Video Policy
The university maintains a single YouTube channel for campus-wide content and an additional channel for each of the four colleges. Additional YouTube channels using the UM-Dearborn name are not permitted. All videos that are posted on the University of Michigan-Dearborn website must be hosted on one of the five official UM-Dearborn YouTube Channels. Videos created for university use that require hosting on YouTube for sharing in emails, social media or similar forms should be uploaded to one of the five official UM-Dearborn YouTube channels.
Upload Process
The External Relations team manages the video upload process. To have your video added to the UM-Dearborn YouTube channel, please complete the Video Upload Form. Please note that most requests will be fulfilled within 3-5 business days, so please plan accordingly. Your video should be the final edited version and accessible to our team for downloading. All video titles, descriptions, thumbnail art and playlist requests should be included on the form. The University of Michigan’s Accessibility Policy requires captions to be available for any video uploaded by our organization. See below for options on providing a transcript or caption file.
Content Policy
UM-Dearborn does not post any content to YouTube that could be flagged as violating their community guidelines such as nudity, sexual content, excessive profanity, etc. as it could result in the termination of our account. View YouTube's full community guidelines. Content that poses a potential copyright or trademark infringement will not be posted. It is important to ensure that any music used in your video is properly licensed.
Caption Policy
Uploading your video with captions is required by federal regulations, University of Michigan policy, and is a best practice for video design. Captions are important because they help provide access to your video content for individuals with hearing impairments in compliance with federal regulations, University of Michigan policy, and best practices for video design. Captions can also be useful for those that are not fluent in the native language of the audio or video.
Submitting videos for upload to the UM-Dearborn YouTube Channel
If you are submitting less than 10 minutes of video:
- External Relations can assist with captioning. Please be aware that during busy times of the year, your request may take up to two weeks.
- Departments or units submitting multiple video requests at a time totaling more than 10 minutes of video may be asked to provide their own captions or pay for captioning service.
If you are submitting more than 10 minutes of video:
- You will be required to provide captions for the video. The following options are available:
- Professional captions. A professional captioning service should be considered when your video contains important information meant for a broad audience but is too long for you to provide your own captions and no transcript is available. The cost will vary depending on the length of the video. A shortcode should be provided when requesting this option. External Relations can provide a quote for captioning services and assist you with obtaining captions.
- Approximate price for captioning: Pricing is based on the length of the video and the turnaround time needed. The pricing for professional captioning is listed below (as of September 2023 - price is subject to change).
- 8 Hour turnaround - $3.75 per minute
- 1 Day turnaround - $3.15 per minute
- 2 Day turnaround - $2.49 per minute
- 4 Day turnaround - $2.45 per minute
- Approximate price for captioning: Pricing is based on the length of the video and the turnaround time needed. The pricing for professional captioning is listed below (as of September 2023 - price is subject to change).
- Provide your own captions. Many video editing programs can be used to generate a caption and export a .srt file. We can accept edited caption files in .srt formats or you may provide an edited text transcript in a document file such as Google Docs or Word. Captions MUST be edited and highly accurate to be accepted. To fulfill UM’s accessibility requirements, all captions must:
- be synchronized with the video and audio content.
- use correct grammar and punctuation.
- indicate who is speaking.
- convey important background sounds and music.
- Professional captions. A professional captioning service should be considered when your video contains important information meant for a broad audience but is too long for you to provide your own captions and no transcript is available. The cost will vary depending on the length of the video. A shortcode should be provided when requesting this option. External Relations can provide a quote for captioning services and assist you with obtaining captions.
Video Captioning for Other Uses
Social Media
Videos uploaded to any UM-Dearborn social media channel must be uploaded with an edited .SRT file, if the platform allows. If the platform does not allow a caption file to be uploaded, the account holder should turn on “auto-captioning” if available.
Captioning Services
There are numerous captioning services (Automatic Sync Technologies, Casting Words, 3-Play Media, and Tech Synergy are a few) that will caption your video for a small fee. If an external captioning service is required you will be asked to provide a shortcode prior to your video being sent out for captioning. Once the caption file is received it can be added to your video (typically a few days after sending the video out for captioning).
Lecture Captions
Please contact Digital Education for questions related to captions for lectures.
Policy owned by: External Relations
Last reviewed: 9/2023
Next review: 6/2026