Assistive Technology Initiative

Mason Captions!

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Over the course of the last year, accessibility and disability professionals from higher education institutions throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia have participated in ongoing discussions centered on pooling our collective resources to drive down the overall costs related to post-production captioning, transcription, and ICT (information and communications technology) purchasing & procurement. Given recent legal settlements demanding educational institutions do more to ensure equivalent access to ICT resources for individuals with disabilities, these areas are starting to receive greater scrutiny.

COOPERATIVE PURCHASING AGREEMENTS – POST-PRODUCTION CAPTIONING AND TRANSCRIPTION

 

TIERED PRICING EXPLAINED…

 

GETTING STARTED

I strongly encourage each institution to set up an account with all 3 vendors. That will be the most effective way to determine which service best meets the needs and goals of your respective institution. Once you set up an account, each vendor will host individual on-boarding sessions with those individuals/departments/units that will be accessing the platform.

At GMU, our service is centrally hosted so that only involved a small group session upfront and a series of phone calls or email exchanges from time to time to clarify details or correct issues. If your institution plans to use a more distributed model, I would suggest you plan to use a method that makes sign up and on-boarding easy (e.g., portal site). Maybe also consider a series of sessions to educate faculty and staff on how best to access the services and submit content. See the “Higher Ed Partners…” section to get feedback from institutions that share your distribution method/model.  Setup and contract information for each contract is listed below:

3Play Media

    • Click on the Get Started link to set up an account. After submitting your information, you’ll receive an email confirmation with a link to activate your account. From there, go ahead and started uploading files.

The chart below highlights annual pricing tiers for 3Play Media:

Annual Tiers Per-Minute Pricing Per Hour
Starting Price $1.95 $117
Surpass $100,000 $1.85* $111
Surpass $500,000 $1.75 $105
Surpass $1,000,000 $1.65 $99

* – Current 3Play Media per/minute rate for Virginia partners.

The chart below highlights turnaround time pricing based on current per/minute rates for 3Play Media (Prices below based on $1.85 starting price):

Turnaround Times Per-Minute Pricing Per Hour
10 business days  -$0.15 ($1.75) $108
2 business days +$0.40 ($2.25) $141
1 business day +$0.90 ($2.75) $171
8 hours +$2.00 ($3.85) $237
2 hours +$5.00 ($6.85) $417

 

Cielo24

    • Fill in and submit the online questionnaire. After submitting your information, you’ll receive a follow-up call and/or email from our dedicated Account Manager.

The chart below highlights turnaround time pricing for Cielo24:

Turnaround Times Per-Minute Pricing
7+ business days  $1.50
4 business days $1.60
2 business days $1.80
1 business day $2.60
12 hours $3.10
6 hours $3.70
3 hours $3.95

 

Verbit, Inc.

    • Fill in and submit the online questionnaire. After submitting your information, you’ll receive a follow-up call and/or email from our dedicated Account Manager.

The chart below highlights annual pricing tiers for Verbit, Inc.:

Standard Minutes (Annual) Per-Minute Pricing
7,000 – 14,000 $1.25
14,001 – 29,999 $1.18*
30,000 – 59,999 $1.08
60,000 – 99,999 $1.00
100,000 and above $0.95

* – Current Verbit per/minute rate for Virginia partners.

The chart below highlights turnaround time pricing based on current per/minute rates for Verbit, Inc. (Prices below based on $1.18 starting price):

Turnaround Times Per-Minute Pricing
3 business days $0.95
2 business days $1.15
1 business day $1.34
8 hours $1.54

 

HAVE QUESTIONS? ASK YOUR PARTNERS!

In addition to attractive pricing, it is important that we learn from and take advantage of the expertise in the state. Have questions about what distribution model would work best for your office? Have questions about how to get started? Have questions about post-production captioning and transcription in general? Reach out to your Virginia partners. The following institutions are currently taking advantage of the post-production captioning and transcription contracts:

Distribution Models

  • Centralized Distribution Model (i.e., responsibility for post-production captioning housed in a central office/unit)
    • George Mason University
    • Northern Virginia Community College
  • Distributed Captioning Model (i.e., responsibility for post-production captioning spread across several different offices/units)
    • University of Virginia
    • Virginia Tech
    • University of Mary Washington
    • James Madison University

Higher Education Partners

 

CONTRACT ADMINISTRATOR:

Korey Singleton, Ph.D., ATP, RET
ATI Manager
George Mason University
Aquia Building RM 238 MSN: 6A11
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-2143
http://ati.gmu.edu
Twitter: @AccessibleMason