Skip top navbar

EASI: Equal Access to Software and Information homepage

 

Accessible Internet Multimedia

PEOPLE NOT TECHNOLOGY

EASI is a non-profit organization, commited to the belief that students and professionals with disabilities have the same right to access information technology as everyone else.

Schedule: Unless notified otherwise, contact EASI to take this as independent study at your convenience!

It can also be taken as independent study at any time by contacting the instructor!

Course registration is $350 with a 20% discount for students. Overseas participants and EASI Annual Webinar members qualify for the student discount.

Everyone who completes this course will receive EASI documentation of course completion. Those completing 5 of these EASI courses will earn the Certificate in Accessible Information Technology provided for EASI by the University of Southern Maine which carries 15 continuing education units, but the CEUs are not provided for single courses.

 

Educational and other information providers on the Internet are increasingly using multimedia as a means to disseminate information. Multimedia poses special problems but also unique opportunities for reaching people with disabilities. Providing transcriptions, captions and descriptive video synchronized with the media is a real challenge.

Podcasting and Vodcasting are becoming widely used as a means for delivering course content and other educational and business information. While these types of media are relatively easy to create, to ensure that all users have access to them, there is a need know how it can be done.

This course will give step-by-step instruction in how and when to provide transcriptions and synchronized captions. It will also address Podcast and Vodcast basics and making them accessible. This course will be good for web masters, information technologists, instructional technologists, disabled student staff, librarians and more. (This course is optional for the EASI/USM certificate.)

Software used in this course

WindowsMedia Encoder
RealProducer Basic
QuickTime Player FREE - Will allow you to play back created presentations ONLY.
QuickTime PRO $29.00 If you plan on creating QuickTime streaming captions.
LexShare Pro
MAGpie 2.0 FREE (2.0 has a version for the MAC)
IDS Caption
ListGarden - Free Podcast/Vodcast feed creation software
Audacity -  Free audio creation software
Juice - Free RSS Aggregator

Course registration is $350 with a %20 discount for students.Overseas participants and EASI Annual Webinar members qualify for the student discount.

Register for this course.

Week One

Lesson One: Introductions and Types of Media

  1. Introduction
    An overview of media production and personal introductions.
  2. Review of web accessibility including WAI guidelines and Section 508
  3. Review of disability-related legislation with a focus on providing accessible media

Lesson Two: Streaming Methods and Formats

  1. Streaming Media Methods How media can be streamed over the Internet. Understanding the ramifications of bandwidth. 
  2. Flash, Shockwave and other media formats
    A brief discussion of accessibility features and issues with these formats.
  3. Media Formats
    Overview of the three major media formats: RealMedia, QuickTime and WindowsMedia.
Week Two

Lesson Three: Creating the Media

  1. RealMedia
  2. QuickTime 
  3. WindowsMedia
  4. MAGpie
  5. IDS Caption

Lesson Four: Making Multimedia Accessible

  1. SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language)
  2. SAMI ( Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange)
  3. Transcribing and formatting for MAGpie Captioning
  4. Time encoding and creating the SMIL/SAMI file
  5. Accessible Narrated PowerPoint Presentations
  6. Making it work.
Week Three

Lesson Five: Podcast/Vodcast Basics

  1. Understanding Feeds and how they work.
  2. Different kinds of Feeds
  3. Subscribing to a Podcast with Juice
  4. Delivering your Podcast/Vodcast

Lesson Six: Audacity Basics

  1. Creating an .mp3 audio file
  2. Basic editing for Podcasts
  3. Adding a music clip to a Podcast
  4. Working with shortcut keys

Lesson Seven: Creating a Podcast with ListGarden

  1. Creating a Feed
  2. Creating an Item
  3. Publishing to the Web
Week Four

Lesson Eight: Assignment

To receive a certificate of completion for this course, you will need to complete one of the following tasks.
 

  1. Create a streaming media presentation and submit it to the instructor
  2. Create a Podcast feed with one item and submit it to the instructor