Re: Checkpoint 1.2 clarifications

On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Joe Clark wrote:

  I suppose I should have noticed these before. However, WCAG does seem
  to be relying on WGBH to spot all the errors in discussing captioning
  and audio description, two fields of very little familiarity for most
  members.

CMN Well, we rely on all the expertise we can find. Now that you have joined
the group we have more people who have experience in this area. (there are
others as well, who are less visible on lists, but the more we have, the
less likely I think we are to make silly mistakes).

about:
  >*	Example 1: a movie clip with audio description and captions.
  >A clip from a movie is published on a Web site. In the clip, a child
  >is trying to lure an alien to the child's bedroom by laying a trail
  >of candy. The child mumbles inaudibly to himself as he lays the
  >trail. When not watching the video, it is not obvious that he is
  >laying a trail of candy since all you hear is the mumbling. The
  >audio description that is interspersed with the child's mumbling
  >says "Charlie lays a piece of candy on each stair leading to his
  >room." The caption that appears as he mumbles is, "[inaudible
  >mumbling]."
JC
  If it's inaudible, how do we know it's mumbling? When mouth movements
  are unaccompanied by voice, a caption along the lines of [no voice]
  is customary.

CMN Correct. But this example explicitly states that mumbling can be heard.

about
  >*	Example 3: a silent animation.
  >An animation shows a clown slipping on a banana and falling down.
  >There is no audio track for this animation. No captions or audio
  >description are required. Instead, provide a text equivalent as
  >described in checkpoint 1.1.
JC
  It should be expressly permitted to record an audio description.

CMN Anything the guidelines does not say must be avoided can be done - this
is implicit. But there have beena  few comments along these lines - perhaps
we should try to make it a bit clearer.

Certainly examples could say something like "an audio description or caption
track is not required for this case, although it will still be useful to some
people so may be provided".

Cheers

Charles

Received on Tuesday, 28 August 2001 22:06:33 UTC