Microphone and headphones
Image from Pixabay.

Making podcasts and mp3 files accessible is as simple as providing a transcript near your audio player or near the link to your audio file.

CREATING TRANSCRIPT

There are many paths you can take to get a transcript. Below are just a few options commonly used at Clemson.

Use Kaltura's Machine Captioning then remove timestamps.
Record audio playback with Zoom (must record to cloud), download Zoom Autotranscript, then remove timestamps.
Convert your audio file to a video, upload to YouTube, harvest YouTube's Autocaptions, then remove timestamps.
Leverage Google Voice Typing Tool (Keep an eye on it, it likes to stop suddenly)
Manually Transcribe Audio

Of the paths listed, Manually Transcribing Audio tends to produce more accurate transcripts, especially on short files where you are less likely to get fatigued by the transcription process. It avoids the possibility of leaving behind mistakes like "A bird in the the bush" due to the brain auto-censoring such mistakes when reading the text quickly.

Removing Timestamps From Autocaption Files

Removing Timestamps

If you use autocaptions as the basis for your transcript, you can use the following process to remove the timestamps.

Open the transcript in Microsoft Word on the desktop (i.e. not in your browser).
Open the "Home" tab/ribbon then open "Replace." (Shortcut key: Ctrl+H or Shift+⌘+H)
Scroll to the last time stamp in the document and copy it.
Paste the timestamp in the "Find What" field.
Replace each number with ^# (example: 5:05 will be ^#:^#^#)
1. For .srt files, you can paste the following into the "Find What" field: ^#^#:^#^#:^#^#,^#^#^# --> ^#^#:^#^#:^#^#,^#^#^#
2. For .vtt files, you can paste the following into the "Find What" field: ^#^#:^#^#:^#^#.^#^#^# --> ^#^#:^#^#:^#^#.^#^#^#
Click "Replace All" and allow all timestamps in the document to be replaced.
Repeat steps 3 through 6 for any remaining timestamps.
(If you are working in a .srt file) put ^#^#^#^#^p in the "Find What" field, click "Replace All" and repeat this process, decreasing one ^# each time (so ^#^#^#^p then ^#^#^p, then ^#^p).
Put ^p in the "Find What" field.
Add a single space with the spacebar in the "Replace With" field.
Click "Replace All."
Do the following as needed.
1. If the words at the start and end of paragraphs become one word, press Ctrl or ⌘+ Z to undo and try steps 8 through 10 again.
2. If the text is not in a single paragraph, click “Replace All” a second time.
Make additional proofreading edits.
Save the file as either a Word Document, accessible PDF, or Plain Text (txt) file.
Upload the file, set appropriate sharing permissions, and get the file's URL.
Link the file near the audio.

Screenshot showing the process for using the Replace Tool.

PROOFREAD, FORMAT, AND ADD DETAILS

To make the transcript most accessible, it should include as much of the following as appropriate.

Important sound effects descriptions written in present tense inside brackets:
- [audience laughs]
- [Joe screams offstage]
Long periods of silence described as “[no audio]” or “[silence].”
Speakers identifications when the audio has more than one. If you do not know a speaker's name, use identifiers like "Participant 1:" or "Speaker 1:" etc.
Correct grammar and spelling (when possible).
- Below is an example of why correct grammar is important:
  - "Most of the time travelers worry about their luggage." (In this sentence, the majority of time travelers worry.)
  - "Most of the time, travelers worry about their luggage." (In this sentence, travelers worry most of the time!)
Omit Ums and other verbal ticks unless they are purposely included to create a dramatic effect or personality.
Indicate interruptions indicated with double hyphens(--) or a single long dashes(—).
URLs such as “www dot D-C-M-P dot org” should be written as it would normally appear: “www.DCMP.org”
As many other DCMP’s captioning key guidelines as you can.