Social Networking / Media

Social networking or media can be a good way to keep up with the latest news about a specific topic or to interact with a course group. It is possible to keep your profile hidden from people that you don’t directly know, in order to increase privacy. The use of social media in learning and teaching can be beneficial but care is needed to make it work well for everyone.

Considerations

  • Describe images. Any pictures that are uploaded to be shared with your network should have adequate descriptions through the use of captions so that screen reader users can understand what the image is showing. Images on social networking sites usually lack alt tags as they are uploaded by users, so it is essential that captions describe the image sufficiently.
  • Be careful how you customise your profile. Some social networking services allow you to change the colour schemes and layout of your personal profile page. Ensure that the colours chosen have a high contrast ratio between foreground text and the background, so that reading is as comfortable as possible for anyone that might want to view your profile.

Additional Resources