Re: text equivalents for multimedia

Charlie,

	This morning I was pretty down on SMIL, but this afternoon I've had more
time to explore the links you provided, and am currently downloading free
software that promises WYSIWYG use to produce the code. Ahhhh. And I read
up on what SMIL is supposed to be able to do when it's fully developed, and
I get a strong whiff of "Educational Applications" from it. Seems like SMIL
could be used to make web presentations of materials to be learned, as a
stand-alone, or as part of an educational site... Something that could
make, oh,er,a lesson, group of lesson, or even a whole (basic) school
online.... 

	Seems SMIL could be a worthwhile investment of some teachers' time to
learn it and make it grow... 

	What would be the problem with having full-screen streaming video? Too
much bandwidth and cost? Is the cost at the server end or the user end? 

	Oh, this afternoon I spoke at the faculty meeting, announcing the county's
website, and what was happening at the other schools so far, and asking
this faculty to consider who wanted to do what. I've a volunteer to do the
Pre-School program (including the pre-school handicapped kids, the at-risk
kids, and the head start kids), and another to do the Kindergarten classes.
The one for Pre-School did a web page for a community college class, and
made a webpage in Word, which she is now maintaining on Geocities. The
other has just been given a computer from her husband, and told to learn to
use it... So, these are my first two "students" in a faculty of
forty/fifty. The others undoubtedly shared sighs of relief we were happy
with two volunteers the first time it's brought up ... 

	Well, I better dust off my scanner.... I promised I'd scan student work
for the website for teachers, and I hope I will be taken up on the offer...
<grin>. The download is finished, and I need to go see if SMIL is ready for
teachers to use.... If I can learn it, other teachers can too... 

					Anne

	
	

At 06:18 AM 3/5/2000 -0500, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
>Anne,
>
>if you are going to go the full SMIL solution, the place to start is
>http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo - the Home page for the SMIL working group. It
>includes links to tutorials, authoring tools (You can use Word as a text
>editor to make SMIL code, but as far as I know FrontPage does not support
>it) and players.
>
>There is also a note by Marja-Riitta Koivunen and Ian Jacobs specifically
>covering the accessibility features of SMIL - at
>http://www.w3.org/TR/SMIL-access
>
>The Magpie tool being developed by WGBH National Center for Accessible
>Multimedia (NCAM) is specifically designed to allow you to add captions. I
>know that it is being beta tested, but I am not sure if it is more generally
>available yet.
>
>One problem with SMIL (like multimedia in general on the web) is that
>different formats are supported by different players. For example writing a
>Java players that supports GIF images, and .AU format sound files, and plain
>text, is very simple. The most widespread player is probably the RealPlayer
>series, although they are only available for a few platforms. I believe that
>it also handles the widest range of formats - the Quicktime player may also
>handle a wide range of formats.
>
>What you want can be accomplished, but it is currently at the bleeding edge
>of technology. This only changes when people take the plunge - good luck, and
>if I can help I will.
>
>Cheers
>
>Charles McCN
>
>
>On Fri, 3 Mar 2000, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>
>  Charles, Thanks.
>  
>  	Now, next question is where does one goe to learn to use SMIL, and can the
>  code be developed by either Word or Front Page. I, personally, have no
>  knowledge of SMIL other than to know it describes coding that works similar
>  to HTML. 
>  
>  	I will need to be able to tell other teachers, some people who haven't a
>  clue about HTML let alone any other coding languges, on how to do pages
>  that are primarily there to display what children have accomplished and to
>  communicate these accomplishments to parents, community members, other
>  schools, and any one else interested. 
>  
>  	Can this be accomplished? 
>  
>  					Anne
>  
>  At 07:58 AM 3/2/2000 -0500, Charles McCathieNevile wrote:
>  >Anne,
>  >
>  >providing a link to the words would help. Ideally they would be in a
format
>  >where they are synchronised with the text (one way to do this is to use
SMIL,
>  >so the words can be included as captions). I think if you can do these two
>  >things you have met the requirements of checkpoints 1.1 and 1.4, which are
>  >the two relevant checkpoints for level-A accessibility in this
>  >case. Identifying clearly what the links are too (for example by using a
>  >title attribute to provide explanation of the link:
>  >
>  >  <a href="some/caption" title="captions for the song hey-nonny-no"><img
>  >  src="something" alt="captions"></a>
>  >
>  >would also be good. (I forget the checkpoint number). Copyright is
copyright
>  >- if you are reproducing the words you need to meet copyright obligations.
>  >(If you are linking to them, it is clear that you are not claiming them as
>  >anything but the work/proprety of the site to thich you are linkng,
then you
>  >need not worry).
>  >
>  >Cheers
>  >
>  >Charles McCN
>  >
>  >On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Anne Pemberton wrote:
>  >
>  >  Wendy,
>  >  	Excuse my denseness. We just got an Internet site last week for the
school
>  >  I work at. I've known it was coming, and have had bursts of ideas on the
>  >  brain for weeks now. One was inspired by finding a site: Famous
Americans:
>  >  Pictures and music by Mrs. Eberle's 2nd grade class (Washington,
Jefferson,
>  >  Lincoln, Tubmam, Anthony, King)
>  >  http://www.ih.k12.oh.us/ps/americana/Eberle/EBsongs.htm
>  >  on which 2nd graders sing songs about each of the pictured history
people.
>  >  There is no text other than the names under the pictures which serve as
>  >  links to the music. (I would have loved to have found the words to
some of
>  >  the songs, but I figured it was more than the kids could handle and the
>  >  teacher saved some for another year... 
>  >  	Anyway, one of my first grade classes, weekly practices "He's Got the
>  >  Whole World In His Hands" until we get a mic in the new lab so they can
>  >  begin to record and edit the piece. 
>  >  
>  >  	If I am to exemplify "accessibility" to other elementary teachers
making
>  >  web pages in their classses, is it enough that I add a text to the
page or
>  >  to a link to page of the words? Do I need to include a copy of the
musical
>  >  notation? Would I be required to obtain a copyright to include the
musical
>  >  notation if that's necessary or usable to the hearing impaired (e.g.)? 
>  >  
>  >  	The website is "free" educational website for schools under the name of
>  >  Family Education. I get to the site at: http://myschool.com 
>  >  I attended the training last week, and noted, tho the presenters were
both
>  >  from Boston, and my ears have been long-trained to the slower pace of
>  >  southern speakers, I don't think I heard any mention of
accessibility, tho
>  >  the trainers said we could only put one graphic on per page, I found out
>  >  over the weekend, that I could put a page of graphics (about 12), with a
>  >  background, as long as I store the graphics and background on an
off-site
>  >  server ... and I'm anxious to put up a web page with sound on it....
But I
>  >  do want to do it right. But what is right? I try to read up on and
and end
>  >  up confused.... Again excuse my denseness.....
>  >  
>  >  					Anne
>  >  
>  >  
>  >  
>  >  
>  >  At 01:10 PM 2/23/2000 -0500, Wendy A Chisholm wrote:
>  >  >hello,
>  >  >
>  >  >In the general techniques document in the section on audio and video it
>  says:
>  >  ><blockquote>
>  >  >Equivalents for sounds can be provided in the form of a text phrase on
>  the 
>  >  >page that links to a text transcript or description of the sound file.
>  The 
>  >  >link to the transcript should appear in a highly visible location
such as 
>  >  >at the top of the page. However, if a script is automatically
loading a 
>  >  >sound, it should also be able to automatically load a visual
indication 
>  >  >that the sound is currently being played and provide a description or 
>  >  >transcript of the sound.
>  >  ></blockquote>
>  >  >
>  >  >This implies that the text equivalent of a multimedia clip can *only* 
>  >  >appear on a separate page.  What if someone provides in on the same 
>  >  >page?  This question has come up in ER as we are trying to determine
what 
>  >  >to ask the author if we find multimedia on a page.
>  >  >
>  >  >I thought we had discussed this already on this list, but I did not see
>  any 
>  >  >mention of it in the archives nor in minutes.  Either I missed it or
I'm 
>  >  >thinking of an ER thread.
>  >  >
>  >  >--wendy
>  >  >--
>  >  >wendy a chisholm
>  >  >world wide web consortium
>  >  >web accessibility initiative
>  >  >madison, wi usa
>  >  >tel: +1 608 663 6346
>  >  >/--
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  Anne L. Pemberton
>  >  http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
>  >  http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
>  >  apembert@crosslink.net
>  >  Enabling Support Foundation
>  >  http://www.enabling.org
>  >  
>  >
>  >--
>  >Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409
134 136
>  >W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI
>  >Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
>  >Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001,  Australia 
>  >
>  >
>  Anne L. Pemberton
>  http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
>  http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
>  apembert@crosslink.net
>  Enabling Support Foundation
>  http://www.enabling.org
>  
>
>--
>Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org    phone: +61 (0) 409 134 136
>W3C Web Accessibility Initiative                      http://www.w3.org/WAI
>Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
>Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001,  Australia 
>
>
Anne L. Pemberton
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
apembert@crosslink.net
Enabling Support Foundation
http://www.enabling.org

Received on Monday, 6 March 2000 19:49:59 UTC