What is Kaltura REACH?
Kaltura REACH uses automated speech recognition (ASR) to recognize words spoken in your video and provide machine-based captions for your video. Kaltura REACH captions are typically 75-85% accurate and can improve over time as the program adapts to learn your voice. Kaltura REACH also provides an editor to revise and improve the accuracy of your video captions.
Will Kaltura REACH make my video captions fully compliant?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act are federal laws that, along with University policy 4-16, require equal access for people with disabilities. Machine-based captioning alone may not produce fully compliant content under federal law. However, using Kaltura REACH allows faculty to work toward meeting the standards of the federal law and Kent State University’s Electronic and Information Technology Policy. As provided below, editing machine-based captions will provide a more accessible experience for users and improve the compliance of your videos.
How can I make my video captions more accessible?
You can edit machine-based captions to improve accessibility by following some simple guidelines:
- Content & Synchronization: Captions should be equivalent to the spoken word and the intention should be preserved so the student relying on the captions has access to the content. Captions should be synchronized and appear the same time the audio is delivered.
- Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation: Use the editing feature to correct the machine-based grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- Structure & Presentation: One or two lines of text are preferred; sentences should be broken at a logical point or a normal pause.
- Multiple Speakers: Capitalize proper nouns for speaker identification. Indicate a change in the speaker by using a dash and space.
When do I contact Student Accessibility Services?
If there is a student in your course with closed captioning accommodations from Student Accessibility Services, you will still need to contact SAS to ensure full accessibility. When a student has a closed captioning accommodation, SAS will contact you for additional information. SAS will provide accessible captions as needed and upload the captioned version into your Kaltura account. Use the captioned version of the video in the future as well.