iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Sarah Blahovec @sblahov.bsky.social · 17/11/2023

I created an #AltTextPalestine toolkit with information on how to participate and combining practices I've used + learned from others on here. It's a work in progress so let me know if you have any tips or ideas to share! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

#AltTextPalestine Toolkit

#AltTextPalestine Toolkit Created November 16, 2023 by Sarah Blahovec What is #AltTextPalestine? 1 Why does #AltTextPalestine matter? 2 How do I make a request in #AltTextPalestine? 2 What kind of c...

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Rebelwheels NYC (Michele Sommerstein) @rebelwheelsnyc.bsky.social · 23/12/2023

#AltTextPalestine some photos from No Xmas As Usual In A Genocide event in NYC The protest was not wheelchair accessible so I couldn't take too many photos but I did get some and two of the volunteers who approached me about it were very nice. Solidarity was given and awareness was raised.

a photo of myself taken by my PCA. I am in a motorized wheelchair black with some yellow accents. I am wearing a rainbow mohawk hat with a rainbow flower crown headband going across it. purple sunglasses round and medium sized, a yellow balaclava and under that a black mask because COVID is still a thing and it's cold today. I'm wearing a black winter coat, snow pants and winter boots. I am holding a red bag and my sign that reads "disabled anti-zionist jews say not in our name. ceasefire now. end the occupation"

two religious (hadidic or othodox) jewish with men with black hats, and side curls (payot). one is looking to the right and one is looking down. they are among a line of religious protesters in solidarity with Palestine. . one signs reads torah demands all Palestine be returned to Palestinian sovereignty. the other sign reads freedom for gaza and all of palestine

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Ashlee 🤟🏻 @ashleemboyer.com · 05/12/2024

Most common examples of #Technoableism I see these days? Believing alt text is a "problem" to be solved by AI. So many of you would benefit from developing a mutual aid mentality. Alt text is one form. Examples: #Alt4Me #Alt4You #AltTextPalestine. The answer is community, not AI.

This site has been great in making me more aware of and using (not all the time - I still slip up) alt text.

But it also strikes me as one of the more obvious uses of basic AI, ans auto populate alt text for us with a description of the image.

Conspiracy theory: alt text is only there to improve AI image recognition models. Accessibility is a happy byproduct.

AI doesn't understand why a single frame of Captain Picard resting his forehead on his hand has cultural relevance in a tweet about, say, sports. Alt text in a skeet adds context.

Yeah, I want to be sympathetic to the idea behind alt text, but it's a pain to do, and often the post text itself already "describes" the image.

Plus, like you said, why isn't AI doing this. This is an actual useful use case for AI tools.

Also some people are obsessive about blog length alt text.

My thinking on #AltText is evolving to be: rather than nagging individuals for behavioral change (for a relatively high-cost low-reward activity), which will never work, we should all pester @bsky.app product to build AI alt-tag drafting into the app / product. #UX

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Sarah Blahovec @sblahov.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I suppose I should do an intro post: I'm Sarah, I'm a disability civic engagement expert by day. I talk a lot about accessible organizing including #AltTextPalestine (because #FreePalestine) & otherwise talk about weaving, sewing, knitting, & my dog Oliver.

Oliver, white and tan small dog, lays on his back and stares at the camera.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

All you need to do is remember: nothing online - absolutely nothing, not even the nazis, racists, bigots, xenophobes, homophobes, & transphobes - is more annoying or detrimental than inaccessible content. Keep throwing that rock against that wall! bsky.app/profile/oedi...

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Don't sell yourself short - I really enjoy your ALT! And I really appreciate your advocacy & evangelization for the use of ALT. May we all have a more accessible new year.

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Nick DeNardis @nickdenardis.com · 08/12/2024

Social visual alt text browser extension is now live on Firefox 🚀 addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo... This extension exposes the alt text (or lack of it) directly in the timeline instead of having to click the "alt" badge on an image.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

The Christmas Day truce between Be My Eyes AI & me did not last the day. An absolutely excruciating attempt to get a logical, believable description from the app. Guaranteed to curdle the milk of human kindness. share.bemyeyes.com/chat/3iafM2U...

share.bemyeyes.com

Be My AI - Shared chat

A Be My Eyes user shared an image description by Be My AI

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

In a Nancy comic dated December 24, 1945 the origins of "cat speak" are revealed. And, in a Christmas miracle, my session with BME was successful & relatively pain-free Have an accessible Christmas 🐱😎 #ImageDescription #ALT4You #ALT #Christmas share.bemyeyes.com/chat/j7iQXG2...

share.bemyeyes.com

Be My AI - Shared chat

A Be My Eyes user shared an image description by Be My AI

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

"I cannot believe I just heard you ask for what I just heard you ask for!" ‪#BCatPix #TheArtOfALT #Cats #ChristmasCats #ChristmasEve‬ #MeowyChristmas

Baby Cat, seated on a light blue love seat next to a stuffed plush Santa Claus doll. Baby's looking directly at the camera disapprovingly with her large sage green eyes. She's not only disappointed in me, she's embarrassed for my entire family - not to mention my ancestors, going back twelve generations.

Baby Cat is a predominantly brown, black, & tan tabby. The slanting rays of the late evening sun highlight baby's tan face with black markings, a white milk muzzle, white whiskers & a dusty rose nose. BC's chest & neck are also sunlit & tan, with tiger stripes that look necklaces of varying widths & hues. All four of BC's legs are also tiger striped. Her back coat is a rich chocolate brown, it's tan-ticking sparkling in the sun's fading light like flecks of gold.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Baby Cat discussing a few last minute additions to her list with Santa‪ #BCatPix #TheArtOfALT #Cats #ChristmasCats #ChristmasEve‬ #MeowyChristmas

Baby Cat, seated on a light blue love seat next to a stuffed plush Santa Claus doll. Baby's looking directly at Santa's face, listening raptly to every word he says. Her large, sage green eyes sparkle with excitement, as she patiently awaits her turn to speak. Baby is about to school Santa in the true Art of the Deal. This is one supremely confident cat, for she knows just how good she's been since last Christmas.

Baby Cat is a predominantly brown, black, & tan tabby. The slanting rays of the late evening sun highlight baby's tan face with black markings, a white milk muzzle, white whiskers & a dusty rose nose. BC's chest & neck are also tan, with tiger stripes that look like draped necklaces. All four of BC's legs are tiger striped. Her back coat is a rich chocolate brown, it's tan-ticking sparkling in the sun's fading light like flecks of gold.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

‪"Hey, everybody—LOOK!!!"‬ ‪"Santa's here & the sun hasn't even set yet!"‬ ‪"Must've been a lot fewer people on the 'nice list' again this year!"‬ ‪#BCatPix #TheArtOfALT #Cats #ChristmasCats #ChristmasEve‬

Baby Cat, seated on a light blue love seat next to a stuffed plush Santa Claus doll. Baby's looking back at the camera, her mouth wide open, a look of absolute amazement on her tan face with black markings. She can hardly believe her large, sage green eyes which sparkle with excitement. The slanting rays of the late evening sun highlight her white milk muzzle, white whiskers & hot pink tongue. This is one supremely happy cat, for—despite everything the cats at the shelter told BC—there IS a Santa Claus!

Baby Cat is a predominantly brown, black, & tan tabby. All four of her legs are tiger striped. Her back coat is a rich chocolate brown, it's tan-ticking sparkling in the sun's fading light like flecks of gold.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Din bătrani se povesteşte Că-n toţi anii negreşit Moş Crăciun pribeag soseşte Niciodată n-a lipsit From ancient times they tell the story Of Santa Claus who without fail Comes every year, roaming the world, He has never missed a year.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Music for Isolation - “Moçs Crăciun” (Santa Claus) A carol by Romanian composer Ion V. Borgovan, arr. Gideon Juckes for tuba & baritone sax, performed live at "Christmas Past", Shomeido Ongaku Hall, December 13th 2024 youtu.be/5Sno82sM67g

youtu.be

MUSIC for ISOLATION "Santa Claus"

YouTube video by Music For Isolation

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Your, & BS's, silence & inaction addressing these crucial issues that are known to present almost insurmountable problems for those using assistive technology speaks rather loudly & rather eloquently about how little you, individually & collectively, actually care about our ability to participate.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

@pfrazee.com - where's the character counter for DM? Where's the WAI-ARIA markup necessary for those of us using assistive technology to use the char counter when composing messages or ALT? Where is your accessibility plan for BS outlining how you will make it accessible & work with PWD to do so?

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Michigan passed reforms to stop imposing court fines & fees on children — often very young (someone quoted here was *11*!). And the reforms applied retroactively this fall, relieving millions of dollars of debt that were weighing people down from young ages. NEW: boltsmag.org/michigan-juv...

boltsmag.org

How Michigan Stopped Saddling Children with Millions in Court Debt

Last year, Michigan stopped imposing court fines and fees on kids, and relieved millions of dollars in past debt. Now, it may also ensure that kids get adequate representation in court.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Please, for the love of all you hold holy, make the top priority of this site ARIA-enabling ALL counter widgets It is an undue burden for the AT user to have to compose all responses & posts off-line There also does not seem to be a counter widget at all in DM though there is a cap on DM length

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Luke BOO 👻 ber @coolhand.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Check out what I just got as change 😮 I haven’t seen one of these in probably twenty years

Two U.S. dollar coins are displayed side by side on a marble surface. The coin on the left shows an image of a woman kneeling while planting crops, surrounded by tall plants, with the text “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” along the rim and “$1” at the bottom. The coin on the right features a portrait of Sacagawea with her hair tied back, carrying a baby on her back, with the word “LIBERTY” at the top and “IN GOD WE TRUST” inscribed to the left of the portrait. Both coins have a golden color.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

@pfrazee.com Please circulate amongst colleagues. Please institutionalize its advice. BS needs WAI-ARIA markup on its interactive widgets & counters to truly be usable by those who use assistive technology There is - & there has never been - an excuse not to implement www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/

w3.org

ARIA in HTML

This specification defines the authoring rules (author conformance requirements) for the use of Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.2 and Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0 ...

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

In which I discuss the gross insufficiency of this application with the application itself & it tells me it cannot provide feedback to humans but it will take definitely take note of my feedback 🙄 Are you listening @bemyeyes.bsky.social ? #ImageDescription #ALT share.bemyeyes.com/chat/EhHPC7t...

share.bemyeyes.com

Be My AI - Shared chat

A Be My Eyes user shared an image description by Be My AI

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Thank you for using ALT. Please use it as intended - to provide an equivalent experience of your comics - because, after encountering undescribed image after undescribed image on social media, we could certainly use the comic relief.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

3/x 4. Loans Books lent vs books returned. The difference between the two is labelled "friendships under review" 5.Audiobook listening A pie chart with 4 sections Concentrating: 42% Passively absorbing: 26% Completely distracted: 19% Asleep: 13% — end author's Twitter ALT

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

2/x 1. Most considered authors: Joyce. Proust. Tolstoy Considered reading (all ticked) Actually read (none ticked) 2. Non-fiction Titles consumed (19 blocks) Information retained (2 of the 19 shaded) 3. Unread book pile A bar chart. Last year (high) This year (higer still) 17% increase

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Please use the same ALT you use at at Twitter. I am no less blind here than I am there. For comparison here is the aforesaid ALT, to compare to the uninformative caption you provided on BS begin author's Twitter ALT: Image: Five colourful diagrams. 1/x

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Probably the best thing I ever posted on that other site, wish I could permanently transplant it to my timeline here.

A very popular tweet I posted in 2020 that says “Somehow I've lucked out and have an 8yo who thinks secretly reading under the covers past her bedtime is an act of rebellion, and it hasn't yet occurred to her that her flashlights never seem to run out of batteries.”

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Reposted by Gregory J. Rosmaita

Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Émilie du Châtelet, who hypothesized conservation of energy, established kinetic energy as distinct from momentum and proportional to (speed)², and combined work by Newton and Leibniz with her own original ideas in "Institutions de Physique," was born #OTD in 1706. 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️ Portrait: M. Q. de La Tour

Color portrait of Émilie du Châtelet. She has papers spread out before her and holds a compass to them with her right hand. Her left elbow rests on the table and her hand is propped against her cheek. She is wearing a green dress with a green bow at her neck, and white frilly sleeves.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

This video highlights the artistry & community building/preserving work of Sadam Seguya. I strongly encourage you to visit his Bandcamp page. He is a strikingly original musician, yet deeply rooted in tradition. The instruments he crafts are works of functional art. seguyasadam.bandcamp.com

seguyasadam.bandcamp.com

Sadam Seguya

A brother to everyone and a Global Citizen, Drummer,Multi instrumentalist and a traditional Ugandan dancer,•• I focus on bringing the tribal instruments of Uganda into the musical world and sharing t...

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

A 2 minute video from Uganda "highlighting beats from our hearts as we play the Adungu, Engoma, Namunjjoloba & African shakers, sharing traditional sounds that unite us in love, joy & community, celebrating our heritage & the beauty of African culture" youtu.be/poMQtrLLXzU

youtu.be

Rhythms Of Our Roots | A Celebration Of Culture Original Video

YouTube video by SADAM SEGUYA

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Fiona Robertson @fionaswriting.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Sorry in advance for the hostility, but fuck you if you're still saying shit like 'it's just social media, just switch off your computer and go outside, it's not that serious lol'. Fuck you. You can talk about a need for irl community and how no platform has your back without being that oblivious.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Here's a detailed thread which analyzes how ALT is actually consumed, by whom, & best practices & strategies for writing ALT on Bluesky. Of course, if you've any questions or need to follow up on anything please do not hesitate to ask, that way others can learn too. bsky.app/profile/oedi...

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

On behalf of the great number of us who cannot physically or cognitively process images of text, I would like to ask you to please use ALT to provide a full text transcript of images of text, so that we have equivalent access to it. An image of text is still an image. We need actual text.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

One strategy to provide a full text equivalent is to use a tool like Google Lens to extract the text from the image When you do, you must check the extracted text for accuracy against the image of text before posting it as ALT. Thanks for your interest in providing ALT

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

As a direct consumer of ALT, I appreciate your attempt to make your post accessible to all. However, to do so, you need to provide a full transcript of the image of text, rather than just a caption, which does not provide an equivalent experience.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Thank you very much for plugging an informational black hole.

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

That's an extremely smart strategy. Another option, if your Photos app allows it, is to add the ALT as metadata for the image. 🐱😎

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Unfortunately, too many people who add ALT to images neglect to do so for images of text An image of text is not text. It's an image & must be accompanied by a full text transcript via ALT This is especially important for those who are not visually impaired, but who rely on ALT, as well

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Unfortunately, too many people who add ALT to images, neglect to do so for images of text An image of text is not text. It's an image & must be accompanied by a full text transcript via ALT This is especially important for those who are not visually impaired, but who rely on ALT, as well #ALT4Me

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

A New Yorker cartoon with quality ALT, providing an equivalent experience & a much needed laugh Accessibility's a choice: It's not asking too much for people & entities to make their social media content accessible It does take an institutional policy, however, to ensure continued accessibility

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Gregory J. Rosmaita @oedipusnj.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

@blindboyboatclub.bsky.social I've asked you the same questions many times on Twitter: What, if anything, does your podcast have to do with the blind? Why do you take our name in vain? Why do you use blindness as part of your branding when you are not blind? Hell, you do not even use ALT.

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