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Transcripts

Overview

Transcripts are a simple, text-only alternative to audio or video content. They must communicate:

  • All the verbal information with identification of different speakers.
  • Any important, audible, non-verbal information (e.g. sound effects, laughter).
  • For video, any important visual-only information (e.g. a trend on a graph, hand signals).

All pre-recorded, informative digital audio (e.g. podcast) and video (e.g. campus tour video) content produced or controlled by the University must be published alongside a transcript.

What and why: Providing a transcript gives flexibility for people who struggle to process video and audio content, or may find playing the media obstructs their use of assistive technologies such as voice recognition software.

How to produce a transcript

If your video already has closed captions, you can use these as a basis for your transcript.

If you need to create a transcript from scratch, Word in Office 365 (free to all students and staff) now has a transcription feature that allows you to upload audio to a Word document. See Microsoft's guidance on transcribing your recordings. Word will create a written document of the verbal information. You'll then need to add descriptions of other important audio and visual-only content.

Note that automated captions or transcriptions aren't considered accessible because they may contain errors. Make them accurate via manual editing and correction.

Make sure that your transcript:

  • Communicates who is speaking.
  • Conveys any important non-verbal audio and visual-only detail.

How to present/share the transcript

The transcript must be presented on the same page the audio can be heard or downloaded. Content owners/controllers must first attempt to publish this in text on the page itself or on another web page. If this isn’t possible, the transcript can be placed in an accessible digital office file (e.g. Word document) containing the transcript.

Same-page transcripts and links to off-page transcripts must be placed adjacent to the audio. If that’s not possible, an explanation of how to access the same-page or off-page transcript must be adjacent to the audio.