FW: Audio Notes and Guidelines (FIXED)

Forwarding some comments from another list made by Greg Lowney to my previous posting.

Gregg


-----Original Message-----
From:	Greg Lowney [SMTP:greglo@microsoft.com]
Sent:	Thursday, July 17, 1997 12:07 PM
To:	Multiple recipients of list; Gregg Vanderheiden; David Bolnick
Subject:	RE: Audio Notes and Guidelines (FIXED)

Comments below marked in {Greg Lowney: ...}

	----------
	From:  Gregg Vanderheiden[SMTP:po@trace.wisc.edu]
	Sent:  Thursday, July 17, 1997 12:58 AM
	To:  Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:  Audio Notes and Guidelines (FIXED)

	OOPS - USE THIS VERSION INSTEAD.


	AUDIO ACCESS

	This is a first pass at capturing ideas for access to AUDIO
information.

	Everyone, feel free to comment and critique.

	Gregg




	TYPES OF AUDIO USE (SIMPLE MODEL)
	Remember it is not what the audio is but how it is used that
determines which category it falls in.  (These categories are NOT
necessarily EXCLUSIVE)


	1)  as DECORATION -  Something with no particular information
value in understanding the intent and content of the page but which
someone may want to know the description of.   This may occur when a
page is entered, when the mouse passes over an item on the screen or
when something is done to the screen.
	        Examples: background music for a page, talking or sonic
icons (earcons), or decorative, non information bearing auditory
feedback on a button press.  
	        NOTE:  If the sound is more than decorative and provides
useful information that is not already presented visually then it does
not fall in this category.


	2)  as AUDITORY PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION - this is
information which is presented in auditory form.  
	        Examples:
	             - speech or informative sounds that play when a
page is opened 
	             - an icon that talks when you move the cursor to it
	             - a sound file that is called up from an anchor on
the page
		- navigation sounds made by the browser   


	 3)  as AUDITORY PORTION OF AN AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATION  (MOVIE
OR ANIMATION) - a sound track that is time synched to a visual
presentation of some kind.  This could be the audio track of a movie or
it could be audio that is time synched to animation on the page.


	 4)  as AUDIO THAT IS TIME SYNCHED TO SELECTIONS - this is any
audio that is time synched with opportunities or selections.  For
example, narration that calls for the user to act at certain times to
cause a particular effect or result.  

	{Greg Lowney: a more intuitive description might be "Timed Audio
Prompts".}



	ROUGH DRAFT SET OF COOPERATIVE ACCESS GUIDELINES (FOR BOTH WEB
PAGE CREATORS AND BROWSER DESIGNERS)

	PAGE CREATOR GUIDELINES

	P1) AUDIO TEXT NOTIFICATION - All pages with autoplay audio
should have a notice alerting the user to the presence of the audio.  If
the audio is decorative then the notice would usually be at the bottom
of the page.  If the audio provides directions or is otherwise important
to the use of the page then the notice should be at the top of the page.
This notice can also act as the anchor for a description or
transcription of the audio.

	{Greg Lowney: We recommend that the author provide descriptions
using the TITLE attributes for all BGSOUND tags (background sounds) that
convey important information. Internet Explorer 4 will display these
titles, and other browsers should follow suit.}

	P2)  AUDIO DESCRIPTION/TRANSCRIPTION -  All audio files should
have a SEPARATE TEXT DESCRIPTION or TRANSCRIPTION of the audio.  This
audio text should be in a form that can be easily displayed in a
browser. (we will need a standard for this).   (Transcription is for
text,  description is for sounds)

	{Greg Lowney: I would say that this should be done only for
audio files that convey information, and if that's the case I don't
think one can always easily separate out the transcript from the
description. That is, information is often conveyed through both means
simultaneously, so it seems to me easier to use one file (or preferably
a Web page) as a description/transcription.}

	P3) TIME SYNCH FILE  - All transcription files should be
accompanied by a text synchronization file that can be used to
synchronize the transcript with the original audio presentation.  (this
will need a standard too).  This is most important for Movies, Animation
with Audio, and other Time Synched audio.   It is useful for all audio
to allow simultaneous listening to audio by people with or without
hearing.   

	{Greg Lowney: By this are you referring to SAMI or equivalent?}

	NOTE: Using separate audio, text and synch files allows you to
add captions to any audio file, any movie, etc. It also has the ability
to allow multiple sets of captions to be used to allow captions to be
matched to the reading skills of the user. (e.g. exact transcription
captions or simpler version captions)


	P4) Pages should provide a link to the transcription file next
to any links to audio files (until such time that all browsers allow
access to transcriptions from the audio file link).   They should also
provide references to the transcription (?TEXT=) and the synch file
(?SYNCH=) within the audio file or movie link (for those browsers that
do support synched text).



	BROWSER DESIGN GUIDELINES

	B1) BROWSERS & VIEWERS SUPPORT AUDIO CAPTION FILES
	All MOVIE VIEWERS and AUDIO PLAYERS should support time synched
text (caption) files.  Browsers should provide the necessary support to
link the 3 files to the viewers/players.  


	B2) ABILITY TO PULL UP TEXT ONLY 
	All browser should have a command that could be issued (while
the user is on a link to an audio file or movie), to cause the text
transcription/description file (see P2 above) to be fetched and put into
the displayed document at the location of the link (with square brackets
around it).  If there was not a text translation/description of the
audio file available for the graphic then the browser would signal the
user (a visual indicator).


	B3) AUDIO ALERT
	All browsers should have an indicator that shows when a sound is
being played.  If the device has a ShowSounds/Captions feature then this
indicator could be tied to the ShowSounds/Caption Flag in the system. 


	B4) ShowSounds/Captions SUPPORT
	All browsers should support the ShowSounds/Captions feature if
it is provided on the platform.  This includes providing a visual
equivalent for all sounds, and captions for all browser speech.  It
would also cause all audio and movie files to show the synched text
(captions) when they are played.
	  







	Gregg

	-- ------------------------------
	Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
	Professor - Dept of Industrial Engineering
	Director - Trace R & D Center, Waisman Center
	University of Wisconsin- Madison
	gv@trace.wisc.edu,    WWW&FTP at  Trace.Wisc.Edu
	for a list of our Listserves send "index" to
listproc@trace.wisc.edu



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Received on Monday, 28 July 1997 01:47:36 UTC