Accessibility Recording Policy
In 2021, when we had the vision of expanding accessibility and preserving our community wisdom for future generations through recording, we knew that some would be excited at the prospect whilst others would be more cautious or even averse to the idea. What we never imagined was that a staggering 80% of the presenters would agree, many for the very first time, in no small part due to how seriously we considered consent and privacy.
We understand that, for some of you, the idea of events being recorded may give you pause when it comes to participation. With that in mind we’d like to share a few things for your consideration:
- If you are extremely privacy sensitive you can still attend any recorded session and simply not turn on your camera or microphone to mitigate exposure risk.
- Our intention is that no gallery view recordings will be made or shared. Only the active or spotlighted speakers will be visible in the recordings. This means even if you do turn on your camera, as long as you do not unmute, you should not be present in any of the recordings. We do highly encourage being on camera as it fosters a greater sense of community and helps the presenters not feel like they are speaking into the void. That said, if you are deeply concerned with avoiding any exposure please see the previous point above.
- Even if you don’t attend them in person, recorded sessions will be available for you to view on demand at your leisure after they are processed and the cloud recording link is uploaded to Sched.com. (this will happen on a rolling basis throughout the event)
In the spirit of transparency and to help you understand how we are caretaking these invaluable contributions, below you will find the exact recording terms presenters agreed to.
The virtual format for MsC this year offers an unprecedented degree of inclusivity allowing many to participate who could not have otherwise.
On demand recordings provide increased accessibility for neurodivergent, D/deaf, hard of hearing, ELL/ESL folks and more, thanks to the increased comprehensibility offered by being able to pause, rewind, and replay at one’s own pace.
Recording also supports those joining us from all over the world where your presentation may be occurring at times when attending live isn’t possible. (middle of the night, etc.)
Finally, those of you who have attended MsC know that with 7+ concurrent events featuring top notch speakers, every time-slot poses an “impossible” choice for attendees. You’ve likely felt the pain of being scheduled against a fellow presenter you’d like to see yourself!
The time and resources we are devoting to these accessibility recordings is to provide as many MsC attendees as possible the opportunity to experience what you have to offer.
The recordings will be made available exclusively to attendees for the duration of the event, and for a limited time after. We will not share the recordings anywhere else without receiving explicit consent.
All those who agree to participate will receive a follow up email providing an opportunity to have your voice and perspectives included in educational archives like the Carter/Johnson Library and Leather Archives & Museum, as well as other outlets if desired. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization we will never use these recordings for profit and are happy to delete them after event broadcasting has concluded if preferred.
In cases where presenters agree to the sharing of their presentations through mainstream or widely accessible channels (e.g. an MsC Worldwide Youtube channel) attendee video and audio will be entirely redacted first to protect their privacy. Questions asked verbally by attendees will be transcribed into on-screen written questions in the recordings prior to their being shared in this way.
That said, once we share a video with any other institution, there is no guarantee that they may some day find a wider audience. In this modern era we have the potential of websites and cloud drives being compromised. This is why we remind all participants that turning on your camera or microphone, is granting explicit consent to being recorded and waiving any rights regarding that recording.
The following is the consent statement that will be read at the beginning of every recorded session:
This is a reminder that turning on your camera or microphone is consenting to being in that recording, so make sure your video, profile picture, and name are all set accordingly. While the participants list is not shown in the recordings, anything typed in open chat should be considered publicly accessible as it could be referenced by another or copied.
The Zoom cloud recordings that attendees can watch during the event and for a select number of weeks after does include the chat.
Anything we do with the videos after for those presenters who agree (Carter/Johnson Library, etc.) will not include chat as they are saved as separate files.
We trust our attendees to make their own assessment to what level of exposure risk they are comfortable with and have worked hard to provide a space where the event can be enjoyed wherever they may be.