Getting Started With Third-Party (CART) Captioning in Zoom

Overview 

Communication Access Realtime Transcription (CART) involves human transcription in real time while someone is speaking or a video is playing. Most deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals require the level of accuracy that CART provides.

Zoom supports professional CART providers through the built-in “Live Transcript” feature, allowing an assigned meeting participant to share captions through the platform. When this feature is enabled for a meeting/webinar, captions can be typed directly into Zoom or added to Zoom via an integration with a third-party software or service.

We recommend that you invite the third party to join the meeting/webinar as a participant and promote them to co-host before assigning them to type the live transcription.

Purchasing CART Services

Purchasing CART or ASL services for your unit from a third-party provider is negotiated exclusively by those two parties, without any university intermediary. When enlisting a CART Provider:

• The university does not have a preferred vendor(s) for CART, but ScreenLine has experience working with U-M and Zoom. Contact [email protected] or 517-627-2500.
• List of ASL Interpreter/CART contacts (Source: Mikalia Dennis, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Contact: [email protected] or 734-764-3620.) 
• Please inquire directly with third-party vendors regarding HIPAA-compliant solutions for special use cases.
• If further guidance is needed from Michigan Medicine, please visit the Michigan Medicine web portal or call 734-936-8000. The Michigan Medicine service center also recommends consulting the U-M Procurement Transcription Services website.

Instructions for the Host

1. Start/join your Zoom meeting or webinar.
2. Click Live Transcript from the Zoom toolbar along the bottom of the screen.
3. Click Assign a participant to type.

4. Hover over the participant who will be assigned to type the live transcript and click More from the participant window. 
5. Click Make Co-Host from the drop-down menu, then click Yes to confirm. 
6. Hover over the same individual's name and click More. 
7. Click Assign to type Closed Caption from the drop-down menu. A pop-up window will then appear on that individual's screen: "The host has assigned you to type Closed Caption."

Instructions for the Third-Party Captioner

Once the host assigns you the ability to type closed captions, a notification will appear on your screen: "The host has assigned you to type Closed Caption." To enter closed captions as a participant:

1. Click Closed Caption in the pop-up window that appears.
2. This will open up the closed caption box. Type the closed captions in the box.
3. Click Enter to submit your closed captions.

Notes:

• There will be a delay of 6 to 10 seconds when viewing live captions.
• Third-party captioners use two devices to provide captions.
• When a third party joins the meeting, they should mute speakers on one of their devices.
• Refer to Managing closed captioning and live transcription in Zoom Support for additional information.

If CART transcription isn’t a good fit, refer to Videoconferencing Captioning Tools for Zoom for more information on the other transcription tools in Zoom to determine which works best for your specific situation.