Why Caption Videos?
Note: If you have specific questions of a captioning nature and you'd like to talk them through, feel free to contact our captioner via email at captioning@greenriver.edu or call Kim directly at 253-931-6435.
By law, instructional videos must be accessible, which usually means closed captioned. How do you do that?
The answer is…it depends. First, you need to ask yourself one very important question.
Did you or someone at GRC create this media file?
If Yes –
The answer is pretty straightforward. Fill out the request captions form or send an email to captioning@greenriver.edu. The email should contain the following information.
- Your name and contact info if it’s other than a greenriver.edu email address.
- The four-digit course ID number and quarter/year the video(s) belong to.
- A description of where to find the content, i.e., links within the modules tab, in the assignments tab, In Panopto videos tab, actual links to a YouTube channel videos, actual links to a greenriver.edu web address.
- An estimation of both the total number of videos within the course and the number of students in those courses.
If No –
The answer is a bit more complex.
In order to add captions to a video, you need access to the actual video, itself, or at least to the webserver where the video lives. Since we (GRC) did not create the video and are not hosting the video, we don’t have access to it in order to add captions.
You have a few options.
- The simplest answer may be to find alternative content that is already captioned. This might not always be feasible, but if it is possible, this would be the easiest way to ensure your online content is accessible. If you need help finding alternative content, try contacting the librarian for your division.
- If you have to use the content due to the lack of available alternatives, the next step would be to contact the content provider. This means reaching out to the original publisher of the video or the owner of the YouTube channel and request that they caption their content.
- If the content owner is unable or unwilling to caption their content, you can try asking for any transcript that might exist. A transcript is the least-best option for accessibility, but if no other option exists, it is the one we have to fall back on.
- If a transcript does not already exist and you’ve exhausted all other options, send an email to captioning@greenriver.edu with your name and department, website address of video, and a request that a transcript be generated because you have been unsuccessful in your efforts to obtain one through other channels.
