{"id":184392,"date":"2020-06-20T09:31:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T08:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/?p=184392"},"modified":"2020-06-20T09:31:05","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T08:31:05","slug":"twitters-audio-tweets-reveal-a-bigger-accessibility-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/?p=184392","title":{"rendered":"Twitter&#039;s audio tweets reveal a bigger accessibility problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- m -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"5751019935\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p> [ad_1]\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"id_text\">\n<p>Twitter started rolling out a <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10709\/twitter-starts-rolling-out-audio-tweets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a> earlier this week that allowed iOS users to share recordings as audio tweets.<\/p>\n<p>While lots of people were having a <a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/culture\/10713\/people-are-using-twitters-new-audio-tweet-feature-to-mostly-troll-and-joke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/a> testing the new audio feature out, unfortunately not everyone could partake in the fun. That\u2019s because Twitter overlooked a crucial component to this new audio feature: accessibility.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">With the greatest of respect, Twitter, describing this version of the feature as \u2018early\u2019 to make up for the fact that it currently isn\u2019t accessible (but may well be in a later version) isn\u2019t good enough. <\/p>\n<p>Accessibility should be considered from the start, not as an afterthought. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qLA7Wcj3oQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/qLA7Wcj3oQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Liam O&#8217;Dell (@LiamODellUK) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LiamODellUK\/status\/1273362303036141569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 17, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Accessibility advocates criticized the microblogging platform for not being considerate of its users who are deaf or hard of hearing when launching audio tweets. For example, many online platforms such as YouTube or Facebook provide captions to ensure that those with disabilities can still consume content posted on the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Twitter, in a tweet, chalked up the oversight to the audio tweet feature being an early release of the product.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSupport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TwitterSupport<\/a> \u2014 Accessibilty is not an add-on feature nor is it an afterthought. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Accessibility?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Accessibility<\/a> is a civil right.<\/p>\n<p>When businesses do what you\u2019ve done here, you\u2019re telling an entire group of people you don\u2019t care about them, they\u2019re not important to you.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DisabilityInclusion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DisabilityInclusion<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bULSEHGF9l\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/bULSEHGF9l<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Darren Bates ???? (@DLBLLC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DLBLLC\/status\/1273608560262500352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 18, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That tweet set off a thread that revealed a larger problem with the company. Twitter does not have a \u201cformal team\u201d that works on accessibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"2\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 2 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"5511153269\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>While replying to an accessibility advocate\u2019s concerns, Twitter software engineer Andrew Hayward revealed that those working on accessibility at the company \u201cvolunteer\u201d to do so. He later clarified that the volunteers are indeed paid employees of the company, accessibility just wasn\u2019t officially part of this informal team\u2019s job requirements.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just to clarify, given that this seems to have gained some traction&#8230; we are volunteers in so much as the work we do is notionally on top of our regular roles, rather than being full time.<\/p>\n<p>We are all otherwise paid employees &#8211; Twitter is not outsourcing unpaid labour!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrew Hayward (\u23004.5m) (@arhayward) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arhayward\/status\/1273686190789726210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 18, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If accessibility is viewed as an additional feature and not something built into the consideration of the design and creation of a product, it\u2019s no surprise that the end result overlooks those with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement posted on its company account, Twitter explained that it is certainly listening to those accessibility advocates who are speaking out.<\/p>\n<div class=\"twitter-wrapper sort-rerender\">\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We&#8217;re sorry about testing voice Tweets without support for people who are visually impaired, deaf, or hard of hearing. It was a miss to introduce this experiment without this support. <\/p>\n<p>Accessibility should not be an afterthought. (1\/3) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9GRWaHU6fR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9GRWaHU6fR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSupport\/status\/1273794890543935488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 19, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>When reached by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/6\/18\/21296032\/twitter-audio-tweets-accessibility-volunteers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>, a Twitter spokesperson backed this up, saying the company intends to dedicate resources to focus on accessibility across its products.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019re looking at how we can build out a more dedicated group to focus on accessibility tooling and advocacy across all products,&#8221; Twitter said in a statement. &#8220;We missed around voice Tweets, and we are committed to doing better \u2014 making this feature more accessible and also all features in the future. We\u2019re constantly reviewing both the functionality of our products and the internal processes that inform them; we\u2019ll share progress in this area.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With the continued growth of audio-centric online content thanks to podcasting, this surely won\u2019t be the last time the accessibility issue comes up. However, a company as big and established as Twitter shouldn\u2019t have a problem dedicating time and resources to making sure its platform is accessible to all.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"5\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 5 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"9258826580\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/me.mashable.com\/tech\/10721\/twitters-audio-tweets-reveal-a-bigger-accessibility-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"c5b541d88d911dcbb84397def1a3492d\" data-index=\"3\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- 3 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3943282228430444\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"2884989920\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Twitter started rolling out a earlier this week that allowed iOS users to share recordings as audio tweets. While lots of people were having a testing the new audio feature out, unfortunately not everyone could partake in the fun. That\u2019s because Twitter overlooked a crucial component to this new audio feature: accessibility. With the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":184393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184394,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184392\/revisions\/184394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/184393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsforher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}