Standard 11:
Multi-Media

• STANDARD 11.1 — Audio  State agencies will provide synchronized text captions for multi-media content containing speech, or other audio necessary to understand the content, in accordance with the following schedule:
  
  1. By January 1, 2005, 10 percent of all multi-media content containing speech, or other audio, will be captioned.
  2. By January 1, 2007, 25 percent of all multi-media content containing speech, or other audio, will be captioned.
  3. By January 1, 2009, 50 percent of all multi-media content containing speech, or other audio, will be captioned.
  4. For all multi-media content containing speech a transcript will be provided until a synchronized text caption is made available according to the schedule.

  • Comments:  Multi-media content that have an audio component used to transfer information (e.g., narrative audio track of video, audio presentations, etc.) must include an alternative to provide that information to individuals with hearing impairments, or those viewing the multi-media content in a less than optimal environment (e.g., a noisy Internet cafe or a factory floor). The test for this standard is whether or not the audio portion of the multi-media content is necessary in order to be able to fully understand the multi-media. If, for example, you are using an unnarrated video clip with a musical soundtrack to demonstrate the behavior of a mother fox with her kits, then an alternative version of the audio track (music, in this case) would not be needed.

    For that content that does include informational speech audio, a text transcript must be provided until synchronized captioning can be achieved.

    NOTE: This web site includes a full copy of MAGpie, a tool for captioning video from the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM). See our Multimedia section.

  • HTML Elements Affected:  N/A. This is inherently a content issue and does not affect HTML code.
  • Code Examples:  N/A.
• STANDARD 11.2 — Video/Visual  State agencies will provide a video description for multi-media content that contains video, or other visual information necessary for the understanding of the content, in accordance with the following schedule:
  
  1. By January 1, 2005, 10 percent of all multi-media content containing video, or other visual information necessary for the understanding of the content, will include a video description.
  2. By January 1, 2007, 25 percent of all multi-media content containing video, or other visual information necessary for the understanding of the content, will include a video description.
  3. By January 1, 2009, 50 percent of all multi-media content containing video, or other visual information necessary for the understanding of the content, will include a video description.

  • Comments:  Video clips or other visual media such as Microsoft PowerPoint presentations are good ways to impart information, whether it is an instructional video on how to tie a fishing fly, a video animation explaining the geographic forces that shaped the Adirondacks, or a PowerPoint presentation depicting how the different branches of government perform checks and balances on one another. However, relying on visual images to convey information will exclude those members of your audience who, for whatever reason cannot see the video.

    Described video (also known as descriptive audio) is an additional audio track that narrates the significant action and information being shown via the video. For more information on described video, see the Starling Web site athttp://www.starlingweb.com/AT-LINKS/guide/l3f-E.asp

  • HTML Elements Affected:  N/A. This is inherently a content issue and does not affect HTML code.
  • Code Examples:  N/A.
• STANDARD 11.3 — Web Cast  All state agency web casts will have synchronized captioning of the speech, or other audio content contained in the web cast, in accordance with the following schedule:
  
  1. By January 1, 2005, 10 percent of all web cast hours, residing on the web site, transmitted during the preceding 12 months will include captioning.
  2. By January 1, 2007, 25 percent of all live web cast hours residing on the web site will include captioning.
  3. By January 1, 2009, 50 percent of all live web cast hours residing on the web site will include captioning.
  • Comments:  This extends the captioning requirement of Standard 11.1 to web cast content stored on State agency servers.
  • HTML Elements Affected:  N/A. This is inherently a content issue and does not affect HTML code.
  • Code Examples:  N/A.

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