We need to put audiences at the heart of journalism

Why a11y needs to be part of the future of news

?

Should accessibility be proactive or reactive?

?

Lots of talk over the past couple of weeks about the latest Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Digital News Report and what we can gleam from it about the future of journalism. You can read an overview and key findings of the report here. Amazing insights as usual on the direction of travel for journalism as an industry. The chapter on public attitudes towards the use of AI in journalism is well worth a read as it suggests that although there’s still a high level of scepticism in general around the use of the technology, audiences are less sceptical if its likely to somehow enhance their user experience

?

Chapter author Dr Amy A. Ross Arguedas says the findings show that audiences still want humans to be part of the equation

?

“Our findings show audiences are most open to AI uses that are behind the scenes and areas where AI can help improve their experiences using news, providing more personalised and accessible information. They are less comfortable when it comes to public-facing content, sensitive or important topics, and synthetic videos or images that may come across as real, and where the consequences of error are viewed as most consequential. Overall, there is consensus that a human should always be in the loop and complete automation should be off limits."

?

The BBC has also carried out extensive research around the technology. The BBC's Peter Archer wrote this useful blog about what people think of generative AI which chimes with findings from the Reuters DNR. Participants in the research thought that journalism was a high risk use, but interestingly when it was used for accessibility or to enhance user experience such as audio description or creating subtitles or transcripts it seems that’s OK. Another sign that innovative use of gen AI for audience expansion and multimodal offerings needs to be part of the future.

?

Sign language AI leader Sam Sepah agrees that innovation around audiences is a fantastic use case for gen AI. In this LinkedIn post Sam reminds us that “technology bridges the gap so everyone can communicate, create, and contribute organically”. Worth remembering.

?

Something which is sure to be part of any journalist’s future skillset is the ability to use generative AI and large language models productively. This guide on prompting techniques and best practices for journalists is a fantastic foundation into what we should all be coming to grips with right now.

?

All about the audience

?

It’s easy sometimes for journalism to forget exactly why it exists and what its purpose is. ?Findings from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report shows that news avoidance is at record levels which perhaps means We need to try and understand why this is. ?ICFJ Knight Fellow Mattia Peretti believes that if we want to reinvent journalism we need to start by updating its mission. Mattia’s News Alchemists project wants to consider a more “user-centric” approach and consider news more as an experience than a commodity. ?

?

“We want to advocate for an increased focus on the quality of people’s experiences when they engage with our journalism. This is a critical shift in mindset. User experience, or UX in short, is not a new concept but it seems to me that we often reduce it to how users interact with our products so that we can improve said products and get people to spend more time with them.?

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but we must also think of user experience through the wider lens of how our journalism?makes them feel. How much better could the products and experiences we create become if we cared for those feelings?”

?

Again all about audiences and how that UX makes them feel. Disabled audiences must be part of that future. Excited to see how the project develops.

?

Alternative ways of interacting

?

Smart speakers and voice assistants are set to get a lot better very soon with the introduction of generative AI, and for many people being able to talk and ask something instead of having to mess about with a keyboard or mouse is an amazing leap forward for a11y, but we need to ensure people don’t get left behind. The speech accessibility project is focused on how people with diverse speech patterns are being included in any innovation into speech recognition. They’ve got backing from the big tech companies so hopefully loads more people will be able to benefit. It’s all about using technology to remove as many barriers as we can.

?

Talking about using keyboards to navigate, it’s useful for journalists to understand how keyboard only navigation works, if you’re a screen reader user for example. This blog by Martin Underhill is a great walk through how keyboard only navigation works. Worth keeping in mind when creating your content.

?

Sonification for data charts

?

Sonification isn’t new. It’s been around for ages as a way to represent visual information through audio. Personally I’ve often found it to be quite gimmicky although there are some good examples. This piece by data vis designer and musician Carni Klirs on what 425,000 COVID deaths sound like is a nice example which I think does have real impact. It only works though if you know the key/legend and what you’re listening to.

?

Guardian Australia are developing an accessibility tool using audio for charts and graphs and are keen for feedback from blind and low vision users on how useful it is. The Noisycharts ???tool hopes to be able to represent charts and graphs through sound, which if done well could be a great accessibility tool. If you’ve got a spare ten minutes or so have a look at the Noisycharts survey . I’d love to see designers taking on this medium to create some fantastic audio charts.

?

To finish this edition of Journalism A11y I wanted to share a fantastic testimonial from someone I really respect in the a11y/journalism space

?

“If you work in journalism in any capacity, I strongly suggest you check out Johny Cassidy FRSA's Journalism A11y newsletter. Johny brings awareness to what various news organizations are doing, and helps people get a better sense of things they themselves could try. Johny's short nuggets of things happening around the industry help show that it's possible to get started and make some progress. There seems to be a prevailing idea that a person or organization can't attempt accessibility unless they know they will perfectly hit the mark 100% without any errors. This, of course, will prevent people from getting started at all. Johny's newsletter will help you and your organization see ways that you can get started.”

?

Thank you Patrick Garvin . That’s why I do this. We need to see progress over perfection. We want to move towards perfection for sure, but if we don’t make those initial small steps we’ll make no progress at all. ?

?

If you know anyone else who should be reading Journalism A11y please do share, and if you’ve any thoughts or fancy a chat please drop me a message on LinkedIn or an E mail to [email protected].

?

Thanks loads

?

Johny

?

?

?

?

?

?