“Person, Shoes, Tree. Is the Person Naked?” What People with Vision Impairments Want in Image Descriptions

See “Person, Shoes, Tree. Is the Person Naked?” What People with Vision Impairments Want in Image Descriptions on research.microsoft.com

The abstract:

Access to digital images is important to people who are blind or have low vision (BLV). Many contemporary image description efforts do not take into account this population’s nuanced image description preferences. In this paper, we present a qualitative study that provides insight into 28 BLV people’s experiences with descriptions of digital images from news websites, social networking sites/platforms, eCommerce websites, employment websites, online dating websites/platforms, productivity applications, and e-publications. Our findings reveal how image description preferences vary based on the source where digital images are encountered and the surrounding context. We provide recommendations for the development of next-generation image description technologies inspired by our empirical analysis.

Interesting paper which shows how the type of site/application affects what type of image description to use. In general, it looks like the tech industry has a lot of work to do on this front¹. A big thing is context which can, in some cases, include diversity. Reminds me of the HTTP 203 podcast on writing good alt text [VIDEO:09:57].

Note that it links to a PDF.