© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Adding Meaning To Media

Pat Brogan, Ph.D.

Automatic Sync Technologies

June 2009

1

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Adding Meaning To Media

• Why caption and transcribeo Benefits and Penaltieso Research

• Selecting Media

• Captioning options and process

• Creative ways to fund captioning

2

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Pat BroganBias- Passion for leveraging technology for learning

30+ years professional engagement Hardware, software companies: IBM, Apple, Macromedia, Academic

Systems, Echo360

Dissertation and Research on rich-media & distance learning Worked with standards on elearning (SCORM, LOM,

Accessibility) Adjunct marketing professor SCU Highly influenced by motherhood, non-profit work with at-

risk youth

3

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 4

About AST

• Founded in 1998 post-US Dept of Education grant (SBIR program)

• Provides transcripts, and automated, web-based, offline captioning for variety of media formats (40)

• Used by 1000+ customers

• Outstanding price, service and quality

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Adding Meaning to Mediathrough Captioning

• Improve learning outcomes by delivering a richer variety of learning materials

o Primary source of input for deaf and hard of hearingo Support different learning styles and skillso Reinforce language and literacy skills, ESLo Fit more learning environments

• Mobility, privacy, devices, bandwidth

• Make content discoverable, navigable, reusable• Accessibility compliance with legislation and policy

mandates: Federal, State & Local, system, institution

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Challenge:

Close your eyes and think about the image the word

“caption” evokes

6

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

TV Subtitles?

7

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Foreign Language Subtitles?

8

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 9

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 10

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

It’s Not Just About The Deaf

• Majority of caption users are not hearing impaired

• It’s more than just TV

11

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Supporting Disabled Students

12

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Changing The Model As The Models Change

• Move from accommodation to Universal Design• Provide learners with control, options

Transcripts instead of note-takers

Recorded lectures for those immobile?

• Re-think “transmissive pedagogical” models --Park egos about attendance

• Andragogy vs. Pedagogy• Just in time vs. just in case learning

• Appreciate preemptive multitasking, social networking

modality of digital natives

13

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 14

Appreciate Research• “Augmenting an auditory experience with captions more than

doubles the retention and comprehension levels.” Gary Robson, The Closed Captioning Handbook

• “People retain about 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 50% of what they hear and see.” Dales Learning Cone of Experience (www.willatworklearning.com/2006/10/people_remember.html)

• Confucius :"Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand”

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 15

• Adult students that used captioned video presentations progressed significantly better than those using traditional literacy techniques. Benjamin Michael Rogner, Adult Literacy: Captioned Videotapes and Word Recognition

• Dual Coding Theory postulates that both visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels with the human mind creating separate representations for information processed in each channel. Allan Paivio, University of Western Ontario

More Research

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Multi-Modal Learning

16

•Use 2 or more senses to avoid sensory overload (Granström, House, & Karlsson 2002, Clark & Mayer 2003)

•Read it: transcripts of the instructor‘s presentation are available• Hear it: audio of the instructor maps to the video of the presentation •See it: presentation materials, screenshots, and diagrams appear on-screen synchronized with the instructor‘s words•Do it!

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Learning Outcomes:SFSU Study

• Instructional video materials delivered randomly to students-50% with captions 50% without

• Two trends emerged:o No captions: students were quite passive and silent during class

discussions - with the "usual speakers" dominating the conversation and generalizations were pervasive.

o With captions: students were more engaged and responsive to the questions asked about the film. In a similar vein, students made interesting analogies to their everyday lives and reference to specific information and events from the video was much more abundant.

• GPAs were 1 full point higher with population exposed to captions

• Source: And Captions For All? A Case Study of the Relevance of Using Captions in a College Classroom by Robert Keith Collins, Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies

17

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 18

Better Absorption of Materialo “It helped me to catch words that I didn't understand, and also

helped with spelling.”o “It allows me to ‘pause’ the lecture and take notes from the

captions when my note-taking lags behind the spoken lecture.”o “I caught several things the second time around reading

captions that I did not listening the first time around.”

Allows Better Interactivity with Course Materialo “I much prefer the captioned lectures and being able to look at

the links while you are talking. So far this has been the BEST online class I've taken at SJSU, others should learn from your example.”

Students Speak-SJSU

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 19

Diversifies Delivery of Video Mediao “I was able to ‘read’ at my desk without having the audio turned

on so that others in my office wouldn't be bothered.”

o “Captions also allow you to view videos when you are in a situation where you are not able to use sound.”

Students Speak

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

• Captions and transcript text can be used as meta-data for SEO (search engine optimization)

• Can work with variety of tools: Google video, AST search, Reelsurfer

• CNET captioned video drove 30% increase in Google hits

Captions Improve:Searchability, Discoverability, Navigability

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 21

The Stick: Accessibility & Legal Compliance

• Federal, State and Local, System-wide, campus initiatives

• Federal Accessibility legislation: ADA, Section 504, Section 508

• NY, TX, MO, NC, VA, IL, OK, CA have accessibility laws for education. Missouri passed captioning law for

publishers with treble damage penalties

• State law summary at: http://accessibility.gtri.gatech.edu/sitid/stateLawAtGlance.php

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 22

Section 508 requires Federal electronic and information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and members of the public.

§ 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications. This section applies to all websites and is not unique to training materials or online courses. The standard requires that web content be constructed and tagged in a manner that enables the effective use of screen readers and other technologies that allow people with disabilities to access internet content. The commercial marketplace includes numerous design tools, checking methods, and training courses to assist website owners to comply with Section 508.

§ 1194.24 Video and multimedia products. This section contains two provisions that apply explicitly to training and informational video and multimedia productions. These provisions require a) captioning of any speech or other audio information that is necessary for the comprehension of the material and b) audio descriptions of any visual information that is necessary for the comprehension of the material.

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Legal Precedents

• Non-compliance results in civil rights actions

• Lawsuits:o Targeto AOLo UC

23

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 24

Scope of “Captionable” Media

• University Communications (Promo and news videos)

• Distance Learning materials, Podcasts

• Recorded classes and learning objects

• VHS/DVD library archives

• Broadcast productions

• Special Event videos

• Student content

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Content Portals• iTunes U

o 250+ universities, 175K educational content items, 58M users

• YouTubeo 160+ Universities, 30K videos

• Campus LMS; media servera• Lecture Capture systems• Academic Earth, Facebook, Twitter

25

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Why Use Content Portals?

• Extensive adoption=distribution

• Minimal training/ end user support

• Inexpensive

• Ubiquitous, cross-platform and devices

• Adds value to brand

• Creates framework to sell content

26

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Making Content Accessible

• Consistent with Universal Design Principles

• Caption and sync video

• Provide transcripts+ of audio

• Audio descriptions for video

27

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Accesible iTunes U Content

• For Audio only/Podcast add a transcript• For VODcast (.m4v) add captions and a transcript

o AST can provide transcript and .scc file, additional integration step needed.

o How to movie at:http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/podcaption.htm

• For video: line 21

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Adding Content to iTunes U

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 30

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 31

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

QuickTime Captioning Options

32

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 33

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

YouTube Accessibility

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBe8_zTvgqI&fmt=18

Need to do screen shot for this but snagit doesn’t work on mac so I need another tool

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 35

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 36

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Accessible Echo360 Recorded Lecture

37

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Echo360 Automated Captioning Workflow

38

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Creative Uses of Transcripts & Captions

39

Students retain more if they are able to 'read ahead' and have more of the transcript visible

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/lit-review/

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 40

VTE’s Providing a Full Transcript Offers:

•The ability to perform deep searches

•The ability to print, download, and annotate course materials to improve retention.

•VTE allows the student to unlink the transcript and treat it as a standalone asset. Additional time to review materials. In some cases, students may not natively speak the instructor‘s language.

•Having a verbatim transcript allows them to pause the audio lecture and look up words they need to clarify without missing any of the material.

•Compliance with American with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 41

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Deciding What to Caption & Transcribe

Type of content Shelf Life Volume Translation and or transcription

Lectures Short High Maybe

Supplementallearning

Long Low Yes

Distance learning Short or long Low Yes

Events Long Low Both

Student content Short Low No

42

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies

Prioritizing Captioning Projects

• Critical Accommodations

• Distance Learning classes and materials

• Public information

• Training materials

• Events, communications

• Recorded lectures43

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 44

Evaluating Captioning Solutions

• Does it meet the need? Accuracy, quality, speed…

• Cost?

• Reliability?

• Scalability?

• Ease of use: minimal impact on workflow?

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 45

Captioning Approaches Considered:

• Realtime vs.Offline

• Student labor

• Speech Recognition solutions

• Outsource captioning vendors

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 46

Initial Findings

• Stakeholders did not all fully appreciate the scope of the problem, what is required to create a compliant result, or the cost involved.

• Individual campuses did not have adequate resources to leverage bulk discounts.

• Search for a “silver bullet” solution sometimes kept people from finding reliable, effective solutions.

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 47

Initial Findings

• Large-scale student-based transcription was difficult to build and scale reliably; more expensive than it first seems.

• Speech Rec solutions do not produce a compliant, usable result due to high error rates. The labor cost to repair the results makes them uncompetitive.

• Most campuses were already working with or experimenting with Automatic Sync Technologies.

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 48

Intelligibility vs Error Rate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 5 10 20

Error Rate (%)

Inte

llig

ibilit

y S

co

reEffect of Errors

Predicted Result

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 49

Intelligibility vs Error Rate

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 5 10 20

Error Rate (%)

Inte

llig

ibilit

y S

co

reEffect of Errors

Actual Test

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 50

Submission Options

•Web-based user interface

• Lecture capture uploads

• Tools available for batch uploads

• Interface for automated upload processes (eg: CNET)

• Mail-in service for VHS/DVDs

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 56

Helpful info

• Help page

• http://www.automaticsync.com/caption/results_faq.htm

• http://www.automaticsync.com/help

© 2008 Automatic Sync Technologies 57

Other Resources

• The CSU Intro video is at: http://calstate.edu/accessibility/resources/

• Take a look at AST’s home page for more information: http://www.automaticsync.com/caption

• Examine our growing series of “how-to” videos (all captioned!) at: http://www.automaticsync.com/help

• Info for Flash captioning: www.automaticsync.com/flash

• Info for Podcast captioning: www.automaticsync.com/caption/podcaption.htm