If you have a newsletter on Substack, you should be adding alt text to the images you add to your newsletter so that you don't exclude blind, partially sighted and neurodivergent people who use screen reader software. support.substack.com/hc/en-us/art...

I enjoy pointing out to SEO folk that the introduction of the alt attribute (HTML 1.2, June 1993) predates the introduction of the first modern search engine (JumpStation, December 1993). It was always designed and intended as an accessibility feature.

Evergreen advice.

you cannot control what other people post. you can only control what you post.

Do your mental health a favor and turn this on for today. You really don't want to watch this. It is awful.

settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off

Facebook reminds me that on this day in 2021, @damon.kiesow.net tweeted "Everyone is a publisher but not everyone wants to bear the responsibility" and I shared a screenshot of it to Facebook. It's evergreen and true, that's for sure.

To be sure, we should care about accessibility at all times, regardless of the topic of the content. But to keep the theme of yesterday's post going, if you're is publishing a podcast episode reacting to the Taylor and Travis news, that episode needs a transcript. www.w3.org/WAI/media/av...

That Taylor and Travis meme that your social media team is about to share? Yeah, that needs alt text. Luckily, Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images. Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting."

I'll be digesting this for a bit. Some things I'll be thinking about: How do we make things accessible for disabled students who would not be able to physically write in the blue books? How do we keep the accessibility gained from moving away from blue books in the first place?

An Executive Order cannot overturn a 36-year-old Supreme Court decision. Yes, we know this, and yes, I know it continually feels silly to have to point out these things each time he says, "2 + 2 = 5" or whatever.

Relatedly I think journalism could maybe use stronger professional style norms around not anthropomorphizing the computer systems we report on/reference in our writing.

My all-purpose AI reform is banning computers from pretending they are human. Having names, saying "I," pretending to have feelings, representing what they emit as "advice," etc. That's where much of the mischief starts.

Today, we announced that 80% of the union members @latimes.com are ready to vote yes to authorize a strike. It has been three years without a contract, without a cost of living raise, without meaningful effort from our leaders to bargain a fair contract. We deserve better. So do our readers.

“It was very upsetting to be sitting there in the room as a journalist and hear one of the leaders of my newsroom, that I’m very proud to be a part of, say it’s okay if our content doesn’t adhere to facts… If it doesn’t align with reality, why are we putting Politico’s name on it?”

The Pat Garvin Cackle has officially entered the chat.

Talking to an AI avatar based on a dead person is not the same as interviewing that person, and it seems irresponsible to frame it as even remotely similar. This feels ghoulish, exploitative, and void of journalistic integrity. My heart goes out to the parents; journalists should know better.

We are a lost people to be farming out obits to AI. "But the tools are not without risks. Their tendency to make stuff up, known as 'hallucinating,' has led to some awkward errors, including returning obituaries in which a person’s family members get mixed up."

📣 We’d like to hear from you! Bluesky is rolling out age verification as part of the Online Safety Act, which aims to reduce the risk of children seeing harmful content. We’ve heard that blind and partially sighted folks are unable to verify their age because it’s inaccessible. Have you tried?

I apparently shared this meme on Facebook six years ago today.

As of this morning, only 29 tickets left!

This sounds like a fun event to help benefit a great organization with a great purpose and a great goal. Can I use the word "great" any more times in this post?

Our goal? Make news more accessible. Accessibility leads to inclusion. Inclusion leads to diversity and equity. Equity and diversity leads to stronger societies. Stronger societies lead to liberty and freedom. Yeah, we said what we said.

You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.

if you aren't following people who post regularly about things like music, food, pets, nature, sports, theater, books, etc ... find more people to follow.

Federal funding is gone. But we're not going anywhere.

Individual people are going to meme whatever they want. But I feel kinda weird about brands or organizations making memes about the jumbotron thing. I feel bad for the families, especially the kids. I don't necessarily fault Coldplay or the memers, but maybe corporate brands can sit this one out.

Back in the day, in the early days of @a11yawareness.bsky.social and its presence on Twitter, I created a list of Twitter accounts focused solely or mainly on accessibility. It was part of how I learned via osmosis, and I hoped it helped others. Not all of those folks are on Bluesky, but some are.

The government is still doing a lot

NEW: The US government has added the DNA of approximately 133,000 migrant children and teens to a criminal database, which critics say could mean police treat them like suspects “indefinitely.”

Bold move by Texas to say that the First Amendment only applies during daylight hours.

One of the fears I have about AI is that many organizations are still going full steam ahead with their AI initiatives, despite the evidence laid bare by things like Grok, Chat GPT, etc. This especially includes newsrooms and journalism organizations who should know better.

Every time someone shows a lack of compassion for victims of a tragedy just because they happen to live in a red state or a blue state, all I can think is, "We are so close to being in the Hunger Games."

1977: why would the bartender in star wars even care if some robots with artificial intelligence came into his bar 2025: ohhh ok

This is good information to help identify fake screenshots, whether from the NYT or anywhere else. I hadn't seen the Reddit posts, but have long said to be skeptical about screenshots.

The role of public editors is one that is sorely needed at American newspapers these days. @sulliview.bsky.social is a standard-bearer for that role, if not THE standard-bearer. My hope is that journalism profs will assign this column to students. I know I would if I were still teaching a class.

I’m not joking when I say that I think some people troll strangers online as a release or an outlet, instead of having a healthy hobby and/or going to therapy. The point for them is not to have a productive engagement, but just to spike their dopamine.

Did you know that you can set up a reminder to add alt text on BlueSky? Just go to Settings, then Accessibility and make sure "Require alt text before posting" is toggled on - it’s a handy way to make sure you never forget, and it helps blind and partially sighted people to enjoy your posts!

New week, same old tip on how you can remember to add alt text to the images you share! Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images. Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting." #A11y #Accessibility

We saw this after the May tornadoes in Missouri and Kentucky. Once again: To dismiss their pain and suffering as "red states getting what they voted for" is beyond callous. No person's pain, grief, or suffering should be judged through the lens of, "Well, did their state vote the 'right' way?"

Not only is Bluesky tagging posts as "rude," but also tagging profiles now? Have they always done that and I'm just late to seeing it? I just clicked on the label and it says, "Rude or impolite, including crude language and disrespectful comments, without constructive purpose."

One of the funny things about Bluesky tagging replies as “Rude” is that you have to select them now to read. Internally, my monologue is this: “Let’s see how rude this one actually is.” “Oh, that one isn’t as bad as I was expecting…” “Oh, that one is rude…” “That one’s funny…” “Oh, that is foul!”

Eric hired a voice actor to read some pretty dry technical documentation and the guy did such a good job that I now think this voice actor should read a lot more. Like, a lot lot more.

Everglades detention camp is a great way to refer to it because that is exactly what it is.

Still absorbing this. From a UX standpoint, there are some things I really like about this implementation, plus some things I would change to make more accessible and less overwhelming. In the parlance of some old school editors, "it's a 'talker.'"

Thanks to @rnib.bsky.social for reminding us of this great feature! Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images. Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting."

Not us quoting ourselves to remind you of this nifty alt text nudger✌️