Launched in May 2019, the MHSES subtitling pilot project has now reached its halfway point. In this blog we’ll outline a short summary of what we have achieved so far, and what we hope to accomplish in the remaining months of the project.

Firstly, a reminder to all teaching staff in MHSES that we can add subtitles to any video media that you use in your teaching. This is particularly so if you have deaf students enrolled, or if you have any student with subtitling or use of a microphone on their schedule of adjustment. If you are not sure about a student’s schedule of adjustment it’s best to contact Student Services in the first instance.

It’s also worth remembering that subtitles can benefit all students on a course. Students with English as a second language are an obvious example, but even students who are studying in libraries or public spaces and can’t access audio or headphones would also benefit from subtitles.

In terms of the project so far, we have subtitled 63 videos from 9 different courses; the shortest at 1min 26 secs, the longest at 2hrs 7 mins. Staff have been appreciative of the results and we have been able to provide an efficient and reliable service.

One learning point is the time taken to subtitle videos. As a rule of thumb it takes approximately 1 hour to subtitle 10 minutes of footage, then additional time for proof reading and editing. For example, an hour long lecture would take approximately 6 hours to subtitle, plus an additional 2-3 hours to synchronise the subtitles, proof read, and check for errors. Videos with single speakers generally take less time than those with multiple speakers.

Other factors can be the speed at which a person talks or the language used in a video. We may, for example, need to cross check terminology, technical language, or author names in order to get accuracy in the subtitles. This can add a little time to the process. If you have a transcript to accompany your video this can often be a big help in this regard.

The service employs two subtitlers who use a variety of methods to produce the subtitles. One uses speech recognition software called Dragon Naturally Speaking and WinCaps subtitling software. Another uses a combination of Amara and YouTube’s automatic captioning tool. We are also looking at OtterAI as another option. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. WinCaps is a costed service, but YouTube is free. However, there is potentially an ethical concern using YouTube for University material, even if it is only used temporarily to get the automated captions before being deleted.

It’s worth pointing out that the University has its own subtitling tool via MediaHopper which in theory keeps things “in house”. If you have a video on MediaHopper you can contact IS who will generate automated captions and add them to your video. You would then need to manually check and edit them via the MediaHopper editor. In this case, it then becomes an issue of resourcing and staff time – who will do the checking and editing, and when? As outlined above, subtitling can be a more labour intensive process than you think. To find out more about IS service follow this link Subtitling guidance for staff

As yet we are not at the stage where we can get perfect subtitles from AI. Computer generated subtitles can speed up the process but creating quality subtitles still requires human intervention. We’ve had a number of queries from other Schools and Colleges about our service so there is clearly a demand for subtitles across the University, particularly as more courses go online or use videos in their teaching. In the final stages of this pilot project we hope to use our data and findings to inform the debate and future policy of the University. To request subtitles on a video please complete our Video Subtitling Request Form ( You can find the form here)  or contact Holyrood Digital Services directly to ask us any questions at digitalservices-holyrood@ed.ac.uk .