PDFs, Video and Captioning, Audio and Podcats
Rich Media
Rich media and multimedia are synonymous terms for anything which incorporates interactivity and enriches e-learning, e.g. a movie which you can play, pause and watch again, an application with which you can interact and change outcomes or documents such as PDFs with hyperlinks that either act as jump blocks to different parts of the document or to external URLs. When incorporating rich media it is important to remember that this should enrich the learning experience for everyone and that the key concepts and ideas that learners need to have access to are available to all students, regardless of disabilities. This however does not necessarily mean that all formats included must be accessible to all users. Increasing the number of different formats in which eLearning content is available in, e.g. plain text, video, and separate audio tracks, not only caters for those with specific disabilities but also helps students with different preferred learning styles.
PDFs
Contrary to what many believe PDf files can be made accessible quite easily, even though many are not. This could be due to the fact that at the moment the only way to make accessible PDFs is to use Adobe Acrobat Professional. Many of the open source PDF creation tools merely produce an image of the document, or if they do create text that a screen reader can render they do not retain Word headings such as h1, h2 etc, ignore Alt tags associated with any images and generally will not allow these to be added later. AFB AccessWorld cover PDF accessibility in a clear easily understood manner in ‘What’s in a PDF? WebAim’s article PDF Accessibility: Defining PDF Accessibility explains how to produce accessible PDFs from Word documents, Open Office and Acrobat. JiSC TechDis have also produced a comprehensive guide to making PDFs accessible in their Accessibility Essentials series called Making the most of PDFs.
Improperly scanned documents can create PDF accessibility problems. Most scanning software now includes optical character recognition (OCR) but it is essential to remember that scanned PDFs should be saved as ‘documents’ and not as ‘images’ (jpg, gif, tiff etc.) otherwise screen readers will not be able to recognise any content. When using OCR software documents need to be proof read prior to publishing as some sans serif fonts may not be interpreted correctly by the software. If documents include multiple columns ensure that the scanning software settings reflect this or if no multi-column options are available then the document may need to have the reading order re-specified in order to indicate to screen readers where one column begins and the other(s) end as many screen readers may read from left to right across the entire page. If in doubt the document can be tested using Acrobat Reader 8 (and above) by going to the ‘View menu’ and selecting ‘Read Aloud’.
Video
Audio and video can add significantly to the effectiveness of a learning resource, However unless designed with accessibility in mind not all students will benefit from its inclusion. Severely visually impaired students will not be able to see video, deaf students will not be able to hear audio tracks. JISC TechDis' ‘Adapting multimedia-based materials’ articles cover what should be considered as ‘reasonable adjustments’ for developing inclusive rich media content for those with problems hearing those with problems seeing and those with Dyslexia. A simple test is to turn off the sound on a video, play it and assess whether a deaf learner still has access to key facts that the video is trying to relay. Play the video again but this time look away from the screen and ask yourself what would a severely visually impaired student get from the audio track alone. Lisa Herrod’s excellent article Deafness and the User Experience also outlines how to provide a better user experiences for the Deaf.
Video Captioning
WebAim provide a useful web captioning overview. Research has shown that many users prefer captioned video as it is not always possible or practical to use sound. Captioning can also help if the speaker has an accent that some students may find difficult to understand. In some cases a text transcript will not only help deaf students but will help all students with taking notes. Audio descriptions will help where intonation and key information is only available through sound e.g. [A gun goes off in the distance, sirens wail], for tips and advice see Joe Clarke’s Standard techniques in audio description. For adding closed captions to YouTube hosted videos CaptionTube is easy to use and works well, or if you prefer you could create a text track manually following the guidance given in Webdev-il’s SBV file format for Youtube Subtitles and Captions. For captioning Flash video see Adobe Flash accessibility design guidelines. WGBH provide a collection of captioned resources on their showcase site and multimedia tools and guidelines. For adding text tracks manually to QuickTime see Quick Time Pro Glossary of track descriptors. JISC Legal Lecture Capture Guidelines gives advice on all legal aspects of lecture capture using video, including accessibility guidelines.
Audio and Podcasts
Audio files and podcasts can make excellent e-learning content. Students can download material and listen whilst at home, at work, on the bus etc. For Dyslexic students mp3 files can make e-learning content much more accessible. JISC TechDis provide an excellent Audio Advice and guidance sheet and provide useful information in their Podcasting and Accessibility article. For pedagogical aspects of podcasting see Gilly Salmon's All things in Moderation resources page. The Sonic Spot give good advice on making voice recordings on a computer.