Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How should a podcast incorporate web links? (self.Blind)
submitted by vonbees
I work for a disability peak body and we recently started providing audio versions of our fortnightly newsletter.
The newsletter frequently embeds hyperlinks to news stories, to pages on our website, to surveys, etc, in the middle of a sentence. We haven't been very consistent in the audio version - sometimes we pause after the link (where that's not a super weird point in the sentence to do so) and sometimes we add "Link to:" after the end of the sentence. More importantly, sometimes we say something like "link to ABC article [Headline]", sometimes we read out the full URL. I'd like to set a standard to make recording flow better.
When you listen to a podcast, how do you follow links mentioned in the podcast? Do you navigate to the podcast description and follow the links hopefully posted there? Do you manually type out URLs? Do you just google the thing? What makes the most sense to you as blind listeners?
The newsletter frequently embeds hyperlinks to news stories, to pages on our website, to surveys, etc, in the middle of a sentence. We haven't been very consistent in the audio version - sometimes we pause after the link (where that's not a super weird point in the sentence to do so) and sometimes we add "Link to:" after the end of the sentence. More importantly, sometimes we say something like "link to ABC article [Headline]", sometimes we read out the full URL. I'd like to set a standard to make recording flow better.
When you listen to a podcast, how do you follow links mentioned in the podcast? Do you navigate to the podcast description and follow the links hopefully posted there? Do you manually type out URLs? Do you just google the thing? What makes the most sense to you as blind listeners?
bscross32 2 points 4y ago
vonbees [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thanks, that was my instinct also.
AllHarlowsEve 2 points 4y ago
So, if I'm reading this correctly, you read out the newsletter word for word?
I'd probably just, after each sentance with a link mention that there's a link. Although, tbh, if someone can navigate to the email and also navigate to the podcast, I don't see why they'd need someone to read it to them, tbh.
You could also use a sound, like a clicking mouse, and explain at the start of the podcast that it means there's a link where the sound is, but no idea how that'd fit with your community.
I'd probably just, after each sentance with a link mention that there's a link. Although, tbh, if someone can navigate to the email and also navigate to the podcast, I don't see why they'd need someone to read it to them, tbh.
You could also use a sound, like a clicking mouse, and explain at the start of the podcast that it means there's a link where the sound is, but no idea how that'd fit with your community.
vonbees [OP] 1 points 4y ago
FYI I asked further and it turns out we're talking about older members who can't in fact navigate through the email, mostly they're just asking support staff to hit play for them. Which means they're not really using the links either, so that makes things a bit simpler for me.
vonbees [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thanks! Yes, more or less word for word - we got feedback that it was something our members were interested in. But we're thinking about expanding it to more of a proper podcast that includes the same information as the newsletter, if we have time.
derrekjthompson 1 points 4y ago
Don’t read the web address, just put the links in the show notes.
vonbees [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Thanks!
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