Re: text equivalents for multimedia

Anne,

We have ideas about what you should do, but they are largely untested.  I
hope people can step back a bit and say, "What can we do with this site?"
in a positive vein.

Links to a static display of the words for the song is one thing.

It is also possible to play the words on the screen as captions in time
with the music.  Using the SMIL format and the Real Networks G2 player that
would play.  

WGBH has a tool under development (beta versions are available) which helps
in creating the caption tracks.  

If this is a bit daunting we should maybe recruit in EO for volunteers to
help you with the captioning of the material.

This stuff is not widely deployed.  There is some at the Able channel.  So
this is not stuff "obviously you should be doing now."  But perhaps by
using the network we can get you help to make your site a
leading-technology example and we can point others at it.  It would be
great to do it with something the kids put up of their own singing.

Al

At 12:21 PM 2000-03-01 -0500, you 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
>

Received on Thursday, 2 March 2000 08:57:23 UTC