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Read through the Captioning Tech Doc to learn the ins and outs of ASR vs. CART. This knowledge will help you get far in the escape room! 

Either people or computers can create captions. When a computer creates captions, they are called automatic speech recognition (ASR) captions. ASR captions are often cheaper (if not free), faster, more widely available, and a great option to increase accessibility. The automatic captioning on YouTube is an example of this type of captioning. However, the accuracy rate of ASR captions ranges anywhere from approximately 70-90% and this rate is not acceptable to provide equal access for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people who depend upon captions to understand content.  

In the scenario that someone DHH requests captions, you must go with CART. CART stands for Communication Access Realtime Translation. Professionally trained captioners caption in real-time with at least 98% accuracy and attention given to slang, accents, and cultural nuances. If you need a CART captioner, please contact Access Services. 

Did you know you can caption your PowerPoint presentation live in almost 60 different languages? Not only does PowerPoint’s subtitle feature allow you to caption in the language you are speaking in, but also it has a feature that allows you to translate your speech into captions in another language. This is a great tool to use to provide support for multilingual audiences. 

Read through this Power Point: Turn on Subtitles tech doc to learn how to use this amazing feature. Then practice creating captions on PowerPoint in the same language you are speaking in and in a different language than you are speaking in. 

Please note: If you are presenting on Zoom, it's advisable to use the Zoom captioning rather than the PowerPoint captioning so that participants can turn their captioning on and off at will. However, PowerPoint caption provides an excellent way to provide captions for in-person presentations. 

If you took an online class or recorded an online presentation, you might be familiar with Panopto, BMC’s video streaming platform. But did you know that Panopto automatically creates ASR captions for any video that is uploaded? Although this is a very helpful feature, keep in mind that ASR captions on Panopto are not always accurate due to sound quality and individual pronunciation. Also, videos get automatically captioned in English, so videos in other languages will still need to be captioned manually or edited. Luckily, it’s very easy to edit captions in Panopto.  

For this week’s training, review how to edit auto-generated captions on Panopto following this tech doc on Panopto Captioning.  

If you are interested in creating captions in a language other than English follow the instructions under the Edit Captions Outside of Panopto heading in tech doc. 

Creating a transcript for podcasts or videos that don't support captioning is a great way to ensure access. While there are many paid services that can create a transcript for you, there are also free ways you can create a transcript yourself. 

Using Microsoft Word 

Follow the instructions for using the Microsoft Word Dictate Function.  Us the dictate function as you record your podcast. When finished, edit the Word document for errors. 

Using Google Docs 

Open up a new GoogleDoc. Click “Tools” and from that menu, select “Voice Typing.” When you’re ready to begin, click the microphone icon and begin to speak or play your podcast. GoogleDocs will record everything spoken. Later you will need to go back and edit the text for accuracy. 

Using Ava 

Open up the the Ava desktop app. Click the blue button that says “Start Captions Now.”  The app will listen for sound and then start captioning. Play your podcast or video. When you are done, click the exit button. A pop-up window will appear asking if you would like to save the transcript. Save the transcript and open it in the program of your choice. There, you can edit the transcript for accuracy. 

Using Otter AI 

Go to otter.ai and click “sign up” to create an account. Once you have created an account, log in and click the blue Record button. Play your podcast. When you are finished, click the Stop button. Wait for a few minutes for your transcript to process. When the transcript is ready, click on it under Recent Activity. Once you’re in the transcript screen, click the three dots for the More options menu, and then click Export. From there, you can export the text and edit it in the program of your choice. 

So far, we’ve talked about captioning media and presentations, but did you know tools exist to help you caption in-person conversations as well? 

Ava was specifically built to help bridge the gap between hearing and Deaf/HOH people. In addition to its desktop closed caption feature that was reviewed in previous trainings, Ava captions one-on-one and group conversations through their phone, web, and desktop apps. 

Microsoft Translator was specifically built to help bridge the gap between speakers of different languages. Using this app, people can speak and read captions in their preferred language as the app captions it in real-time. 

For this week’s training, download the Ava app on your phone and review these instructions on how to caption one-one-one and group conversations with Ava. 

Next, download Microsoft Translator and read through these instructions on how to caption multilingual conversations with Microsoft Translator. 

Submit before Thanksgiving break to appear Nov 29 

When setting up captioning for an event, there are a few steps you should consider. 

First, when you advertise your event, please include the following language:  

Bryn Mawr College welcomes the full participation of all individuals in all aspects of campus life. Should you wish to request a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact the event sponsor/coordinator. Requests should be made as early as possible.     

Also, while advertising the event, please clearly list what accommodations you will be providing.  If you say that you will be providing captioning, please clearly state what kind of captioning it will be: CART or ASR. If you are using ASR, encourage people with need for CART to please let the event organizer know so it can be secured in a timely manner. Contact accessservices@brynmawr.edu as early as possible if someone requests captioning or an interpreter in order to allow for the service to be scheduled in time. 

Second, as you choose your layout, make sure that seating is such that everyone is able to see where captioning will be projected.  Consider how you will market additional captioning features for the day of the event. Will you provide guides, signage, and assistance if you are using an app like Microsoft Translator or Ava to provide captioning?  Will you reserve seating in the room for those who might have special accessibility needs? 

Lastly, remember to provide captioning for all media! For example, if you have an event that involves a speaker presenting, a brief film clip in the middle of the presentation, and a breakout session, make sure to provide captioning for all three.