VIDEO TRANSCRIPT OF UNDERSTANDING ALTERNATIVE TEXT

Images can serve many different purposes, from simple decoration
to visuals of  complex processes. Using them in your online 
learning content can be a great way to create visual 
representations of your subject matter. An important 
consideration when inserting images into your content is how 
you'll make them available to someone who is unable to see them.

When provided with a text representation of an image, many people 
with sight impairments have the ability to visualize the graphic. 
A text representation of an image is another way to say an image 
is alternative text. 

Many text editors provide a place for you to replace an image 
with alternative  text. The image will remain visible in your 
content, but the text representation will be available to those 
who need it the most. When it's time to write alternative text, 
simply think about the context of the image within your content.

For example, consider this image of a beekeeper. Three questions 
to consider are:

Am I using this image basically as decoration?

Is the image a visual example of something I described thoroughly 
in the typed content?

Do I intend for the image to provide additional information to 
supplement a point I made in the content?

My approach to writing the alternative text will differ depending 
upon the context of how I use the image. Let's take a closer look 
at each of these  situations.

Here, the beekeeper image is just a decorative visual. I added it 
to the end of  this document because I mentioned beekeeping as a 
hobby I'd like to explore. In this instance, the image doesn't 
need much. If the decorative image were removed, the quality of 
the content won't degrade. So the alternative text could simply 
be a couple of words to state what's in the image. I think 
"Beekeeper collecting wax from a hive" will suffice.
 
When a vision-impaired learner hears this alternative text, it 
will be clear that there's no important learning content to be 
gleaned from the image. Let's take a look at the images on this 
page. Leading up to these images, the topic has been an overview 
of precautions to take while beekeeping, and in the previous 
paragraph, I talked about what should be worn for safety when 
working around the hives.

These two images are examples of safety clothing. They are visual 
examples of something I described thoroughly in the previous 
content. So each of their alternative texts will represent an 
overview of what is seen in the pictures. For example, to address 
the first image, I could type "Beekeeper wearing a hat and veil, 
a one-piece long-sleeved jumpsuit and plastic gloves." For the 
second image, I could type, "Beekeeper wearing hat and screen, a 
one-piece long-sleeved jumpsuit and plastic gloves."

Let's see if we can apply what we've learned so far. Here I've 
displayed an image of Nikola Tesla near a list of a few of his 
inventions. Would this be considered a decorative image or an 
example image? 

To answer that, remember to think about the context of the image. 
In this case, if I removed the image of Mr. Tesla, the content 
would not suffer. So this is a decorative image. For its 
alternative text I would type "Nikola Tesla."

Let's change the context so that the image is an example of one 
of Mr. Tesla's inventions. Because it is now an example, we'll 
type as our alternative text, an overview of what's seen in the 
image, "A Tesla coil expending electrical current." 

Finally, there may be times when you'll need an image to 
supplement your content. It's purpose will be to accompany a 
point made in the content and to provide additional information. 
Let's return to the image of the beekeeper collecting wax. 

Let's say that the topic of this lecture is a discussion on 
beehive management. I'm using this image because it helps 
students visualize a point I made about the number of beehives 
that can be economically viable in one location.

The context of this image is neither a decoration, nor an 
example. In this context, it is some of the content, so it will 
require a longer description so my students can learn what I 
intend for them to learn from it.

The long description should be a part of the lecture content, so 
all of the students can benefit from it. So I'll type it near the 
image. 

Here's another example of an image requiring a long description 
because it is content. The image demonstrates the life cycle of a 
deer tick as it depends on the life cycle of the white footed 
mouse. So I wrote a long description of the process under the 
image.

Images that you've written a long description for will still need 
an alternative text. We'll treat the alternative text for this 
life cycle image as we would an example image. I'll type, 
"Parasitic life cycle of the deer tick "as it relies on the life 
cycle of the white footed mouse."

Deciding to use images is a great way to help students visualize 
your content. Alternative text is required for all images, and a 
long description should be provided when the context of the image 
requires it.