Before reading this week’s topic, the term “digital accessibility” was not significantly inputted in my head; however, after grasping the ideas and essence of equality and accessibility in multimedia, I am now strongly feeling motivated to create this blog and content for everyone, literally. Furthermore, the topic connects to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), a blueprint settled by WHO(World Health Organization). I think that digital accessibility should be more recognized worldwide to create an equal and diverse society. Accessibility in multimedia means each individual should have the same level of opportunity to acquire and output knowledge and interact with a diversity of users around the world regardless of their disadvantage. The fundamental purpose of multimedia is to enable every user to learn about the world in a variety of ways instead of only text. As our professor Crozier states, “Designing for accessibility is not extra work. It is the work,” creating for everyone is obligatory.
The Four Basic Principles of Digital Accessibility:
Perceivable – Individuals, regardless of disabilities, can input information into their brains. Examples: the movie must have captions, podcasts should have transcripts, lectures must have both voice and pictographic demonstration.
Operable – Each individual must be able to reach the informations that they want without technical issues such as unable to scroll down or click whatever link without a mouse. However, I wonder how a bad wifi connections will be considered in this case.
Usable – Everyone should be able to understand the content without a confuse, and thus contents should perhaps be easily translated into one’s first language. Meaning that the words and phrases should make sense in any languages. (Sounds difficult)
Robust – People should not have limit to access to contents because of their outdated technological devices. + I believe that the businesses should reconsider towards the morals and ethics in order to create a sustainable developing society and not just care about profits.
Overall, the principles of Digital Accessibility seem palpable; however, to make a change, businesses and governments need to reconsider their business morals and ethics since they care about the majority, people without disabilities and consumers. The silent majority needs to stand up and claim that accessibility is for everyone living in any condition and circumstance.
WHO. (n.d.). Sustainable development goals. World Health Organization. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/sustainable-development-goals#tab=tab_1.
Crozier, N. (2021, September 27). Accessibility and equity in Multimedia. EDCI 337: Interactive and Multimedia Learning. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://edtechuvic.ca/edci337/2021/09/27/accessibility-and-equity-in-multimedia/.
Anonymous. (n.d.). Reading/multimedia/2013-14 goals – mediawiki. Powered by MediaWiki. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Multimedia/2013-14_Goals.
邦妮
Hi Atomu，
I agree with you, especially the first part. I have never heard of the term digital accessibility before. Through this topic, I think digital accessibility is really beneficial and allows people all over the world to understand each other better, thanks to this technology.
Bonnie
atomin
Thank you, Bonnie. I think what you say is the ultimate goal of the internet technology. We should be all aware of the minority so that we can make this world a better place.
saelex
Hey Atomu,
Great blog post, it’s my first time learning about this accessibility stuff, I just wanted to comment and say be careful when writing if it’s not your own words or it’s similar to where you got the text from you should probably cite who wrote the text originally. The example I found was the principles of digital accessibility.
Saelex
saelex
Never mind just saw the citation
atomin
Thank you, Gabi. I will just be careful when I am using or quoting other people’s work. Plagiarizing is a serious issue and cannot be mistaken. One day, NFT (block chain technology) will disable individuals to plagiarize.