Accessibility in OER - Spring 2024 Cohort

1. For me, the biggest concern is finding open sourced images. I do not know of any offhand to use in my work, unless I have access to them through a specific program. I wish I had a resource bank. For example, I didn't know that images found on Wikipedia are open source!

2. So, the tool that I learned about today doesn't really fit in the first response. I really like ANDI and I am excited to use it as an accessibility checker!

3. Our Director of Accessibility would be a great resource. Additionally, looping in the Librarian at our institution to start that "bank" of open source images, as I am sure that would be a great resource for students as well.

Ashley, part of my role at Ohio Dominican University is being a copyright librarian, and I wanted to comment on your concern for finding open sourced images. 

I personally would be wary of resuing Wikipedia images. Wikipedia's images may not be open source; anyone can edit the images there, according to their About Wikipedia page, but that doesn't mean they can copy and paste and use them elsewhere. I may have missed it, but  couldn't find anything on Wikipedia's site that said the images were open. But I did find a reference to copyright for the text; so if the text is copyrighted, the images may be as well.

But I can happily offer you a list of sites that offer open and CC-licensed images. I have a list on my Copyright Blog. I hope it is helpful.

Thanks for sharing this, Christina!

Thank you for sharing this information. Finding open source images can be difficult, so I often rely on those within programs like Canva or PicMonkey. It's not ideal, but it works for the things I need it to work for.

I'm glad we are on the same team Christina! 

Hi Ashley,

Some websites I like to use to find free-to-use images are Pexels.com, Pixabay.com, and Unsplash.com. I think these websites have good variety and they'll say what kind of licensing agreements each image has. I didn't know that images on Wikipedia are open source as well.

1. I create a lot of support documentation for some of our elearning tools. At one point in my life, I was also told earlier that "Screenshot of" in alt text shouldn't be used and I've always found that a bit of a struggle to describe the image without using that phrase. I'm glad I have some freedom back in that regard! I also found the color contrast section interesting-- and that color shouldn't be the only think that is used to emphasize something.

2. For checking color contrast in particular, I thought the tip about turning the image/webpage/document into greyscale and seeing if the meaning could still be conveyed from the image was really powerful. I'll definetly think about this when creating diagrams/graphs especially. 

3. I can call upon the others in my department to help check what I create for accessibility. Many are currently in this group, so I hope we will all continue to support each other. 

Hi All!!  

1.  The challenge I find is looking at the images and making sure that the context will match what I am trying to convey to the students.  Sometimes it can be misconstrued.

2.  The challenge can be addressed through the use of the right wording and coloring and making sure that I am including all audiences.

3.  Support can come from looking through the slides and materials in this course and also working with others going through the same processes at my University.

Dawn

1. The biggest challenge is with finding images that can convey somewhat abstract concepts. I know of many ways to search for openly licensed images, but sometimes what I am imagining just doesn't exist in a non-copyrighted source.
2. I was not very familiar with long descriptions for images, so that idea will help me to make images that I use more accessible. For example, I often include screenshots of complex database search screens in my teaching, and I could utilize long description for those rather than relying on alt text that does not convey the full content. 
3. My peers can be a sounding board to make sure I am not missing any obvious ways of finding open images, and to test out my alt text and/or long descriptions to ensure they are meaningful and sufficient. 

1.  The challenge I have is wanting my slides to be engaging for my students.  Teaching elementary math methods courses, I do not want my slides to be text only.  The challenge is finding the balance between how I like to teach and making content accessible.

2. I like the suggestion of using wikipedia.  I'm interested to see what they have available. 

3. Having support from the unversity in any format will be helpful, as making content accessible is a full time job in itself!

I love your first point!

As a blind professional, I appreciate the desire to produce presentations that have visuals. I know, I know, that's odd... but when I see a slide with a image, I love visualizing what is displayed and the way it adds to the feeling and emotion of the content. It draws my mind's eye into the presentation and it helps to engage. With good alt text and visuals that compliment, you can merge accessibility with aesthetic into a beautiful/functional presentation.

Keep doing what you are doing!

What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

Finding specific images for very particular topics. A lot of the images on Google, etc can be very generic. For example, trying to locate an image of a specific event or moment.

What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

Using the resources provided in the slides. Also using alt text ideas to enhance an image that may be too generic with the Long Description Tool. This can also apply to graphs and charts.

Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

Our Accessiblity Department, Canvas and other co workers.

1) It can be a challenge finding good quality images with a compatible open license. ShareAlike licenses are particularly problematic (at least for me).

2) This doesn't address the challenge above, but I really liked learning about strategies for providing long descriptions for complex images like infographics. I've struggled with how to both keep alt text brief and provide adequate description in the past, so this was really helpful.

3) Anyone creating openly licensed images!  Please consider non-ShareAlike licenses that are easier to use alongside other OER content.

1. I'm pretty comfortable with finding open/accessible images -- creative commons and copyright law has been a hobby interest of mine for awhile. 

2. I had struggled in the past with what to do with infographics -- so helpful for some students, but so difficult to have Alt Text for -- to write it or to keep it short and useful. The concept of long descriptive text in another place with alt text directing toward it was very useful. 

3. My colleagues -- on this team, but also other friends in the department and librarians -- can help with their own areas of expertise and can often offer support when dealing with technical issues. 

1. The biggest challenge I have had is making sure that all images are in order and not confusing to students.

2. I need to practice with images and make sure that I am using long descriptions so that it is clear images that are not out of order or confusing to the student.

The Director of Accessibility and other faculty members already using images in the correct formats. 

I don't really have a challenge currently with finding and creating open and accessible images at Ohio Dominican University. That was one skill I picked up as web librarian a few years ago.

That said, I didn't know about ANDI or the Color Contrast Analyzer, so these will be very helpful moving forward. They can be an objective means of measuring image accessibility--great accessibility tools.

I'm the person who writes our how-to guides for my colleagues on using LibGuides, and I can incorporate these tools into the documentation that I have on the creation of accessible images for the website..

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   1. It is always difficult in trying to find creative commons images that I might be able to utilize.  I also struggle to keep the slide engaging while not becoming too distracting for users.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   1. I liked the information about Wikipedia and creative common images!  I had not realized they were that on top of it!
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   1. My peers can help me continue to stay on top of this!

• Share

1. I think finding quality content in OER is very challenging. I have searched and used many open images but they are never exactly what I am looking for and creating my own takes time that I just don’t have.
2. I think ANDI will help a lot, not with finding content, but with checking the content I do have. 
3. The new Director of Accessibility, the Instructional Designer, and Canvas itself.

1. Coming from the arts, the largest difficulty I have with accessible images is the use of alt-text and longer descriptions. It has been a continued struggle where I am often asking myself what I absolutely need regarding alt-text. I have found that, for me, creating a long, vivid description of an artwork (AI speeds this up, but sometimes has hallucinations and needs to be checked) first allows the opportunity to see what information is critical for understanding an image. Creating alt-text becomes a concise summary.
2. Where to put long descriptions. This conversation was key for me today! I could never find a way to seamlessly work it into the text of the OER I was creating and putting it as a footnote or in an appendix didn’t seem very user friendly. In an art or art history course, we are image heavy and are sometimes focused on minute details. These details need to be included within a long description for users who cannot see the image (and for those who might not notice the tiny fly on the leaf in the corner of a still-life). Providing that as a defined link under the image and its caption or as a hide/reveal is something I can work with.
3. Colleagues, first and foremost. Having assistance from faculty within and outside the arts to check all types of descriptions allows for a more complete understanding of how we interact with images differently. Individuals from the sciences and individuals from the arts often have different approaches to summarizing and synthesizing visual information. Not all of my students are arts-focused, so I need to make sure the information we are providing meets the maximum amount of people efficiently. Additionally, I have begun to have students write alt-text and long descriptions for images that I use in my OER. Most obviously, it delegates out the workload. It also meets learning criteria for our course and trains students how to look at, describe, and summarize works of art. We are already doing these descriptive activities, so why not use them to serve multiple purposes?

Referring to "I have begun to have students write alt-text and long descriptions for images that I use in my OER. Most obviously, it delegates out the workload. It also meets learning criteria for our course and trains students how to look at, describe, and summarize works of art. We are already doing these descriptive activities, so why not use them to serve multiple purposes?"  What a GREAT idea!

Alt text for images challenges:

It's just hard to know if I'm doing it right.  I think the lecture did answer my question about whether I should repeat the description that I already have in the instructions I write.  But knowing how much to describe the picture is still pretty challenging.  I almost feel like I could attend an interactive training just on this topic.  :-)

I do think that the additional resources will be helpful.  Right now, I'm basically attending the workshops and taking notes.  I don't have time to review information outside of the lectures this semester.  My job is very overwhelming.  I plan to review everything this summer as I will create trainings for the coming year.  Therefore, I do like the instruction, but referring to outside resources and jumping right now is really impossible.

I do have a resource on my campus that can help me learn more.  I am grateful for this as I will soon be the one to be turned to for answers concerning assistive tech.  Yikes!

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   • A challenge I have with finding appropriate content is having enough time to sift through the hosting platforms for the images. There are a lot of options for places to search, but the actual selection in each site can be weak therefore searching for an image can take a while.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   • An idea from today that is useful is to add more directive language to something rather than just use formatting for emphasis, such as, "Important:....The info."
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   • Great support for help with open images comes from other members of the department. Oftentimes, there's someone nearby who is open to helping work through a search.

Creating accessible images is important but challenging due to copyright concerns.

I often use https://www.iconfinder.com/ for simple images.

To improve this process, I'll find a content expert and work with a librarian to gather open resource images.

Hi everyone,

1. My main challenge is finding images that are both open and accessible while ensuring they comply with copyright laws.

2. I plan to use platforms like Unsplash and tools like Canva (free version), which offer a range of open and accessible images and design features.

3. I'll seek guidance from colleagues experienced in sourcing open images and may also consult with instructional designers or accessibility experts for additional support.

I'm excited to implement these strategies to improve the quality and accessibility of images in my work.

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? My typical content does not need a lot of accessible images.  Instead, I need to show processes and things like checklists.  So, most often, I am creating things from scratch. - Sometimes the dreaded smart art, BUT I have worked really hard to make the smart art accessible.  And SO frustrating that Microsoft doesn't do this on their own.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can. 
   All the tools this week were really practical and helpful.  
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?  I am happy to dig in and try the tools. 

Regarding "And SO frustating that microsoft doesnt do this on thier own."  AGREE!!

Right - the software clearly knows what text is in each block - AND they know the relationship between the blocks - at least if you use it as they intend.  How hard would it be for them to propose an alt text.  

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   1. We use a lot of cc images as well as images created in-house. The challenges we run into with cc images is how to include attributions as well as alt texts in a way that is clear and don't detract from the intent of using the image. The challenge we run into with our in-house images is that they often are screen captures indicating the location or process for accessing something – it can be challenging to create meaningful alt text for these images at times.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   1. The W3C Alt Decision tree is a fantastic resource. I think it’ll be a tremendous tool in helping to classify images into one of the four types of images.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   1. I could see enlisting help from the accessibility and instructional design teams to help integrate more accessible images into our resources.

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

While I rarely need to search for images for my own work, our the WRLC's Textbook Affordability Working Group is tasked with assisting our faculty with their own OER courseware material. One of the biggest challenges expressed by Brown and Black instructors is finding open images of Brown and Black people doing very typical every day tasks. Like reading a book, taking a nap, doing dishes or watering a plant.

A fellow colleague shared an excellent resource with me and it has been a godsend! Nappy.co provides free images of Black and Brown people doing just that and only asks for attribution. This is wonderful for both instructors and even small business owers who may not have a budget for purchasing images to use in their marketing material. I absolutley love it and often return just to see if they have added more photos- which they always do! 

2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

Adjacent to this question are the images we orginally create, such as tables and charts, and it was very eye-opening to realize how frustrating a simple line chart can be to a person who may be color blind. Going forward, I will not only be more mindful of the colors that are chosen, i.e red and green, but also use the gray scale option to ensure my images are as accessible as possible. 

3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

As I've previously shared, my fellow WRLC Textbook Affordability Workiing Group are taking this certificate course together and, because many of our consortium's partnering libraries and institutions don't have dedicated Digital Accessibility staff or depts, we will actually be creating the support we need. However, over the last year we have learned to get creative about where we can find Digital Accessibilty assistance on our campus', outside of the library, such as in the following university departments:

• Instructional Design 
• Faculty Development
• IT (Information Technology)
• Assessment Centers

1. The student clubs that I advise are often creating colorful flyers/posters to be sent as electronic announcements or promotions of events. They typically save these as PDFs, so ensuring accessibility is a challenge, and I am trying to impart to them how important it is to include alt-text for any pictures they share, high-contrast, and legibility of fonts.

2. I love the reminder that "the right" alt-text description depends on context. I plan to share this tip and several examples with students as they continue creating flyers to ensure they are accessible without feeling exta or unduly burdened by ensuring accessibility (which I have heard before).

3. We have an accessibility coordinator on campus who recently shared a new process with campus for creating and submitting images or documents with images (such as PDFs) for accessibility review and assistance. I like knowing that there is a procedure in place and that it is not solely left to me or the students to figure out or remain challenged by the inability to open/edit such documents appropriately.

This was a great session!

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   The challenges to finding open source images over the years have lessened, but the challenge of finding "good" open source images remain. Often, those I find do not meet my needs and we have to rely on a subscription service to find stock images for our purposes. I am extremely curious what the future holds with AI image generation and "ownership" of those materials.
    
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   I usally start most of my searches with Google Image search set to "Creative Commons license". It's not really a tool, but it really helps me ensure what I'm seeing is usable without copyright concerns.
    
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   Within our university structure, I think I can safely rely on our librarians and my peers at other schools if I'm ever stuck.

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can. Finding the right photo can be a challenge. Sometimes Pixabay photos will not work for my project or from other open sources. I'm reluctant to use photos from Google, even if I did an advanced search with a copyright article.  If necessary, I may use my own photo to emphasize the point.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can. ANDI would be a great resource but we can not download and install nor attach Chrome extensions. I enjoyed the WebAim: Alternative text because of the many examples and how to improve.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context? The instructional designers have alot of great resources that work with our system.

1. i don't have trouble finding general open and accessible images, but the challenge comes in finding images that convey more complex or abstract terms.

2. My favorite take away from today was Content, Context, and Conciseness. I can easily remember to identify the key idea, determine how I want to use the image and remember to keep it around 125-150 characters using the Three Cs.

3. I am lucky to have an instructional designer colleague who is an expert in using open and accessible images. I have learned a great deal from her and she gives great feedback. 

I have recently found the Noun project (which requires attribution - and not all icons are creative commons).  I sometimes use these icons to help provide cues for confusing vocabulary for students who can use and need visual cues.   https://thenounproject.com/icons/

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   • Copyright!  Can it be used?  Require citation?
   • Size.  Can it be enlarged without losing clarity?
   • Decorative/noise or necessary/functional?
   • I often start with a Google search to find images and filter where necessary. As with AI, a good prompt is key.
   • There are a multitude of blogs, repositories, websites that provide images for different segments of society and cultures.  Here are a few that I share.  Some are completely free while others require a fee &/or at least a log on.
     • Images of Empowerment.: Free images of women’s lives and work; License: CC-BY-NC-4.0Links to an external site.
     • Allgo Plus-Size: Free stock photography collections featuring plus-size people; License: While attribution is not required, please credit
     • Disabled And Here: Free stock photography featuring disabled BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), varied body sizes/types, sexual orientations, and gender identities in the Pacific Northwest; License CC BY 4.0Links to an external site.
     • The Gender Spectrum Collection: Free stock photos of trans and non-binary people, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0Links to an external site.
     • Nappy: Free high-resolution photos of black and brown people, licensed Creative Commons Zero (CC0)Links to an external site.
     • PICNOI: Free photos of people of color; no attribution required, but can give credit by linking to site
     • #WOCinTech Chat: Free photos of women and non-binary people of color working in the Tech field; licensed CC BYLinks to an external site. #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.comLinks to an external site.
     • Redefining Women Icon Collection: Icons of women; License: Creative Commons Public Domain CC0 1.0
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   • I'm fairly well-versed on images whether decorative or requiring alt-text or long description.
   • Lots of options for providing long descriptions.  My preference is creating a web page to link to.  Easy to edit at a later date if necessary.  Attaching a Word document is usable, too.
   • I do run into difficulty when including images in assessments.  How much is too much as to compromise the integrity of the assessment?  
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   • I am a main resource for my school.  If I am really struggling finding something appropriate, I'll ask a colleague or a librarian.

Thank you so much for this list of potential image sources.

On your question 1:  Decorative/noise or necessary/functional?  

I want to voice my opinion that we need to be more inclusive when we consider decorative vs functionality.  I too, have seen so many decorative images that are not necessary in presentations.  However, I would not say that you should remove all images that you can reasonably remove.  I often add images to slides when working with faculty.  I work and read a lot more about neurodivergence than physical disabilities these days, and visual cues can be incredibly helpful.    I strongly believe in managing cognitive load and using multimedia to promote learning, and we can do both simultaneously.  However, I am an instructional designer, so I have the responsibility then for making sure that I carefully consider if those images should have alt text or be marked as decorative.

So for example, I could have this slide be all text, but having the images of "non-place" and "personal" communities can help the student to encode their meaning.  Are these images necessary - No.  In this case I would probably describe them.  In other cases, I might mark it as decorative to manage the cognitive load of someone with a screen reader if the image is another means of showing what is already written. 

One person's Noise is another person's image for reflection or relationship.  Right place, right time.  Like anything else, don't overdo it!

Challenge: Although I've been careful to add alt-text to images in anything posted online, my challenge is balancing the use of an image to add context and interest to a topic, while considering those for whom the image is more of a distraction or unneccessary. It's a shift in my own mindset.

Idea or tool: The ANDI tool and the various guides for when to use an image and how to alt-text it will be very valuable.

Support: As my team group learns more about this I'm glad to have them as resources to check my thinking and provide feedback on my use of images and design elements in my online work.

I have trouble with images.  I want to make sure to state exactly what the image is.  I need more practice with the thress C's.  

1. I rarely incorporate images into my work, mostly in the context of power point. Though I will be doing a lot of work with libguides in the near future. For libguides, it will be important to keep the strategies mentioned in the webinar in mind as I systematically go through and work on updates. Locating useful open sourced images will be a challenge. 

2. Using tools like Canva that include open source images in their program. 

3. Our web librarian, and cohort member Christina Bonner is a great resource for suuport!

1. I work in all disciplines and sometimes have difficulty finding open images for specific disciplines. Our biggest issue is finding diverse images for some of the disciplines. Also, we have trouble getting adequate alt-text from many of the science instructors for their complex images and charts.
2. One idea from today that I hadn't thought of was using symbols in a line graph to differentiate the different graph lines. I also will use the information how to implement long descriptions. We've struggled with that in our courses.
3. In our institution, our team is one of the groups providing support in finding open and accessible images.

I found number 2.  The idea of adding symbols is really helpful too.  That should have been something that occurred to me, but the beauty of a group like this is that there is always something we miss. 

For number 1.  As a science instructor, I struggled with alt text for complex images.  This week's discussion about when and how to use long descriptions was extremely helpful.  While I agreed with Lius when he said that the person teaching should ultimately write the captions because they know what part of the image they were trying to show, I too have had difficulty getting faculty to get started.  I think they do not know what is expected.  I have had better luck using something like an AI tool to draft a caption, and then getting them to update what I have.  Starting with a basic image description seems to help unblock the process. 

1. My first concern is always copyright issues - making sure images that are used are legally available to be included in PPT presentations, WORD documents, Pressbooks, etc.  In addition, it is important that the images contribute in some way to the material it's connected to; I also shy away from cartoony images.  Once they have been chosen, a challenge is to make sure that the ALT text is not too wordy, but concise enough to convey real meaning.  I used to write "screen shot" or "image of" before I took these sessions and make a concerted effort to avoid that now.  I also try to avoid images that are just for decoration.

2. The idea of being concise and know what exact purpose the image serves - so that I can best describe it. I often do not use "functional" images and try to limit the number of "complex" images that I am sharing. I really appreciate the breakdown of the 3 C's as a way to help guide our thinking about what ALT text to share.

3. Our institution is making a great push to start the discussion about accessibility.  We have an Instructional Designer who specializes in this area - she is a great resource and is offering numerous professional development opportunities for faculty.  I am learning a lot from her.  Our administration has also invested in Ally, a technology that lets faculty know the levels of accessibility of their course content.  This is now embedded in our Learning Management System.  I think a culture of being proactive is necessary to support accessibility and inclusiveness.

1. I am in a new role and trying to discover the best way to market our resources and services. All of the recommended information for wide-reaching marketing relies on using images that evoke emotions instead of using words, but I have learned through this series how inaccessible that approach is. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about both accessible images (which this series has been incredibly helpful for!), as well as marketing, to try to find an accessible approach that reaches the largest volume of students. 
2. ANDI and the Color Contrast Analyzer! While I'm searching for the right approach in my role, I know for certain that these tool will be vital to making accessible marketing.
3. Not sure yet about this, but I will be considering this going forward

1. I do not have many issues finding open sourced images, but my greatest challenge is developing alternative texts for images when I am not the subject matter expert. For instance, I was working with an oceanography instructor on a text a few years ago, and she sent weather pattern maps, with the alt text "weather pattern map." I knew this was not accessible for alt text, but she refused to create any, and since I was not the subject matter expert, I did not know where to go from there.
2. I think using long descriptions for images like those, rather than alt text, would be a better option. I also need to keep in mind alt text should be concise, so only use alt text when I can include a concise description and use long descriptions for other images that need a longer, more in-depth description.
3. The Academic Technology team, the Learning Design team, and indivudal instructors can help with this.

Rachel, I shared this above, but I am going to copy and paste because its working really well for me. I too have had difficulty getting faculty to get started writing captions.  I think they do not know what is expected and so they just default to putting it on us.  I have had better luck using something like an AI tool to draft a caption and then getting them to update what I have.  Starting with a basic image description seems to help unblock the process. Typically I have found Gemini (free) to do the best captioning.  I completely agree with Luis that ultimately, the faculty member needs to caption the image, but the AI has made my conversations with faculty much easier and more fruitful.
 

Prompt 1: I used this for concept maps and flow charts

Describe the image in a way that is accessible to people using a screen reader. Be sure to include the following information:

What are the main elements of the image?

Is there any text in the image? Add it to the description of each element.

How are the elements related to each other?

Describe the overall structure of the diagram?

Avoid adding any context, personal opinions or interpretations to the description. Simply describe the image in a clear and concise way, noting areas in which spacing, image containers, and elements such as arrows have been used to signify relationships.

Prompt 2 I used this for tables.

Please provide a summary of the purpose and structure of the table for person using a screen reader. Do not interpret the statistical or text content.  The purpose of this summary is so that a person can determine what the table is about before reading it.

 Webinar Five: Images - SLIDE and the accessibility practices. This webinar explored Images and Design.

1. What challenges do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

1. I think it is much easier to find open and accessible images than it used to be. I use Picryl, Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, and Free-images. I have even created my own through Adobe Firefly AI. 

2. There are a lot of tools that I will take with me: ANDI, the ALT decision tree, the 3 C's of alternative text guide, the WEB AIM: alternative text, Diagram Center: Image Description Guideline, and CCA. SLIDE helps me commit this to memory.

3. As a senior learning designer, my job is to support the learning designers who work with me in the eLearning department as we support our college faculty and staff. As ID's, we never stop learning as we embrace teaching our faculty and staff to use tools that will help them with open and accessible images in their content.

What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

I have found it challenging at times to make images in test questions accessible - being able to describe the image sufficiently without giving away the answer by what I include or don't include.  For example, I'm adding alt text to images in a course that teaches students how to use Westlaw for legal research.  There's a lot of screenshots in there, and some of the test questions ask students to identify where they would go to locate certain information, or answer questions about a case based on what's on the screen.  In these cases, I feel like I need to describe the web page in its entirety, all the navigation items, the toolbars, the sidebars, the text, the links, etc., because only describing the relevant section gives a pretty big hint that students not using a screen reader wouldn't benefit from.  And I don't feel completely confident when it comes to describing all the elements on a web page for a screen reader.  One of the questions that came up for me is whether I should be describing the web page from a visual perspective or more along the lines of what a screen reader user would be hearing as they navigated that web page. 

What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

This is not necessarily relevant to screenshots in test questions, but the information on how to provide long description to students was helpful, particularly in PowerPoint presentations.  The images I'm finding in the test questions are also on the lecture PowerPoint slides.  I thought long descriptions could go in the built-in alt text field, but I learned that that field is only for short alt text, and that I need to be putting long descriptions elsewhere on the presentation.

Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

I'm glad that I've been able to connect with instructional designers and technologists from other schools at my institution, because I find that I tend to be the "go to" person for accessibility questions on my own team.  I think being able to reach out to these colleagues in the accessibility working group will be really helpful.

I have trouble finding quality images for my science courses, such as Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, etc. Making sure they are accessible is also a challenge since it takes a lot of time to describe them and check them in Photoshop to make sure people with color blindness can recognize the highlighted structures. 

I need faculty's help to describe the images, especially how to describe the images used in tests without revealing the answers. 

My largest challenge with open and accessible images revolves around finding accessible textbooks/materials. A lot of programs do not choose accessible textbooks/materials upfront, which leads to non-content experts trying to OCR documents. Accessibility is not considered, which leads to a breakdown in the later system. As the accessibility office, we will continue to educate and share the need to consider accessibility from the beginning. We will also continue to educate and work to get into committees open and accessible images/materials are being discussed.

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can. Well, I was on the search for images, specifically infographics—which ideally would not be an image—and only finding those created by businesses (corporations), not content creator. I would say finding images that match a projects "vision" that are also available under creative commons. Captioning, or alt-text, will always be a challenge when communicating the reference is about "content context" not just describing the image [perosn in blue dress with red ballon].
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can. Gosh, I think my challenge is in the "search" of images. After that is moving people away from "auto-captions" which is now being seen as the way to provide "alt-text."
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context? Communitiies focused on inclusive and accessible content, and my team

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   1. I found myself, at first, to be insecure with alt text development becuase I was concerned I was "doing it wrong" and would frustrate myself and give up. Giving up either looked like not trying to make alt text at all OR not using images, but now with the three Cs method, I am feeling more confident to effectively make images accessible in my teaching materails.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   1. The three Cs for sure. I have already implimented these in slideware for my classes and foudn it to be very, very useful.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?\
   1. colleagues, ODU support staff, teammates from my institution who are participating in this webinar.

• What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

Often, the image will be a screenshot and describing a screenshot I find much more difficult and challenging than describing a stock image. Do you describe everything on the screen or just what is relevant to the tutorial? Is this an appropriate place for a screenshot? Is this too many screenshots? 

• What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

Context matters so using the appropriate tool for the appropriate check is important. 

• Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

My team has been a huge support in answering questions and providing resources that go along with their answers, so I can save those resources for later reference. 

I found these questions to be challenging, but here goes nothing:

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

Just knowing what is openly-available feels tricky to me. In all actuality, I am blind so often have others help me identify images to use in my presentations, but being able to point them in the right direction and assess which images are open to use is important.

2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

Still thinking on this and will review the discussions here to get feedback and ideas.

3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

My library friends would likely be quite helpful here, due in large part to their understanding of copyrights and open educational resources.

1. I really struggle with generating useful alt-text for my images. 

2. I found the information about best practices for alt-text and possible sources for alt-text that has already been generated very elpful. 

3. I feel like this webinar has really helped. I have a close friend/colleague with much more experience than I have in alt-text generation. I plan to reach out to her. 

What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

My challenge is I am often looking for images in healthcare and it can be hard to find them in an open format. Also many of them are not as equity based as I would like--for example mostly caucasian persons or men looking like doctors and women like nurses when it may the opposite or needing an image of a CNA for example can be challening.

What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

Refining my search criteria and using my resources such as Google images with looking for open-source--found that out here in the discussion board!

Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

I can get help from my multimedia faculty and those in disability services here on campus. 

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.
   1. I can usually find something I can use, but there are times that we have to forgo an image because we can't find any that fit and are open.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.
   1. I will definitely use the alt decision tree! It is a great resource to share with our authors so they can consider how and when to use images and alt text.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?
   1. My team members at the Press.

I’ll admit, in the past I have sometimes struggled with focusing too much on aesthetics rather than function or accessibility – especially when it comes to images or graphics. I have been know to create header images for my CMS or for use in course documents, but I have not always been certain how to make these things accessible. I always felt a bit uncertain about whether my alt text was adequate (or when alt text was even needed re: decorative images). So, as you might guess – I found the specific discussions related to alt text and the varied contexts super helpful. This will help me to better assess my accessibility practices and to make sure I am using images (and alt text) mindfully. I believe my colleagues who are also participating in this workshop will be supportive in this journey as we are all working together.  

1. What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Articulating the true reflection of the image.
2. What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? I discussed this question with my colleague, she suggested to read a technical writing artifact. We did this exercise together and reflected on how to utilize clear and concise description.
3. Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context? Our cohort and ad-hoc OER advisory committee.

As a technical communication professional, I am adept at making images accessible and writing detailed and useful alt-txt. AI is a tool that I suggest we NOT use for image description and alt-txt creation; the technology simply is not "there yet." The rendered descriptions are usually too general, lack sufficient detail, and are often simply wrong. As the accessibility editor for three OERs in my academic department, my colleagues and co-authors support my work by calling my attention to particularly problematic images.

What challenge do you have with finding and creating open and accessible images in your own context? Be as specific as you can.

Finding the right images that fit and are free and openly licensed.

What idea or tool from today can you use to begin to address that challenge? Be as specific as you can.

I like the idea of using the alt text to tailor the image to my needs.

Who can support you on your journey to use open and accessible images in your context?

Colleagues, OER librarian, OER representatives

1. My biggest challenge is finding and creating graphics with images that are engating and get the message across. I don't want to come in conflict with copyright, but I also don't want to use generic images that are used all over the place.

2. Running images through gray scale to see if they still maintain their meaning was eye opening. I'm going to do that.

3. Creating an "accessiblity community" would be beneficial. We could check and support each other in our endeavors.