Order Captions for Media in Canvas or MiVideo Mediaspace

Environment

Canvas
MiVideo Mediaspace

Issue

How to order machine-generated or professional human-generated English captions for media in Canvas and MiVideo Mediaspace.

Video Demos

How to Order Captions for a Video In My Media on Canvas

Resolution

Notes:

• All media must be closed captioned to meet accessibility guidelines.
• Captions generated for YouTube passthrough videos do not get passed back to YouTube. However, you can download the captions to use outside of MiVideo.
• Language translation captions, audio descriptions, and audio language translation (dubbing) are separate fee-based services.

Viewing Captions in the Kaltura Media Player

Once captions are added to a recording, viewers have the option to enable/disable captions in the media player by clicking the closed captions icon. 

Example video with Closed Captioning

What is MiVideo?

Machine-generated Captions

MiVideo provides free machine-generated captions. These captions are not always accurate. See the Edit Captions article to edit machine-generated captions for accuracy and accessibility. 

• Media must be uploaded to your My Media in Canvas or Mediaspace to use this service.
• Machine-generated captions must be manually ordered if the media was added to your My Media library prior to 4/22/2024.
• Auto machine-generated captions are ordered in English. If the source language of the video is in another language, follow the steps below to order machine captions in another language (this is not the same as language translation).
• The source media can be one of any supported language.
• Captioning requests produce caption and searchable and interactive transcript files of the original source language.
• This service is provided using automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology.
• Media owners and co-editors can order captions for audio and video files.
• Canvas course managers (Teachers, TAs, Designers) can order captions for most Media Gallery content without having to be the owner or a co-editor.
• It may take up to 30 minutes for machine captions to complete.
• You cannot re-order machine-generated captions in the same language. You'll need to make a copy of the video using the MiVideo Video Editor. Captions will be automatically created for the copy. To use the captions file in the original video, download the SRT captions file from the copy, then upload the SRT captions file to the original. Contact the ITS Service Center for assistance.

Ordering Machine-generated captions

1. Access My Media
   • Canvas: Account > My Media 
   • MiVideo Mediaspace: user drop-down menu > My Media
2. Check the box next to the media item
3. Select Actions > Caption & Enrich
4. Choose the Machine service
5. Select the appropriate Source Media Language. This is not a translation service, the source language spoken in the video must match the language selected or unusable captions will be created.
6. Leave the defaults in the other fields
7. Click Submit
8. You will receive an email notification when the captions are ready for editing. See the Edit Captions article.

Professional Human-generated Captions (English to English)

Kaltura contracts with Verbit to generate more accurate professional human-generated captions.

There are two ways to order captions:

• With a shortcode
• Disability accommodation through the SSD office 

Ordering Professional Captions with a shortcode

This is a premium fee-based service. It is not free. Please complete the MiVideo Captioning, Transcription & Audio Descriptions Request Form.

• Media must be uploaded to your My Media in Canvas or Mediaspace to use this service.
• Professional captions can be ordered for videos that already have machine captions. Once professional captions are created they will become the default and the machines captions will be disabled on the video.
• The source video must be in English.
• Captioning requests produce English caption and transcript files.
• Price is based on turnaround time. See the ordering form for estimated costs.
• Cost is based on the length of the recording rounded up the next minute (not the number of minutes of audio that need transcribed). For example, a recording with a length of 10 minutes and 1 second will be charged for 11 minutes.
• The recording length can be edited down as necessary, see the Utilizing Video Editor article.
• The ITS-MiVideo team will need a shortcode and authorized signer approval to place the order.
• The ITS-MiVideo team will email the requester once the order is completed.

Disability Accommodations through the SSD Office

• Professional human-created captions can be ordered on request for disability accommodations through the SSD office. 
• Media must be uploaded to your My Media in Canvas or Mediaspace to use this service.
• Professional captions can be ordered for videos that already have machine captions. Once professional captions are created they will become the default and the machines captions will be disabled on the video.
• See the Human-Created MiVideo Captions For SSD Accommodation article.

Related Articles

See related Media Captioning articles for more information about captions.

Additional Information

• Check out the new Academic Technology@Michigan website for course planning resources from across U-M
• Visit the Canvas @ Michigan site for faculty including the U-M Instructor Guide with links to additional support resources from across campus
• Check out the Canvas and MiVideo tutorials

For additional questions, please contact the ITS Service Center