you send media to an outside vendor?

34. There is much variance in the cost of adding captioning to media. Cost depends on whether the captioning is done in-house or sent out to a captioning vendor. If the captioning is done in-house, the cost depends on the sophistication of the software used.

36. Don’t underestimate the labor costs of adding captioning to media. It is estimated that one hour of media requires 8-10 hours of labor to add captioning.

37. Does your institution have technicians available to do captioning in-house?

38. What is the volume of media needs to be captioned? Can this volume be handled in-house or will you need to send the media out to an outside vendor?

39. How quickly do you need the captioning? Sending media to a vendor may or may not have a longer turnaround time as compared to doing the captioning in-house. Some vendors offer online services that allow schools to submit the audio files of digital media via the internet. The vendor creates transcripts that are digitally time-stamped and returned to the school for synchronizing with the video. These services can offer a quick turnaround time.

40. Some educational systems have established a contract for discounted captioning services with specific vendors.

41. What should I look for when choosing a captioning vendor?

42. The Captioned Films and Videos Program (CFV), now the DCMP, was given the responsibility by the U.S. Department of Education to develop a list of approved captioning service vendors. DCMP looks at captioning aspects that ensure captioning comprehension such as:

43. Spelling accuracy

44. Number of captioned words per minute displayed on-screen

45. Sound effects (e.g., “buzz” or ♫)

46. Explanations of audio (e.g., thinking/dreaming)

48. Look over the material to find the publisher’s or owner’s information.

49. Call or email the publisher or owner to ask permission to add captions their work.

50. Give a brief explanation of what, where, when and why you need permission to copy their work.

51. If they verbally agree to allow permission to copy the material, ask to follow up with a written agreement.

52. If they feel a verbal agreement is sufficient, thank them for their permission to copy their material.

53. Document the person’s name, date, and a brief description of your conversation.

54. Attach a copy of the written agreement or the verbal written description to the media you plan to have copied.

55. Maintain a copy for your files.

56. See Appendix A for a sample letter to obtain copyright permission.

57. How do I know if a piece of traditional media is captioned and for web-based media players, such as YouTube and Windows Media Player, how do I turn on the captioning?

59. Providing a written transcript of the audio content or a sign language interpreter as access for a video offers only marginal access. It is not possible to read a transcript or watch an interpreter and view a video simultaneously. This results in missing the visual information featured in the video while reading the transcript or watching the interpreter or vice versa.

64. Will maintain a record of all permissions for captioning and the digitization of copyrighted media resources.

65. Will assist faculty by:

66. Identifying materials that are captioned prior to purchase.

68. Will coordinate the process for captioning media resources for which permission to caption has been obtained.

70. Will provide specific instructions on the existing instruction sheets for faculty so it will be easier for them to show captioned media in their classroom.