Announcement:

Zoom Captioning and Live Transcription is available at UM!

We are excited to announce that Zoom now offers captioning and live transcripts for all UM accounts. If you are a meeting host, there are steps you must take in order to activate this feature. More information about Zoom captions is available to help you get set up. 

Captioning Overview

Captioning is the process of converting the audio content of a pre-recorded video, webinar, live event, or other production into text and displaying the text on a screen or monitor. Quality captions not only display words as the textual equivalent of spoken dialogue or narration, but they also include speaker identification, sound effects, and music description. Captioning is critical to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and can also aid and enhance the experience and understanding for many others.  (National Association of the Deaf, 2020)

Benefits of Captioning

  • Access for people who are deaf or hard of hearing and cannot hear all or some of the audio.
  • Access for people with cognitive and learning disabilities who need to see and hear the content to better understand it.
  • Content can be used in:
    • loud environments where you cannot hear the audio.
    • silent environments where you cannot turn on sound.
  • Content can be better understood by people hearing and seeing the information, for example, people who are less fluent in the language spoken.
  • Content can be read rather than watched, which is easier and quicker for some people.
  • Content in text form, such as caption files and transcripts, can be better indexed by search engines.
  • Content can be used without needing to download video files, for example, to save data on mobile.

Captioning Specifics

Knowing when and what to caption can be confusing, and knowing how to caption can seem overwhelming. We hope this site will serve a guide to establish what material needs to be captioned and also provide helpful information on how to get your material captioned:

Captioning Requests

Both live and pre-recorded captioning requests are made through the Accessibility Solutions office by emailing accessibility@olemiss.edu or calling 662-915-1335.  Departments or units are responsible for the cost of captioning when it is not required by an SDS accommodation or part of a fully online course.