One of four lynx captured in Scottish Highlands dies
Postmortem will be carried out on wild cat, one of four humanely captured in Cairngorms after illegal releaseRobin McKie (The Guardian)
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Postmortem will be carried out on wild cat, one of four humanely captured in Cairngorms after illegal releaseRobin McKie (The Guardian)
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High quality liberated E-Books of classic literature for free read:
#EBook #EBooks #books #library #libre #literature #reading #openAccess #noDRM #publicDomain #openSource
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Why is this so?
Plus it opens in a new window
Thank you for the answer
@fae2535 No worries. It's one of those quirks of the platform - it's not obvious why it'd be that way.
Mastodon isn't "one giant thing" like Twitter. When you post, it takes time for other servers to know about it. Same for replies to posts. Not all servers know about each other, so replies from one of those places might be missing for you - unless you go to the same server as the person who's post you're looking at.
TLDR: A nerdy weirdness of the system.
It usedn't to be like that.
I feel that it changed between yesterday and today. But not sure. Thanks!

Indeed how am I supposed to close it? The only way I found is scroll to the next toot and click there.
Like I said how about closing it when I click on the popup itself?
The age of extinction: Fears of ‘rogue rewilding’ in Scottish Highlands after further lynx sightings
Environmentalists condemn unauthorised releases as ‘reckless’ and ‘highly irresponsible’
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PSA: #AltText is a great #Accessibility tool.
It isn’t just essential for people who rely on screen readers.
It triggers applicable filters, making this platform a lot easier to stomach for many people.
Consider writing at least a short phrase for filters.
#Alt4Me if you do not have the time or energy in the moment.
I might #Alt4You unprompted (on popular posts), this is not a complaint, but meant as a helpful gesture.
I will not boost toots without alt text.
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Revolutionizing RSS: A Developer's Journey to a Custom Feed Reader
In an era where social media's organic reach dwindles, a developer has turned to RSS feeds for curated content, crafting a personalized reader that filters out the noise. This article delves into the ...
news.lavx.hu/article/revolutio…
#news #tech #NodeJS #RSSFeed #ContentCuration
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#NewSpecies
Tillandsia uiraretama
New bromeliaceae from #brazil!
Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/8F0FD33E-FFEA-DF67-44C6-2EBFFA8BF858
Publication: doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.676.1.6
#Phytotaxa #TillandsiaUiraretama
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #ecology #taxonomy #nature #biodiversity #conservation #botany #wildflowers #flowers #wildplants #plants #wildlife #bromeliaceae
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#NewSpecies
New stag beetle from #china just snuck in:
Lucanus zhanbishengi
Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/B76087B…
Publication: doi.org/10.25221/fee.512.1
#FarEasternEntomologist
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #entomology #insects #coleoptera #beetles #stagbeetle
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Celebrate the end of the week right with a platter of delicious foods, a sparky attitude, a jaunty wreath, and some good old fabric flourish! This figure is from the recently discovered private bathhouse complex at Pompeii!
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#NewSpecies!
New isopod from #vietnam just showed up:
Bathynomus vaderi
Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/E3178CA…
Publication: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1223.1…
#ZooKeys_Journal
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #arthropods #crustacea #isopods
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'Hot garbage': Australians react to smell of 'corpse flower' in bloom
Almost 20,000 people visited Sydney's Botanic Gardens to catch a whiff of a rare plant in bloom.
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#NewSpecies!
New fossorial snake from #honduras just sidled in:
Liotyphlops pino
Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/7B5C87D…
Publication: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5543.…
#Zootaxa
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #herpetology #herps #reptilia #snake
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Mike Loughran of FishLikeMike caught sight of an injured owl who was tangled in a barbed fence and stopped to free the bird.Lori Dorn (Laughing Squid)
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#NewSpecies
New longhorn beetle from #indonesia just snuck in:
Doliops comvalensis
Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/03B2B84…
Publication: doi.org/10.25221/fee.507.3
#FarEasternEntomologist
#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #entomology #insects #coleoptera #beetles
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Sam Moore, the surviving half and higher voice of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave that was known for such definitive hits of the era as Soul Man and 'Hold On, I'm Comin,’ has died.The Associated Press (Global News)
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Welcome new followers! 👋 You might also want to follow my other accounts:
@FediFollows - Suggesting interesting people to follow on here (see also its website fedi.directory)
@FediGarden - Highlighting well-run servers to join (see also its website fedi.garden)
@FediVideo - Sharing interesting videos from the Fediverse (see also its website fedi.video)
@homegrown - Helping non-techies start their owns servers (see also its website growyourown.services)
Interesting accounts to follow on Mastodon and the Fediversefedi.directory
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As someone who is totally blind, the Fediverse is the only place where I have ever been able to follow people such as photographers, artists, or even those who post pictures of their cats or the food they ate. The reason is that most of them use alt text. They take the time to describe the images that my screen reader can't recognise. Some write the descriptions themselves, and others use tools such as altbot. Some worry that their descriptions aren't good enough, especially when they are new at this. Let me assure you, not only are they good enough, they are extremely appreciated! If the rest of the world thought as you did, it would be a much better place. Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
#appreciation #accessibility #altbot #alttext #blind #blindness #fediverse #gratitude #images #inclusivity #peoplewhocare #pictures #technology
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HollerPixie, cafkafk, Asta Halkjær From, Minami-o le sabreur, Alexander Goeres 𒀯, daughter of lilith, Ramin Honary, Elly, Bill Woodcock, Clovis, Christoph, lizzy ☭, Liv, Lv4the1, Vale, the shadow government, amber❄️, mei, , Eric, Hypolite Petovan, yelling jackal, mira, Sara, minecraft, Jack, eviloatmeal, resident Death Stranding 2 apologist (arch, btw), DreamcastBlast, aismallard, Bitslingers-R-Us, Torsten, ava (‘s instance is broken), Mono, Luna Dragofelis ΘΔ 🏳️⚧️, elly, older, kimapr ☭ 🇺🇿 ⚧ ⚢ ❤️🧡🤍🩷💜, Daniel Django (Akkoma), Katharina Debus, dmiException 💽, Noah Loren, Fae Empress, tired potato, Daltux, Cătă 🇷🇴🇺🇦🇲🇩🇪🇺, clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛, small, primitive, wingless, Cryptic, Johan Moir (Friendica), Maddy has MOVED!, TinJar, Luna Dragofelis ΘΔ🏳️⚧️🐱, HermitCyclop, Half_Spook_Half_Krieltjes, Sirupp, TidusFox9, Rairii, yuki - queen of the snow and truh like this.
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Marches John, TechnologyAdm, kryptec, Brian Moore, Jakob Rosin, modulux, Cassana 🍻, Juanjo, C_ristina, Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated), cafkafk, Sean Randall, Stanislaus Grumman 🇵🇸, lobster, Wigbert B 🎻🏛🎭🎤🗞🎥📚, スパックマン クリス, avonan, Furthering, jaBote, Marcos M. 🚲 🇵🇸, ReneDamkot, Bart Janssens 🇧🇪, WearyBonnie, @shezza_t, El Duvelle, Nadiyar / 13697, Sander van Kasteel, Jeppe Bundsgaard på Mastodon, Marijke Luttekes, Sybren Stüvel 🧡🤍, Asta Halkjær From, La Invisible, Kamyk, Frankie, Marta Threadbare, DD, Mike Spencer, Evil Jim O’Donnell, Anthony Accioly, amy, sara, Bryan Wright, echopapa, Ana Morales, Ian Robinson, Bruno Leuschner, La Duderina, David Prieto (valerian32), Clara, Michael Halila 🏳️⚧️, fossheim's birds, Eudaimon ꙮ, Rasmus Grouleff (he/him), aryan, Fedo ¶, Roth Child, Charles Castleberry, Lokiho, Ghostrunner, Gregory Dodwell, Just Tom... 🐁, TAVAlonia, Ricardo Jaimes, Rebecca Banner, Motorikschleife, Creative! Queer!! Autistic!!!, Schalk Neethling, RadioPhobicSherkPop, kaffeebär 🐻, Lucilla Piccari, dushinto, Quixoticgeek, david-swift, Searge and 2384 other people reshared this.
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Here's something I posted before about an easy way to get more consistent at this... 🙂
mastodonapp.uk/@bytebro/113833…
@loren@flipping.rocks I've posted this before, but I'm pretty rubbish at remembering alt-txt, but since I followed @PleaseCaptionBot@hachyderm.Mastodon App UK
Thanks for posting this.
I've shared a screenshot of your post on Bluesky as well: bsky.app/profile/drsybren.bsky…
@sybren I will do the same if that’s okay with you Georgina. I can omit your name/avatar.
Bluesky actually has a settings option where you can only send your post after adding Alt Text, which I have activated.
@lydiaschoch I find that I will put extra information in the alt text. Joke that's not in the post itself, perhaps. Pointing out what's strange in the picture. Explaining the joke. Something like it's a SPOILER tag you're only going to get if you check the alt text.
If web comics can do it, why not everyone?
Besides, the character count on alt text is HUGE.
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@zy Some Mastodon sites offer to translate a post into the reader's language, which also translates the ALT text. As someone who likes to read posts in languages I'm not fluent with, it helps a lot to understand the pictures as well (e.g. memes or comic strips).
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on desktop web browsers, there's a tag in the corner of an image - either ALT or just a scary red exclamation mark (indicating that there's no ALT text).
If a user drags the mouse pointer over the image, the alt text is visible to sighted users. I think most mobile apps show it on a click, but I don't really remember.
Sensitive content
I'm sighted and I often look at the alt text on Fediverse graphics!
It's great for things like "here's a person I don't recognise, are they famous, is it a clip from a show and what's the show and why is it relevant here". There are cultural references which would just whoosh over my head without the description.
Or sometimes there'll be one like "photo of woodland, with a squirrel" and I'll be like "oh yeah! there _is_ a squirrel in the corner there" 😀
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Einige schreiben die Beschreibungen selbst, andere verwenden Tools wie altbot. Manche machen sich Sorgen, dass ihre Beschreibungen nicht gut genug sind, vor allem, wenn sie neu auf diesem Gebiet sind. Ich kann Ihnen versichern, dass sie nicht nur gut genug sind, sondern auch sehr geschätzt werden! Wenn der Rest der Welt so denken würde wie Sie, wäre es ein viel besserer Ort. …
Übersetzt mit DeepL.com (kostenlose Version)
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I admit that sometimes I struggle with alt tags. Understanding what there is to see in a picture is one thing, but providing info within the context of the overall post seems like it can come in handy
Curious to know if you tried Bluesky. I ask bc I thought Bluesky has a way to caption images.
Thank you so much for posting this! I always include alt-text, but started doing so consistently mostly because self-appointed alt-text cops kept needling me anytime I left it out. This is the first time an alt-text user has actually said something nice about it (that I've seen in my feed, anyway).
Very kind of you to take a moment and say you appreciate it. I will continue to include it.
Hi - I need to learn - how should we go about captioning video?
Thanks!
@SamanthaJaneSmith
I alt it the same way I do an image.
Physical description, then meanings/subtleties that are not as obvious, and if there is one the script
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@Memere I've seen posts that say something like "Can you believe this nonsense?"
And the image didn't make said nonsense obvious.
But the alt-text did. Sometimes, explaining the joke works for everyone.
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@Nat Oleander It's just a pity that if you post about an obscure enough niche topic like I do, it's the more difficult to make image posts perfectly accessible to everyone, the more obscure the topic is. For the more obscure the topic is, the more you have to describe, and the more you have to explain. (Caution: Never put explanations into alt-text! They must go where everyone can access them.)
I currently write the longest image descriptions in the whole Fediverse by a wide margin. But they may not actually be accessible enough, even though I describe all my original images twice.
The short descriptions in the alt-text don't always contain text transcripts, especially not all of them, and being only short descriptions, they aren't full, detailed visual descriptions either. The long descriptions for the same images in the post regularly end up with a five-digit character count. They may not be accessible because they're way too long. But sometimes they're the only place where all text transcripts can be found. And they are the only place where explanations can be found.
So the consequence should be that I quit posting my original images because they're impossible to make perfectly accessible to everyone, at least as long as there is no rock-solid definition for what's actually required in image descriptions in my obscure edge-case. But there isn't even any consensus on whether text that's illegible or that's so tiny that it's basically invisible must be transcribed if it can be sourced.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
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@Georgiana Brummell I'd say not everyone would consider almost 1,000 characters of image description in a 1,500-character alt-text accessible. And even fewer people would consider a long image description in the post itself that's tens of thousands of characters long accessible if your screen reader spends an hour or several rambling it down.
My most extreme case is a post with only one image. That one image is described twice like all my halfway recent original images. The short description in the alt-text is a bit over 1,400 characters long which barely leaves any room for the note that there is also a long description in the post itself. That long description is over 60,000 characters long. I'm not kidding. It took me two full days from getting up to going to bed to research for it and write it.
Now, there are a few dozen bits and pieces of text all over the image. At the resolution at which I've posted the image, two of them are ever so barely legible for sighted people. They're on a large logo on a building. Four more, two of them on that logo, too, two more on a sign on an easel, are illegible, but still visible. At least more on signs inside the building are visible, but they can't easily be identified as text. All the others are so tiny that they're invisible. It takes the long image description to even know where they are, for example, on the control panels of teleporters.
And yet, they are all within the borders of the image. And I can transcribe them. I can't read them in the image, but I can go to the place shown in the image and take closer looks.
Unfortunately, the rule or guideline that any and all text in an image must be transcribed verbatim does not take into consideration text that can't be read in the image, but that can be sourced and thus transcribed by whoever posts the image. No confirmation, no exception. And so I have to assume that I have to transcribe illegible text as well. And so I do transcribe them all.
But there's no way for me to put all these text transcripts into the alt-text, not if I want to keep Mastodon, Misskey and their forks from chopping it off at the 1,500-character mark. I'd also have to explain where all these pieces of text are, after all. And so the text transcripts are only available in the 60,000-character monster of a long image description.
It isn't really accessible to expect blind users to have their screen readers ramble and ramble and ramble for hours, just to get information that should actually belong into the alt-text which, in turn, shouldn't be longer than 200 characters.
On the other hand, it doesn't really seem accessible to me if I expect people to ask me to describe things in the image for them. It rather feels sloppy, if not out-right ableist to not describe everything that someone could possibly want to know right away.
The problem with my images is that they're renderings from very obscure 3-D virtual worlds. This means that nobody knows what anything in these images looks like unless they can see these images. This, in turn, means that I cannot expect anyone to know what something in my images looks like anyway. They don't.
At the same time, I can't expect everyone to not care about my images. In fact, I expect the very topic of 3-D virtual worlds that actually exist to make people curious. At this point, it doesn't matter what's important in my images within the context of the post. Sighted people will go explore the new and unknown world by taking closer looks at all the big and small details in the image.
But blind or visually-impaired people may be just as curious. They may want the same chance to explore this new world by experiencing what's in that one image. Denying them the same chances as sighted people is ableist. But giving them this chance requires an absolutely titanic image description.
Sure, I describe lots of details which a sighted person can't possibly recognise when looking at the image, especially not at the resolution of the image as I've posted it. But I simply can't keep telling blind or visually-impaired people that certain things in the image can't be recognised due to the image resolution. It feels lazy, like weaseling out. I mean, I can see all these details. Not in the image, but where the image was made, simply by walking closer to them or moving the camera closer to them.
If there are two dark objects inside a building that may or may not be plants, but that can't be identified as plants by looking at the image, why shouldn't I describe them as follows: "On the sides of the teleport panel, there are two identical açaí palms in square terracotta pots with wide rims. Like the other potted plants, these mostly dark green plants with long pointy leaves are kept at an indoor-compatible size, namely about three and a half metres or eleven and a half feet tall. Also, like the other potted plants, they are made of only four flat surfaces with partially transparent pictures of the plant on them, arranged in angles of 45 degrees to one another."
If there's room for improvement in my image descriptions, I improve my future image descriptions and declare my past image descriptions outdated. In fact, the 60,000-character-long description is outdated because it's bad style to describe dimension using measures. Instead, dimensions should be described by comparing them with something everyone is familiar with like body parts.
Right now, by the way, I'm upping my game at describing avatars, using rules and guidelines for describing people which I've discovered over the last few months. The last time I've described an avatar, I've done so in about 7,000 characters, but according to my new discoveries, I may have missed something.
However, I can't go into so much detail while still making my image descriptions short enough that a screen reader can read through them in under a minute.
CC: @Nat Oleander
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
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@Georgiana Brummell @Nat Oleander Well, technically speaking, the long description isn't alt-text.
What went into the actual alt-text of the image were 1,402 characters of visual description + 97 characters of notice that there's a long description in the post. The over 60,000 characters went into the post text body, right below the image itself.
I could have put the long description into the alt-text. But it would have been a nightmare for blind or visually-impaired people because screen readers can't navigate alt-text. Also, Mastodon, Glitch, Hometown, Misskey, Calckey, Firefish, Iceshrimp, CherryPick, Sharkey, Catodon and the other Mastodon and Misskey forks chop long alt-texts from outside off at the 1,500-character mark. Mastodon would simply have deleted almost 59,000 characters from my image description on their side, had I put it into the alt-text.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
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A while back, I built an exhibit I thought people would find interesting.
The first place I took it, I was thanked for having an exhibit which was accessible for the visually-impaired (I'm not certain about totally blind). I hadn't even thought of it that way!
You can read my write-up here. Unfortunately, the "caption" property on the images kind of conflicts with the "alt text" property, and I don't know which one you'll get.
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How do I make posts more accessible to blind people on Mastodon and the Fediverse?
fedi.tips/how-do-i-make-posts-…
h/t @FediTips
If there’s no #Alt4Me tag on the undescribed image, it’s still worth being polite as no one wants bad feelings generated around the topic of descriptions. You might want to just reply with a description and #Alt4You tag, and if they’re abled they will hopefully get the message that descriptions are preferred.
An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediversefedi.tips
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A friendly suggestion to all the people who follow me here: put alt text on your images. It makes a difference!
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If you don't mind my asking - as a comic artist, I usually post full comic pages. There isn't enough alt text room to fully transcribe the page, so usually l will write something like "Page X of the comic Love and Hex. Full transcript: (link to an external page with both the comic image and a complete transcript)" followed by a broader description of what's going on without much detail.
Does that sort of thing suffice, or is there a preferred approach?
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Are there things your screen reader has trouble with or that make listening more tedious?
I remember from years ago there was a sequence preference for some things. For example, with lists, I think the preference was word first, then tick box or radio button.
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I often spend more time writing alt text than the text in the toot itself - not just to keep the toot itself as short as possible.
I always spend more time describing my images than writing the post that they go into.
For my meme posts, that's because I have to explain the picture and find the appropriate links to external explanations (KnowYourMeme etc.) to shorten my explanation block if possible.
For my original images, it's because I have to describe them twice. There's always an alt-text which, as of late, fills the 1,500-character limit imposed by Mastodon, Misskey etc. to the brim. But that alt-text is only a shortened and slightly adapted version of an extremely long long description which goes into the post text body and which also includes transcripts of any and all text in the image, readable or not, as well as all explanations which I deem necessary for outsiders to understand the image. Since the images are about an extremely obscure niche topic, this means I have to explain a lot.
A while ago, I spent two full days, morning to evening, researching for and describing and explaining one single image. The result was probably the longest image description ever posted in the Fediverse. And I actually had to limit myself, otherwise the description would have been even vastly longer and taken over a month to complete. Good thing I don't have any character limit to worry about. The only exception is that Mastodon may reject posts from outside with over 100,000 characters.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
I do have a few questions, specifically because my image posts have gone unnoticed by blind or visually-impaired users so far.
Judging and assuming from the information I've gathered so far, my original images require very extensive and detailed descriptions. A full description is too long for alt-text, so what I do is write a full description with all text transcripts and all necessary explanations, put it into the post text body and then condense a shorter, but still long alt-text from it. What's your stance on this method of describing the same image twice over?
Also, where would you personally prefer a long description? In the post itself? Or in an external document that's linked into the post? If you're on a phone app, remember that the external document will inevitably open your Web browser.
Do you prefer images described, based on what a sighted person can see in the image as it is posted? Or do you prefer a description that is not limited by the restriction of the image itself, for example, assuming an infinite image resolution and an infinite zoom factor that would let sighted people theoretically see even tiniest details?
If I mention something in my image description of which you don't know what it looks like, do you need a detailed visual description?
Concerning text transcripts: Let's assume a bit of text in an image is too small to be legible for sighted people, but I can read it at the original source, so I can transcribe it nonetheless. Shall I transcribe it? What about if said text is too small to be recognisable as text or so tiny that's it's practically invisible? I mean, after all, the concept of image resolution should not matter to totally blind people, so writing that a piece of text can't be read because the resolution of the image is too low ought to sound like a lame excuse for skimping a transcript.
If there's a building in one of my images, I can safely assume that you don't know what that one specific building looks like, so I guess I can also assume that you need it described. If I could, I would do so using architectural terms and then explaining all these architectural terms right after using them. Would you say that's the correct way? Because that's why I avoid having realistic buildings in my images.
If there's an image in my image, do you need it described? At a level that I can source right where the image is without moving away too far, or at a level that I can only source by moving farther away to the place shown in the image? What about an image in an image in my image? (I'm serious. I've actually described images within images within my image, but I've stopped when this was about to go out of hand due to there being too many to describe.)
I'm currently working on a series of posts with images showing a virtual-world avatar in various but similar outfits; in fact, I have been since last year. I may have questions later regarding at what level of detail I have to describe that avatar.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
Inconvenient? ...
Well, actually, check this answer from Georgiana:
friendica.world/display/84b6ef…
@Xanathon That would be truly wonderful! But honestly, even just using AltBot normally is fine, since the descriptions usually appear as a post right after the original.
@My best life 🎒 This is actually what I mean when I say altbot. It's very easy to use, and the instructions are on the page.
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Will do as soon and as good as I can. I promise. Sorry for ignoring this until now 🥹
@davidrevoy @nunesdennis also, at minimum, consider that the default is something like "image." So even the difference between "photo" and "screenshot" and "meme" at least provides handles on what they're missing.
Obviously enough detail to be included in the conversation is better & elaboration on what's notable or aesthetic is best. Someone could always ask a question if they were curious, but not if they have insufficient info.
I usually elaborate on why it's nice: see attached
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@zy @shred
@dandylover1
When I get a message in German, the alt text is also in German (for example). It makes it easy to copy and paste into an internet translator.
I have found it helpful when the words are embedded in the picture too. Just go to the alt text and cut and paste.
I'm so happy that it helps people with vision problems.
(I had no idea German would be so important in 2025, but here we are.)
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And add craziness that machines can't see as crazy.
Instance admins report massive AI scraping of Mastodon Posts.
There is work being down now, to poison image data invisibly, but when using alt text make sure to add weirdness to poison AIs.
Use long tweezers with yellow bold tanks. Unsubstantiated greening will flout.
Poison alt text for AIs
Make it fun for readers and yourself.
Its helping end AI.
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@Spinner @Georgiana Brummell When I want to post an original image, that "one extra minute" is more like several hours or even multiple entire days that it takes to research for and write the descriptions for one image. No, I'm not joking.
Even when I post a meme, I can't describe the visuals in the image itself in a few minutes. And then the explanations (which go into the post itself rather than into the alt-text) come on top.
Still, I always go all the way whenever I post an image. I'd rather not post an image than underdescribe and/or underexplain it. I refuse to do any less than that because I always have to expect someone somewhere out there needing it. That's why I've only posted one measly image in the last 12 months, and that was a meme.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
@Giselle @Jennifer Moore 😷 @Georgiana Brummell This is actually a mistake that many Fediverse user keep making because they don't know better, and because the majority of Mastodon users only have 500 characters available.
That's because not everyone can access alt-text. I'm being absolutely serious here. In order to access alt-text, you need either a screen reader (which sighted people don't have) or at least one sufficiently working hand.
If you want to explain your image, please do so in the post text itself and not in the alt-text.
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta
@Giselle I've been told that by a Mastodon user who really values accessibility. However, she told me that she cannot access alt-texts because both of her hands don't work well enough for her to access alt-text.
It was her who told me to never explain things in alt-text because she and people like her can't read these explanations, because they can't open the alt-text with these explanations inside.
Explaining stuff in alt-text and not in the post throws people like her in front of a bus, just like not describing images at all throws blind and visually-impaired people in front of a bus.
I have explained my image posts in the post text body ever since, regardless of Mastodon users whining that I exceed 500 characters.
Explanations go into the post/toot where everyone can access them.
I mean, sure, you're free to put them only in the alt-text because your character limit is so meagre. You're just as free to write super-short alt-texts that don't really describe anything. You're just as free to not describe your images at all.
But don't complain if someone criticises you for either.
CC: @Georgiana Brummell
#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #AltText #AltTextMeta #CWAltTextMeta #ImageDescription #ImageDescriptions #ImageDescriptionMeta #CWImageDescriptionMeta
TIL that oak trees are closer botanically to pumpkins, than they are to conifers.
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After several hours, I have managed to go through every contact's profile, unfollow all of the political ones and ones that didn't really post content that interested me, , and ensure that the ones I really like are set to show all posts. Now, my feeds look wonderful and are much quieter!
Is the #Human #Brain Fully Developed at #Age 25? : Medium
#Comets played a 'major' role in making #Life on #Earth possible, new #Study hints : Live Sci
#Physicists discover that 'impossible' #Particles could actually be real : New Sci
Check our latest #KnowledgeLinks
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"Impossible particles," also referred to as "#Paraparticles," are theoretical particles that would not fit into the current classification of fundamental particles as either #Fermions or #Bosons.
knowledgezone.co.in/posts/Impo…
"Impossible particles," also referred to as "paraparticles," are theoretical particles that would not fit into the current classification of fundamental particles as either fermions or bosons,Knowledge Zone
The "#Origin of #Life" refers to the scientific inquiry into how life arose from non-living matter.
It explores the processes by which the first living organisms on #Earth came into existence.
knowledgezone.co.in/posts/Orig…
The "origin of life" refers to the scientific inquiry into how life arose from non-living matter. It explores the processes by which the first living organisms on Earth came into existence.Knowledge Zone
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I am interested in finding sites that are similar to Reddit and Lemmy, either directly or just as forums where profiles can be created, groups can be joined, and/or different topics can be discussed. They must allow for editing and deleting of content and a wide variety of topics. I don't care if they're federated or not, though my guess is, if they're not, it would be easier to delete things. That said, I know Friendica does respect people's wishes, which is is one of the reasons for my joining them. I also don't care if they use the upvote system or not. Ideally, it would also have the ability to create private groups or topics. People have recommended Speakbits, headcycle, Blue Dwarf, and Chatter Box (the last isn't available yet). Most of these seem to have very small memberships, though Headcycle might be larger. If anyone is there, please let me know. I am totally blind and use NVDA. For Reddit, I use Luna, since it is very accessible, and the old.reddit site. I use TweeseCake for Friendica, so if it works with one or more of these new sites, that would be an extra bonus. I would like a simple layout on the websites themselves if possible.
#alternatives #deleting #editing #federated #forums #Headcycle #Lemmy #non-federated #posting #Reddit
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Hey new people, do you want help with using Mastodon? Feel free to ask in this thread, or message me if you prefer. 🙂
Any question is fine, there is no such thing as a stupid question.
There is also lots of help for beginners on the website at fedi.tips (especially in the "Quick Start" section at the top).
If you're just wondering what the heck is going on here and want someone to explain this place briefly and simply, watch this video: tilvids.com/w/f747058d-3991-40…
An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediversefedi.tips
Mastodon in 180 Seconds 🐘
Lately, everyone seems to be trying to jump ship from Twitter to this new thing called "Mastodon". But when they do it, the first thing many of them say is "I don't get Mastodon. How does it work?" It's actually not complicated, just "different" from what you're used to. Here's a really simple explanation to help get you started.
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Natsura, Angelo Massaro, Georgiana Brummell, Kristoffer Patrick Cornils, BrianKrebs, Bass #Antifa #EcoHumanist, Cory Doctorow, Majnūn #defiant 🇺🇦🇰🇿, Patrick Stewart, DoomsdaysCW, K2, Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲 and Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC reshared this.
Ooh... this is a controversial topic! 😁
Some people (includng myself) think it's fine to put lots of tags as long as they are all totally relevant to the post. Other people would want there to be a very small amount of tags, but no one can agree on a number for this.
At some point you will probably run out of space to use hashtags on most servers due to character limits, of course 😀
thanks, I was afraid of that answer 😅
The most important to me is that they should be relevant and not in the way for the reader.
So #wordSmithing #relevantHashtags into a #craftySentence doesn't bother me much. But I've read other opinions too. Hashtags at the end are ok, but they can clutter the feed unnecessarily as well.
But yeah, not everyone agrees with me... So there's no clear #fediverse specific guidelines?
@Su_G
Public is if you want your post visible to everyone, and you want it to show up in searches & trends
Unlisted (aka quiet public) is if you want anyone to be able to see it, but don't want it in search results or trends
Followers-only is if you just want followers to see it, you should combine this with switching on follower approval for your account (so you can screen who your followers are).
Mentioned is basically the equivalent of a DM.
More info at fedi.tips/who-can-see-my-posts…
An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediversefedi.tips
@zeborah
Thank you, that's really helpful. 🙂
Another question: How can I tell if another's post is public or quiet public?
Yup, Zeborah is right, really good summary by them 👍
"Another question: How can I tell if another's post is public or quiet public?"
It depends on what you're using to view Mastodon. If you're on the website interface there are symbols next to each post which match the symbols in the menu where you choose visibilty. (For example a globe for public visibility.)
Unfortunately the official Mastodon app doesn't use these symbols, though third party apps do.
It's just a norm, you don't have to do this if you don't want to.
Having said that, some third party apps have this behaviour by default, where they use public for new posts and unlisted/quiet public for replies. I think Ice Cubes does this for example? (The official apps just have one default visibility setting so you have to manually change it when using them.)
#OTD in 1818.
Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" appears in Leigh Hunt's weekly The Examiner (London; p. 24) under the pen name "Glirastes". Horace Smith's contribution to the same informal sonnet-writing competition, "On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below" is published on February 1 under his initials.
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#OTD in 1879.
During construction of an extension to Birmingham Central Library in England, a fire destroys 50,000 books and the original manuscript of the Coventry Mystery Plays (including the "Coventry Carol").
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry…
Coventry Carol at PG (as audio book):
gutenberg.org/ebooks/20603
Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.Project Gutenberg
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#OTD in 1884.
Britain's poet laureate Alfred Tennyson is created 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth in the County of Sussex and of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Thus he becomes known as Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Lord Tennyson at PG:
gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/29…
Project Gutenberg offers 74,588 free eBooks for Kindle, iPad, Nook, Android, and iPhone.Project Gutenberg
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🌱 In Brazil, an Amazon reforestation project seeks to redeem carbon markets
phys.org/news/2025-01-brazil-a…
#brazil #forests #amazon #globalsouth #finance #carboncapture #environment #climatechange
In the Brazilian Amazon, workers use metal tubes to sow seedlings in rapid succession, as part of an effort to reforest the jungle with millions of trees.Anna PELEGRI (Phys.org)
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“The mind is just like a muscle– the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets, and the more it can expand.”
– Idowu Koyenikan
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Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio Troilus)
Butterfly 2019-115
Setbacks are temporary
Unless we choose otherwise.
#butterfly #butterflies #macro #photography #beauty #nature #insect #flower #bokeh #thephotohour #thankyou #mramsdellpics
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Column of Marcus Aurelius, built between 180-193 AD, in Rome, Italy, commemorates emperor’s campaigns against Germanic tribes and Sarmatians during Marcomannic Wars.
Standing about 39m tall in Piazza Colonna, it features a spiral relief depicting vivid and dramatic scenes of battle, including a rare depiction of “Rain Miracle,” where a sudden storm is said to have saved Roman army. Modeled after Trajan’s Column, it was constructed from Proconnesian marble and remains in its original location.
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This 14th Century AD, door at Exeter Cathedral, UK 🇬🇧, is thought to be the oldest existing cat flap...
A cat was paid a penny each week, to keep down the rats and mice in the north tower, and a cat flap was cut into the door below the astronomical clock to allow the cat to carry out its duties.
Records of payments were entered in the Cathedral archives from 1305-1467 AD, the penny a week being enough to buy food to supplement a heavy diet of rodents.
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The oldest surviving deck of 52 playing cards (1475 AD), made in the Netherlands 🇳🇱
The concept of playing cards is thought to have originated in Asia, making its way to Europe by the late 14th Century AD, likely through trading routes.
In the Netherlands, cards became popular during 15th Century AD, as both a pastime and a means of socialization among nobility and the growing merchant class.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
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In ancient Roman world, a tintinnabulum (tintinnum) was a wind chime or assemblage of bells. A tintinnabulum often took the form of a bronze ithyphallic figure or of a fascinum, a magico-religious phallus thought to ward off evil eye and bring good fortune and prosperity.
📷 : Roman Tintinnabulum in the shape of Phallus, symbol of power, luck and fertility, 1st Century AD, from Sesamón, Burgos - Spain.
(Archaeological Museum of Barcelona, Spain)
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New research “Computer-Use Agent” AI model can jump in and help users with on-screen tasks.Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)
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The launch was supposed to be back in October to coincide with the 35th anniversary of Ice-T's seminal album *The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say!*, which includes "Shut Up, Be Happy" featuring Jello Biafra, but it was delayed a bit.
"At last, everything is done for you."
invite donc le loup dans ta bergerie...
mastodon.social/@arstechnica/1…
OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that can operate your computer
New research "Computer-Use Agent" AI model can jump in and help users with on-screen tasks.
arstechnica.com/ai/2025/01/ope…OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that can operate your computer
New research “Computer-Use Agent” AI model can jump in and help users with on-screen tasks.Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)
The world's iceberg is heading for South Georgia—a wildlife haven in the South Atlantic—and scientists are worried.Tom Howarth (Newsweek)
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Reviving Legacy Systems: Linux Enhances 32-Bit PAE Support in 2025
In a surprising turn of events, the Linux kernel team has announced significant improvements to the 32-bit PAE (Physical Address Extension) support, enabling legacy systems to efficiently utilize more...
news.lavx.hu/article/reviving-…
#news #tech #LinuxKernel #PhysicalAddressExtension #PageTableIsolation
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Pink-throated Brilliant
Scarce hummingbird found in cloud forest in the eastern foothills of the Andes in Ecuador, southern Colombia, and northern Peru. Green with a white vent and a small white dot behind eye. Male has a glittering pink throat patch, which is reduced or lacking on female. Small compared to other brilliants, and the only one with a white vent. Found only in remote and relatively undisturbed forest, and rarely encountered.
Link: ebird.org/species/pitbri1
Photo Location: Peru
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Balto Statue in New York, New York
This monument is dedicated to Balto, the heroic Alaskan sled dog.#publicart #parks #statues #dogs #section-Atlas
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Wildlife biologist Miguel Ordeñana explains how blazes push animals into the unknown.Kylie Mohr (High Country News)
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Project Gutenberg
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