elissa ⟡ they/them ⟡ twentysomething ⟡ disability history, seattle (PWHL, NHL, MLB) & women's sports (NWSL, WER, WPBL), whatever else I like at the moment ⟡ [avatar description: cartoon of snoopy playing hockey and sitting angrily in the penalty box, wearing a yellow beanie and holding his stick up.] [header image: close up of white foxglove flowers with a blurry river in the background, where other flowers can be seen growing, too.]
i'm jaffacakesofficial (or elissa). i'm a queer/autistic/disabled disability public historian, primarily working with the long 20th century in the US. i love to talk about my research, so feel free to drop an ask if you're curious! i'm about to start my doctorate, so i'm even more eager to yap about my work.
i post regularly on the seattle kraken + torrent lbs (and rarely the washington capitals). sometimes i hop into the other sports lbs (mariners, looking at you!) -- though hockey is my main thing, i'm always down to learn about other sports 😊
please post with image descriptions in your alt text, if you need details on that you can see my post here. videos with captions/transcripts are also really nice (i don't have a post on that, but if i come across one, i'll try to remember to link it).
baseball interviewers will ask "how do you throw the ball so good" and Mariners players will casually drop that they have a headmate who plays the game for them
i'm not sure if this is the most useful tool for doing this but it's the one that i currently like the most: contrast grid by eightshapes. this tool is useful for testing text colors on different backgrounds to see if they are accessible. this is so important because while you may be able to read the text on your blog/carrd/website/etc, not everyone can, and this site will tell you if your color combination meets the web content accessibility guidelines for color contrast
for example, here is the grid for my website (minus the graphics like the fake text files or the pesterlogs, which have preset colors). AAA means high contrast, AA means good contrast, AA18 means "only use for large or bold text, not body text" and DNP stands for Does Not Pass
there are a lot of other sites out there that can help you test your web colors, but i like this one because it allows you to enter your entire palette at once and see how each color interacts with the rest. it's also fun to name your colors and they all look nice laid out like this
this firefox extension is also very helpful; it allows you to click around a website and it'll tell you what passes and what doesn't
also, i should note that not *everything* has to pass 100%. for example, this blue-on-white doesn't pass:
it's just good to know what does and doesn't pass, and the more that passes, the better. just know that if something doesn't pass, some people might not be able to read it well
a lot of people put a ton of work into transcribing videos in ways that absolutely suck ass to read because probably because they aren't aware or haven't made an effort to actually understand what makes an appropriate transcription. for casual stream/yt video excerpts, this does not mean reproducing every single stutter, filler word (um, ah, mhm, uh, etc.).
below are highlights from the transcribing audio guidelines from the organization that basically sets the standard for web accessibility (WCAG). the full relevant sections are below the read more, but i want to highlight these:
For example, if the speaker says:
I just got so frustrated (cough, cough) sorry – uhhh what was I saying?…, oh yea - I got so frustrated with my computer.
You can caption:
I just got so frustrated with my computer.
If there is speech that is not at all relevant, indicate that it has been excluded from the captions. For example:
[participants discuss the weather while the presenter reboots his computer]
go forth and stop it with the ten thousand hyphens for syllables that don't form full words! since fandom clipping is not a legal matter, not transcribing those features of speech improves accessibility and readability of your transcript and/or captions.
Basics
Identify the speakers as relevant. Often it is best to use the full name the first time and single name throughout — either first/given or last/family depending on the formality.
You can include relevant information about the speech. For example:
( between gritted teeth ):
I hate this computer!
Put non-speech sounds in parentheses, lowercase, italics, with a space before and after. For example:
( computer crashing into bits and parts sliding across the floor )
When a speaker is off-screen, you can put their speech in italics. For example:
Jose: What was that awful noise?
Zoe: You don’t want to know.
Jose: Well, I’m coming to find out.
Only include background music if it’s important to understand the content of the video. Use objective descriptions that indicate the mood; avoid subjective words, such as “beautiful.” If the words in the music are important, add a musical note to the beginning and end of each caption. Put music information in italics. For example:
♪ scary music, JAWS theme ♪
Do not emphasize a word using all capital letters, except to indicate yelling. For example:
Jose: YOU KILLED MY NEW LAPTOP!
Transcribe Accurately and Honestly
Do not change or adapt or add to the text. Transcribe what is said accurately.
For example, it is usually not appropriate to correct grammar or other mistakes.
Do not censor. For example, if objectionable words are said, include those in the captions. If the audio is edited to obscure a phrase (e.g., “bleeped” audio), reflect that in the captions, e.g., –bleep–
Do not provide additional clarifying information in the captions. (You can provide some in the transcript as appropriate.)
Include the appropriate level of detail:
For some content, such as legal depositions, transcribe everything verbatim, including things like “um”, “ah”, and repeated phrases.
For most web content, it is acceptable to leave out non-substantive text to make the captions easier to process — while adhering to the tips above. For example, if the speaker says:
I just got so frustrated (cough, cough) sorry – uhhh what was I saying?…, oh yea - I got so frustrated with my computer.
You can caption:
I just got so frustrated with my computer.
If there is speech that is not at all relevant, indicate that it has been excluded from the captions. For example:
[participants discuss the weather while the presenter reboots his computer]
If you cannot understand what is said, transcribe:
[unintelligible]
see also: section 508 accessibility guidelines for the U.S. government standard
