Image Description

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2021-05-27 20:30:10

Image description is often the easiest and fastest way to provide information about an image to a reader who cannot access it visually. Below are resources developed by the DIAGRAM Center to help content creators provide image descriptions. For information on technical standards related to attaching descriptions to images in digital content, see the Born Accessible Publishing page.

Developed by The DIAGRAM Center, Poet is an open-source web based image description training tool that helps people learn how to describe the various types of images found in digital books including complex images such as flow charts and Venn diagrams. Poet users have access to reference guides and hands-on practice exercises to help cultivate their image description skills and when an image description is appropriate and when one is not needed. It’s free to sign up and free to use so go ahead and give it a try! If you have questions or feedback about Poet, contact us any time.

These guidelines were born from a partnership between the DIAGRAM center and the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM). They are broken up in to two parts. The first part covers description guidelines that apply to any type of image. The second part covers guidelines for describing images within specific types of categories, such as maps. The guidelines are free and can be downloaded as a Word Document or read online in your browser. We are always open to feedback so feel free to email us with comments or questions.