Mediasite Announces New Video Tools to Help Schools, Businesses Navigate a Digital-First Reality

New accessibility and security features, student assignment submission tools in LMSs and support for external videos among latest from Mediasite

MADISON, Wis., May 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As universities prepare for a new normal that includes an essential mix of flipped lectures and real-time discussions and organizations plan for the possibility of indefinite remote work situations, one thing is certain. Ensuring courses and communications are easily available to all has never been more critical. That’s why Mediasite today announces powerful new video tools that provide users with the simplicity, reliability and flexibility needed to create the most engaging, data-rich and personalized experiences possible as they collaborate from a distance.  

New closed captioning capabilities, learning management system enhancements, accessibility and security tools and seamless support for external videos are among the latest Mediasite features in the first release of the summer.  

Accessibility tools to accommodate all viewers

• Enhance video with audio descriptions: Users can now add an audio description file to a Mediasite video to better accommodate viewers with visual impairments. Users simply upload an .mp3 file to play alongside the video’s primary audio track. The file is essentially a narration of what is happening visually in the video.
• Improve transcript accuracy: Users have even better control over the accuracy of their transcripts with more confidence scoring features for automatic speech recognition (ASR). Mediasite now integrates with a broader array of caption providers to ensure the speech-to-text is accurate before displaying it as captions on a video. Once a video is captioned, a confidence result lets users automatically determine which videos should enable captions with ASR and which ones need further human review. This enhances the closed captioning capabilities Mediasite already offers.
• Easily navigate videos with a keyboard and screen reader: Users can now seamlessly use the tab and arrow keys to navigate a Mediasite video, edit transcripts using the caption editor and change timing on captions. Each action is announced to the user with the screen reader.

Seamless support for external videos