Link to the post: https://mstdn.ca/@ChristineMalec/114287613261480676
Some Details about media descriptions (Also commonly called “ALT Text”, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_attribute )
Lemmy also has ALT texts when you upload an image.
Other reasons why ALT texts are awesome:
- people with smartphones sometimes configure their clients to NOT download pictures/videos to save data. Picture Descriptions enable them to a) interact with these posts properly without the risk of not understanding a big part of the post. b) enables the conscious decision if they want to see this media.
- search engines can index this post better, so your post will have more reach when you duckduckgo for it.
- fediverse people searching for things can find your post
- people who are confused what the image on the post means can read the picture description to understand nuances they missed. And there are many reasons why that might be the case
- people not knowing people/scenes referenced in the image
- different sense of humor, so they don’t get the joke, but might want to understand the joke
- different life experience - the viewer might be a 14 year old child - so they don’t get the joke, but might want to understand the joke
- people having difficulties reading emotions depicted in the facial expressions in the picture
- people having not slept enough or are otherwise exhausted
however, it should also not matter why people might not understand the picture, because there are probably plenty of other reasons i don’t know why it is perfectly normal to not understand a picture.
and even when you think that you only have 12 followers - none of which you think need a picture description - your post might get boosted; it might get viral accidentally because it hits a nerve.
However, of course there are times when you don’t have the energy to describe the media properly. This is fine! We all know situations like this.
- For mastodon, there exists a bot which can generate a picture description using a local artificial intelligence hosted on their server: https://fuzzies.wtf/@altbot (see the profile description on how to use that)
- It is even possible to mention them in lemmy: @altbot@fuzzies.wtf (it might be the case that your instance doesn’t know about this account yet, but then you can search for “@altbot@fuzzies.wtf” which will force your instance to index this account.
- You can request help with alt texts by including hashtags like #ALT4me
- when you receive a picture description, either from the bot or from other people, you can edit your post and insert the picture description afterwards.
Thanks if you participate in making the fediverse an awesome place for people with reduced sight! 💜
I’ve seen people make positive posts about Alt text like this one, and I’ve seen people comment with #alttext4you or whatever, but the main toxic thing I’ve seen on Mastodon is the jerks that lash out against the person giving them free alt text :(
Alt text is one of the nicest parts of fediverse culture to me. I really liked learning about why it’s there and how easy it is to do, even if you’re not that bothered you can be open to other people adding it for you.
It makes me sad to see people lash out about it or joke about Alt Text culture on Bluesky.
But I guess it must be based on a kernel of truth that some people were toxic about it or else why would there be a backlash? IDK.
Well, there are people who encourage others to add alt text, and there are those who want to force everyone to add alt text. I saw both…