Accessible multimedia

Videos and screencasts can be inaccessible when they don't have captions for individuals who are hard of hearing or deaf, those with temporary hearing difficulties or for non-native speakers. Multimedia can also be inaccessible because there is no descriptive comments for individuals with visual issues or because the controls for playing and pausing aren't available to clients using screen readers. 

Solutions for each of these scenarios are listed below in order:

• Captioning is one of the more obvious ways to make a video more accessible.
• Descriptive captioning on videos and audio files increases comprehension for individuals with visual difficulties.
• A free flash player with accessible controls (ccplayer) is available from the National Center for Accessible Media (example).

The University of Montana provides Camtasia Relay screen recording software, training and support for recording. It is highly recommended that videos created by faculty and staff at the Univeristy of Montana are captioned when they are created.