The University of Illinois CAM includes the Policy on Multimedia Accessibility. Please take a moment to read the policy and feel free to share with us any questions you may have. Accessible Media Services (AMS) is available to assist you with video captioning.

How do I get media captioned by AMS?

Check to see if the library owns a copy of the video already captioned. AMS will not caption a video that the library already has available with captioning.
If the library owns the video, but it is not captioned, let us know and we will have the library send it to us for captioning. Then you would check it out from the library as usual.
If the Library does not have a copy of the video, please contact them to see if they can purchase access/material.
You will be contacted to confirm that we received your request.
Non-student AMS rates can be found on the DRES Billing (Non-Student) page.

AMS processes materials for DRES students first, and then we will work on non-DRES-student material. We will process this material on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you would like an approximate turnaround time, please email Ann Fredricksen at dres-accessible-media@illinois.edu.

What does it cost to have something captioned?

Starting in the summer of 2023, DRES is not charging departments for captioning. This policy could change with little advanced notice.

In the past, billing was done on a monthly basis on what media had been completely processed. The rate for captioning was currently $2.90 per minute of video with a minimum charge per video of $15.00. If a ‘good’ transcript could be provided as a starting point, the cost was $1.50 per minute of video. DRES staff get to make the decision on what constitutes as a “good” transcription. The cost of producing just a transcript from scratch was also $1.50/minute.

You may outsource your material to be captioned by an outside company. There are many companies out there and DRES does not endorse or suggest one vendor over another. We do have a list of questions that we think you should ask and consider in purchasing quality captions.

Can I caption my own videos?

You may also caption your own videos. You may schedule an appointment via email with our office and we would be happy to talk you through your options.

Learn how to caption!

You may also caption your own videos. You can schedule an appointment with our office and we would be happy to talk you through your options. You may also participate in the free online DIY closed captioning course. Follow this link to register for the DIY Captioning Course.