2.1.2 Digital infrastructure and technical equipment

Most universities have a motley range of video production and presentation systems that have evolved over years. Some use university infrastructure such as video studios, recommended editing programs or e-learning institution guidelines for video production. Others use technical equipment belonging to institutes or privately sourced. The quality of the video can vary drastically depending on individual technical skills, practice and equipment. It is evident that the quality of the cameras and microphones integrated into laptops are often not good enough.
It is also important that not only the videos but also websites, study management systems and the integrated video player are accessible, and that various file formats can be integrated into existing systems.

Depending on the basic conditions available, the following questions should be answered before production:

Where will the video be made available?
What are the system requirements? Which player will be used?
What file formats will the videos and documents be in?
What tools are being used to offer accessibility?
What forms of accessibility are being used?
1. Inserting audio description as an audio track in planned/existing pauses in speech or by pausing the video, so that there is a new, extended video track?
2. Inserting sign language translation as separate, possibly extended video or in original video?
3. Making transcription available interactively in the video player and/or separately?

Player functionality

Ideally, the player should be compatible with the planned usage and can be appropriately integrated in the study management system or on a website. Digital interfaces and player should meet the following accessibility criteria, in order to overcome all barriers:

Keyboard access and visible focus
Object identification and labelled control elements
Contrast (above all of buttons and control elements)
Switching subtitling on/off (closed captions)
Possibility of integrating several audio and video tracks
Switching audio description on/off
Switching sign language video on/off

Length of video and audio tracks and potential players

Being able to flexibly switch audio description (AD) and sign language translation on and off, not only calls for a technically accessible player, it also influences the running time of the video or audio tracks. The length of AD and the sign language interpretation correlates to the complexity of the content of the teaching video: so, depending on the complexity, it is unrealistic to aim for all the versions being the same length and thus integrating them into one single video. Decisions about the questions in a) and b) above should therefore be made in view of the technical possibilities of the player and the complexity of the content.

If the aim is to maintain the same length for all versions to play within one accessible player, sign language translation must be based on the length of the speech version and AD must be fitted in available pauses in speech. This is only suited to simple images which require brief AD.
In teaching videos which convey complex content and images, it is advisable to determine the length of the AD and sign language version independently of the spoken video. This avoids cutting complex content short in order to fit in with the spoken video. For instance, AD does not have to be squeezed into brief pauses in speech but can present complex images appropriately. The sign language translation can also be structured to work in accordance with its linguistic logic (see also 2.2.2 Audio description and 2.2.3 German Sign Language interpretation). This leads to several video versions of different lengths being made available.

The DaLele4All team decided in favour of the second option with separate videos. Complex diagrams and extensive statistical presentations demand more time and cannot be outlined in brief pauses in speech.
The following two free players make it possible to incorporate accessible video and audio files:

The video player plugin from Aktion Mensch for the incorporation of accessible videos on a website. This allows subtitling, AD and DGS.
Able Player is an accessible, multi-browser HTML5 player which is designed to meet the differing needs and preferences of users. Subtitling, AD and DGS are supported. Different languages, individual replay speed and interactive transcription are also possible. You can find examples of a range of options on the website.

There is also a summary of the accessibility features of other players at sprungmarker.de.