VIDEO TRANSCRIPT OF DEMYSTIFYING ALT TEXT: PAINTING A PICTURE WITH WORDS

Thank you for joining me for this review video of Demystifying Alt Text: 
Painting a Picture with Words.  My name is Amy Netzel and I serve as an 
instructional designer and web accessibility specialist at Durham Technical 
Community College. I have been with the North Carolina Community College 
System since 2013. Back then, there were only a few of us that served in 
accessibility roles at some of the colleges. It has been a pleasure to 
watch the accessibility discussion permeate throughout the system. I've 
seen it go from general awareness to thoughtful discussion of how to handle 
some of the nuances that pop up. Alternative text is one of those nuances 
that participants in last fall's NC3ADL accessibility workshop 
identified as something they wanted to learn more about, so this 
presentation came to be as a result of that feedback.

By the end of this presentation, it's my hope that you'll be able to 
describe the difference between alternative text and long description, and 
a major take away will be building your awareness of strategies for visual 
description. We’ll talk about how to utilize the context of an image to 
inform the image’s text replacement, and in this presentation we're going 
to focus on STEM images as well as maps and artwork

So why is alternative text needed? There's actually a couple of reasons. 
One is for a more practical reason, but there’s also an academic 
reason. But first, let's chat about the primary beneficiaries.

So the primary beneficiaries are primarily the folks whom have visual 
impairments. These impairments might be severe enough that require them to 
use adaptive technology such as a refreshable braille device or a screen 
reader. A screen reader is an application that a visually impaired person 
can download and install on the computer. It will allow them to do all 
sorts of functions on the computer similar to what someone without an 
impairment can do, such as surfing the internet, reading and creating 
documents, as well as downloading documents and interacting with other 
pieces of software. So when a person using these types of assistive 
technology arrive at an image with alternative text, these users benefit 
because the alt text for images can be read aloud or rendered as 
Braille. 

People who browse the internet with speech-enabled browsers are also 
able to hear the text alternative for the images.

There are also secondary beneficiaries. For students, providing alternative 
text and longer descriptions exposes them to what the instructor deems is 
the important information to glean from an image.

Mobile web users also benefit because the option that allows them to load 
images on their cell phones or tablets can be turned off, which is useful when
you’re away from Wi-Fi, and you don't want to use up all of your data. This 
exposes the image's alternative text, letting you know what's in the image without actually loading it. 

Also, providing alternative text can improve search engine optimization by 
becoming indexable by search engines. Though this may be less of a concern 
in an online course but more so for those who manage websites.

So, let's talk a little bit about the guidelines the community college 
system is following. They're called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and 
they were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium — also called the W3C. 
We’ll abbreviate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to [prounounced "whikag'] W-C-A-G, and in looking at the very first one – which is Guideline 1.1 – it states that one should provide text alternatives for any non-text content, so  that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, Braille, speech, symbols or simpler language. 

If your college is exploring Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, which 
is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, 
including cognitive neuroscience -- then the second UDL guideline, which 
asks instructors to provide multiple means of representation, also 
highlights the importance of using alternative text. It actually says to 
offer alternatives for visual information. 

Universal Design for Learning guides development of flexible learning 
environments that can accommodate individual learning differences, so if 
the majority of students can get their information from text you want to be 
able to provide that even when images are available.

So, let's unpack these guidelines to really get into what they're saying. 
If I were to read this text representation or this equivalent of an image, 
I want you to imagine for just a second what comes to mind. So this is just 
a text representation of an image. Here we go: 

An artist’s mannequin posed holding a paintbrush upward toward the sky.

I’ll read that one more time. I want you to try to imagine the image:

An artist’s mannequin posed holding a paintbrush upward toward the sky.

What comes to mind?

I'm going to show the non-text content, the visual information, next. 

Is this similar to what you imagined? 

This is the gist of what we're talking about; replacing images with 
alternative text or a text representation.

Let's see what this experience is like for someone who uses screen reading 
technology. 

It’s important to note that there's a couple of limitations that happen 
because the person using a screen reader is only exposed to the text that 
the person who authored the content provided. It ends up being a linear 
experience for the screen reader user, in other words, a screen reader 
application reads an alternative text from the first word to the last word. 

Since a screen reader does not interpret images, the person using the 
software is unable to scan the image and kind of see what might be the 
important content that's popping out at them, they're limited by what the 
content author has provided.

YouTube user Peter Brumby has demonstrated what one screen reader sounds 
like when it comes across an image that does NOT have alternative text and 
what it sounds like when an image does have alternative text. 

In this video, he is using ChromeVox, which is a screen reader for the 
Chrome web browser, and it sounds very mechanical and also a little fast, 
but that's okay because people who use the software on a daily basis are 
used to listening to it speaking fairly quickly. 

So let's listen to what it sounds like without an alternative text for the image 
and what it sounds like with the alternative text.

[Text "ChromeVox" displays]

[CHROMEVOX VOICE SYNTHESIZER]

Image with no alt attribute. Heading two. Example 123 image. Image with alt text. 
Heading 2. A small dog running across a grassy field. Mouth open ready to catch a 
tennis ball.

[AMY]

Okay, so we can hear how linear the experience is and that the person 
listening would be limited to what the author provides, so it's important 
that valuable information from the image is relayed through the alternative 
text.

So what kind of images are there? The W3C categorizes images into one of 
seven groups. We're going to talk about the first four during the 
presentation, but I'll share all seven with you. 

The first four categories recognized are decorative images, informative 
images, images containing text, and complex images. Let's talk about each 
of these. 

Decorative images provide visual decoration on a page or slide. They don't 
provide additional content or knowledge.

Informative images graphically represent concepts and information and are 
typically pictures, photos, and illustrations. Many academic images fall 
under informative images.

Images containing text are actually images that have text overlaid on top 
of them and baked in. I mentioned earlier that a screen reader is unable to 
interpret an image, so it would not be able to access the text. When 
composing the alternative text, it’ll be important to provide the image’s 
text as part of the alternative text.

The fourth category of images is complex images, and these would be 
pictures that convey data or detailed information. Examples would be graphs 
or diagrams. 

The other three categories of images that the W3C recognizes are functional 
images, which are, basically, clickable images that work like hyperlinks. 
This could be a logo that when you click on it, takes you back to the 
homepage of a website. 

The second is groups of images. An example of this can be seen in Amazon 
when a seller uses the 5-star rating system. That group of five stars is 
treated as a group of images; they're each separate stars, but they're 
treated as a group. So, there’s a special way to provide the text 
representation for groups of images like that. 

And finally, there's image maps, which is basically an image that has at 
least one clickable spot on it. An example of an image map could be a 
clickable organizational chart.

So how do we provide alternative text?

The first step--and this is suggested by the National Center for Accessible 
Media--is to consult with--or be--a subject matter expert. At a college, 
this would be your faculty members. The reason for this is because subject 
matter experts offer the breadth of knowledge needed to most accurately 
describe academic imagery, especially informative images and complex 
diagrams.

When talking with the subject matter expert, there's a couple of questions 
that you can ask early on in the process. Such as: Why is the image there? And if 
there was no description for the image, what will the learner miss? These 
two questions help the faculty member focus on, one, the reason why this 
image was included in the content. Was there a concept or point they're 
making with it? These questions also help the faculty member organize their 
thoughts in such a way that will help them describe the intended content in 
the image. 

There’s an important distinction to make before I go on. The strategies 
that are demonstrated in this presentation are intended for eLearning 
Specialists or Instructional Designers to use as they talk with faculty 
members to help guide them in composing their alternative text and longer 
descriptions. 

People in the eLearning field have their own subject-matter knowledge that 
they are familiar with and that they research, but they are not expected to 
provide the depth of knowledge needed to most accurately and thoroughly 
describe, say, an image of a chemical compound or an engineering 
illustration. They form a partnership with faculty members in order to 
create the best long description possible, and these are strategies that 
help make the process a little easier.

So, let's start with the basics. 

First? Write well. Consider grammar, vocabulary, clarity, and brevity of 
writing. 

It may take people with visual or print disabilities more time to read 
books and articles than people without visual or print disabilities, and the 
process should not be further slowed down by unnecessarily long image 
descriptions. Many images may be rich in visual details but light on 
important information, so if the gist of an image can be understood in a 
glance, then the description should be just as brief.

Likewise, if the information in an image is included in the main text body 
of the document and is therefore accessible, then the image description 
should not repeat the information. When an image does contain important 
information, the description should provide access to the information in as 
few words as possible.

It's important to monitor the learner’s cognitive load. In other words, how 
much information they're being asked to take in at once. Monitor the length 
of the description, vocabulary, and the sentence structure to minimize the 
student’s cognitive load.

Review the context of the image. Take care to differentiate between content 
and context. 

American painter Keith Nolan said, “For me, context is the key – from that 
comes the understanding of everything.”

See if you can pull the content of the painting on this slide from the 
context of the painting in the following description:

This painting is called Cycle, and it is a part of Kenneth Noland’s most 
famous and recognizable series, his Concentric Circle series. He began 
experimenting with this idea in 1958 and in 1960, he painted Cycle.

At the time, he was concentrating on vibrant, energetic color, using a 
greater array of highly-keyed hues and removing the vestiges of brushwork. 
Rather than base his work on existing objects, Noland based his work on 
experience. 

He left the six foot canvas nearly empty and relatively free of color, 
except for one vibrant spot of orange that catches the eye in the middle of 
the circles. The center served as the anchor for each of his paintings in 
this series. 

His paintings range in mood and emotion, size and color. Though we do not 
know Noland’s mood nor emotion while he painted, his paintings nonetheless, 
elicit a visceral response from the viewer.

This description intertwined the content of the painting with context. It 
provides a bridge in understanding Nolan’s motivations. When describing 
academic images, it's important to think about the context. 

Why is the image provided?

The next step is to perform a visual review. This is to ensure clarity and 
effectiveness. If the reader needs to listen to a description several times 
because it is poorly written or is presented in a confusing manner, then 
the overall goal has not been achieved. 

The best way to test the clarity of your descriptions is to read them to 
someone who has not seen the image and ask for feedback.

So let's talk about the strategies then, for providing a text alternative 
or a text representation of an image.

We'll start with decorative images. When determining the alternative text 
for an image, you can deduce whether or not it's a decorative image by 
asking a question: 

Without the image, will the content stand on its own? If so, it's a 
decorative image.

Here's an example of a decorative image that might be provided on the title 
slide of a presentation on mosaics for an art class. 

If I remove the image, the information on the title slide won't degrade, so 
the image is decorative. 

Here's another example. I have a slide that displays some of Benjamin 
Franklin's inventions: bifocals, Franklin stove, odometer, and next to the 
list, there’s an image of Benjamin Franklin. 

If I remove the image of Mr. Franklin, does the content stand on its own? 
It does! So this is a decorative image. 

So what do we write as the alternative text for a decorative image? 

Well, we actually address it two different ways depending upon the 
authoring tool that we're using. 

For example, if you’re addressing an image in Microsoft Office’s Word or 
PowerPoint (and possibly in your learning management system), you’ll want 
to use a few words to replace the image and convey the essential 
information that's presented, or basically answer the question: “What is 
this image of?” 

On the other hand, if you’re using a decorative image on a website, you'll 
want to cause the image to basically be invisible to a screen reader – so 
that it will skip right over the image. This is identified as a best 
practice on the web and surveys indicate screen reader users do appreciate 
it. 

The way that you would do that is to use null in the code for the image. 
That looks like alt equals quote quote. The purpose of this, again, causes 
a screen reader to ignore or skip over the image. I’ve actually seen folks 
try to use this concept in Word and PowerPoint, and the difference is 
authoring on the web versus authoring in a content authoring tool.

So, I've seen some folks type the word null or they might type the 
quotation marks as the alt text. This ends up not making sense to the 
screen reader user because instead of skipping over the image, it will 
access the image’s alternative text and the user will hear “null” or 
“quote quote,” and it won’t make much sense.

So, in order to remedy that, provide a few words if you're authoring in 
Microsoft Office, and if you’re working on a website, you can use null.

Though decorative images are nice, we won’t spend much more time on them. 
They're fairly straightforward, so let’s put them in the rearview mirror, 
and move on to more academic or informative images. 

For purposes of this training, we’re going to categorize STEM images into 
three main categories: graphs, charts, and diagrams. 

Graphs can include, but are not limited to line graphs. Charts can include 
bar charts, pie charts, and flowcharts. Diagrams can include Venn diagrams, 
standard diagrams and illustrations, such as a labelled graphic and complex 
diagrams, that might include multiple cycles or comparisons, such as this 
graphic that compares the bill shape of difference species of finches with 
their food sources.

The National Center for Accessible Media highlights four strategies for 
describing STEM images: Linear description, List description, use a Table, 
or Drill Down description.

A linear description applies to many STEM illustrations and is akin to a 
more traditional description. It involves choosing a starting point, and 
then moving from Point A to Point B (to Point C and beyond) in a sequential 
and logical narrative. A linear description is intended to be brief and 
specific.  

OK, let’s take a look at an example of an illustration that would be best 
described with a linear description. 

A short description's been provided above the image and though it’s not 
as clear as it should be here, in this example, the description is intended 
to be “on the screen” so to speak. In other words, it hasn’t been baked 
onto the image, so it's available to the screen reader and does not need 
to be included in the alternative text. 

The short description says: “The diagram below shows the early embryos of a 
fish, a reptile, and a bird. The embryos of these organisms are similar in 
structure and appearance.” So, assuming we’ve secured a Subject Matter 
Expert to provide the description, the first step is to organize the 
description. Would it make sense to describe this illustration from top to 
bottom or left to right? 

We’ll pretend the subject matter expert intends for students to learn about 
the similarities and differences among the embryos. This image compares the 
embryos, so it makes sense to focus on each of the embryos from left to 
right and then point out the arrows.

So we’ll start by breaking the diagram into pieces, starting with the 
embryo on the left, and then we’ll move to the embryo in the middle, 
contrasting it with the embryo on the left, and then we’ll focus on the 
embryo on the right, contrasting it with the one in the middle. 

Finally, we’ll mention that there are arrows pointing to the same feature 
on all of the embryos.

We’ll begin the description by orienting to the image. Note that all three 
embryo illustrations are shown in side view.

The fish embryo is long, narrow and straight. Its head is small, round, and 
contains gill arches. A large flap extends to the left, from just below the 
head to the middle of the embryo. A segmented bony structure runs the 
length of the embryo on the right.

The reptile embryo is much longer and fatter than the fish embryo, but is 
curled into a fetal position. Its head is bent forward and is twice as 
large as that of the fish embryo. The reptile embryo has twice as many gill 
arches as the fish embryo, but the flap on the left side is only half as 
long. A segmented bony structure runs the length of the embryo on the 
right. 

The bird embryo is curved more than the fish embryo, but not as long or 
as curved as the reptile embryo. The head of the bird embryo is almost as 
large as the reptile embryo, but has fewer gill arches. A flap the same 
size as that of the reptile embryo extends to the left. A segmented bony 
structure runs the length of the embryo on the right. 

Arrows point to the gill arches of all three embryos. 

Okay, so we’ve given a long description of the embryos, but we still need 
to provide an alternative text for the image, itself. In this case, since 
we have a longer description for the student, we’ll use the alternative 
text as a means to communicate to the student where to find the longer 
description. We’ll pretend we’ve used Microsoft Word and wrote the 
longer description below the image: “Early fish, reptile, and bird embryos. 
Longer description provided below image.”

Let’s take a look at another example! In this instance, we have a math 
graphic, and a caption has been provided to introduce the image. It hasn’t 
been baked on to this image, so a screen reader user can access it. It says: 
Greg is using a mirror to find the height of a flagpole. He places the 
mirror on the ground at a measured distance from the flagpole, then moves 
back away from the mirror until he can see the top of the flagpole in the 
mirror. The diagram shows this method.”

In this instance, we’ll focus on what is not included in the caption, in 
other words, the points and lines. We’ll use short sentences that are 
focused on the data. 

As we did earlier, we’ll organize the description by deciding if we’ll 
describe from top to bottom or left to right. I think from left to right 
will work for this one.

Then we’ll break the diagram into pieces to describe it:

Start with Greg. Greg's feet are at point G. 

The mirror is 8 feet to his right at point M. 

The base of the flag pole is 24 feet to the right of point M and labeled 
point F. 

The distance from point G, Greg's feet, to his eye is 5 feet. This is the 
vertical leg of a right triangle. The hypotenuse connects Greg's eye to 
point M, the mirror on the ground. 

A similar triangle is formed from point M, the mirror, to point F, the base 
of the flag pole.  The distance from point M to point F is 24 feet. 

The height of the flag pole is labeled H. This is the vertical leg of the 
second right triangle. 

The hypotenuse connects the top of the flagpole to point M, the mirror on 
the ground.  

And we always want to remember the alternative text. In this case, since a 
caption was available, we’ll just give an indication of which category the 
image falls under and where to find the longer description. Again, we’ll 
pretend we’re in Word, so the alternative text will say something like, 
“Diagram. See longer description below image.”

The next strategy is the List Description. This strategy is helpful for 
describing processes, flow charts, diagrams, and illustrated chemical 
reactions. It’s okay to use nested lists, if needed, and these types of 
images may also benefit from a tactile diagram in addition to descriptions. 
Tactile diagrams might be a possibility through Disability Services.

Here’s an example of a process, specifically, it’s the lifecycle of the 
deer tick as it depends on the white-footed mouse. 

I won’t read all of the steps involved, but to create this list, you would 
choose a starting point on the cycle, in this case, the white-footed mouse 
ingests sporozoites, and then moving clockwise around the cycle, each step 
is described. 

The alternative text for the image itself will let the student know where 
to find the longer description. In this case, the alternative text might 
say, "Parasitic lifecycle of the deer tick as it depends on the white-
footed mouse. Longer description provided below graphic.” But if the longer 
description were provided in PowerPoint, you might say something like, 
“Longer description provided in Notes area.” 

If the image were embedded directly in the LMS, you might say something 
like “longer description below” or if you included it in a separate 
document, you might say, “Link to longer description provided below.” In 
each instance, you point out where to find the longer description.

Let’s move on to the Table Description Strategy. What this references is 
creating a data table. This strategy is a good option for images of tables, 
pie charts, line graphs, and bar charts. In order to use this strategy, 
you’d begin with a brief summary or an overview of the graph or chart 
before providing the table. Then when creating the data table, you’d want 
to follow accessibility guidelines for tables, which means including a 
caption or title for the table, including column headers and row headers, 
if needed, as well as avoiding merged and blank cells.

Okay, let’s start with that description. We’ll start high level and then 
move into some specifics. First we’ll identify the type of graph and it’s 
title: 

“The line graph is entitled Foreign Trade of Country X, 1968 through 1980, 
in United States dollars.”

There are two lines on the graph, a dashed line labeled “Exports” and a 
solid line labeled “Imports.”

The vertical axis is labeled “Billions of Dollars,” beginning with zero to 
eighteen, in increments of 2. Note: one billion equals a one followed by 9 
zeros.”

The horizontal axis is labeled “Year” and lists all the years from 1968 
through 1980.

The Exports line begins in 1968 at 3 billion dollars, rises steeply, then 
drops, then shoots up to 15.5 billion, then trails off to 10 billion in 
1980.

The Imports line begins in 1968 at 2 billion and rises steadily to 8.75 
billion in 1980, except for 2 minor dips.

Okay, now we’ll say a few words to introduce the data table:

“The data is provided in the following table. Figures are in billions of 
dollars. All data are approximate.”

Then we’ll display the data table. It contains three columns, one each for 
Year, Imports, and Exports.

The final strategy is called Drill Down. It is a method of describing 
complex diagrams. Like the table strategy, you’ll provide a brief summary 
of the image, but then it will be followed by either an extended 
description or specific data or both. 

Drill down combines strategies and by starting with a high level summary 
and then drilling down further and further into the image, you allow the 
reader to make the choice of either continuing to read or stopping before 
the next section of description.

So let’s start with a brief summary. In this case, this is a basic 
illustration with an embedded graph.

Then we’ll move on to an extended description. A drawing shows two lizards 
in a confined space. One lizard stands in a shadow, the other stands 
beneath a heat lamp.

We’ll be careful to avoid extraneous information. In this case, we won’t 
need to say something like, “one lizard is perched on a rock near a cactus. 
There are six lamps on a beam.” For a visual learner, this type of 
information would also be extraneous.

When considering an illustration with an embedded graph, taking the context 
of the image into consideration, ask yourself if the graph can be 
sufficiently summarized in a sentence or two or is it necessary to provide 
all of the data? Does the graph provide specific data or is it more of an 
illustration? 

If specific data is provided, and if the faculty member feels students need 
to be able to access the data, then provide a data table for the graph’s 
information. 

In this instance, there is specific data that needs to be referenced, so 
we’ll give a brief summary or overview of the chart:

Above the lizards is a multiple line graph. The horizontal X axis is 
labeled time days. The vertical Y axis is labeled ‘% survived.

Note: in the graph there are numbers in parentheses that are not explained 
in the caption nor the surrounding text. They should not be ignored in the 
description. Include them but do not guess at or assume their meaning. In 
this example, they’ll be added to the data table.

Okay, we’ll continue with our summary of the chart:

In the graph, there are five separate lines labeled by temperature ranging 
from 34⁰C to 42⁰C and followed by another number in parenthesis.

And now we’ll introduce the data table, just as we did earlier with the 
table strategy:

The graph is represented by the following table. All data are 
approximate.

Then, just like we did for the table strategy, we display the graph’s data 
table.

To address the alternative text, we’ll say something like: Two lizards in a 
confined space with an embedded graph.

I’ve created a table to help us determine which graph to use in which 
situation. Our four strategies run across the top: Table, Linear, List, and 
Drill Down. And we’ll populate the next row of the table with the different 
types of images. 

As a quick review, a table should be used to describe bar and pie charts, 
line graphs, standard illustrations that have an embedded graph, and 
complex diagrams. 

The linear strategy should be used to describe Venn diagrams, 
standard illustrations, and comparison illustrations. The list strategy should 
be used to describe flow charts or other graphics that show a process. 
And the drill down strategy should be used for standard illustrations 
that have an embedded graph. 

Notice that standard illustrations that have an embedded graph appear under 
Table and Drill Down because it takes two strategies to thoroughly describe 
those types of images; though, the strategy used really depends on the what 
the embedded content is. For example, in the lizard illustration, if the 
embedded content were a lifecycle instead of a line graph, then a list 
description of the process would be appropriate, rather than a table.

I hope that makes sense!

So, let’s talk a bit about Maps and Art.

So, maps come in a few different flavors, depending on their context. When 
we say map, we might be referencing anything from an atlas, to a climatic 
map, to a physical map, to a topographical map, to a street map, to a 
campus map.

For purposes of this training, we’ll just touch on a couple of maps. 

Let’s take a closer look at this map of China. It’s title says 
Administrative Divisions of China. Taking what we’ve learned, we could 
classify this map as a diagram or illustration. We’d ask the faculty member 
to tell us about how the map will be used. What will be its purpose in the 
lesson? Will the faculty member use it to show the location of each of the 
Administrative Divisions? Will it be used to compare the sizes of the 
Administrative Divisions? Or maybe it’ll be used to just identify the name 
of the capital for each division. 

It’s important to identify the purpose and set the context because possible 
strategies to describe it might be to use a table, provide a linear 
description, or drill-down. 

We’ll say the faculty member intends to use the map to categorize and name 
the provinces that fall under each division, so in this case, a data table 
will suffice! 

We’ll take a look at a second type of map, the campus map. There’s still a 
lot of research going on in the area of making maps accessible. In order to 
be considered accessible, a text-only option would need to be available. It 
would need to provide all of the same benefits to a sight-impaired student 
that a non-sight impaired student would receive. How that will look is 
still working itself out, but one company, Campus Bird, has looked into one 
method.

They’ve created a really nice visual piece. Students can zoom in, look at 
three-dimensional versions of the buildings, see 360 renderings of the 
inside of buildings, and have a sense of what the campus really looks like. 
They’ve approached accessibility by creating another set of webpages that 
contain a text-only directory of the campus buildings.

We’ll click the Text-only link to load it, and it’s just a simple set of 
links. The hope is through these links, vision-impaired students will be 
able to locate the information they need such as the address of a 
particular building. For example, we’ll click Administrative Offices, then 
Bekkering Admissions Office, and then More Information. I’ve found the 
building’s address. But the question remains of whether or not this would 
be easy for a student. Research will need to continue to determine ways in 
which text-only maps will serve students. When I was asked to review this 
map, a suggestion I had was to bring together a focus group of students – 
those with sight impairments – and ask them how they would like to have 
campus information provided to them. Would it be best to start with a 
central location on campus and provide relative directions to buildings 
from that spot? I don’t have the answers, yet, but I’m keeping an eye on 
the research!

Descriptions for art on the other hand, have been researched. One of the 
major worries that art faculty members have is how to ensure the essence of 
a piece of art work is not given away. Well, it’s important to 
differentiate between the ways in which a piece of art work can be 
described, as well as acknowledge the difference between providing a 
description of the forms in a piece of art work and giving an opinion based 
on those forms. 

So, a description of the scene here might include a description of the 
bridge, and then of the couple dressed in black walking toward the viewer, 
followed by a description of the man in white leaning against the bridge’s 
railing, and perhaps the location of the dog in the foreground.

After the forms are described, then a formal analysis for the forms 
described may be made as well as an interpretation, or a statement of what 
the work means or the ideas it expresses. 

Why is that man leaning on the railing? What are his thoughts? To whom does 
the dog belong? Does the painting make a statement about the artist or the 
era in which it represents?

To provide you with a couple of additional resources, the Museum of Modern 
Art provides a gallery of described pieces and Art Beyond Sight’s 
Guidelines for Verbal Description provide a great step-by-step process for 
how to move through a piece to create a visual description.

To give you an example of what a visual description of a piece of art work 
sounds like, I’d like for you to listen to this description of Yves 
Tanguy’s From Green to White to see if you can determine which of these 
three pieces are being described.

[MALE VOICEOVER]

From Green to White is an oil painting made by the Surrealist artist Yves Tanguy in 1954.  A vertical composition of about 39 x 32 inches, the picture describes an imaginary place using tiny, barely visible brushstrokes, so that the surface of the painting is almost perfectly smooth.  

What appears to be a strange city, naturalistically shaded to suggest space, fills the bottom fifth of the composition.  The rest of From Green to White looks like sky.  The lower part of this section contains dark, wavy, horizontal bands, interspersed with streaks of red, pink, green, and blue.  Above that is an area of white, tinged slightly blue.  

Streaks of bright white within it give the impression of being shimmers of light, or reflections from a block of partly melted ice.  These streaks fade out about halfway up the picture, leaving what appears to be a blue sky with a few wispy white clouds in it.

The strange city at the bottom of the composition consists of many rounded shapes that suggest oddly proportioned structures made out of grey rock.  The simplest are cut-off cylinders.  One at the left edge of the picture is the tallest element.  

A flat low form in the middle, which extends across nearly a third of the width of the picture, has a blue roof with what look like strange waves and a single orange oval on it.  These are the only things that are not some kind of grey color. To the left of this structure is a tower with grey-green vertical tubes along its sides.  Window-like openings go around it.  

To the right is the largest structure of them all, like a ziggurat made of three 
circular flat-topped tiers.  Between it and the blue roofed form are 8-10 tall, dark, flat spires.  A thin grey cylinder rises along the right edge of the composition.

The title, From Green to White, gives no hint of what Tanguy meant to represent in this painting.  The picture itself also provides no clues.  The shapes and forms that are so carefully described do not suggest an interpretation that makes sense of what we see.  

Therefore, the work remains a mystery, a precisely detailed view of an imaginary world we can never know. 

[AMY]

Which piece was described?

Did you select this one?

Hopefully you enjoyed listening to the description. A great visual 
description helps a visually impaired student visualize the piece, but 
non-disabled students may enjoy listening, as well.

So, as we come to the end of this presentation, I’ll leave you with a few 
other visual scenarios to consider.

There’s still many more images that faculty might use in their courses. 
Which strategies might you use to describe other STEM images, such as 
scatter plots or complex tables? What about art concepts? Or images in 
assessments? 

The National Center for Accessible Media offers some guidance on how to 
describe images appearing in assessments.

And up until this point, we’ve been very objective in our descriptions, but 
is it ever appropriate to assign meaning to an image through its alt text 
or long description? For example, how would you approach editorial 
cartoons, comics, or photojournalism images?

Just food for thought!

Some other scenarios you might run into or be asked to advise on are 
publisher ancillaries. Publishers may send faculty PowerPoint presentations 
that have lots of images, but no alternative text. Advise faculty to call 
the publisher to address the images within a reasonable timeframe.

Be aware that as one builds content on a PowerPoint slide, the content 
becomes layered. When adding things like arrows, call outs, text boxes, and 
other options, a screen reader user can quickly become disoriented. The 
screen reader accesses all of the content on the screen and ends up 
sounding disjointed and disoriented as it references all of the layers 
individually. 

To avoid this, my advice is to go ahead and build the image in PowerPoint, 
but then take a screen shot or screen capture of it and save the image. 

Taking a screen shot consolidates all of the pieces or layers into one 
image, and then replace the old slide with a new one that contains the new 
screen capture. Don’t forget the image’s alternative text! And long 
description, if needed!

I touched on this a little earlier, but you might receive inquiries 
regarding where to place the long description for more complex images. 

Ultimately, we want to make a long description available to all students, 
so in Word, the best place to put it is below the image it describes. In 
the image’s Description field, as alternative text, you’ll let the screen 
reader user know where to find the description.

In PowerPoint, type an alternative text in the image’s Description field 
that informs the user to look at the Slide’s Notes area for a longer 
description of the image.

In your Learning Management System, you’ll usually have space to provide an 
alternative text in an image’s description field, but for a longer 
description, you can approach it in a couple of ways. First, you can post the 
longer description below the image, similar to how you’d approach it in 
Word, or you can type the long description in a word processor, such as 
Notepad or Word, and upload the file so that you can provide a link to it 
under the image. This second option may save you some screen real estate, 
but as part of course maintenance, it’ll be important to periodically check 
to see that the links to all of the long descriptions are continuing to 
work.

Earlier, I mentioned maps as an area that is undergoing research. Other 
areas that are being addressed are tactile options for visual content, such 
as maps, graphs, charts, etc., and the application of auditory cues to help 
give vision-impaired students a sense of the shape of a graph.

In the example image here, the sound might indicate that this is a bell 
curve by starting as a low tone and then rising to a higher tone to 
indicate the top of the bell curve followed by sinking back down to the low 
tone.

Well, I appreciate you taking the time to watch this review video. I hope you 
feel as though you have gained an awareness of some strategies that will 
help you moving forward with accessible images in your course or at your 
college. 

Thank you so much for watching!