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Electronic and Information Technology (EIT)
Accessibility at ESF

Why do we need to make our content accessible?

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) promotes the inclusion of individuals with disabilities as part of our commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive community. Thus, ESF's policy is to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

To comply with the ADA, documents posted online, including, but not limited to, PDF files, Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and online flipbooks, must be screen reader friendly. Screen reader software is a form of assistive technology that reads a screen's display aloud to the user. Therefore, the document must have an established reading order and visual elements tagged with alternative text descriptions. This will allow the screen reader and other assistive technology to comprehensively and accurately communicate the information to the reader.

All multimedia resources available to the general public must be captioned. Captioned media displays the audio content of a program as text on-screen and synchronized with the speaker's dialogue and includes additional auditory information such as sound effects. Captions provide accessibility for individuals who are deaf, deafened, or hard-of-hearing while also benefiting individuals with diverse learning abilities and whose primary language is not English.

Contrast and color use are vital to accessibility. There must be sufficient contrast between text color and background color on webpages, documents, text on images, icons, and buttons. High contrast and wise color choices will help users perceive the content, including those with visual disabilities. 

This webpage provides standards and how-to advice for all ESF communications pieces that we post online. It also lists resources and recommendations to help students, faculty, and staff better understand their options for creating and posting accessible documents online.

  1. Does this content truly need to be on the web?
    1. If it needs to be online, does it need to be on the ESF public website?
  2. Would the content function well as a webpage?
    1. If yes, make it a web page rather than a standalone document. Contact web@esf.edu if you need assistance.
    2. The U.S. Department of Justice recommends that when posting documents on the website, always provide them in HTML or a text-based format (even if you are also providing them in another format, such as Portable Document Format (PDF)).
  3. Is the document currently accessible?
  4. Is some other organization or agency hosting a copy of this document to which you could link, instead of recreating all the work yourself?
  5. Can the document be converted into a more accessible format?
  6. Can the document be made accessible without taking a prohibitive amount of work?
    1. Can you make it accessible by yourself?
    2. Are you willing to pay to make it accessible?

How do I make my document accessible?

Microsoft 

Adobe

Google

Kaltura

 

All active ESF students, faculty, and staff have access to the Kaltura MediaSpace administered by Syracuse University.

Use your SU email(ESFiD@syr.edu) for Kaltura log in.

You can use the Kaltura MediaSpace to upload videos and other types of media, organize media into channels and playlists, and then share media and media collections via links and embedding directly into Blackboard.

Machine captioning is performed automatically on all videos uploaded to Kaltura (videos.syr.edu). This process uses automatic machine generated transcription (ASR) that recognizes the words spoken in your video and provides machine-based captions with 75-85% accuracy.

It's strongly recommended that you edit the transcription and captions to correct any errors before publishing online.

Follow this link for Kaltura's instructions for editing captions

Information and instructions 

 

Transcript

Transcripts are required for Audio Accessibility. For most media, such as recordings of teleconferences, you only need to get/make and post a transcript to provide basic accessibility.

  • Example transcript for presentation
  • Example transcript for podcast
  • Use speech recognition software

    Using speech recognition software, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, might be a viable option if you have a lot of media with a single speaker, such as a regular podcast that is mostly you speaking. Such software requires "training" for a particular voice, so if your audio is interviews with different people, this won't work as well. Keep in mind that any software-only option will require some editing to correct mistakes.

  • Use audio-to-text service

    There are now many free and for-a-fee online serivces that will generate a transcript for you, including YouTube. These will almost always require a lot of editing to correct mistakes.

  • Type the transcript yourself

    Unless you are an excellent typist, doing it yourself is likely to be frustrating. It's probably worth paying someone else to do it. If you do it yourself, plan for it to take at least three times as long as the audio to type it up - e.g., half an hour for a 10-minute podcast.

    There is free software that can help by slowing down the text and providing easy pause buttons, such as Express Scribe Transcription Playback Software.

  • Pay someone to make the transcript

    See the transcription services page.

Create high-quality audio

  • Use high-quality microphone(s) and recording software.
  • When feasible, record in a room that is isolated from all external sounds.
  • Avoid rooms with hard surfaces, such as tile or wood floors.

Use low background audio

When the main audio is a person speaking and you have background music, set the levels so people with hearing or cognitive disabilities can easily distinguish the speaking from the background.

Specifically, make the background sounds at least 20 decibels lower than the foreground speech content (with the exception of occasional sounds that last for only one or two seconds).

Avoid sounds that can be distracting or irritating, such as some high pitches and repeating patterns.

More information is in Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.7: Low or No Background Audio (AAA).

Speak clearly and slowly

Speak clearly. This is important for people wanting to understand the content, and for captioners.

Speak as slowly as appropriate. This will enable listeners to understand better, and make the timing better for captions and sign language.

Give people time to process information

Pause between topics.

Use clear language

Avoid or explain jargon, acronyms, and idioms. For example, expressions such as "raising the bar" can be interpreted literally by some people with cognitive disabilities and can be confusing.

Provide redundancy for sensory characteristics

Make your information work for people who cannot see and/or cannot hear.

For example, instead of saying:

| Attach this to the green end.

Say:

| Attach the small ring to the green end, which is the larger end.

More information that primarily addresses web pages, yet is relevant to audio and video, is in Understanding Success Criterion 1.3.3: Sensory Characteristics (A).

 

Hire a SUNY-Approved provider to make your content accessible:

SUNY has a contract with Grackle Docs for document remediation.

SUNY Campuses preferred pricing: $70/hour

Create a free GrackleDocs account

Automatic Sync Technologies (AST) has an agreement in place to provide captioning and other video and audio accessibility services for the SUNY system at special pricing. CaptionSync is an accurate, affordable web-based solution for closed captions, audio description, and live captioning (CART) services and tools.

This webinar provides an overview for SUNY staff of the range of services that AST offers, and how to set up and use those services.

Step 2. Check the color and contrast of your content to ensure it passes Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) AA:

Accessibility Training Resources

Digital Accessibility training is provided to ESF members once a month both in person and online. The training recordings and materials will be available.

Register

Students, faculty, and staff at SUNY campuses have free access to Deque University's training and on-demand reference materials for every level and every area of expertise in digital accessibility. The system-wide subscription is paid for and supported by SUNY System Administration.

Request a Deque Account

LinkedIn Learning offers thousands of self-paced courses, with many dedicated to creating accessible content. 

Log into your Syracuse University LinkedIn Learning account. Use your SU email address (NetID@syr.edu) to log in. Search for the courses you need using terms like Creating Accessible Documents and InDesign Accessibility.

FAQs

Q: Do I have to make all documents posted to the website ADA compliant, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Excel files, and PDFs?
A: Yes.

Q: Do attachments to emails have to be made accessible?
A: Yes. Both your email messages sent using your @esf.edu email account, and all their attachments must be accessible. They are considered official College documents. Once you send an email, you lose control of who reads it. So even if the intended recipient isn't someone who requires assistive technology, you must ensure that your email is accessible.

Q: How do I convey the information in my document in the fastest, simplest, most cost-effective way possible?
A: Put the information directly into Omni Content Management System or other CMS (i.e. Sharepoint) (thereby converting it to Web Format/HTML).

Accessibility Policies and Resources

  • Adobe Acrobat Pro - (NOT Adobe Acrobat Reader). Used to edit PDFs for accessibility. Contact the ESF Business Office to acquire a license.
  • CommonLook PDF Validator - free Adobe Acrobat plug-in for checking accessibility compliance. More accurate than Acrobat's built-in checker.
  • Screen reader software - Accessibility screen reader software such as JAWS is useful for testing document accessibility. Contact CNS to acquire a license.