Murdo Maclachlan

Image Transcription: Screenshot

[The screenshot is from a GitHub commit summary. It is zoomed in to show just the tab headers for the “Checks” tab and the “Files changed” tab. The “Checks” tab has a number 1 next to it, and the “Files changed” tab has an infinity sign next to it.]

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Theoretically they might be able to, but it would be a very difficult case fought against a massive corporation. I doubt they’d consider it worth the trouble and legal fees, especially given there’s no guarantee of winning.

Image Transcription: YouTube Comment

@davidm.313

“Debugging. The game where you are the criminal, the victim, and the detective at the same time. But you probably don’t know where the crime took place, or what it was. But there definitely is a crime.”

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Image Transcription: Code

[Transcriber’s note: the first line in the following transcription is incorrect. After the equals, there should be eight instances of the word “Option”, each succeeded by a less-than symbol, then two brackets, like (), before the first greater-tha symbol. However, if you type a less-than symbol on Lemmy, it seems to strip that symbol and whatever word comes next out of the source when you save the comment.]

type Wtf = Option>>>>>>>;
let two = Some(Some(Some(Some(Some(Some(None))))));
let three = Some(Some(Some(Some(Some(None)))));
let six = Some(Some(None));
unsafe {
    assert_eq!(
        std::mem::transmute::(two) * std::mem::transmute::(three)
        std::mem::transmute::(six)
    );
}

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

If one does ever get created, I’ll definitely try and remember to ping you!

To answer your edit questions, which I’ve just seen:

1. The original r/TranscribersOfReddit (ToR) was run by an actual non-profit organisation (the Grafeas Group) with a lot of infrastructure built up to support it and keep it running smoothly. When Reddit’s API changes happened, we didn’t have the resources to move the project somewhere else (and nowhere else was as dreadfully inaccessible as Reddit), so we were essentially forced to shut it down. The communities that exist on Lemmy aren’t coordinated, they’re just people who used to be part of ToR doing transcriptions in their free time, in a capacity not associated with the Grafeas Group. As such, there isn’t really a way to coordinate them.

2. I just sort by new on the communities I’m subscribed to.

3. I don’t use a screen reader but l do know the answer to this – alt text on the image is a much better route to go when you have the option, as it means people can find the transcription right next to the image instead of looking for it in the comments. Helping people find our transcriptions in the comments was a challenge on Reddit.

As I don’t personally benefit from transcriptions (except in extremely rare cases where my colourblindness becomes pertinent), I’d say asking the folks over at c/main@rblind.com would probably give you the best answer, but I can give my take as someone who has been doing transcriptions for a few years.

I think that including a transcription when you have the time do so is always better. It’s never possible to say who might be interested in experiencing the content (and it’s not just blind/partially sighted people who are helped out by transcriptions; see section 1, here for a non-exhaustive list). I an say for certain that there are people who benefit from and want them; when I was part of the (sadly now shuttered) r/TranscribersOfReddit project, we did receive requests for transcriptions of purely aesthetic pieces.

I think that, though the minority that can’t view the image will be even more pronounced here, transcriptions are essentially another way of including more people in experiencing the same “scene”, if that makes sense, even if they’re doing so via a different medium. As just one example, that could include people who previously enjoyed the community, but became blind/partially sighted and still want to experience the content in some way. Obviously it’s a bit subjective, which is usually something we try to avoid in transcribing, but I try to write transcriptions of art or scenic photographs with the intent of capturing the atmosphere of the image rather than with purely clinical descriptions as I might in other situations, while still including all the actual details of the image.

That said, obviously detailed transcriptions take a fair bit of time, so it’s definitely not a mark against anyone who doesn’t include them. I find myself doing a lot less of them these days as well. I would say this is one of the circles where transcriptions are less pertinent, but I think it’s always a good thing to have more ways of accessing content.

Image Transcription: Art

[The artwork shows a snowy nighttime setting. The sky is dark and clear, scattered with countless stars, and the full moon hangs bright and large in the top left. In the distance, a line of mountains is cast dark in silhouette. Close-up, a small hill and stretch of flat ground are swept with snow and sparse tufts of grass and other small plants. They lead up to a length of railway atop a ridge.

A steam train is front-and-centre here, emerging from the distance with its engine carriage facing towards the viewer. The windows burn with a fiery glow as a column of steam trails away behind it, highlighted with touches of deep red just above the chimney. A pale yellowy light illuminates ahead of the train. The other carriages are mostly hidden behind the engine.

Atop the hill, on the right side of the image, a figure in a long coat and a hat, probably a fedora, stands facing the train, their back to the viewer. Their hand is raised just in front of their mouth, and a spark of flame-coloured light suggests they may be lighting a cigarette, cigar or pipe.]

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Image Transcription: Meme

[The meme shows two fanart images of the character Sayori, from “Doki Doki Literature Club”, with text to the right of each image.]

[In the first image, Sayori is wearing sunglasses and scowling, with her hand up in a blocking gesture. The text reads:]

Anti-Cheat

[In the second image, Sayori has her head up high, looking pleased, with a finger pointed to the right, where the text reads:]

Kernel Level Surveillance

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Image Transcription: Meme

Junior devs writing comments:

[A photograph of a road signpost in front of a metal fence with a low, long building in the distance. The post has two signs on it. At the top is an octagonal sign, filled red with a white outline, reading “STOP”. Beneath it is a rectangular sign with an arrow pointing up to the stop sign, and text reading “THIS IS A STOP SIGN”.]

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Image Transcription: Meme

[Gru, the long-nosed protagonist of the “Despicable Me” franchise, presents to the camera, pointing into the air and smiling. Behind him is a flipchart with text reading:]

And the best part about using Linux: No viruses!

[Still presenting, Gru has his hand in a C shape and his head down as he peers at the gap between his fingers. The text now reads:]

Look at this, a website downloaded a malicious .exe on my machine.

[Gru now has his hands pointing down, fingers splayed, still presenting. The text now reads:]

*Double Click*

See? Nothing happe…

[Gru looks back to the flipchart in a double-take, his eyes round and wide and his mouth downturned. The text still reads:]

*Wine is launching*

[The Wine logo: a slightly tipped wine glass with red wine sloshing inside it.]

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.

Image Transcription: Code

bool is_prime(int x)
    return false;
}

[Beneath the code is a snippet of console output, as follows:]

test no.99989: passed
test no.99990: passed
test no.99991: failed
test no.99992: passed
test no.99993: passed
test no.99994: passed
test no.99995: passed
test no.99996: passed
test no.99997: passed
test no.99998: passed
test no.99999: passed
95.121% tests passed

I am a human who transcribes posts to improve accessibility on Lemmy. Transcriptions help people who use screen readers or other assistive technology to use the site. For more information, see here.