If you're like me, then you were really happy to learn about Mastodon's enthusiastic support for image descriptions, and you were eager to join in.

Then you went to actually write something and realized you have no idea how to present visual info in a way that is helpful/enjoyable to those who are #VisuallyImpaired or #Blind.

I found this guide really informative: https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-write-an-image-description-2f30d3bf5546

Post-viral Edit: Don't forget to give the author some love on medium. They did the work!

#Accessibility

[WHITE PEOPLE DO NOT REPLY]
if you can't read you're getting blocked

I'm glad we're starting to have a wider conversation surrounding racism and especially anti-Blackness on the Fedi.

But I feel like a lot of it could be better.

I see a lot of white people partaking in the conversation in a way that derails it, centering themselves and their experiences, explaining racism to POCs, and the like.

So please, if you are not Black, don't have conversations with Black folks about anti-Blackness.

However, do call out your friends on their racist bullshit. Do not wait for us to point it out. I don't want to be the only one to say that shit is not okay. It must come from you people as well.

I would also appreciate if you boosted posts made BY POCs rather than by white people. I see a lot of this stuff. It signals that you don't value our feelings and opinions but rather our oppressors' opinions on our struggles

I would also like non-Black admins to take a stand on anti-Black racism by not just suspending racist accounts on their own instances, but also by defederating from pro-cop, anti-Black and generally racist servers.

Both #Google and #Apple will soon be facing an uncomfortable and crucial inflection point, brought about by Elon's #Twitter.

The terms of service for both firms' mobile app stores prohibit hate speech and a variety of other kinds of toxic speech that are rapidly becoming the norm on Twitter under Musk, and that (judging from his continuing statements) could soon become the majority of posts on the platform.

While it is arguable how well both Apple and Google have handled apps up to now that catered to the far right end of the political spectrum from day one, Twitter is a different case, since it has had (at least up to now) a much broader spectrum of users who by and large are not as tolerant of the kinds of speech on which most users of those other platforms thrive. The same can be said of most advertisers, many of whom have already paused their Twitter ad buys out of concerns regarding Musk's behavior and actions. Yet another factor is EU regulations that specifically prohibit much of the kinds of speech that Musk is now gleefully inviting back onto the platform.

The situation is complicated by many firms and municipalities using Twitter for important announcements, but as Twitter skews toward catering to fascism these entities would be wise to plan for other communications channels as soon as possible.

More imminently, it is likely that both Google and Apple, along with various of Twitter's infrastructure providers (some of whom, reportedly, haven't been paid for bills that preceded Elon's coronation), will be under pressure to reassess their participation in an increasingly toxic Twitter ecosystem. In the cases of Apple and Google, the calls for them to enforce their Terms of Service as written can only be ignored at the firms' own peril over time.

This will be an ethical test on a grand scale. We will all be watching. -L

Epidemiologist @deonandan, on the efficacy of masks in light of surging numbers of respiratory diseases.

The short version: "Masks work. Of course they do. They work as imperfect personal protection and as highly impactful community protection."

A great deal of data and nuance in his post.

http://blog.deonandan.com/wordpress/2022/11/covid-19-do-masks-work.html

#masks #COVID #RSV #flu #influenza #Epidemiologist