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Re: Race, Gender, and Other Categories in Alt Text for Headshots

for

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Feb 12, 2016 8:56AM

On 12/02/2016 15:43, Robert Fentress wrote:
> So, I've got a bio page for the people working in a department, and it
> includes a head shot photo of the employee. How do I handle alt text
> in this instance?
>
> My first instinct is to null it out, since the person's name is right
> beside the image, it is almost fluff, and I don't know that someone
> using a screen reader would want the extra noise of saying something
> like "Head Shot of John Smith". Then, I think more about it and
> wonder if I'm assuming too much.
>
> First, I shouldn't assume only blind people would be using the alt
> text. For instance, someone who is not blind may be using Lynx or
> something. The information could possibly also be useful as metadata.

I would posit that the number of users in this camp is...fleetingly
small (now bracing myself for the vocal "I'M A LYNX USER" crowd...)

> Second, perhaps a blind person would want to know what this person
> looked like. Why would people come to a page like this? Well, one
> scenario is they are going to meet with someone and want to know what
> they look like so they can identify them in a group. There are
> others, but that is one. So the person may come to a public place
> armed with this info and ask a bystander if they recognize someone in
> the crowd who looks like "thus and so."
>
> So, how do you describe someone in that instance? Well, here comes
> the tricky bit. What shortcuts or categories do we use to describe
> people? Often, we might mention someone's *perceived* gender, and,
> perhaps, if we are less sensitive, their age, race, or ethnicity. I
> assume the last three, at least, are off limits. Indeed, legally, I
> think, in my context, even describing someone using any of these
> categories might be forbidden in official communications.

Sounds like a "longdesc" of the photo to me. Also, as you quite rightly
mention, this opens up a whole host of sensitivity issues that I'd say
would be absolutely best avoided. Just don't go there ("dark skinned,
middle eastern looking man with a beard and turban...")

> So what *do* you say? What are relevant and useful descriptors that
> would be permitted?

I'd hazard a guess and say: nowadays, none (for various levels of
sensitivity, discrimination, etc).

> Or am I overthinking things?

Possibly, yes. Unless the way a person looks is the essential content of
the image (for instance, I don't know, a site that does in fact compare
the skin color of a group of people, where their skin color is actually
what that image is primarily conveying), I'd steer well clear of it.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

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