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CSUN: Elsevier Alt Text | Presented By Date A Process of Discovery Tripp Narup 21-March-2014 Alt Text

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Report of a test project to evaluate training, production, and cost of creating alt text for Elsevier book titles.

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Page 1: Elsevier: CSUN Alt Text Project

CSUN: Elsevier Alt Text |

Presented By

Date

A Process of Discovery

Tripp Narup

21-March-2014

Alt Text

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2

• is the premier global Health, Science, and Technology publisher.

• is headquartered in Amsterdam.

• publishes thousands of books each year.

• publishes over 2,000 journals.

• created the web-based products ScienceDirect and Scopus.

• employs over 7,000 people in 24 countries.

• uses about 3 million images per year.

Elsevier…

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What the heck is WCAG?

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines• Established by the World Wide Web Consortium

December 2008.• An ISO standard

• Guideline 1.1 Text Alternatives• Provide text alternatives [“alt text”] for any non-text

content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language

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The Plan

• Pick suitable title

• Recruit volunteers from Book Production

• Train staff

• Track time spent

• Test workflow

• Evaluate Results

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The book

• Wanamaker: Applied Pharmacology for Veterinary Technicians, 5th edition

• Small art program (< 100 ills)• Wide variety of art

• Line art• Photos• Diagrams• Flow charts• Graphs• Labels

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The “volunteers”

• Members of Book Production• Gayle: Book Production Manager,

Health Professions, manages all HP titles

• Catherine: Publishing Services Mgr., manages team of editors

• Bridget, Mary, Bill, and Brandi, project managers, work with authors, typesetters, and printers to produce the printed product and XML.

• Formerly did copy editing as well.

• Detail oriented

• 70 years of combinedpublishing experience.

Gayle Catherine

Bill Brandi

Bridget Mary

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Training

• Alt text, not long description.

• WebAIM has some great examples• http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext

• Discussion of assigned images

• Time tracker

• How does alt text work?• Screen readers recognize an image• If alt text is available, it is read aloud.• Result:

“Picture – George Washington”

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Screen reader example

• This is George with alt text.

• This is George without alt text.

Thanks to NVDA and WebAIM!

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Training Issues

Context is EverythingWhen determining appropriate alternative text for images, context is everything. The alternative text for one image may be vastly different based upon the context and surroundings of the image itself. Take, for instance, the following image of George Washington: George Washington

a) “George Washington"b) An empty alt attribute (alt="") will

suffice.c) “Image"d) The image does not need an alt

attribute.

What would be the most appropriate alt attribute for the image in Example 4?a) "George Washington"b) "Painting of George Washington"c) "Painting of George Washington crossing the

Delaware River"d) A classic painting demonstrating the use of light and

color to create composition.e) "Painting of George Washington crossing the

Delaware River. Swirling waves surround the boat where the majestic George Washington looks forward out of the storm and into the rays of light across the river as he leads his wary troops to battle."

In this painting, the artist Emanuel Leutze used light, color, form, perspective, proportion, and motion to create the composition.

Examples from www.WEBAIM.org

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Wanamaker Images

Alt text: Rimadyl drug label, an oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug for dogs.

Note: Captions are not part of images, they are readable text.

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Images, cont’d.

Alt text: The flow chart begins with scientific discovery and preliminary trials then progresses through the different steps that must be taken such as tests, trials, and approvals depending on the type of product.

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Images (cont’d)

Alt text: Effector organs include: heart, bronchial smooth muscle, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, urinary system, eyes, and glands (sweat, pancreas, salivary).

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Images (cont’d)

Alt Text: Photograph of white tablets and capsules in green and white.ORblank

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Images (cont’d)

Alt Text: No legend. Part of a procedure which is explained in detail, not sure but I don't think anything more needs to be added?

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Images (cont’d)

Alt text: No alt text needed. “Figure 19-1” could be entered as alt text programmatically.

Results:• 71 images total.• 47 images (66%) did not need

alt text.

DIAGRAM CenterImage Guidelines for ePUB3If the image is sufficiently described in the surrounding text, apply a non-empty @alt to the <img> element in order to label the image as the one being referenced and described in the surrounding text. No further description is required, as it would be redundant.

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Training Hurdles

• Alt text is “squishy”• Do you really need it?• How much is enough?• Doesn’t fit their personality type

• Lack of experience

• Lack of online training opportunities

• Lack of content expertise

• Doesn’t fit into workflow• Book Production doesn’t read the content• Should come earlier in the process

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Alt text: Who does it?

• Author adequately describes figures in caption or basal text. • PRO: Content specialist determines alt text• PRO: Content is written early in the process• CON: Can/will author do this additional work?• CON: Legacy content not addressed.• CON: Projects already in progress not addressed.

• Editorial takes on responsibility for creating alt text• PRO: Part of development; alt text is provided early in the process • CON: Can/will the CD take on this responsibility?• CON: CDs/freelancers don’t have content expertise.• CON: Training would be required for CDs/Freelancers• CON: Workload issues if this work goes to CD.• CON: Legacy content not addressed.• CON: Projects already in production not addressed.

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Who does it? (cont’d)

• Book Production takes on responsibility for creating alt text• CON: Can/will the PM take on this responsibility?• CON: Different skill set required? For PM? For Freelancer? • CON: PMs/freelancers don’t have content expertise.• CON: PM doesn’t read the ms word for word.• CON: Workload issues if this work goes to PM.• CON: Training would be required for PMs/freelancers.• CON: Legacy content not addressed.

• Specialized Alt Text vendor hired during manuscript development take on responsibility for creating alt text

• PRO: Legacy content could be addressed.• PRO: No training would be required• CON: Expense

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Who does it? (cont’d)

• Typesetters take on responsibility for creating alt text• CON: Different skill set required • CON: Training would be required• CON: Expense• CON: Typesetter doesn’t read the ms word for word.• CON: Legacy content not addressed.

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Who should write alt text?

• Not us!• Need subject matter experts• Need earlier in the process

• Recommendation:1. Author should adequately describe images in text or legend.2. If that isn’t possible, author should write alt text.3. If the author fails to write alt text, Editorial should find the

appropriate subject matter expert to do so.4. We completely changed our minds later!

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Costs

• ~3 minutes per image• 3 million images = 75 FTEs per year

= $1 to $4 million

• External bids• $1 - $10 per image = $3 to $30 million

• Author-supplied alt text• Priceless!

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Technical Issues

• Illustrator & Photoshop• Alt text added through Slice tool, very clunky, does not

automatically transfer to InDesign.• Alt text added through File Info (XMP), does transfer to InDesign.

• InDesign• Alt text added through

“Object Export Options.”

• Ideal• Alt text travels

seamlessly throughthe process.

• JW, are you there?

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Alt Text Instructions

• Is the image described in the text or legend? If yes, no alt text required. (Ideally text/legends are written with alt text in mind.)

• Do you understand this image? If yes, continue. If not, return it to author.

Determine image type:

• Diagram/Flow Charts• Simple—List all steps/describe complete process or procedure• Complex—Summarize steps, process, or procedure; break complex processes down

into smaller steps/parts

• Charts/Graphs—Reference to the actual data points is important• Simple—Reference all data points• Complex—Reference high/low data points and/or trends

• Anatomical drawings• Simple—Summarize overall image; mention all labelled structures• Complex—Summarize overall image; mention labelled structures specific to the topic • With inset—Describe the insets relationship to image as a whole; summarize and

mention labelled structures

• Chemistry/Drug Molecules/Equations• “Diagram of the molecular structure of __________.”

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Instructions (cont’d)

• Photographs• Describe the image as you would to someone on the phone—but focus on what’s relative

to the text. For example, a photo of a painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware—is it an art text? Is it a history text? What is important to the reader?

• Drug Label• Describe the label with emphasis on where specific information (e.g., dosage) is located.

• Forms• Simple or Complex—Provide the title of the form (if not in the legend/text); evaluate if any

specific part of the form needs to be expanded on relative to the discussion in the text.

• Cartoons• Instructional—Describe as you would a diagram.

• Decorative—Use blank alt text?

 

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Conclusion

• Alt text should be supplied at the same time the manuscript is put into production

• Alt text should be written by the author or a content expert.

• Alt text not written by the author should be reviewed by the author or content expert.

• All art should have alt text (we changed our minds!)• The time it takes to determine that alt text is not needed could

have been used to write the alt text.• You never know when you might need it – situations change.

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Questions?