Improved Accessibility, Enhanced Searching May Lead to Translation into Other Languages

Ann Arbor, MI — January 5, 2011 — The University of Michigan School of Dentistry has taken an important step to make its digital videos that are on the Internet more accessible to the hard of hearing and visually impaired.  Recently, 30 of the most-watched videos were transcribed and uploaded to www.youtube.com/user/umichdent.  To date, the videos have been viewed more than 1.5 million times worldwide.

The effort began when Mary Reilly, the assistant coordinator of services for deaf and hard of hearing students at U-M, approached the School of Dentistry last summer volunteering to transcribe some of the videos.  “I read an article on the School’s Web site about the videos being available on YouTube that were drawing worldwide interest, but realized none of them were captioned,” she said. 

Working with Emily Springfield, the School of Dentistry’s instructional designer, Reilly volunteered because she had more time during the summer and wanted to work on the project “to keep my transcription skills sharp.  Since these are educational videos, this project fit nicely with my job description.”

Reilly added she was surprised to learn that more than 800 videos were produced during the past 40 years.  “I don’t know of another institution that has a similar library of educational media,” she said.  “In that respect, the School of Dentistry’s video library is unique.”

Benefits Cited

Drawing on her experiences with deaf and hard of hearing students at U-M, Reilly said adding captions “would be very helpful, not only to them, but also to people for whom English is not their first language.”

Transcribing offered another benefit.  Since the School’s videos are on the Web, content from the transcripts would be easily searchable.  “That means they can be found more readily by search engines which will lead to increased viewership,” Reilly said.

However, transcribing is time intensive.  An experienced transcriptionist can process about 10 minutes of video in an hour.  Computer transcribing, Springfield said, is also available, but is only about 75 percent accurate currently. “Most transcribing mistakes happen with dentistry-specific terminology, arguably the most important part of the transcript,” she said.  Making sure remarks are accurate and that anatomical terms are correctly spelled, for example, often takes as long or longer than transcribing itself. 

Reilly said transcription accuracy is crucial.  “Captions have to be between 95 to 99 percent accurate for a reader to understand them,” she said.  “If a transcript is less than 95 percent accurate, comprehension declines to a point where what is being communicated becomes unintelligible.”  Reilly said since she does not have a medical background, she paid very close attention to the terminology while she was doing her work.

Translation Next?

Springfield said that transcripts could also be a steppingstone for eventually translating the videos into other languages.  “Since 75 percent of the video viewers are outside the U.S., translation is a logical next step,” she said.  At this time, however, no decisions have been made about when, or if, the 30 videos might be translated, or into what languages.  Spanish, French, and several other languages have been suggested.

“We’ll keep working on these until we have transcribed all 850 videos,” Springfield said.  Reilly said she would like to continue transcribing the videos “until they are all done.”  Others who may be interested in transcribing or translating the videos are invited to contact the School of Dentistry by e-mail: open-dentistry@umich.edu. 

List of captioned videos to date

1. Removal of Carious Lesion
2. Local Anesthetic Injection Technique
3. Dental Anatomy Introduction
4. Scaling and Root Planing: Part II
5. Behavior Control During Anesthesia for the Child
6. General Procedures in Oral Surgery
7. Examination of the Mouth
8. Hospital Dentistry Using General Anesthesia
9. The Amalgam Proximal Box Cavity
10. Dissection: Vertebral Colum, Spinal
11. Diastema Closure and Frenectomy With Z-Plasty
12. Four-Handed Dentistry in an Amalgam Placement
13. Class III Composite Restoration
14. Clinical Procedures in Bridge Construction
15. Horizontal Mandibular Impaction and Maxillary Third Molar
16. Maxillary Cuspid Preparation for a Porcelain Fused to Gold Crown
17. Endodontic Cavity Preparation - Phase I - Posterior
18. Periodontal Surgery (Muco-Periosteal Flap)
19. Locating Root Canals
20. Removal of Large Ameloblastoma of Mandible
21. Diastema Closure - Hawley Retainer
22. Bonding Brackets
23. Surgery for Immediate Complete Denture
24. Class I Amalgam Restoration
25. Delivery of Immediate Maxillary Complete Denture
26. Dissection: Thorax; Pleura and Superior Mediastinum
27. DENT 718: Removable partial dentures: design considerations
28. Dental Anatomy: Maxillary Molars Review
29. The Facial Mask: Delivery

Contact: Sharon Grayden, Communications Director (734) 615-2600, or Jerry Mastey, Editor (734) 615-1971   dentistry.communications@umich.edu