Module 7 is an introduction to the basics of accessibility, interfaces, and data visualization. It is heavy on the readings/discussions but there are a few technical activities to encourage you to begin applying your new understanding of accessibility to your digital projects and websites, particularly in the context of the ADA Title II rules coming into effect on April 26, 2027.
Readings/Discussion (Required):
1. watch my presentation on data visualization (available via Slack and Basecamp); the preattentive procession website I show is at https://www.csc2.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/
2. explore some of the recent visualizations on Tableau Public. What visualizations seem to work and why? Which ones don’t work and why not?
Having trouble choosing a visualization? Try a historical visualization recreated in Tableau, like Charles Minard’s Napoleon’s March (analyzed here) or this analysis of Snow’s map of the 1854 London cholera outbreak.
3. read Jon Kolko, “Design Thinking Comes of Age” (2015).
4. read Tara L. Andrews and Joris J. van Zundert, “What Are You Trying to Say? The Interface as an Integral Element of Argument,” in Roman Bleier, Martina Bürgermeister, Helmut W. Klug, Frederike Neuber, and Gerlinde Schneider, eds. Digital Scholarly Editions as Interfaces, (Norderstedt: Boods on Demand, 2018).
5. read Mitchell Whitelaw, “Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Collections, ” Digital Humanities Quarterly 9, no. 1 (2015).
6. read Megan R. Brett, Jessica M. Otis, Mills Kelly, “Reframing the Conversation: Digital Humanists, Disabilities, and Accessibility” Debates in Digital Humanities 2023 (available via Slack and Basecamp or get a physical copy via GMU libraries)
7. skim GMU’s “Meeting the ADA Title II Digital Accessibility Requirements” website
8. participate in the class discussion
Readings/Discussion (Optional):
9. read the A11y project checklist: https://www.a11yproject.com/checklist/
10. read the DH Unbound guidelines for accessible conference presentations
11. read Amy Cesal, “Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization,” Nightingale: The Journal of the Data Visualization Society, July 23, 2020.
12. read “Cognitive Accessibility,” MDN Web Docs.
Technical Activities (Required):
1. during class, we will pick a DH project we’ve looked at in this class and examine its website using the https://wave.webaim.org WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool
2. evaluate your personal website and/or class blog using https://wave.webaim.org and the A11y project checklist, then see if you can improve your site’s accessibility – pay particular attention to ensuring your images have appropriate alt text
Technical Activities (Optional):
3. sign up for Tableau Public and try to create a visualization with data of your own (see Tableau Basics for Beginners for a walkthrough of how to use the program)
4. explore GMU’s InfoGuide on data visualization and Tableau
5. check out Color Brewer and use its guidance to reevaluate the color choices you made while working with QGIS
6. experiment with Data to Viz
7. if you have a paid Claude account, you have access to “Claude Design.” Experiment with it and think about the ways in which it does and doesn’t create well-designed and accessible sites (with or without explicit prompting to do so).