This is why defining the policy of access is critical. If these digitized
collections are intended to be published for the entire public, the needs
of the (original) requester is not sufficient; the federal mandates require
full accessibility as best to your ability without undue burden.

If you aren’t making these available for the entire public, and your
policies are well documented about that restriction and the request
process, then you have more flexibility to balance the burden of making a
collection accessible based on the needs of the specific user.

Tim

Tim McGeary
Associate University Librarian for Digital Strategies and Technology
Duke University

On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 3:37 PM Kate Deibel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> While this is true in the general case, we're again talking about Special
> Collections and the needs of the requester. Audio descriptions are
> extremely difficult to do as the ideal is to never interrupt other relevant
> sounds in the media, especially dialogue. That's a unique challenge of
> being precise and fast. My recommendation would be to make audio
> descriptions available upon request just as with more quality captioning.
> There is currently no means of automating audio descriptions even of low
> quality. AI tools just aren't there yet, and frankly, I'm a little scared
> of the idea of a world where AI can view a random scene and describe what
> is happening.
>
> Katherine Deibel | PhD
> Inclusion & Accessibility Librarian
> Syracuse University Libraries
> T 315.443.7178
> [log in to unmask]
> 222 Waverly Ave., Syracuse, NY 13244
> Syracuse University
>