Enhancing Accessibility and Shareability of Instructional Videos at Dalhousie Libraries
Dalhousie Libraries aimed to improve the accessibility and discoverability of their instructional videos by moving them to YouTube. The decision came after realizing the limitations of their current hosting platform in catering to diverse user needs. By following a structured plan, including updating video content and transferring them to YouTube with enhanced features like closed captioning and shareable links, the libraries sought to reach a wider audience effectively.
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Accessible and discoverable videos: Cleaning house before we move to YouTube Lindsay McNiff, Learning & Instruction Librarian Jackie Phinney, Instruction/Liaison Librarian October 2, 2018 1 1
Background Dalhousie Libraries have close to 100 instructional video tutorials on many topics; created using Camtasia software. Lindsay noted that our videos lacked shareability and accessibility: They were housed on Dal s server and not easy to find Content was not made with diverse user needs in mind The question was asked: Are Dal s online tutorials reaching our users? CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 2
Background We examined YouTube as a possible platform to house the videos: Social media platform=shareability Closed captioning, comments section to place links (instead of hyperlinking in video), works with screen readers, transcript upload=accessibility Other universities have also made the move to YouTube for similar reasons (Dalal & Lackie, 2014; Vucovich et al., 2013) A decision was made: Clean up our videos then move them to YouTube CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 3
The Plan: Clean House Then Move Using Joanne Oud s checklist (Oud, 2016), we developed criteria to evaluate our current videos for the following: Tutorials should be captioned and available in multiple formats Fonts should be large and clear with high contrast Content should be structured clearly Viewers should not need a mouse Audio/narration should be descriptive and more We also recognized this as an opportunity to update the content for many of our older videos, and weed those we no longer need CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 4
The Plan: Clean House Then Move Identify videos for updating using our checklist, then: Revise content Edit the script in a new standard template (adding more descriptive language if needed) Update screen captures Remove any hyperlinks Re-record video and narration Move the video to YouTube Upload transcript Ensure captions are included Suggested links and transcript added to description CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 5
Progress to Date Have completed evaluation checklists for the top 45 videos 13 Videos have been updated (if necessary) and moved to YouTube Accessibility issues we have found with our videos (so far): Embedded hyperlinks Non-descriptive language Ex: click here vs. click the checkbox beside the date filter Callouts that screen reading software can t detect Jargon that needs to be replaced with simple language Videos that are too long CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 6
Next Steps Continue updating our most popular videos with transcript and video edits Migrating them to YouTube as we go Redirect URLs for videos and create a library subject guide to store all videos Removing them from our server Monitor analytics in YouTube to see how users are interacting with our videos (usage statistics, location, peak viewing times, etc.) CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 7
Questions? Lindsay McNiff Learning & Instruction Librarian lindsay.mcniff@dal.ca Jackie Phinney Instruction/Liaison Librarian j.phinney@dal.ca CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 8
References Dalal, H.A., & Lackie, R. J. (2014). What if you build it and they still won't come? Addressing student awareness of resources and services with promotional videos. Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning, 8 (3-4), 225-241. Vucovich, L.A., Gordon, V.S., Mitchell, N., & Ennis, L. (2013). Is the time and effort worth it? One library's evaluation of using social networking tools for outreach. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 32 (1), 12-25. DOI: 10.1080/02763869.2013.749107 Oud, J. (2016). Accessibility of vendor-created database tutorials for people with disabilities. Information Technology & Libraries, 35(4), 7-18. doi:10.6017/ital.v35i4.9469 CAUL Accessibility Forum, Oct 2 2018 9
