UC Irvine

Alt text, short for alternative text, is text associated with a digital image that describes its visual content for screen reader users. The lack of alt text on many major websites, particularly those with high levels of user generated content, has been an ongoing area of study within the accessible computing space. However, most studies on alt text have surveyed current coverage, defined appropriate alt text, or introduced an intervention to deliver more or better alt text to users. This dissertation instead takes the view that understanding existing practices by which alt text is made can provide a better basis from which to develop our understandings and solutions. Therefore, I present three studies of alt text creation in practice, with a focus on inclusive and accessible imagery. First, I present a qualitative interview study in which I co-designed inclusive alt text with users with disabilities. This study led to a description of the different roles and layers of interpretation at play in the creation and reception of imagery and alt text. Second, I describe a set of interviews with artists and accessibility practitioners at Google investigating how imagery and alt text is created in a technology company. This study provided the first known models of alt text creation processes and described the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches. And lastly, I document a digital ethnography of an online accessibility community that collaboratively supports image accessibility on social media through volunteer-based crowdsourcing. This ethnography found that community-based accessibility is dedicated to more than just alt text, but to the creation of broadly applicable accessibility practices and a shift in social media platform culture. From these studies I develop recommendations for future accessibility research, implications for future social media design, and advice for future practice of accessibility by professionals and activists.