Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How to describe photos of speakers in a presentation using Alt Text? (self.Blind)
submitted by pizzabagelblastoff
Hey everyone, I hope this is an acceptable place to ask this question. I'm doing a presentation on business diversity in the workplace and wanted to use one of the features of the program to include alt text for the photos I'm including. Most of the photos in the presentation are just pictures of the speakers for the event.
Would it be sufficient to write something like "a photo of John Brown" as a descriptor? Or is it better to write something more detailed? It's a company presentation so I'm trying to toe the line to keep the descriptions appropriate (I'm not sure it's appropriate to write something descriptive like "a photo of John Brown, a black middle-aged man with short dark hair" or something like that) while still being sufficient for blind users.
Would it be sufficient to write something like "a photo of John Brown" as a descriptor? Or is it better to write something more detailed? It's a company presentation so I'm trying to toe the line to keep the descriptions appropriate (I'm not sure it's appropriate to write something descriptive like "a photo of John Brown, a black middle-aged man with short dark hair" or something like that) while still being sufficient for blind users.
BenandGracie 5 points 2y ago
Others may have different ideas, but for me, the name would be enough. The skin color or age means nothing to me.
pizzabagelblastoff [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you :)
DrillInstructorJan 4 points 2y ago
One of the things to understand about this is that it takes a lot longer to get information about a picture by listening to the description than it does to just look at the picture. Because of that it's usually a good idea to omit anything people don't need to fully appreciate what's going on. Now that's always a matter of opinion because if it's a movie, then I want to know all about the story and the characters, and there's never enough time. But in a business presentation, I really don't care what people look like. As far as the whole diversity thing goes, if everyone's supposed to be of equal value, why does it matter what people are. I care about what they're saying, not what groups they're part of.
BlueRock956 3 points 2y ago
A photo of John Brown is enough. Add descriptures that would be relevant. Noting that John Brown is black, transgender, or that he is a senior may be relevant if you are discussing diversity. The best thing you can do is to ask the individuals for input on how they prefer to be described.
pizzabagelblastoff [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Great, thank you :)
retrolental_morose 2 points 2y ago
I'd never want you to write "a footo" of anything.
It's my screen reader's job to tell me it's a photo.
It's my screen reader's job to tell me it's a photo.
NovemberGoat 2 points 2y ago
If what you're presenting is meant to represent the standard in each aspect of diversity, then describing John Brown is paramount in my opinion. If I worked at your company and even shared an office with him, there's absolutely no guarantee I know what he looks like. How do I know if he's wearing the same suit he comes to work in, or another one he uses to impress potential clients when he's travelling? John Brown may never have been described to me before. I may have forgotten how he looks. There are so many variables.
At the end of the day, I should be privy to the same visual information as everyone else. 'A photo of John Brown' could be a frog for all I know.
Hope this helps ☺️
At the end of the day, I should be privy to the same visual information as everyone else. 'A photo of John Brown' could be a frog for all I know.
Hope this helps ☺️
WorldlyBoysenberry26 3 points 2y ago
I agree with all the posts so far.
When writing alt text, I always come back to “what is the purpose of the image?” You could have the same photo of John Brown in two different places, and the alt text might vary depending on the purpose of the image.
“John Brown” or “photo of John Brown” is pretty standard. Typically, you wouldn’t get into attire, unless it was in some way relevant to the discussion. If John Brown is a frog, then you better put that in the description. Otherwise, I think it would be safe to assume that John Brown is a human.
Typically, ethnicity is left out of descriptions because it is not deemed relevant, but there are situations that warrant providing this information. This might be one of them. That said, describing people is pretty fraught. Providing descriptions for characters in film or theater is a little easy because it’s divorced from the individual. When describing actual people, a lot of things are subjective (eg what counts as “long” hair?), and there are a lot of sensitive characteristics that people might not appreciate being pointed out or becoming a distinguishing feature.
If you’re going to provide detailed alt text for portraits of individuals, my favorite approach that I’ve seen is to ask those people to write their own alt text description for their photo. This reduces the likelihood that you’ll provide incorrect information or write a description that makes the other person feel uncomfortable.
When writing alt text, I always come back to “what is the purpose of the image?” You could have the same photo of John Brown in two different places, and the alt text might vary depending on the purpose of the image.
“John Brown” or “photo of John Brown” is pretty standard. Typically, you wouldn’t get into attire, unless it was in some way relevant to the discussion. If John Brown is a frog, then you better put that in the description. Otherwise, I think it would be safe to assume that John Brown is a human.
Typically, ethnicity is left out of descriptions because it is not deemed relevant, but there are situations that warrant providing this information. This might be one of them. That said, describing people is pretty fraught. Providing descriptions for characters in film or theater is a little easy because it’s divorced from the individual. When describing actual people, a lot of things are subjective (eg what counts as “long” hair?), and there are a lot of sensitive characteristics that people might not appreciate being pointed out or becoming a distinguishing feature.
If you’re going to provide detailed alt text for portraits of individuals, my favorite approach that I’ve seen is to ask those people to write their own alt text description for their photo. This reduces the likelihood that you’ll provide incorrect information or write a description that makes the other person feel uncomfortable.
angelbane83 2 points 2y ago
LMAO! "could be a photo of a frog for all I know." Thank you for that laugh! 😂
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