Episode 10-Season One Recap, Season Two Preview
0-0:12 Orthotonics Accessible as Gravity plays and fades out
0:14 Hello and welcome to Accessagogy a podcast about accessibility and pedagogy. I’m your host Ann Gagné and this podcast is recorded on treaty 13 on the traditional land of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
0:30 Welcome to episode ten! In this episode, I’m going to recap what we have talked about already in season one of Accessagogy, answer some great questions and comments that I’ve received about the podcast and talk about what to expect and when to expect in season two.
0:51 So I was thinking about how many episodes to have for the first season and also thinking about my capacity to keep producing episodes over the summer, and folks capacity to keep accessing episodes over the summer, and well just being the good researcher that I am also looking at the statistics for what I have produced so far, I decide that ten was a nice round number for season one. And also it’s now the beginning of July and many folk are either taking some time away, or working on research projects and will have less time to devote to a podcast even if it is just 10-15 minutes, every other week.
1:36 I’m also writing a book right now on accessible pedagogy and I would like to take July and August to try to finish that manuscript. I’m actually really excited about this book and I will probably dedicate an episode in season two specifically about the inspiration for this book but also its methodology. So I’m planning on coming back mid September when everyone, well at least on this side of the Atlantic, is back in full academic swing with new episodes.
2:11 Besides talking about the methodology of accessible pedagogy and the book that I’m writing, I will have an episode in Season Two as I promised, probably episode one, that will focus on accessible social media. I’m also going to try in the summer, so sometime in July or August, to run a free workshop, probably on Zoom, for union and social activists so that they can model accessibility when they’re using social media, and of course it will be open to HigherEd folk who want to join as well. And not to put you on the spot with a podcast shout out Josephine, but don’t be surprised if you get a message from me soon about this so we can work on this together.
2:57 I’ve also talked about a lot about different accessible pedagogical strategies in season one. The most listened to episode has been the one about accessible pedagogy not being just UDL, because I think a lot of people confuse accessible pedagogy as just being UDL, and that’s sadly something that’s being continued by so many folk on social media, and I was even just in a session the other day when somebody mentioned that, so I’m glad people are listening to that episode because we really want to stop with that myth. That’s followed by, the second episode that had the most listens, no surprise, was the episode on accessible word documents, and then tied for third was the episode on alt text and also the episode on accessible presentations.
3:50 I’ve received great feedback from folk about the podcast and I really appreciate all of you who have engaged, and followed along and supported me in different ways. I definitely I’m really lucky, and I have had a great group of cheer leaders, in person, on Twitter, in emails. Folk who have gently encouraged me to get the podcast off the ground. There are many many people to thank here, but a person I want thank in particular for being a great encourager for this podcast to happen is Jess. And now I’m sure every millennial is like me, Jess, hi I’m a Jess, because there are so many millennial Jesses. But you know which Jess you are (laughs), and I appreciate you very very much, Jess.
4:40 One of the questions I have received, a couple of times is why is this not on Spotify or Apple? And that’s kind of like a two-part complicated story. One is that I don’t want this to be anywhere where folk will have to pay to listen to it, and two have you ever tried to put a podcast up on these platforms? I know folk have offered to help me to do this, and I’m really appreciative of that, but I’ve really have been thinking about how inaccessible that is to me, and how having that on different platforms may create actually more difficulties for me going forward, and so at the moment, it just lives here on my website.
5:25 Now this may change in season two but I really think it is very important to talk about how inaccessible a barrier that is, and how making something more accessible to a wider audience means that you have to deal with the inaccessible barrier of actually putting it up on a different platform. I’m hoping that folk share links to this podcast and spread the news of this podcast, as they’ve been doing, to their colleagues, and some to their teaching and learning centres, and at conferences, and to their associations, but I don’t know if I have it in me to try to figure out Apple jenga, which is what I like to call it right now, nor should I have to really, right? The point I am trying to make is that, they have made it inaccessible to use, and that needs to change.
6:17 Another thing I want to note about feedback that I received was in one of the earliest episodes, the one about alt text, Chris, sent me a really great question that I haven’t answered yet and so I’m answering it now. So Chris, hi, Chris, asked a great question about languages and alt text? He asked about what about trying to have bilingual alt text and the different contexts of some images. And I really love this question so much so thanks Chris.
6:49 So, I’ll admit that when I do alt text on social media I often always do it in English, unless I know that the image I am sharing is particular, in terms of context is going to go to French followers that I have. I don’t necessarily like this practice because I do want to be more inclusive in my practices but Chris’s question brings up, is that for many websites there’s a primary language that’s often noted and if your alt, if your alt-text is in a different language then that can mess up settings for different tools like screen readers.
7:23 That’s why the alt on my website is in English because English is the primary language on my website. If there’s a change in language on the page this also need to be noted for people like screen reader users, this is a WCAG thing, I think it’s 3.1.2, and I’m sure my front-end friends would love and would have fun answering this question. But because of that language switch possibility causing a problem for folk who are using different assistive tools, I usually post alts in the same single language, which is English. But I would love to have a larger conversation about this with people because this is a really interesting question that has a lot of nuance, it talks about how we translate alts, it talks about how websites are done, and I think it would also be different in terms of nuance when we’re talking about social media posts, and the folk who are followers on different social media, and the images that we have on a website. So I’m going to keep this in mind to maybe return to in season two, but I’m open to any feedback or comment about this particular thing, cause I think it’s a really great question, and thanks again Chris for it.
8:43 So that’s it, that’s episode 10 of Accessagogy, with an end of season one overview and some things to look forward to maybe in season two when I come back in the middle of September.
8:57 Remember as well that I also want this to be a space where you can ask questions and share concepts that you would like me to discuss. So if there’s anything that I mentioned here, especially the stuff about alt text and languages, that you would like me to clarify, please ask.
9:10 As well if you have any ideas or aspects of your pedagogy that you would like me to address in this podcast, even if these thoughts occur to you in the summer, or at least the summertime here, please feel free to send me an email at Accessagogy so that’s acc e ss a gogy at gmail dot com. I will try to include as many suggestions as possible in the podcast because ultimately, as you know, this podcast is for you. So that’s it, that’s episode 10 of Accessagogy, thanks so much for following along this season and asking how can I make my space more accessible today? Have a great summer!