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Erica (she/they)

@ericaexplores.bsky.social
116 followers 155 following 90 posts

Rational romantic mystic cynical idealist. Senior Product Designer for Accessibility. T1D Cyborg. Globetrotter. Larper/TRPGer/Gamer. Urban Witch. Cat Lady. Raised in NYC 🗽, based in Berlin 🇩🇪, always exploring… linktr.ee/erica

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Reposted by Erica (she/they)
Stef Walter @stephaniewalter.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Designers, are you tired of having accessibility pushed later, or ignored, and you want things to change? February 25, 9am ET (3pm CET) I'll open the design track at #axecon with my talk "How to Convince People to Care and Invest in Accessibility" www.youtube.com/watch?v=u96U...
youtube.com
Meet Stéphanie Walter at Axe-con 2026
Learn more about Stéphanie's talk "How to Convince People to Care and Invest in Accessibility" at https://www.deque.com/axe-con/sessions/how-to-convince-peop...
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red. logged on edition @likethecolour.red · 09/12/2025
we have to build thousands of small websites we love and enjoy in order to beat back the ~10 websites that have transformed this miracle of a communications layer into a compromised nightmare btw release your projects !!!
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Erica (she/they) @ericaexplores.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
“Germany’s postwar constitution allows domestic intelligence agencies to surveil political parties, actors and organizations deemed extremist — and to make it theoretically possible to ban such parties.“ is the first part of the quote. AfD doesn’t belong in democratic government.
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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Lots of folks captioning aurora photos like "for a few minutes we didn't think about politics" guess I'm built different, every time I'm out trying to see night sky stuff I frequently think about how much light pollution is entirely preventable with just a tiny bit of regulation
Basic light pollution diagram showing four different streetlight set ups ranging from more light pollution on the left to less light pollution on the right. The most pollution option, labelled "very bad" is a street lamp with a round uncovered bulb on top, making a sphere of light in the air. The next option, labelled "bad" has a tiny cap on top, that limits the upward pollution a bit. The "better" option is mostly uncovered on top, limiting pollution above the streetlight. The final option, labelled "best" has a full shroud overtop, limiting the light to only below the streetlight, where it is needed for pedestrians and vehicles.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
MAMDANI: "So hear this, Donald Trump: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."
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Erica (she/they) @ericaexplores.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Immigrants get the job done!
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Gentlemen: thank you for your service.
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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Your ability to eat should not depend on your productivity Your ability to get healthcare should not depend on your productivity Your ability to get housing should not depend on your productivity Saying “be more productive!” To those who are struggling devalues human life. It aids fascism.
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Reminder: November 4th is extremely important, don’t forget to vote!
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European Commission @ec.europa.eu · 24/10/2025
Preliminary findings: 🚫TikTok & Meta failed to grant researchers adequate access to public data. 🚫Meta failed to provide simple ways to notify illegal content and to allow users to challenge moderation decisions. This is a duty, not a choice. link.europa.eu/JYQrBX
An image illustrating the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA). The background is a dark purple with a binary code pattern of '0's and '1's. In the center, nine yellow icons representing DSA themes are arranged in a circular formation, similar to the stars on the EU flag. These icons include a bell, a locked padlock, a crossed-out 'AD' symbol indicating a restriction on advertising, a magnifying glass over a document for transparency, a shielded checkmark for safety, and a crossed-out symbol likely relating to content moderation or tracking. Below this visual representation, the text in large white letters states DIGITAL SERVICES ACT, followed by a smaller line of text that reads "TikTok and Meta preliminarily found in breach of their transparency obligations." A small European Commission logo is located in the bottom right corner.
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Andy Bell @bell.bz · 21/10/2025
Couldn’t sum up slop better if I tried
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Geoffrey Crofte @geoffreycrofte.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26 A really good article about how Apple ruined the even principles of legibility and usability in their OS. Who said design "is just common sense" already? 😂 www.nngroup.com/articles/liq...
nngroup.com
Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
iOS 26’s visual language obscures content instead of letting it take the spotlight. New (but not always better) design patterns replace established conventions.
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Ky @ky.fyi · 21/10/2025
I fear that even if AI does compel some devs to (finally) take accessibility seriously, a web that is full of AI-generated content becomes a web that’s less accessible for everyone
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Kelsey Hightower @kelseyhightower.com · 21/10/2025
If we're having a debate, and at any point you say, "let's ask ChatGPT", then you lose by default.
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Before the Trump administration invented "Antifa", the government of Uzbekistan invented "Akromiya": sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/inventing-...
From article https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/inventing-antifa
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Ify Nwadiwe @ifycomedy.com · 12/10/2025
I think we really should stop using antifa and just fully say anti-fascist and get them saying they are against anti fascism. Using antifa is giving them some distance and I genuinely think some of their base don’t even know that’s what it stands for.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Still waiting for it to trickle down...
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Big tech is laying off user researchers in droves, because it believes that coercing its customers is more profitable than silly things like "making good products people want to buy." But now the FAFO pendulum is coming around, with Amazon's $2.5B dark pattern settlement and #a11y lawsuits galore.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
UX so bad that it's illegal
Big tech is divesting from user-centered design, and getting into hot water with the law.
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Tonight, I'll go home and sleep in my bed. I have a lawyer, I'll get due process. But Edgardo, whose arm was ripped from mine by ICE agents, has none of those things. That's why I'll keep coming back to court, week after week, to make sure that people's rights are protected.
youtu.be
Brad Lander: "I'll keep coming back to court, week after week"
YouTube video by Brad Lander for NYC
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Justice Sotomayor's dissent in Skrmetti (which she's now reading from the bench) is deeply pained, accusing her colleagues of abandoning "transgender children and their families to political whims" and badly damaging "bedrock" principles of equal protection. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
Tennessee’s law expressly classifies on the basis of sex
and transgender status, so the Constitution and settled
precedent require the Court to subject it to intermediate
scrutiny. The majority contorts logic and precedent to say
otherwise, inexplicably declaring it must uphold Tennessee’s categorical ban on lifesaving medical treatment so
long as “‘any reasonably conceivable state of facts’” might
justify it. Ante, at 21. Thus, the majority subjects a law
that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review. By retreating from meaningful judicial
review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons
transgender children and their families to political whims.
In sadness, I dissent.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Donald Trump is NOT our king — and on June 14th, it's up to us to prove it.
nokings.org
No Kings
On June 14—Flag Day—Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. A sp
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Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
From HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT (2020): "Trump covers up crime with scandal. That is his main propaganda tactic, the one few seem to be able to discern...The crimes are much worse than the scandals, but the media will always take the scandal bait." www.hidinginplainsightbook.com
Quote from book
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Erica (she/they) @ericaexplores.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Ah, schadenfreude.
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Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I'm not worried about being replaced by AI, because I tell people what they don't want to hear.
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Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Spare us the fake outrage.
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
“Without widespread theft, my industry can’t survive” is an argument against your industry surviving, and is not an argument for allowing widespread theft
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Joanne Freeman @jbf1755.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Ok. Then let it die. Because theft is theft. And even worse if you’re profiting from the crime.
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Gabriel Zucman @gabrielzucman.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
A long long time ago, in a far away galaxy... the US used to tax the rich
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Erin McKean @emckean.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Defend the em-dash
Sticker for the Em Dash Defense League. Has the Latin motto Exspecta Illum at the top and “Wait for it—“ at the bottom
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Ross Macfarlane @rossmacfarlane.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Impressive visualization on the ways that the wealthy have successfully manipulated US politics to avoid paying taxes
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Manuel Matuzović @matuzo.at · 25/05/2025
I never thought I'd have to say this but: A [role=listbox] is not a <ul>.
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Tom Coates @tomcoates.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Yes. That is a shocking conclusion. I am shocked. I could not have seen that coming. Wow. Gobsmacked. Jaw on the floor. Seriously, I'm like really surprised right now.
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Sam Hardacre @skinnydrawnboy.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
This is one thing people using AI to generate images fail to understand. When you create a piece of art with your own hands, that piece could out-live you
A picture of a quote from “The World According to David Hockney”:

“Artists, even when they’re dead, are alive in their work”
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Blake E. Reid @chup.blakereid.org · 15/05/2025
“This tool will radically improve your efficiency” and “you cannot trust this tool to perform even extremely simple tasks without manually verifying its work in excruciating detail” are not consistent propositions
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Sara Joy ☠️ @sjoy.lol · 16/05/2025
About 200,000 signatures came in, in the last 24 hours - if that happens again, we're through! Thank you for sharing, let's hope we reach another 200k today 🙏
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Stef Walter @stephaniewalter.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Accessibility is good and smart design. From simplifying interfaces to inclusive testing, accessibility decisions go hand in hand with good usability and UX decisions, making websites easier to understand and more inclusive. By Claudio Guerra
tangible.is
Accessibility beyond compliance: a driver for innovation and UX
As the deadline for compliance with the European Accessibility Act approaches, we share some insights on how accessibility can become a driver for innovation and user experience improvement—going beyond mere regulatory compliance.
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Chilling final paragraph and editor’s note.
We know that tech corporations, fossil fuel companies, and governments bear the most responsibility for the accelerating climate crisis — not individuals. But you can choose to opt out of the Al hype.

Editor's note: In August 2024, Condé Nast, Teen Vogue's parent company, announced "a multi-year partnership with OpenAl to expand the reach of Condé Nast's content."
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Joe Lanman @joelanman.com · 11/05/2025
Interaction design is not about pixels, lines, boxes, it's about headings, links, buttons, form fields. It's about meaning
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Erika Hall @erikahall.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
I dislike "intelligence" because it's too broad a term for a diverse array of highly-contextual properties and skills, mostly a term used to do various kinds of elitism, exploitation, and scams. But I've seen rich smart vs broke smart and I think about this tweet every gd day…
Being a billionaire must be insane. You can buy new teeth, new skin. ALl your chairs cost 20,000 dollars and weigh 2000 pounds. Your life is just a series of your own preferences. In terms of cognitive impairment, it's probably like being kicked in the head by a horse every day. 
tweeted by @Merman_Melville on January 25, 2019
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NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 11/05/2025
not every mother’s day acknowledgement starts with happy. for many, it’s hard. remembering moms who’ve passed or thinking about moms never known. for moms who have suffered loss and those who suffer in silence. mother’s day can be one of joy or pain or often both. may your day be one of peace.
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Social Indicators Research @socialindicators.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
We are seeing multiple instances of reviewers doing manuscript reviews via use of AI/LLM. If you don't want to do a review the old-fashioned way, better to decline the request. Giving someone else's manuscript to AI is a violation of intellectual property rights/laws; the manuscript isn't yours...
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
politico.com
'How come I can’t breathe?': Musk's data company draws a backlash in Memphis
The company’s turbines — enough to power 280,000 homes — run without emission controls in an area that leads Tennessee in asthma hospitalizations.
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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Elon Musk’s AI data centers polluting Black communities so that his Nazi followers can ask his chatbot questions is a perfect distillation of why AI is fascist technology
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Sam Hardacre @skinnydrawnboy.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
I read this earlier today: "why would I bother to read something someone couldn't be bothered to write" And it applies to basically any of the "creative" outputs (aka slop)
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Manuel Matuzović @matuzo.at · 08/05/2025
@aardrian.bsky.social had a quick look at some of the sites the Figma team made. adrianroselli.com/2025/05/do-n...
adrianroselli.com
Do Not Publish Your Designs on the Web with Figma Sites…
…Unless you want to fail all the WCAGs, create litigation risk, close off opportunities in Europe, engage in reputational harm, and oh yeah, throw up barriers to your customers and users. What am I ta...
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Manuel Matuzović @matuzo.at · 08/05/2025
@figma.com Sites will contribute to a more exclusive web. They already dominate the web design sector and they must grow. How? By finding a new target group. One that probably doesn't know anymore how bad Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, et al were for accessibility. www.figma.com/blog/introdu...
figma.com
Publish Your Designs On The Web With Figma Sites | Figma Blog
Today, we’re launching Figma Sites, an all-in-one tool for you to design and build custom, responsive websites.
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Jess Rose @jesslynnrose.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
The AI bubble is a stunningly designed grift. Here's a machine that promises to automate the alienation of labor for knowledge workers, built on their past work, marketed to a buying class who has none of the skills to evaluate the output of these tools or the talent they promise replace.
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Andy Bell @bell.bz · 07/05/2025
I posted this around Figma config last year and it’s probably even more relevant now piccalil.li/blog/the-tim...
piccalil.li
The time for designers to learn to code is now
With design tools further commoditising and sanitising expected creative output, the time for designers to be able to stand out is very much here. I think for some, learning to code is a good route fo...
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