A bright yellow poster with circular photo insert. Inside the circle, a luridly pink dahlia that looks a bit like a sea anemone. It’s pictured against lush greenery, with the words Exploring Alt-Text as Poetry printed over. Around the image, the logos for University of Southampton, Disability History Month and the associated hashtag, as well as the event date (24 November 2021) and time (18.00-20.00), and an expired eventbrite link to sign up and a tag indicating that this took place live and online.
This workshop took place on 24 November 2021, as part of the University of Southampton’s Arts and Humanities Festival, in connection with Disability History Month.
Alt-text is what makes digital images accessible to blind and low-vision internet users. In alt-text, visual information is translated into a verbal description, usually stored as an image caption. Alt-text is an important consideration for anyone who puts pictures online-whether on social media, in teaching materials or on websites. It also a site for experimentation and creativity: a place, potentially, for poetry.
In this workshop, join Sarah Hayden to explore the ideas developed by artists Bojana Coklyat and Shannon Finnegan in their ongoing Alt-Text as Poetry project. You will learn about the access functions of alt-text, discuss some ongoing debates, and experiment with writing poetic, accessible alt-text. Moving through a sequence of enjoyable, stimulating exercises, we will produce individual and collaborative descriptions image-descriptions that test and stretch the limits of alt-text as poetry.
Live captioning will be provided for this event. No experience or expertise is required to take part.
Exploring Alt-Text as Poetry is open to anyone interested in thinking openly, creatively and inclusively about digital accessibility.
Huge thanks to Shannon Finnegan and Bojana Coklyat for their amazing project, and for supporting this offshoot thereof.