Yesterday, my students presented our work at the ACM ASSETS conference. "Not Only Annpying. But Dangerous": Devising an Ecology of Protections for Photosensitive Social Media Users" dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/366…

In this study, we investigate prior work, conduct survey inquiries, and use co-design methods to explore how social media design choices influence exposure to dangerous flashing content which can trigger seizures, migraines, nausea, and disorientation for photosensitive users.

Through our analysis, we identify the current ecosystem of flashing content on the Internet, and propose a more robust ecology of protections, including on-device graphics filters that directly edit pixels buffers to prevent flashing before it occurs.

First, existing WCAG guidelines against auto-play of media need to be enforced. Second, users should have device level control over animation that may trigger flashing, and this control shpuld not be able to be reset by platforms that try to enforce autoplay to support their own ad revenue. Third, other users need to be aware of what makes content dangerous, so thay they may stop circulating it and causing accidental exposure. Fourth, creators need to know what makes content dangerous, and how they can test for danger, to prevent them from creating dangerous media in the first place. This includes corporate creators, like movie studios, whose ads for acrion movies have been a recent source of autoplaying strobing content in movie trailors posted via ad platforms. Fifth, platforms, including GIF libraries, but also all social platforms, need to implement reporting mechanisms specifically for flashing content which can remove that content from circulation. Sixth, there should be actual penalties for platforms and creators that do not react to, correct, and remove dangerous content, or who force auto-play on users.

And seventh, device manufacturers and operating system developers need to create on-device filters that eliminate flashing through simple real time post-processing. Machine Learning classification and prediction algorithms ARE NOT NECESSARY. We can do this with simple math. Yes it may sometimes look weird. But also people won't be dying in their sleep.

This work is very important to me, and I've been working on it (on the side) since 2017. I wasn't allowed to pursue it fully as a graduate student. As faculty, I still had to string the project together on wishes. And I'm still looking for a collaborator to work on the implementation, though if industry would just get their shit together and do it themselves, that'd be great.

#ASSETS2024 #accessibility #Epilepsy #migraine #photophobia #photosensitivity #NEISVoid #graphicsProgramming

“Not Only Annoying but Dangerous”: devising an ecology of protections for photosensitive social media users | Proceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

^{ACM Conferences}

Well, not the happiest intro but I’l cut/paste this here while I still remember then add a proper intro spoons allowing..⬇️

Please #boost and share to other platforms spoons allowing.

Seems I’m desperate enough to go to the media for help. Yes, the trapped woman in the article below is me.

My story: thecanary.co/global/world-anal…

More info on how to help:: buymeacoffee.com/halcionandon/…

I’ve tried every level of government and they simply won’t help. Please ask people if they have a spare room or somewhere to go. Maybe you have somewhere?

Is anybody a #DisabilityAdvocate? #SocialWorker? Need help.

Please don’t give me contacts for domestic violence orgs. They don’t help disabled people with housing & only offer counselling. Also, that list of disability advocates going around for #Melbourne #Australia (where I am) is outdated - there aren’t any in my catchment. So I’m looking for volunteers with some background.

Thanks for reading

#PwME #LongCovid #MECFS #Hypothyroidism #ChronicIllness #Neisvoid #NacissisticAbuse ##Housing #Dysautonomia #SocialWork #MedMastodon #PWLC #MutualAid
#HumanRights #Press

@mecfs @chronicillness @neisvoid
@disability @disabilityjustice @socialwork @dyssupport
@mutualaid

(If I’ve broken any rules in posting this, please let me know.)

This is a really great guide to help you prepare in advance for the possibility of having covid, and remind you what to do if the worst happens! I've never seen this kind of info all collated together like this before.

Really valuable resource! (especially if like me you have trouble remembering or making plans etc!)

Pls share around!

Link to The People's CDC guide to what to do if you have covid.
peoplescdc.org/2023/01/10/what…

#Disability #NEISvoid #ActuallyAutistic #Covid

What to Do if You Have COVID | People's CDC

A guide for preparing for illness, preventing spread to others, managing symptoms, and recovery.

^{kristen (peoplescdc.org)}