A 3.6.0 release for my Image Description Toolkit is now available. The release features a new –redescribe option as well as support for two Microsoft Florence-2 models via Hugging Face. Redescribe The redescribe option can be used with the command line version of the toolkit to redescribe the same set of images without the need to extract video frames or convert image files to JPG from HEIC. This can save time and allow you to…
2 CommentsTag: accessibility
“I Just Want to Be Included”: How a Simple Plea Sparked an unintentional AI Accessibility Experiment
The work of editorial cartoonists and their ability to capture the essence of an idea in a picture or two must be quite the talent to have and job to hold. That phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words,” certainly can ring true. A recent experience verifying an issue in Microsoft’s Copilot app I was told had been fixed, led to that all-too-common situation in accessibility of taking one step forward and a couple…
Leave a CommentWhile the digital world offers an abundance of online news sources, accessibility is still a work-in-progress far too often. It is commonplace to spend more time navigating to content than reading that content when using screen reading technology. Poor heading structure, Ads lacking accessibility that are mixed in with the news story, multimedia that plays silently and grabs focus and much more take away from the reading experience. A public library card and a resource…
Leave a CommentIn my experience, a fundamental disconnect exists between accessibility and the investing world when it comes to a statement that is blasted all over every investment web site when you are about to invest. You will read the statement that you should carefully read the prospectus before making any investment. Good luck with that as in my experience these documents are rarely, if ever, properly tagged for accessibility. As just one example, typically deep within…
Leave a CommentReading through Twitter today, the following tweet showed up on the timeline of one of the people I follow as a retweet. Doc🐕 – @DocAtCDI: A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget’s Thesaurus spilled its load leaving New York Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, surprised, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, confounded, astonished, and numbed. I found the tweet amusing and was going to retweet but noticed it had a…
Leave a CommentI’m not a huge golf fan but with the Ryder Cup being played here in Wisconsin, I was a bit curious about the Whistling Straits course design. There is a good hole-by-hole guide that gives a description of the course. Selecting a more details link for any hole takes you to a page with additional information. I know enough to know that golfers can start from different tee positions and assumed the numbers for each…
Leave a CommentOn Friday, the University of Wisconsin Badgers kicked off the COVID-19-influenced 2020 football campaign with a resounding 45-7 victory over the Illinois Fighting Illini. Like much in this year of change, Camp Randall was empty of the typical 80,000 fans. To bring some of the gameday experience into the home, Wisconsin social media touted a new Badgers Live gameday experience. Unfortunately, what Wisconsin Athletics clearly failed to do was ensure this experience was open to…
Continue reading University of Wisconsin Hangs Out No Screen Readers Allowed Sign For Big Ten Opener
Leave a Comment I enjoy sports but often find myself wanting more details than even the best play-by-play announcer can provide. I find myself wondering if technology could help in the situation. I’ll start by taking football as an example. As most fans of the sport with know you have 22 players on the field at any given time. It would be simply impossible for any announcer to describe the location of all 22 players, let alone what…
Leave a CommentAs much as I’m sure anyone familiar with web accessibility doesn’t need yet another example of why alt text matters, as a consumer of web content I certainly am impacted when it is missing. For anyone exploring cutting the cord, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a handy resource to show you what digital television stations you can receive in your area with an antenna. Navigate to https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps and enter an address, city and…
One CommentI’m a big fan of public libraries and the wide range of resources they make available. As a child making stops to my local bookmobile or summer afternoons spent at “Story Time Tree” to hear a fun adventure were two of my favorite activities. As an adult, I make frequent use of the eBook services, databases and other resources libraries make available. OverDrive is as far as I know the largest player in making eBooks…
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