On Thursday, May 27, 2021, several improvements will be made to the Zoom and Video Hosting and Sharing (formerly Video on Demand) services. These changes are intended to improve usability and accessibility for Cornell meeting and webinar hosts and hosted video users.

Zoom Language Interpretation Feature

Zoom meeting hosts who need to include interpreters in meetings and webinars will be able to designate up to twenty (20) participants as language interpreters for their Zoom sessions.

This feature will allow the designated interpreters to provide separate audio channels within the Zoom session for the language to which they are translating. Meeting or webinar attendees will have the option of selecting a language audio channel and listening to the translated audio content.

Zoom hosts who want to use this feature will need to enable it first in their Zoom account Meeting settings, under the In Meeting (Advanced) heading.

For details, visit the Zoom website page, Language interpretation in meetings and webinars.

Video Hosting and Sharing (Video on Demand / Kaltura)

Improvements will be made to the Kaltura hosting platform to improve accessibility and usability.

The changes will include disabling:

• "Instant Search" feature
  This feature, which shows instant search results as the user types into the search field, has interfered with web browsing by the visually impaired and was identified for removal in an accessibility audit.

And enabling:

• High contrast mode
  The ability to turn on high-contrast mode for the Video Hosting and Sharing interface will provide additional contrast and indicators on key navigational labels and icons. For details, see Enable High-Contrast Mode for the Video Hosting and Sharing Platform.
• 1.25x playback speed
  This added option provides an alternative for users who find the 1.5x and 2.0x playback options too fast. For more details on media playback controls, visit Play Hosted Media.
• Passcodes
  Media owners will be able to add a passcode when sharing or embedding a media item. This will further improve security of hosted media content in addition to the current ability to restrict Media Channels to only Cornell users. For more detail about setting a passcode, visit Set a Passcode for Media Content.
• Replace media 
  This feature will allow media owners to update their source media on the hosting platform and have the update propagate to all embedded instances. For details, visit Replace or Update Previously Shared Media.

If you encounter issues using Zoom or the Video Hosting and Sharing (Kaltura) media platform, contact the IT Service Desk.