Informed responses to Jakob Nielsen’s less informed article:
• https://jakobnielsenphd.substack.com/p/accessibility-generative-ui/comments (the comments page, not the article itself)
• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sheribyrnehaber_userexperience-artificialintelligence-accessibility-activity-7169454946420011008-Ucee
• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/khallconsultant_in-light-of-jakob-nielsens-fallacy-riddled-activity-7169685050794459137-X0Ns
• https://www.briandeconinck.com/jakob-nielsens-bad-ideas-about-accessibility/
• https://axbom.com/nielsen-generative-ui-failure/
• https://conffab.com/elsewhere/accessibility-has-failed-try-generative-ui-individualized-ux/

#accessibility #a11y

On Nielsen's ideas about generative UI for resolving accessibility

"Accessibility has failed as a way to make computers usable for disabled users." Thus begins a newsletter by Jakob Nielsen.

^{Per Axbom (Axbom • Digital Compassion)}

Hey Mastodon! 👋 Here is our #introduction post: We are the Data Visualization Lab at Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. You can find more about our work here: https://vis.khoury.northeastern.edu/

We'd love to be connected to more folks and labs in the realms of #DataVisualization #HCI #xAI #AR #VR #VisualAnalytics #PhD #Research

Our lab has been applying visualization to domain areas like #accessibility #UAVs #Genetics #Privacy #Pedagogy #Networks #GraphTheory

Say hi!

Image: A white person's arm, with various planets of the solar system tattooed on it

#DescriptiveText #Accessibility #AltText #Alt4You

The https://alt-text.org project is moving forward as folks from the community step up. We're still hoping to find someone with firsthand experience in browsing the web relying on alt text to join us.

A major impediment is funding, because we want to make sure they're paid. We're looking for funding, but it's early.

If you're interested in the project but only if paid, drop me a line, let's talk. I can be reached here or at hannah@alt-text.org

Boosts appreciated.

#AltText #Accessibility

Last month I argued why ‘AI’ will not fix #accessibility:
https://adrianroselli.com/2023/06/no-ai-will-not-fix-accessibility.html

As if to prove my point, #UserWay launched a broken LLM:
http://FuxMyCode.ai/

Yet the sorta-press shills nonsense like this PR from #AudioEye:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230703154507/https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenaquino/2023/06/29/audioeye-shares-results-of-ai-and-accessibility-study-says-it-illustrates-tremendous-potential-for-responsible-use/?sh=39fe08831898

Pay attention to who promotes LLMs as a solution. Usually it is a money play or laziness.

#a11y

AudioEye Shares Results Of AI And Accessibility Study, Says It ‘Illustrates Tremendous Potential’ For Responsible Use

Arizona-based web accessibility company AudioEye this week issued a press release in which they announced findings related to how generative AI can impact the disabili...

^{Steven Aquino (Forbes)}

Oh.

Apparently as part of what #Reddit is doing with the API, while they allowed some specific #accessibility apps an exemption, they didn't offer it to any apps that provided #blind users with full moderator functionality.

Which means in July, Reddit is going to start removing blind moderators for not being able to moderate, due to Reddit not planning on built-in accessibility to their site or their app, and not allowing exemptions for third party apps that support blind moderators. Indeed, Reddit admins seem somewhat unaware they have blind users and blind moderators.

....

I don't think #AaronSwartz would approve. But it seems clear to me that Huffman has no respect for what that man stood for and died for in the first place, and perhaps he never did. If he did, we the tech community would never have forgotten Swartz.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/23/23771396/reddit-subreddit-community-transcribers-accessibility

Reddit is about to get a little less accessible

r/TranscribersOfReddit, a Reddit community of volunteers who write transcriptions for images, audio, and video that appear on other subreddits, will be closing down on June 30th.

^{Jay Peters (The Verge)}

People of the #fediverse, especially those creating various services, there are alternatives to HCAPTCHA when you ask people to create accounts or login. Despite HCAPTCHA's propaganda, HCAPTCHA is not truly accessible to #blind people. It requires us to give up our privacy if we choose the cookie option. The text alternative doesn't work most times. I just tried to sign up for a /kbin server at https://redit.buzz and wasted 30 mins on HCAPTCHA.

Please be #inclusive!

#accessibility

I am super proud to announce that https://zipcaptions.app is live! This is a free #accessibility tool to allow the easy addition of closed-captions to any live event! No ads, no signups, and no tracking, just speech to text formatted for a large screen. Hopefully this will encourage #teachers and #presenters to include the #deaf community more easily.

There is still a lot of work to be done, this is just the beginning. Please boost for visibility, as the budget for this project is zero dollars

A few hours to go before the Access-Ability Summer Showcase! 🙌

Himig will be in there for a bit, alongside a bunch of other great games and disabled gamers sharing their stories. 🌞

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/laurakbuzz
YouTube: https://youtu.be/P--rmXifm3U
English audio-described: https://youtu.be/EJUb_pJtNDk
ASL interpreted: https://youtu.be/NL7tSgqKC3U
BSL translated: https://youtu.be/8Pho98PXpYc

#IndieGame #Accessibility

FYI the Zotero project is looking for an #Accessibility developer (part time) and a UI designer.

Awareness, knowledge, and experience in accessible design and technology will be a big win for either roles.

All work is done remotely, good for working from home.

The detailed requirements are here:

https://www.zotero.org/jobs/accessibility_developer

https://www.zotero.org/jobs/ui_designer

I'm posting this to boost the signal. Hopefully you may be the one getting #FediHired.

Dear accessibility experts,

What advice do you have on citations with URLs? Most style guides say to write them out (as in the attached photo), but the accessibility plug-in on our website is throwing an error, and I can see how the URLs would be annoying to people who use screen readers.

I’d love to hear how others handle it!

#AmEditing #accessibility #AcademicWriting

.@w3c WCAG should not be developed/designed for the benefit of #accessibility testing vendors. It is there to improve the user experience of disabled people.

#web #a11y #politics #WCAG #WebStandards

Content warning: Alt text done right Click to open/close

Maybe too much, perhaps, but this post from the European Commission's account shows.

If this ain't #accessibility, I don't know what is.