Re: Audio Descriptions for Talking Heads

On Jun 20, 2011, at 1:39 PM, Loretta Guarino Reid wrote:

> It sure seems to me that this kind of information doesn't need to be synchronized.
right -but if not in the video - it is unlikely to travel with the video

> And a tool that added it to the beginning of a video would need to be very careful that it fixed up all the timestamps in any captions for the video.

I was thinking it would just overlay / mix with the audio there so there would not be need for retiming. 
> 
> Wouldn't it suffice to set the stage in text associated with the video?

Not really as good.  Doesn’t meet guidelines - and won't travel with the media.  but might work for a particular page.... 

> 
> Loretta
> 
> On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 10:02 AM, Gregg Vanderheiden <gv@trace.wisc.edu> wrote:
> Hi David,
> 
> 	if there is a talking head - then there usually isn't any space for description anyway.
> 
> 	Also - the point is to allow a person who is blind to access key visual information.
> 
> 	On key part IS the front end of the video where they usually have an identification of the speaker.  OR during the video - where they overlay the screen with text identifying the speaker. 
> 
> 	It would be good to get audio into those places if there is a pause in the regular audio.
> 
> 	I think this is a  GREAT place for an online tool (or free downloadable tool) that would allow people to add a few short descriptions to a video for these types of situations.   It would not have to be done by "talent" if non - commercial.
> 
> 	we also should work more on "closed description" mechanism which should be easy in IP to allow video description to be available on request.
> 
> 	This is what GPII is all about  (http://raisingthefloor.org  and http://GPII.net)
> 
> 	I also added Nicholas Reville < npr@pculture.org> to this posting.  Nicholas and "Universal Subtitles"   (http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/) is spearheading this aspect of GPII)
> 
> 
> Gregg
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
> Director Trace R&D Center
> Professor Industrial & Systems Engineering
> and Biomedical Engineering
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> 
> Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International
> and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project
> http://Raisingthefloor.org   ---   http://GPII.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 18, 2011, at 10:01 AM, David MacDonald wrote:
> 
>> I’ve been coming across a lot of this lately, and don’t really know what to do about it... we have a requirement for audio descriptions... but 95% of all video on Government and corporate sites are just talking heads, like a message from the CEO, or from the marketing manager, or from the Minister, where he’s just talking in front of a non-consequential background.
>>  
>> Honestly, it seems extraneous to require these videos to be audio described which can cost thousands of dollars, and provides almost zero value for a person who is blind...
>>  
>> We could I guess get a voice overdub at the front that says... “the minister speaking in his office, with a flag in the background” ... but I almost wish we had some kind of an exception for these videos of talking heads... it would cost a thousand bucks for that line, (unless there is some kind of internal production facility).
>>  
>> Thoughts?
>>  
>> David MacDonald
>> www.eramp.com
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Loretta Guarino Reid
>> Sent: June-15-11 2:43 PM
>> To: WCAG
>> Subject: 16 June 2011 Agenda ==============================
>>  
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>>  1. Status of publication
>>  2. Miscellaneous Issues and Techniques for 16 June 2011
>>    Survey: <http://tinyurl.com/3lrxgvs>
>>  3. Other discussion topics, depending upon who is present?
>>     * Are Word documents web content?
>>     * Vivienne's question about hierarchical headings?
> 
>