Alexis De Veaux & Keioui Keijaun Thomas

*MASKS ARE REQUIRED AT THIS DIS/COURSE WORKSHOP*
Alt-text is an essential part of web accessibility. Alt-text, a short description of an image or gif, is a way of making visual content accessible to blind and low-vision people using screen readers. Alt-text is often disregarded altogether or understood through the lens of compliance, as an unwelcome burden to be met with minimum effort. How can we instead approach alt-text thoughtfully and creatively, while still prioritizing alt-text as an accessibility practice?
This Alt-text as Poetry Workshop, led by the artists Bojana Coklyat and Finnegan Shannon, will start with a 30-minute presentation. Bojana and Finnegan will give some context for the workshop, talk about alt-text as poetry, and share some examples of poetic and creative approaches to alt-text. Next, participants will do two writing exercises to practice describing. For both exercises, participants have the option to work with an image or a sound. For the first one, Bojana and Finnegan will provide an image and sound. For the second exercise, participants will work with an image or sound of their choosing (more about that below). The workshop will do the first exercise all together. For the second, participants will work in small groups.
From Bojana and Finnegan:
What to bring:
For exercise 2, we’ll work with an image or sound of your choosing. It can be saved to your phone or computer (wherever it’s easy for you to reference it). It can be any photo or sound that you have a relationship to.
Sound ideas:
Image ideas:
Access:
We will be collectively crafting access in the workshop in some of the following ways to support Bojana who lives with low vision, and for our collective and various needs:
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This event is funded in part by Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this event do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.