[BlindMath] Presenting charts and data online

[george at techno-vision.co.uk]

Dare I suggest you also copy Peter White of BBC's In Touch Program?  Suggest
adding a few links showing examples.

George

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Robin Williams
via BlindMath
Sent: 09 August 2021 10:13
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Robin Williams <Robin.Williams at atass-sports.co.uk>
Subject: [BlindMath] Presenting charts and data online

Hi all, and with apologies for the cross-posting ...

I have been growing increasingly frustrated by the amount of information
that is hidden from us in charts and graphics on popular public websites,
such as the BBC. Take for example this BBC News summary of the IPCC climate
change report published today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58130705
There are a couple of very lazy uses of alt text here, an infographic
labelled 'infographic' and a chart labelled 'chart'. The BBC have been
criminal with such lazy uses of alt text, particularly during the pandemic,
during which the importance of data and charts in the public discourse has
arguably never been more important. I'm going to contact the BBC and
encourage them to try harder, but wondered in what forms people would like
to see data presented. For me, for a simple scatter diagram, a short
description in the alt text will usually suffice. I'm less sure about
infographics though. And what about more complicated representations of
data? I recall some cool work done by Jonathan G and a collaborator a while
ago which provided access to histograms in a convenient online format, and
there are also tools such as the SAS Graphics Accelerator. Would people like
to see access to those types of tools used more widely in the public domain?
I for one would.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Bests,
Robin

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