a11y

Part 2 of 2. 

Love them or hate them, AI writing tools like Chat GPT have the potential to change the way we write, communicate, and learn. One group looking to harness the technology with, and for, the Blind community is Be My Eyes, an outfit which  connects Blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers through live video calls. Now,  Be My Eyes has partnered with OpenAI to create Be My AI, a free app-based service that provides AI-generated descriptions of user photos. The tech is currently being tested and played with by a large group of users, Christine among them. This week, Christine shares illuminating examples of what the service can -- and can't yet -- do, and JJ breaks down the AI descriptions from a Describer's point of view. 

Talk Description to Me is not affiliated with, nor sponsored by, Be My Eyes or OpenAI.

Love them or hate them, AI writing tools like ChatGPT have the potential to change the way we write, communicate, and learn. One group looking to harness the technology with, and for, the Blind community is Be My Eyes, an outfit which  connects Blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers through live video calls. Now,  Be My Eyes has partnered with OpenAI to create Be My AI, a free app-based service that provides AI-generated descriptions of user photos. The tech is currently being tested and played with by a large group of users, Christine among them. This week, Christine shares illuminating examples of what the service can -- and can't yet -- do, and JJ breaks down the AI descriptions from a Describer's point of view. Part 1 of 2.

Talk Description to Me is not affiliated with, nor sponsored by, Be My Eyes or OpenAI.

Guest Jaime Walke, a principal UX writer and content designer at Booking.com, sheds light on his journey in the tech world, his role at Booking.com, and the company's pioneering work in UX writing. (01:22)

Jaime  shares insights into the growth of the UX writing team at Booking.com, from a small team of 7-8 members to a flourishing team of nearly 80. (01:58)

The duo discuss a project at Booking.com called A11y, which is dedicated to making products accessible for everyone and complying with legal standards. (03:24)

Jaime Walke emphasizes the ethical considerations around accessibility, and its potential business benefits, given the increased buying power of people with accessibility needs. (19:14)

Jaime Walke talks about his role in creating an inclusive screen reader experience for users, and why UX writing plays a crucial role in promoting accessibility. (23:39)

Free UX Writing Course: https://course.uxwritinghub.com/free_course

Free AI for UX Course : https://course.uxwritinghub.com/free-course-ai-for-ux

Check out the UX Writing Academy: https://uxwritinghub.com/join-the-ux-writing-academy/

Follow Jaime: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-n-69746419/

Booking.com's UX Writing Medium blog: https://medium.com/booking-writes

If [an employer] can't afford not to operate without suspicion and distrust, what does that tell you?

Dan Knauss

Dan and Ny talk about their WordCamp US experiences both good and bad. Their conversation focuses on accessibility and disability. Ny had an experience with Uber at WCUS that made her agree with Dan's preference for traditional and preferably unionized taxi companies or public transit. They both reflect on the accessibility challenges and failures Michelle Frechette shared in Five Days Without a Shower before turning to an important article by Piccia Neri that was published at Post Status this week.

Piccia's article considers the value of salary transparency in hiring and job listings after asking WordPress employers why they don't advertise a salary range in listings. Ny is optimistic pay transparency will soon be the norm in US law. Dan is optimistic the WordPress community can make the changes it needs out of empathy and regard for others plus the motivation to build a high-quality, professional workforce. They both close out this episode by expressing gratitude for the WordCamp organizers and volunteers who made WCUS possible this year.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

• Post Status Excerpt (No. 63) — Pay Transparency, Mutual Respect, and the Community We Need
• Piccia Neri, Salary Transparency: Why Not?
• Michelle Frechette, Five Days Without a Shower
• Uber Executive Said the Company Would Spend ‘A Million Dollars’ to Shut Me Up
• Uber Says It Was Likely Hacked by Teenage Hacker Gang LAPSUS$

👋 Credits

• Nyasha Green, Editorial Director at MasterWP (Twitter)
• Dan Knauss, Editor for Post Status (Twitter)
• Olivia Bisset, Web Producer intern for Post Status (Twitter)

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

Talk Description to Me is hitting pause -- for the time being! To mark their final episode in this two-year run, Christine and JJ packed a picnic, hopped on a ferry, and headed to the Toronto Islands. Sitting on a park bench, facing the Toronto skyline, the two friends shared one last description-rich conversation before unplugging their mics for a spell. 

To all of our listeners, thank you for taking this journey with us! Please stay subscribed so that you don't miss a moment when we plug back in!

Fuelled once again by Christine's insatiable curiosity, today Talk Description to Me explores the visuals of river systems. How do rivers form? Are the headwaters obvious? Are stream networks visible in satellite images? Does a river in the Amazon look the same as a river in Egypt? With the help of diagrams, descriptions of maps, and tactile primers on continental geography, JJ and Christine dive headfirst into the cool, rushing waters of the world's great rivers.

Spy movies are perfect for Audio Description. There are subtle clues to describe, exotic and seedy locations to expound on, and often great visual storytelling for the Describer to work with. But what about those moments that whip by too fast for the AD Narrator? Today, Christine and JJ break down the visuals of spy movie tropes: gadgets, lairs, disguises, hacking, and tracking. 

If you live in a city, you have lots of animals as neighbours; squirrels, raccoons, rats, skunks, maybe even foxes or coyotes. But what do they look like? How do they move, eat, and interact? This week, Christine and JJ describe the visuals of urban wildlife. That's right trash pandas -- we're talking about you!

Slide whistle falls off of cliffs, and twinkle toes powering Stone Age cars were just a few of the sound effects that made Saturday morning cartoons popular with Blind and Low Vision kids in the days before Audio Description. Today, Christine and JJ aim to fill in some visual gaps by describing the look of classic cartoons, from prehistoric gadget gags in The Flintstones, to cutting edge camera work in Snow White, and the colour palette of The Simpsons. So pour yourself a huge bowl of junky cereal and let's dig in!

Women had been excluded from voting in ancient Greece, republican Rome, and in emerging European and North American democracies. By the mid 19th century, many had had enough and began demanding suffrage; the right to vote in political elections. While some worked within existing systems, others attacked with amazing savvy and ferocity,  resulting not only in stunning, even shocking visuals, but eventually great change. This week, Christine and JJ examine the visuals of Women's suffrage, from the media-friendly uniforms and violent actions of militant British Suffragettes, to political marches in the US, and monuments to subversive Pink Tea parties in Western Canada. 

The school year is wrapping up, and students everywhere are gleefully donning their caps and gowns, eager to graduate. This week, to honour the hard work and dedication of students who are Blind and Low Vision, Christine and JJ describe the visuals of convocation ceremonies and regalia. Congratulations, Class of '22! 

The visuals of food prep and cooking can be kind of a mystery, so this week Christine and JJ are donning their jaunty chef's hats and stepping into the kitchen to demystify fancy flambéing, precarious pizza tossing, and curious candy making. Bon appetite!

On this podcast, we have tasked ourselves with "Describing the visuals of the world around us."  Right now, the world around us includes mass school shootings. After consulting with Blind and Low Vision community members on various social media platforms, today we reluctantly carry on  with the promise inherent in our mandate. In this episode, Christine and JJ describe and discuss the visuals surrounding school shootings, including school security, active shooter drills, AR15 assault rifles, and media coverage of the May 24th massacre in Uvalde, Texas. While no graphic or gory images will be discussed or described,  listener discretion is still strongly advised.

If you  are struggling to cope  with the mental or emotional effects of these events, help is available. In the US, please call the National Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990. In Canada, please call the Wellness Helpline at 1-866-585-0445 or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868.

Christine and JJ  just couldn't fit all of their Star Wars talk into a single episode, so today they circle back in their X-Wing to describe ships in the Star Wars universe. Then, having started the new Obi Wan Kenobi series, Christine and JJ go deep on the visual details that inline description doesn't quite have time for: visual parallels, hidden clues, and quickie cameos. Spoiler warning! And nerd alert, too!

With the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series about to drop, Christine and JJ finally dive into the world of Star Wars! First, they go way back to the 1977 film that started it all to describe the aesthetics of the Star Wars Universe. Then they break down the franchise trilogy by trilogy, describing the evolution of the effects, and the challenges of designing visuals for science fiction prequels.  Along the way the pair describes favourite characters like Yoda and Chewbacca, and epic scenes like Kylo Ren vs Luke Skywalker. Plus, some teaser descriptions of characters in the Obi-Wan trailers. 

In this episode I discuss with Graham what accessibility is and how it impacts the web industry. The types of problems that accessibility tries to solve and how big of an impact it could have in your application if you were to actually pay attention to it during development.

Don't miss this episode, it's filled with interesting information and you're getting it directly from one of the experts!

Get in touch with Graham

• Twitter: @inHuOfficial or @grahamTheDev
• Dev.to: https://dev.to/inhuofficial (his reference piece, 101 Accessibility Tips)
• LinkedIn 
• 4C Community Discord

Graham's Favorite Tools

• Axe by DEQUE
• Accessibility Insights by Microsoft
• A11y

Review Us!
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Meet our host, OpenReplay:
OpenReplay is an open-source session replay suite, built for developers and self-hosted for full control over your customer data. If you're looking for a way to understand how your users interact with your application, check out OpenReplay.

When an Oculus Quest Virtual Reality headset arrived at JJ's house, his first call was to Christine! In this, the first of three VR episodes we will air in the coming months, the pair describes the headset, the experience of donning it for the first time, and how it tricks the brain through exquisite visual detail. They then explore 360 degree videos of the natural world, and scale the side of a digital skyscraper!

Special thanks to our in-house tech consultant for their help in producing this series!

Platicamos con @MariaLamardo acerca de Accesibilidad y especialemente en Web.

MC (wikipedia)

Auditorías de accesibilidad en Lighthouse

Chakra UI y Accesibility

WAI ARIA Authoring Practices

WCAG

ATAG

Talks de María:
VUECONF US 2019 | Web Accessibility With Vue.js
Content Loading That Isn't Broken  | VueConf US 2020
Maria Lamardo - Accessible Forms at Vuejs Global (Amsterdam)

María en La Liga del Código (Podcast)

Vue Community Partners

Curso
Web Accessibility Fundamentals en VueSchool

Picks / Recomendaciones Random:
María: Elena Rose
Ax: Grand Designs
Arturo: roadmap.sh

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