cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45437770
I've been thinking a lot about the Fediverse ALT issue.
Some people are annoyed by posts without Alttext, & others get reminded¹ to add it.
The core question is: How can we improve accessibility?
Proposal: ☑️ Add a user filter to hide media posts without AltTag ☑️ Reduced engagement on hidden posts would encourage adding Alt text ☑️ People who need accessibility wouldn't have to encounter unlabeled media
If this gets traction, I'll open a Mastodon GitHub issue (maybe on others too?).
TL; DR
However, not every videos are captioned. You can't match the scale of created content.
I have a nuanced opinion on AI. They are part of corpothieve, tech bro that destroy our environement and promote fascism or occidental visio on the world. On the other hand, it is also a tool that can help deaf people in their daily life and scientific research.
I didn't insult you. I shared my deaf experience. We come from different background...was it needed ? Why ?
I was also there in 00s. Yes, my mom also created subtitle for some french movies. I also created some subtitle for video, translated them...Yes, there was fansub, with a huge dedicated communities. They are awesome and they played a keypart on sharing other culture. Thank you to you all and them. 😊
the scale of uncaptionned videos
However, not every videos are captioned.
That's the point you misunderstood : the scale of uncaptionned video and the deadline. Given the huge amount of videos, a fansub can't match the scale of video content created every days. That's where AI can save my day. It does help me.
If i watch something that doesn't have a fansub, community : 0 captions. So i have to create a request in your communities. some people may accept, some people may reject it. At best i have to wait some days or months. It depend on our free time since we are doing voluntary work.
You omited podcasts. If i try any french webradio : 0 transcript. Some people used AI to get a transcript for their podcast. They reread and corrected it. It helped them getting a transcript quickly and i benefit from it.
my deaf experience
I studied space design. Teachers shared lot videos on architecture, those videos weren't captioned, so as a student i poured lot effort to understand what they said in those videos...At the end of day, i was exhausted. I poured too much effort and ended up in burn out.
Later, i followed a course to become a farmer. It was during the Covid period. I had to wait 6 months to get sign language interpreters. Not only i lost half a year battling to get sign language interpreters, but i also had to watch video on agroecology without manmade captions and participate to visio meeting...Luckily, there was some apps as Ava, google transcript and later Lokas (free software from framasoft. It use whysper) that use artificial intelligence. Teachers and students weared mask, i couldn't read on their lips. So how do you handle it ?
I can't imagine how i would deal it without those AI app. It would be hell and would have stopped my lesson because of burn out.
The french election in 2024
Another example. In 2024, the french president dissolved the national assembly. Election were upcoming in less a month. I battled very hard to get captionned videos, contacted lot people, joined various group, called deputies to get their video captioned for deaf people and translated in sign language. We were a team and only got two or three videos...
conclusion
I can use those AI app when :
Lastly, some deaf friends told me they used AI to help them writting good sentence. Most of deaf people struggle with writting.
So, I have a nuanced opinion on AI. They are part of corpothieve, tech bro that destroy our environement and promote fascism or occidental visio on the world. On the other hand, it is also a tool that can help deaf people in their daily life and scientific research.