Making Your Social Media More Accessible #uad3 Can You Do It In The Dark? Making Your Social Media More Accessible #uad3 Chris D’Orso @cdorso Associate Director of Admissions, The College at Brockport Justin Romack @justinromack Assistive Technology Coordinator, Texas A&M University

The Internet! I give you… the internet! #uad3

The joy of social media is that it’s – at least theoretically -- a level playing field. Everyone has access to the same information, the same memes, the same cat videos. But it’s important that we *actually* give people access to all the same stuff, in a way that everyone can use. #uad3

But what is accessibility? The ability for people with disabilities to use, obtain, and interact with information and resources with the same, or a relatively similar, ease of use. Our aim should be “inclusivity,” not just “accessibility.” It’s not about creating a separate experience, but developing solutions for people of all abilities to access the world in the same manner. #uad3

“At the end of the day, the web is used by humans and created by humans. And every single thing you put in between those two is noise. Everything on the web page, everything you build, everything you think is a great tool, and is interactive… is all just getting in the way of two humans communicating.” -Michael Fienen (@fienen), Higher Ed Social podcast #uad3

Because we’re not total a-holes So why be inclusive? Because we legally have to – but this presentation is going to stay out of the legal side of things. Because we’re not total a-holes #uad3

Meet Justin. #uad3

Who is impacted by social media accessibility? “VoiceOver has totally changed how I use social media and the web!” - Lindsay “Everyone deserves the chance to enjoy and be inspired by content.” - Cruz “If it looks complicated, I’ll probably just skip it.” – Ben #uad3

Images without alt text Videos without video description What are the common accessibility challenges when it comes to social media content? Images without alt text Videos without video description Media without captions or transcripts Visual content with poor contrast Dense, overly verbose textual content with technical jargon. (This ain’t the propellerhead track, folks.) #uad3

VoiceOver for iOS on Facebook VoiceOver for iOS on Instagram DEMO TIME! NVDA using Twitter NVDA using Facebook VoiceOver for iOS on Facebook VoiceOver for iOS on Instagram TalkBack for Android JAWS for Windows #uad3

Now – how many of you honestly think you’re. not Now – how many of you honestly think you’re *not* doing a good enough job making your social media inclusive for people with disabilities? #uad3

Good thing we’re here to help! Here are ten tweetable tips that you can take home and work on. #uad3

#uad3 Learn how to make awesome alt text. Twitter: Native support on both desktop and mobile. Tweetdeck: Supported Sprout: Not so much Buffer: Supported Facebook: Native support on desktop, but NOT mobile Instagram: No support for alt text – add it to your caption. #uad3

2. Get your captions and transcripts correct. Facebook: Allows the option to upload an SRT file with your video, which provides closed captioning. Instagram/Twitter: Captions need to be “burned on” to the visuals, so you’d need to prepare your video with captions and then upload it. #uad3

2. Get your captions and transcripts correct. Facebook: Allows the option to upload an SRT file with your video, which provides closed captioning. Instagram/Twitter: Captions need to be “burned on” to the visuals, so you’d need to prepare your video with captions and then upload it. #uad3

3. Add audio description for videos and broadcasts. Social media do *not* currently support the ability to toggle on/off audio descriptions: AD must be “burned into” the audio of your video. Upload an audio-described version to YouTube, then post a link in the post or the comments to that video. Describe key scenery, visuals, and actions that are appearing on screen. #uad3

4. Contrast is important too! #uad3

Make it clear, Make it concise, Make it stick. 5. Avoid dense, overly verbose content. “Write tight.” Avoid jargon and technical talk where possible. Make it clear, Make it concise, Make it stick. #uad3

6. Champion accessibility throughout the content creation process 6. Champion accessibility throughout the content creation process. It’s much easier to start early than to remediate work you’ve already done. 7. Familiarize yourself with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. 8. Many platforms have dedicated accessibility teams. Follow and engage them in continuing accessibility work. 9. Involve people with disabilities. Get students and staff engaged in the creation of your content. 10. Even if the platform makes it difficult, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. (Yeah, we’re talking to you, Snapchat.) #uad3

Bonus tips! Get those tweeting fingers ready. Acronyms can be a pain. Write ‘em out, especially in the name of your page. Emoji are super cute! Want to make the O’s in your college name on Twitter into pumpkins for next week? DON’T. Screen readers hate them. Find another way to indicate that you’re the spookiest college on Twitter. Funny hashtag? Use camel case so you don’t confuse anyone, *especially* people using screen readers. #SusanAlbumParty vs #susanalbumparty Inclusivity BONUS! If you can’t describe it without coming across like a jerk, then it’s probably not appropriate anyway! #uad3

People notice what we do. It’s important that we do it right. “At the end of the day, the web is used by humans and created by humans. And every single thing you put in between those two is noise. Everything on the web page, everything you build, everything you think is a great tool, and is interactive… is all just getting in the way of two humans communicating.” -Michael Fienen (@fienen), Higher Ed Social podcast #uad3

Thank you! Chris D’Orso @cdorso Justin Romack @justinromack Associate Director of Admissions, The College at Brockport Justin Romack @justinromack Assistive Technology Coordinator, Texas A&M University