Closed Captioning

Captioning translates the audio part of a video into captions that appear at the bottom of the screen. The ‘closed’ part means that the text is hidden until it is selected.

Open captions are captions that are burned into the video so they cannot be turned off.  McMaster provides open captions as part of its captioning service.

AODA Requirement:

• Any video added to a McMaster website AFTER 2014 or being used in a class, presentation, public talk, or online course MUST be properly closed-captioned - either as part of the production process or retroactively

McMaster Captioning Standard:

• Where possible, please caption, as indicated below:

Questions / help / guidance - all available at captioning@mcmaster.ca

Braille Conversion Service

LAS is pleased to announce that we now offer a Braille Conversion Service!!  If you need Braille produced for an event or presentation, please contact us.  There is a nominal charge to cover production charges.  $1/ page printing and $4/book for binding.  

Library Accessibility Services (LAS) will review, error check, and apply closed captions for any Echo360-enabled course that has a student with deaf or hard-of-hearing accommodations. Otherwise, you may proactively wish to apply this automatically-created transcript as captions to your lectures by following a few simple steps as outlined in the links provided along the side of the webpage. 

Described Video (DV)  

Described Video is the narration of the visual elements of an audio-visual program.  This narration allows the listener to paint a mental picture of the setting.  Videos that have been described will have a D with two semi-circles radiating from the round side of the D.  This is the universal symbol for Described Video.  

While Described Video is the process of adding narration after the material has been written, Integrated Described Video (IDV) includes the DV process into the scriptwriting process. It is part of the dialogue rather than narrated over the script.  For more information, please see the links in the menu on the right.

Described Video is useful in many ways:

• for those with a visual impairment 
• as auditory learning aids
• for language development
• as audiobooks
• for those on the autism spectrum

Described Video can be requested through the Described Video and Captioning Request Tool for students as part of an accommodation.

To help ensure students receive their textbooks on time, instructors can:

• submit textbook adoptions as soon as possible
  • it can take 4 - 6 weeks to produce a textbook.  If we can obtain the book quickly, the student is able to keep up with the class
• post the course outline, with chapters, as soon as possible
  • we use the course outline to prioritize the order in which we work on transcription.  
• Contact us if you are putting material on reserve
  • we can proactively obtain a copy in an accessible format through ACE
• submit tests and exams as soon as possible
  • we work with the test and exams section of SAS in the production of braille tests.  To ensure the highest quality exams, please submit to SAS by the due date given.
• use SensusAccess to convert documents before posting them to your website or Avenue
  • SensusAccess converts a variety of documents into a variety of accessible versions of themselves.  
  • visit SensusAccess to give it a try