You know... We talk and talk about boycotting big corporations and using 0 AI etc, how about a boycott on people that don't add #AltText? Anyone with me?
It bothers me too, and I am sighted. I sometimes miss it, in one-on-one replies but all public posts have it. And I have reminder flags set to prevent me sending a post without it. It is the most defeating feeling to see a group including everyone, with rainbow flags, inclusion messages on rainbow backgrounds, and no ALT text? seems they aren't inclusive after-all, just selective
I really do like when people do put descriptions, and I try to all the time when I post a picture, however if someone doesn't, before I switched to #NVDA from #JFW almost two months ago, when people did that that I don't know, I just opened the picture, and then used picture smart to have it describe it for me. now that I am using NVDA, I don't know quite how to do that. I do have basilisk on my computer that does use chat GPT, but I have never tried opening the picture to get the URL of it, and then see if basilisk could describe from a URL. if it can't then I need to find something that could do this really easy for me. I hope this makes sense.
@JamminJerry What you say, is patching a hole, it doesn't fix it so the hole doesn't exist. People are all quick to say 'Yes yes I support LGBTQ rights and I'm a very very very inclusive person, I give to charity, I do all the things that people say they do...' Ask them about alt-text though... 'Nah I hate that, it supports AI, I hate AI.' Or: 'I can't be bothered, blind people don't need it anyway.' Or: 'I just use it to hide eastereggs because nobody cares.'
Yes. Yes they do. WE should not have to do your damn inclusivity job for you. Absolutely bloody not!
oh I agree it is just patching a whole, I totally get it. oh and to answer my own question with basilisk I can't do this. the reason why? ctrl_v doesn't paste from the clipboard.
hmmmm. I just tried that with VOLlama, and mine won't do it. I used the picture on the one you posted, just to see if I could do it, and here is what I got from VOLLama.
Gpt-5-nano: I can’t open or view content from external URLs directly in this chat. If you can upload the image here (attach the file) or paste the image data, I’ll describe what’s in it, including objects, people, colors, setting, and mood.
If you can’t upload the image, you can also: - Paste a brief description of what you see and I’ll help expand or analyze it. - Tell me what you’d like to know (e.g., “What’s the main subject?”, “What’s the color palette?”, “Is there any text?”), and I’ll guide you based on your description.
@JamminJerry Well that's down to the model you used, probably. It's perhaps not multimodal. You need something with Vision in the name, or Google Gemma 3, which I run locally. It is very capable as you may remember from last year.
yes, I do remember that. I know that if I do local pictures this one will do that just fine. I think it says it is chat gpt 5 nano or something like that.
I don't boost images without alt (sometimes it's alt offered in the comments). I have stopped following accounts that don't make any attempt, or have useless alt.
It can be hard to create alt text, especially for people with certain disabilities. So every time I see a conversation about it, I try to gently encourage people to use #alt4me to ask for help and #alt4u to offer it.
I take care to write alt texts for all my photos and I also write subtitles for my videos and while I know that some people really struggle to find enough energy to write image descriptions, often it's just carelessness and when asked about it, people say that they can't write perfect descriptions anyway or that others should just use AI. But every so often I read an AI generated description and then look at the picture, I think, wait, what? So AI can't be the only solution.
I started writing image descriptions years ago while I was still on twitter and I quite like doing them. Sometimes I have to think a bit how to describe something, but that's part of the fun, if I may say so.
@andijah Exactly. It's just what you'd say to someone on the end of the phone that couldn't see your image. How you talk about it is perhaps how you'd write about it.
I think that people not used to describing pictures have to learn about the possibility and practicality of it. As someone who came here from elsewhere, I have found it something I have to remind myself about. But I rarely post pictures. I do, however, rarely boost others' pictures if they don't have it.
I might have been with you on this in the past, before we had so many other options to get descriptions of images. I still appreciate it when people do describe their images, because it shows me that they are aware that there are people who can’t see them. But if they don’t, and if I care, I just run it through AI.
@kernsac AI, which is soulless and may give you 30% success rate, and you wouldn't even know it because you will take it as utter truth. By the way, I'm also one who uses it, but I don't at all hold with people *claiming* to be all inclusive but only selectively. AI is not the answer all the time. It is simply not.
@kernsac Not to mention it gives people a far too easy out. 'Oh just AI my picture that I obviously really loved and spent all the time taking' they say. Nope. If you liked it so much, show it a little more love by giving it the description of a lifetime so I can love it as much as you do.
Rasta
in reply to Andre Louis • • •It is the most defeating feeling to see a group including everyone, with rainbow flags, inclusion messages on rainbow backgrounds, and no ALT text?
seems they aren't inclusive after-all, just selective
Andre Louis
in reply to Rasta • • •JamminJerry
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to JamminJerry • • •@JamminJerry What you say, is patching a hole, it doesn't fix it so the hole doesn't exist.
People are all quick to say 'Yes yes I support LGBTQ rights and I'm a very very very inclusive person, I give to charity, I do all the things that people say they do...'
Ask them about alt-text though... 'Nah I hate that, it supports AI, I hate AI.'
Or: 'I can't be bothered, blind people don't need it anyway.'
Or:
'I just use it to hide eastereggs because nobody cares.'
Yes. Yes they do.
WE should not have to do your damn inclusivity job for you. Absolutely bloody not!
JamminJerry
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to JamminJerry • • •JamminJerry
in reply to Andre Louis • • •hmmmm. I just tried that with VOLlama, and mine won't do it. I used the picture on the one you posted, just to see if I could do it, and here is what I got from VOLLama.
Gpt-5-nano: I can’t open or view content from external URLs directly in this chat. If you can upload the image here (attach the file) or paste the image data, I’ll describe what’s in it, including objects, people, colors, setting, and mood.
If you can’t upload the image, you can also:
- Paste a brief description of what you see and I’ll help expand or analyze it.
- Tell me what you’d like to know (e.g., “What’s the main subject?”, “What’s the color palette?”, “Is there any text?”), and I’ll guide you based on your description.
Andre Louis
in reply to JamminJerry • • •It's perhaps not multimodal. You need something with Vision in the name, or Google Gemma 3, which I run locally. It is very capable as you may remember from last year.
JamminJerry
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to JamminJerry • • •RaineyDay
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to RaineyDay • • •RaineyDay
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Jen
in reply to Andre Louis • • •yep, I'm with you.
I don't boost images without alt (sometimes it's alt offered in the comments). I have stopped following accounts that don't make any attempt, or have useless alt.
It can be hard to create alt text, especially for people with certain disabilities. So every time I see a conversation about it, I try to gently encourage people to use #alt4me to ask for help and #alt4u to offer it.
Andre Louis
in reply to Jen • • •Andrea
in reply to Andre Louis • • •But every so often I read an AI generated description and then look at the picture, I think, wait, what? So AI can't be the only solution.
Andre Louis
in reply to Andrea • • •Dennis reshared this.
Andrea
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to Andrea • • •Andrea
in reply to Andre Louis • • •UkeleleEric
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to UkeleleEric • • •Peggy Kern
in reply to Andre Louis • • •Andre Louis
in reply to Peggy Kern • • •By the way, I'm also one who uses it, but I don't at all hold with people *claiming* to be all inclusive but only selectively. AI is not the answer all the time. It is simply not.
Andre Louis
in reply to Andre Louis • • •'Oh just AI my picture that I obviously really loved and spent all the time taking' they say.
Nope. If you liked it so much, show it a little more love by giving it the description of a lifetime so I can love it as much as you do.
Jenny Suchan
in reply to Andre Louis • • •RaineyDay
in reply to Andre Louis • • •