RE: Conformance of Synchronised Lecture recording transcripts

Rod, Jonathan has just given a summary of the main points that pretty well
covers it all. I would just add that you would have to ensure the .vtt
file, and the process to display it, is included in all distributions of
the video, or you would be sending out an un-captioned video! - immediately
failing the WCAG. For instance if YouTube cannot show this transcript in
the same way then you couldn't post it there. (I'm assuming your method
will not use the standard way of showing captions built into most online
video player software?)

For instance, will this transcript be viewable in all standard video
players or does it need a special player or mechanism? If a deaf student
can only view this transcript on a college machine with the appropriate
software while all your other students can view the video at home or
elsewhere, then you would be discriminating. (Apologies if neither of my
points are applicable in your case, but I haven't come across this type of
service before.) Better as already said above, to create standard captions
as well, and allow the user to decide which to display.

As to whether your method really count as captions within the meaning of
the WCAG, I would say it does, as the WCAG definition of captions is simply
"synchronized visual and/or text alternative for both speech and non-speech
audio information". That doesn't say it necessarily has to use the standard
captioning systems we normally expect. Your method complies with that,
provided the "synchronised" part includes being able to see both video and
transcript at the same time, as standard captions are. There would be no
point in synchronising them time-wise if they could not actually be seen
together at the same time!

On that point, you say that the "transcript scrolls automatically,
highlights the section being spoken". Does this mean that the current (i.e.
highlighted) text remains in the same position on screen? - and can that
displayed text be displayed immediately below the video player area?
Because if it moves down to the foot of a fixed area before that scrolling
starts, then the highlighted bit might end up too far from the video player
for viewers to watch both at the same time. Likewise, developers would need
to ensure that in all responsive page layouts the video and highlighted
transcript item are never parted from each other.

Guy Hickling
Freelance Accessibility Consultant
Newbury, Berkshire, UK