HOW TO: Add closed captions to a presentation
Once you have uploaded a presentation to Mediasite and made any optional edits to the content, you should add closed captions the viewer can use instead of (or in addition to) the presentation's audio. You can either hire a third-party provider to create captions for your Mediasite video, or you can create them yourself. Both methods are discussed below.
Outsource or DIY: Which method should I use?
This decision involves considerations of cost, manpower, timeliness and accuracy.
Use a Transcription & Captioning Service
Create Captions Yourself
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Hands-off: Check a box on a Mediasite presentation, and a request is sent to the transcriber, who creates the transcript, adds timings to create captions, and then automatically posts the finished captions to the presentation within a few days.
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Highly accurate: Most services offer an accuracy guarantee. Transcription and captioning is what they do all day, every day.
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Can become costly quickly: At a per-media-minute rate, the cost to caption an entire course of lecture videos can add up quickly. Careful budget planning that accounts for these costs is essential to the successful adoption of universal design standards in academic program offerings.
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"Free," sort of: While you would not receive an invoice from a third-party provider, you would still incur the cost of your time and effort (or that of a student assistant). All costs considered, we generally find it is less expensive to use a professional transcription and captioning service.
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Labor intensive: Creating and reviewing captions on your own is a time-consuming process. A one-hour lecture may require 4-6 hours to transcribe and caption, depending on the material and the quality of the transcription.
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Variable accuracy: Chances are, neither you nor your assistant will have any formal transcription training. The quality of the captions will be difficult to guarantee.
Important Note: You should make any desired edits to your Mediasite video before you create and add captions. Mediasite will not automatically edit or remove portions of existing captions. For example, if a video already has captions, and you edit the video to remove the first 30 seconds of content, the existing captions will remain unchanged, meaning the captions will run 30 seconds behind the edited video. Creating and adding closed captions should occur after your final edit.
Webinar: Closed captions (30:56)