Automated Webcast Captioning and Video Search: Quick, Easy, and Inexpensive

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Automated Webcast Captioning and Video
SearchQuick, Easy, and Inexpensive

• Kevin Erler, Ph.D.
• Brent Robertson
• Automatic Sync Technologies
• www.automaticsync.com/caption
• June 2005

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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About AST

• AST was founded in 1998 work on our technology
  started in 1990.
• AST is a leading provider of synchronization and
  audio search tools
• Partially funded by the Dept of Education (SBIR
  program) to pursue automated captioning
• All AST technology has been created in-house over
  the past 15 years

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About AST

• AST provides captioning services for
• Education
• Broadcast TV stations
• Producers
• Caption Vendors
• AST can provide captioning for
• Webcasts
• VideoTape
• DVDs
• Broadcasts

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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Streaming Web Content

• Audio/Video material that is presented through a
  web interface and that visitors to your site can
  view on demand.
• Normally presented using one of the three popular
  web media formats QuickTime, Real, or Windows
  Media.
• May be managed through some type of course
  management software.

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Advantages of Web Streaming

• Audience reach you can reach a broad audience
  that may not always be able to physically attend
  your event.
• Viewer convenience viewers can watch the content
  at a time and place of their choosing
• Learning Accommodation allows learners to
  proceed through the content at their own pace
• Cost provides an inexpensive and convenient
  media to reach your audience.

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Why Caption?

• ADA Compliance web video content is subject to
  section 508
• Universal Access make your content as usable as
  possible by as many people as possible
• Improving Comprehension captioning improves
  comprehension for all viewers, especially for
  those with English as a second language
• Indexing and Searching captioning allows the
  video material to become searchable with
  traditional text searches
• Provide Viewers with More Access Options
  institutions can improve the quality and range of
  methods through which viewers can access their
  products

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Why Caption?

• Compliance!
• Accessibility
• Improved product for all

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Captioning Applications

• In-class video content used right in the
  classroom as part of the teaching material
• Distance Education course content transmitted
  via television, videotape, DVD, or
  (increasingly!) the web
• Virtual campus tours web-based video tours of a
  campus to inform prospective students and parents
• Remote Conferences/Seminars conference
  presentation and seminars are increasingly
  archived on the web for later viewing

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Captioning Applications

• Web-based course content supplemental course
  content or lecture material presented on a course
  website
• PR / News Service content generated by the
  public affairs department
• Special events guest lectures, convocations,
  letters from the president archived on physical
  media or the web

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Streaming Media Are Ideal
More flexible fonts, colors, and line lengths.
Text in a separate pane.No obscuring the video.
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Barriers to Captioning

• Expensive
• Takes time
• Increases production complexity

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Barriers to Captioning

• Traditional captioning?
• Can cost several hundred dollars per hour
• Can take several days to have done
• Or, you can do it yourself?
• 6 to 12 hours of your time to accurately caption
  a one hour video with pop-on captions

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ASTs Goals

• Speed
• Turnaround time for a submission about 10
  minutes
• Much lower costs than manual captioning
• Convenience
• Simple to use website available when you need it
• No special software or tools required
• Directly upload your webcast media with no
  special processing needed

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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The AST Captioning Process

• Service is entirely electronic submit your
  program and receive caption results minutes later
• Input is the program media file (.rm, .wmv, .mov,
  .mp3, etc) and program transcript (.txt),
  submitted through a web interface
• Output is caption files for any of the major
  streaming players (Real, QuickTime, WMV)
• Can also provide captioning for traditional
  video, and DVDs

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The AST Captioning Process

• The user submits the media file to AST
  (electronically)
• The system
• manages the transcription process (if required)
• parses the transcript and breaks it into captions
  
• aligns the timing of each caption to the media
  file itself,
• positions each caption according to your
  instructions,
• creates the final caption file for your specific
  media type.

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How to?

• Four basic steps in using automatic captioning
• Record the media file
• Obtain the transcript
• Submit the files to the AST server
• Post the final result

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Preparing the media file

• System can accept .wav, .mp3, .rm, .mov, .wmv,
  .wma, .ra files directly.
• No preparation required for web media.
• Simple software extraction tools (free) available
  for extraction of audio from .mpg (DVD) or .avi
  files.
• For videotape, need to create an electronic copy
  of the audio. Simply connect the tape player to
  your computer to extract this recording.

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Transcription

• If you already have the transcript, AST can
  provide formatting guidelines.
• If you have internal transcription resources,
  have them transcribe the audio to a simple .txt
  file.
• If you wish to use ASTs transcription service,
  you can skip this step and submit only the media
  file the system will manage the process of
  getting your submission transcribed.
• System can also work with your external
  transcription vendors vendors can interact
  directly with AST system.

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Overview Offline Production
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Where is it appropriate?

• Automated captioning can save you significant
  time and money, and enable you to caption
  substantially more content.
• Automated captioning is suitable for you if
• material is largely narrative with minimal
  sweetening
• program transcripts are available or show can be
  transcribed
• you are captioning archival material (ie not
  real time events)

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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Simple Demo

• Log into secure website

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Simple Demo

• Select the Application Type
• (Web or Broadcast)

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Simple Demo

• Submit a Program
• Description
• Text File (if available)
• Media File

More detail on this in a moment
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Simple Demo

• Get Results Back
• Returned via email in about 10 minutes
• Subject line Caption Results
• Body contains tracking number and other info

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See Some Results
SJSU http//www.sjsu.edu/vtour/streaming_media.ht
m UCB http//webcast.berkeley.edu/courses/archi
ve.html?prog100group59 Apple/NASA
http//ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/100091
9/ram CSUN http//www.abletv.net/html/csCSUN20
04.html UW http//www.cs.washington.edu/educati
on/TVI/ Ryerson http//www.ryerson.ca/tour/vide
o.html VCU http//worksupport.com/Topics/brown_
bag_frieden04.asp
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Additional Features

• Accessing Results and Reports
• Use the web for viewing history, retrieving
  results

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Additional Features

• Help

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Additional Features

• Advanced Settings
• Output Files
• Font
• Character Case
• Window Size
• Colors
• Line Length
• Justification
• Naming

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Webcast Result Files
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Webcast Result Files

• RealMedia
• The pointer file is a .RT.SMIL file (a smile
  file)
• The caption file is a .RT file
• The video file is a .RM file
• QuickTime
• The pointer file is a .QT.SMIL file (a smile
  file)
• The caption file is a .QT.TXT file
• The video file is a .MOV file
• Windows Media Player
• The pointer file is a .ASX file
• The caption file is a .SMI file (a SAMI file)
• The video file is a .WMV file

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Webcast Result Files

• ASTs Search Data Files
• These files are used for populating a web-based
  Video Search database
• Well talk about this in the Video Search section
• Choose as many as you need -- there is no
  additional cost for more than one output type.

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Webcast Result Files

• What to do with these result files?
• Place the pointer file and caption file up on
  your streaming server where your video file is
  streamed
• You need to ensure the pointer file refers to the
  correct location, name, and protocol to play the
  caption and video files. Check with your media
  expert on location and protocol.
• If you select output filename media filename in
  the Advanced Settings, then when you submit
  BIO_07.MOV youll get back BIO_07.QT.TXT and
  BIO_07.QT.SMIL which refers to these filenames

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Agenda

• Introduction to AST
• Captioning Web Media
• Backgrounder on Automatic Captioning
• A Simple Demo
• Video Search

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Video Search

• For web media, it is possible to randomly access
  the media (instead of watching the video from
  start to finish).
• ASTs system makes it possible to perform
  text-searches on the content.
• Powerful benefit for entire viewer community
  allows viewers to access material of interest
  without scanning hours of video.
• Once the text of interest is located, viewers can
  jump to the precise point on interest in the
  video.

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Video Search
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Video Search
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Search Results
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Video Search

• Consider the benefit of allowing text searching
  of all of your video content
• Extremely cost effective -- the Video Search file
  is no additional cost when you caption the
  webcast
• Very accurate - clicking the search result gets
  you to the precise point of interest

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Video Search
Visit some deployments UC Berkeley  (needs
Real Player 10 installed) http//rodan.berkeley.ed
u/ast/vs_search.php  UC Davis  (needs Real
Player 10 installed) http//urdev.ucdavis.edu/broa
dcast/newswatch.php Apple/NASA  (needs
QuickTime Player installed) http//ali.apple.com/a
li_sites/ali/exhibits/1000919/ 
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Some parting words

• Our goal is to make captioning accessible
• Convenient
• Simple
• Inexpensive
• Fast
• Flexible
• While regulations help encourage captioning,
  compliance can only become universal if
  captioning itself is made easily accessible

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Other Resources

• Check out UC Berkeleys press release on webcast
  captioning http//www.berkeley.edu/news/media/rel
  eases/2004/09/20_captioning.shtml
• Take a look at ASTs home page for more
  information http//www.automaticsync.com/caption
  
• Examine our growing series of how-to videos
  (all captioned!) at http//www.automaticsync.com/
  help

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"AST's captioning has helped us achieve greater
accessibility for our online virtual tours of the
San José State Campus, especially for our diverse
student population. As a media producer, I found
AST's interface extremely easy to use, and the
results were excellent.  And best of all, the
practically instantaneous turn-around is great!"
Bob Reynolds, Academic Technology, SJSU
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Kevin Erler (kevin_at_automaticsync.com) Brent
Robertson (brent_at_automaticsync.com) 1-877-AST-SYNC
Visit www.automaticsync.com/caption