There are two types of captions: human and automated speech recognition.
Human captions
- Typed out or reviewed by a person that listens to the audio to ensure that the content of the caption file is a good representation of the audio.
- Several companies offer human captioning for a fee that will depend on turnaround time at up to 99% accuracy.
- They can be expensive and take time to produce.
Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) captions:
The ASR caption provider is on by default for all new folders in UICapture. Content and folders created prior to May, 8, 2023, will remain uncaptioned until some action is taken to add ASR captions.
- Generated by a program with no individual review between when they are generated and when they are available to you.
- Generally between 70 to 95% accurate depending on the service used and the quality of the audio.
- The ITAccessibilty@Iowa group recommends reviewing and editing ASR captions before they are available to viewers.
Not suitable for Student Disability Services accommodations.
ITAccessibility@Iowa has a great guide on the how and why aspects of captioning. The content below will focus on the tools that we have available and where they can be used.
Asynchronous Content
Materials that are produced for asynchronous consumption can be quickly and easily captioned in UICapture. For everything that is uploaded to UICapture, ASR captions are produced. For any folders created after May 2023, ASR captions are on by default for all materials in those folders. For any materials added to folders created prior to May 2023, you need to turn on ASR captions for each video you want to display them on. You can turn on ASR captions on your videos/audio in UICapture, or you can change any existing folders to add ASR by default in folder settings.
Examples of asynchronous content:
- Lecture videos
- Course updates
- Video quizzes
- Video clips that are shown in your live lectures
Once a session has captions in UICapture, it can be quickly and easily shared in your ICON course. Learn how to share and embed content in ICON. Below you will find a few guides from Panopto on sharing content outside of ICON:
Synchronous Content
For content presented synchronously, when needed, 3rd party caption providers can be brought into Zoom meetings to provide CART services. Read about adding captions to your synchronous meetings on the ITS website.
Examples of synchronous content:
- Live, remote lectures
- Course meetings
- Department meetings
- Town Hall meetings
Student Disability Services (SDS) Accommodations
If you have a need for SDS accommodations, the Student Disabilities Services office can provide CART services for meetings held in Zoom. For asynchronous content, we can automate the process of adding human captions to content that is stored in or uploaded to UICapture. Visit the Student Disability Services website to learn more about the services they can provide in this context.