Accessibility

General accessibility information

We want to make participation possible for all regardless of abilities, background or other personal traits. If you are uncertain if the conference is accessible for you, don’t hesitate to contact our accessibility chairs. In addition, we are happy to take any tips on how to make Academic Mindtrek even more accessible!

We are paying attention especially to:

Submissions

  • We provide tips how to make your submission more accessible
  • ACM accepts only accessible submissions!

Presentations

  • Closer to the conference, we will offer tips how to give accessible presentations
  • If needed, we provide captions for participants

Venue

  • Paidia is wheel-chair accessible
  • Paidia does not have induction loop for hearing aids

Participation & communication

  • All sessions will be streamed through video conferencing solutions; however, we encourage people to participate on-sight
  • We offer possibility to communicate also via Discord with the conference participants

Individual needs

  • Our organizers and student volunteers are happy to help!

What is accessibility and why is it important?

Accessibility is all about making participation possible, so everybody can take part in an equal and equitable manner – regardless of ability, background, or other personal traits, and it applies to both physical and digital access.

By ensuring that your presentation, talk, or paper is accessible, we ensure that everybody can participate, and read, think and respond to your research.

Presenting research in an accessible way is not as daunting as it may seem, and in this document, you will share resources, with easy tips and tricks.

Submission accessibility

By ensuring that your paper is accessible, we ensure that everybody can participate, and read, think and respond to your research.

By following the submission template, you will cover most aspects related to submission accessibility. You can also consider the general guidelines related to document accessibility:

  • Use clear language
  • Use tables instead of pictures of tables
  • Provide the same information within the text as you provide with figure
  • Do not use colors only to convey information. Make sure that your visual content has good enough contrast
  • Add alternative text to all visual content (pictures, figures)
    • Instructions from submission template:

MS Word 2019 on Windows or Word 2016 and later on Mac:
1. Insert a picture in the document.
2. Right-click the image and select “Edit Alt Text”.
3. In the “alt text” section, provide your text description of the image.

Below are the steps to insert figure descriptions in MS Word 2013 and 2016:
1. Insert a picture in the document.
2. Right click on the inserted picture and select the Format Picture option.
3. In the settings at the right side of the window, click on the “Layout & Properties” icon (3rd option).
4. Expand Alt Txt option.
5. In the “Title” and “Description” text boxes, type the text you want to represent the figure, and then click “Close.”

Below are steps to insert the alt-txt value in MS Word 2010/2011 for Windows*:
1. Insert a picture in the document.
2. Right click on the inserted picture and select the Format Picture option.
3. Select the Alt Txt option from the left-side panel options.
4. In the “Title” and “Description” text boxes, type the text you want to represent the picture, and then click “Close.”
* The Mac 2011 version 14.0.0 and later allows the option for inserting “alt-text.” In the MAC version of Word 2016, right-
click on the image and select “Edit Alt Text” from the pop-up menu and then enter the description for the alt text.

LaTex
1. If you haven’t done it already, load the LaTeX accessibility package to work on accessibility in the document, then choose the package options. It is recommended to use [tagged, high structure] to make the document most accessible.
2. Use the application menu View > Tools > Accessibility to guide you through your document and to provide alternative text for every image, figure, or table.
3. Select Set Alternate Text, then you will be asked to provide alternative text for every image; if you are using an older version, you can do this manually (View > Tools > Content > Edit Option); right-click and select Properties > Tag (in a pop-up window); insert description in the alternative text field
4. Alternatively: You can also use the \alt environment to add your information; for instance,

\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=10cm]{figure123.jpg}
\alt{This figure presents the results of the study, x in relation to y}
\caption{Figure containinf further information}
\label{fig:information}
\end{figure}

Please note: an alt text intends to replace given information whereas captions are used additionally to support the visual information.

(Source and more information:
sigchi.org/conferences/author-resources/accessibility-guide/#for-latex-users
authors.acm.org/journals/how-to-write-alt-text-and-why
libguides.lib.msu.edu/c.php?g=995742&p=8207771)

Questions?

Feel free to contact Pauliina Baltzar (pauliina.baltzar@tuni.fi) or Ankit R. Patel (majorankit@gmail.com) if you need support making your submission accessible, or if you have any other questions related to Academic Mindtrek’s accessibility.