The Current State of Audio Description in US Federal Government
Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum highlighted the importance of audio description (AD) for inclusion, diversity, and equity. Experts discussed challenges, successes, and future goals related to providing AD in federally-produced videos and multimedia. Examples from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Veterans Administration (VA) showcased progress in enhancing accessibility through AD. Explore the strategies and practices for offering AD as a reasonable accommodation and as a Section 508 requirement within federal agencies.
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Click to edit Master title style Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum Click to edit Subtitle Accessibility: A Foundation for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity October 12-14, 2021 The Current State Of Audio Description in the US Federal Government Gary Morin (NCI), Patrick Sheehan (VA), & Joel Snyder, PhD
Your Colleagues: Panelists: Gary M. Morin, National Cancer Institute (NIH NCI), Section 508 Program Manager Patrick Sheehan, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Chief, Section 508 Office, Section 508 Program Manager Moderator Joel Snyder, PhD, President, Audio Description Associates, LLC / Founder-Senior Consultant, Audio Description Project, American Council of the Blind IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 2
Goals for Today Refresher on what Audio Description (AD) is and where it s used How many federally-produced videos and multimedia have audio descriptions? Demonstrate examples of where and how they re posted Challenges, Successes, and Lessons Learned in getting videos audio described Measures of Success Future challenges and goals IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 3
Audio Descriptions Section 501/504 or Section 508 When do you provide AD as a Reasonable Accommodation (RA) versus Multimedia requirement? Describe when AD is provided as a Reasonable Accommodation upon request museums, training, tours, etc. within a federal agency or facility. Are there such occasions at the VA or at the NIH? Describe when AD is provided, by default, in videos and multimedia, as a requirement of Section 508. IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 4
Talking Points Successes: National Institutes of Health (NIH): National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and National Library of Medicine (NLM) These four NIH Institutes have been adding AD for the last couple of years. The proportion of AD to non-AD videos is increasing. Veterans Administration has also been adding AD to its videos. Within eLearning? VA is adding Audio Description to eLearning, which is being centralized Within social media and multimedia? Videos on .gov sites and on YouTube is gaining traction. IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 5
Priorities Training and Awareness Target Audiences Managers and Supervisors Program Staff (the content owners) Video Production Staff, eLearning Staff Acquisitions, Procurement, and Contracting Promotion of Existing Videos and Multimedia that are Audio Described Could federal videos be listed on ACB ADP Could we get YouTube to add an AD icon (as well as an OC icon) IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 6
Capability Statement ACB Audio Description Project Surveyed 120 vendors twenty responses so far. This updates ACB s listing of vendors on which the Federal government can call. In the meantime, vendors are listed at American Council of the Blind s Audio Description Project USA Audio Description Service Providers Described and Captioned Media Program s Description Service Vendors IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 7
Measures of Success Quantity of Videos with Audio Description Quality of Audio Description? Viewership? Numbers of Unique Viewers Number of Videos viewed Labor Categories within the US Federal Government AD for non-Multimedia Artifacts Certification in Audio Description, as a standard for hiring or contracting IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 8
Learning From Our Experiences AD requires planning from the start of the video development Resources (e.g., staff time, dollars, etc.) Videos must be promoted to garner viewership Establish Playlists Link to and from AD version and non-AD version both on YouTube and/or on other sites Promote use of media players that support a toggle switch (on-off AD) Do not caption the audio descriptions Do provide an extended transcript, which includes both the spoken word and the audio- description, formatted to indicate which represents the captioning and which represents the visual information. Determine early if video can be done with just Inclusive Narration, with standard Audio Description, or if it requires Extended Audio Description IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 9
Success Stories 1 National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Eye Institute (NEI) The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research: A Shared National Resource (Short Version), which links to CaptionSync (Short) The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research: A Shared National Resource (Full Length), which links to CaptionSync (Full) NCI SBIR Development Center Videos without AD are embedded; Links to versions with AD are listed below each video. NEI Glaucoma Program: June 14, 2018 (CC) NEI Glaucoma Program: June 14, 2018 (CC & AD) Imaging Methods in Eye Cells Using ICG (CC) Imaging Methods in Eye Cells Using ICG (CC & AD) NEI Audio-Described Playlist IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 10
Success Stories 2 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) National Library of Medicine (NLM) Help Your Toddler Learn to Read (with Audio Description) Help Your Toddler Learn to Read NICHD: On the Road to Recovery (with Audio Description) NICHD: On the Road to Recovery National Library of Medicine Welcome Video (CC) National Library of Medicine Welcome Video (AD & CC) Lauren Porter (CC) Lauren Porter (AD & CC) IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 11
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) The Personal and Professional Impact of Suicide Loss, w/AD, Veterans Health Administration Uniting for Suicide Postvention Providers Now What? Now What? with Audio Description Uniting for Suicide Postvention Workplace Workplace Suicide Postvention: A Supervisor s Perspective Workplace Suicide Postvention: A Supervisor s Perspective w/AD En Espa ol En Espa ol con Descripci n de Audio Uniting for Suicide Postvention - Community So Am I So Am I w/AD IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 12
Joel Snyder, PhD - Audio Description Associates, LLC Examples of Federal work with AD National Park Service - An Island s Legacy: The Fortifications at Old San Juan The White House Obama 2015 video Greetings Card Examples of AD with Microsoft Flight Simulator Reindeer Examples of AD with entertainment industry Budweiser/Super Bowl IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 13
Points of Contact Resources American Council of the Blind https://www.acb.org/ Audio Description Project https://adp.acb.org/ Audio Description of Visual Information, in Making Audio and Video Media Accessible (W3C) Create Accessible Synchronized Media Content (Section508) Create Accessible Video, Audio, Social (Section508) Gary M. Morin: MorinG@mail.nih.gov Patrick Sheehan: Pat.Sheehan@VA.GOV Joel Snyder, PhD-Audio Description Associates, LLC jsnyder@audiodescribe.com IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 14
Questions and Answers ? IAAF 2021 / General Services Administration / Department of Health and Human Services / Department of Labor / Merit Service Protection Board / Sponsored by the Federal CIO Council 15
