As long as the topic of image description has your attention, I'd like to try & reproduce on Mastodon something I & several other volunteers organized on Twitter. It’s 2 hashtags to assist with image description.

The first is #ALT4me — blind & visually impaired individuals can reply to an image that lacks ALT text with this tag, so that sighted volunteers can then reply with a description. The strength of crowdsourcing this is that each person adds unique details from their own perspective, that when combined, form a detailed & meaningful conception of the image. It also allows one person to give a quick triage description, & then others can fill in details as they see fit.

The 2nd is #ALT4you — if you come across an image that is particularly striking, or one that you believe will quickly become iconic & part of a shared visual imagery/memory, please describe that image & tag it with this tag. This is particularly important during unfolding news stories that quickly break & change, leaving behind indelible visual impressions, that then shape most peoples memory & consciousness of the event. Obviously, for the blind/VI, without a description, search images, no matter how important, remain perceptual and informational black holes.

Thank you all again for the outstanding image description I have encountered so consistently in my limited experience on Mastodon.