Inside our newsroom, we often talk about filling information gaps — providing Wisconsinites with information they need but struggle to find elsewhere.
We’ve filled a range of gaps, whether related to accessing FoodShare benefits, applying for college financial aid or preventing the spread of infectious diseases like measles. It’s all part of our effort to “complete rather than compete” with other sources of quality information.
We’re also identifying gaps in our own work. That means asking whether everyone we aim to serve can access our reporting.
For the past several weeks we’ve discussed how to improve the experience of one particular demographic of readers: those who are blind or visually impaired.
In partnership with the nonprofit Hacks/Hackers, a convener of technologists and journalists to improve the information ecosystem, we’re experimenting ways to improve the audio descriptions of photos for those who use screen readers, known as alt text. That includes formalizing internal standards for higher-quality alt text and testing artificial intelligence tools — always checked by a human editor — to efficiently generate alt text that adheres to our new standards.
The result, we hope, will be a better experience for visually impaired readers.
Our next step will be to explore offering more audio versions of our reporting. While we currently partner with WPR to produce audio versions of Addie Costello’s stories and have begun airing audio versions of fact briefs through Civic Media radio stations, much of our reporting still exists only as text. Expanding audio serves a variety of audiences, not just people with visual impairments.
As we’re having these conversations, we want to hear from you. If you use a screen reader or have other accessibility needs, tell us how we’re doing and what we can improve. You can email me directly at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org.
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