31 Video and Audio in Pressbooks

Video and Audio elements can be valuable additions to your Pressbooks publication. It is critical that alternative formats be included so that all users can interact with this content.

Using the Accessibility +1 Formula¹, videos should be captioned and audio content should have a transcript.

Due to the storage limitations within Pressbooks, it is not recommended to store audio and video filse using Add Media.

Audio in Pressbooks

• If audio has been stored in an online repository, such as Soundcloud, it can be embedded by pasting the URL into the Visual text editor.
• If audio has been uploaded to a platform that does not allow oEmbed, it must be externally linked.
• If audio does not have an accompanying visual that displays text, a transcript is the only way some individuals will be able to interact with the content.
• Transcripts can be stored externally and linked on the page as a Word or a Plain Text document.

Video in Pressbooks

• If a video has been uploaded to a website that supports oEmbed, such as Youtube, pasting the video URL into the Visual editor will automatically embed the video into your page.
• For other platforms, Pressbooks may allow users to embed the video using <iframe> code in the Text editor.
  • If you would like your resource to be viewed publicly, MacVideo public-access videos can be embedded.
  • If you would like to limit access to McMaster community members, Microsoft Stream videos can be embedded.
• All pre-recorded media must have, at minimum, automatic captions available.
  • For Microsoft Stream, MacVideo, and Echo360, these can be automatically generated when uploading your video to the platform.
• For most Pressbooks themes, embedded videos will display best when 600 – 700 pixels wide.

References

1. Morgan, Michelle. (2020). Accessibility in Higher Education: Considerations & Strategies During Coid-19 / EDUCAUSE Online Course ​