Category: Accessibility

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Why Audio Transcription Matters

pink, purple, and blue soundwave forms

Audio transcription is the process of converting audio (or video) content into written text. 

Between brainstorming and planning, writing and recording, editing and mixing, you’ve put in a significant amount of time and effort to create a podcast. Why would anyone want to pile on the additional work of generating a word-by-word account of that incredible episode?!?

Consider this: you’ve already put in a significant amount of time and effort — not to mention blood, sweat, and tears — to create a totally amazing podcast, right? Now, all you need are listeners! Don’t you want your podcast to be as accessible and discoverable as possible?

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 37.5 million American adults aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing. 30 million Americans aged 12 years or older has hearing loss in both ears, based on standard hearing examinations. 

Not only does audio transcription make it possible for a user who is hard of hearing to engage with your content, it can also clear up confusion caused by regional dialects or unavoidable background noise wherever a listener may be.

Having a text transcript available on your website also invites search engines like Google to crawl, and index your content, making your podcast findable to your dream audience! Who wouldn’t want more search traffic and visitors?

An audio transcript creates a better experience overall for all users. New and existing listeners can give a transcript a quick look  before committing to listening to the full podcast. It’ll also be easier for your audience to search text to find some fascinating/interesting/thought-provoking tidbit rather than try to located the snippet in the audio itself.

If we’ve sold you on the value of audio transcription, listen up, because there’s a quick and painless way to create a transcript!

Did you know the online version of Word can transcribe audio that you record directly within Word? Better yet, if you already have a .wav, .mp4, or .mp3 file, you can simply upload it to Word and have it transcribed for you? Microsoft’s AI will even identify different speakers and organize the conversation into sections that you can easily edit and ultimately insert into a Word document. Pretty nifty, right?

Check out the official Microsoft Help Guide: Transcribe your recordings.  We’ve tested it and can verify that it works great!

Happy Transcribing!

NOTE: You are limited to five hours per month for uploaded audio; there is no transcription limit for audio recorded within Word on the web. English is the only language that is currently supported. You MUST use either the latest version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

Have questions? Need help? Email the ITS Information Desk at help@wlu.edu, call 540-458-4357 (HELP), or stop by the ITS Information Desk on the Main Level of Leyburn Library.

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Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day!

The tenth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is this Thursday, May 20th.

GAAD was launched to highlight the need for increased digital accessibility by getting people talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for all and, more importantly, people with different abilities and talents.clip art of a blind man with a cane, woman with a hearing aid, a wheelchair user, a woman with a prosthetic limb, an older person, and a man with a limb difference, all standing together

Approximately 15 percent of the world’s population have a disability, according to the World Health Organization, which means that more than one billion people could face daily challenges when using digital devices. 

What is Accessibility?

Accessibility is the ability of a website/mobile app/electronic document to be easily navigated and understood by the widest range of users possible, including people with visual, auditory, speech, motor, neurological or cognitive disabilities.

Note that accessibility is not a discrete feature of a website, tool, or app. It’s an on-going aspect of a managed process made up of many intentional design and development decisions, based on real-world practice, institutional policy, public standards, and awareness of the diversity of user experiences.

Why Accessibility Matters

The World Wide Web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: government information and services, education and training, commerce, news, workplace interaction, civic participation, health care, recreation, entertainment, and more. In some cases, the Web is replacing traditional resources.

Therefore, it is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with diverse abilities.


Link to Web accessibility – What does it all mean? (.docx, 17 MB) transcript.

Web accessibility is about eliminating barriers that prevent access to information and functionalities on websites.

How to Participate in GAAD 2021

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Enable Real-Time Transcriptioning in Your Zoom Meetings!

Did you know that you can add closed captioning or transcriptioning to a Zoom meeting?

Zoom provides free, AI-powered live transcription. Transcription is the process in which speech or audio is converted into a written, plain text document. 

Live transcription only supports English and you must you speak clearly for best results. Unfortunately, live transcription is NOT supported in breakout rooms.

NOTE: The accuracy of Zoom’s live transcription feature depends on many variables, such as, but not limited to:

  • Background noise
  • Volume and clarity of the speaker’s voice
  • Speaker’s proficiency with the English language
  • Lexicons and dialects specific to a geography or community

OK, here’s how!

Before your Zoom meeting:

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal with your W&L credentials.
  2. In the navigation panel, click Settings.
  3. Click the Meeting tab.
  4. Scroll down to Closed captioning.
  5. Click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog displays, click Turn On to verify the change.
    Enabling Closed Caption in Zoom settings
  6. With Closed Captioning enabled, the option to enable live transcription should appear directly below as Enable live transcription service to show transcript on the side panel in-meeting. Check this to enable live transcription.
  7. Click the toggle for Save Captions if you want to enable the ability for meeting participants to save closed captions or transcripts.

During your Zoom meeting:

  1. In a Zoom meeting you are hosting, click the Live Transcript button: Zoom meeting tools with Live Transcript button highlighted
  2. Click on Enable Auto-Transcription: options for Live Transcript in Zoom
    You also have the option to assign a participant to type, manually type closed captions yourself, or copy the URL that you’d provide to a third-party closed captioning service.

As a Zoom Meeting Participant

  1. When enabled by the host, you will see a notification above Live Transcript in the meeting controls, informing you that the service is available.
  2. Click Live Transcript, and then select Show Subtitle. The provided subtitles can be clicked and dragged to move their position in the meeting window.

To adjust the caption size:

  1. Click the up ^ next to Start Video / Stop Video. 
  2. Click Video Settings then Accessibility.
  3. Move the slider to adjust the caption size. 

See Zoom’s guide to closed captioning and live transcription for more information!

Need help? Have questions? Contact the ITS Information Desk at 540.458.4357 (HELP) or email help@wlu.edu. 

P.S. You can also enable live captions in a Teams meeting, too!

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How do I make an online tutorial in PowerPoint accessible?

Happy Monday! ITS Academic Technologies recently received an email from a student in search of help with PowerPoint:

“HELP! I am tasked with creating an online tutorial to help train individuals. I created a PowerPoint presentation, but was told this is not the preferred method, as it is not fully accessible. What should I do now?”

Wondering why web accessibility is important? “When ignoring web accessibility you’re potentially alienating one billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, who experience some form of disability, whether auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical or visual.” (source)

Here’s the advice we shared:

“There are a couple of things you can do. It’s good practice to provide more than one format.

  1. Keep the PowerPoint format because it’s more engaging and memorable for the majority of people, but you can take steps to make it accessible with Microsoft built-in tools.
  2.  Save the PowerPoint as a PDF.  Open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat and  follow the steps listed at JAN’s “Converting a PowerPoint file to PDF” to ensure it’s accessible. 
  3. You can also save the PowerPoint as a rich text file, open it in Word, format it, and save it as a .docx file.
  4. For the ultimate in accessibility, you could narrate the PowerPoint and save it as an MP4 file. This would provide an additional avenue for people with limited vision to interact with the content.”
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IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL WORDPRESS USERS!

To support W&L’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, ITS is committed to ensuring that web and online content is accessible to all. As such, we are in the process of making WordPress sites more web accessible for individuals with disabilities.

As part of that process, we would like your assistance with educational course sites created in WordPress, in particular, course sites that are public-facing.

No action is necessary during the term, but after the end of the current term, we will request your permission to change the visibility settings on created course sites from public to private.  This will allow you and your enrolled students access to the site after the term, but will restrict access beyond your class.

If you would prefer your site to remain public, then it will be your responsibility to ensure the site meets the web accessibility guidelines mandated by the University for public-facing websites (guidelines and site evaluation tools available at https://www.wlu.edu/disability-accommodations/web-accessibility).

We have worked to ensure that all themes and settings are accessibility-ready in our WordPress service, and we will be happy to work with you at that point to ensure your added content meets these guidelines as well.