Accessibility Statement
The Science and Comics Initiative is continually working to improve the reading experience for all our users and keeping up with accessibility standards. If you encounter any accessibility issues with this book, please contact us.
Comics have unique accessibility needs; we’ve chosen to provide full transcripts with detailed image description for the comics in this text. Each chapter contains a comic written by an undergraduate comic artist and a UO researcher working together. Each page of each comic is a single image. All pages have alt text indicating which page and which comic they correspond with. At the end of each chapter is a full-text transcript of the comic. To read the transcript, click on the expand section plus sign next to the transcript heading at the end of the chapter (this book uses collapsed headings, which are fully keyboard navigable). The transcripts include all the text in the comic along with descriptions of the art. Depending on the comic these descriptions may be per panel or per page.
Accessibility Features
The web version of this comics collection was designed with accessibility in mind and includes the following features:
- The Pressbooks platform is optimized for people who use screen-reader technology.
- All content can be navigated using a keyboard.
- Full transcripts of comics.
- Alt text for all non-comic images.
List of Known Accessibility Issues:
While we strive to ensure that this resource is as accessible and usable as possible, we might not always get it right. Any issues we identify will be listed below. There are currently no known issues.
Printable Formats
Print compatible PDFs of all the individual comics in this collection are available through The Science and Comics Initiative Scholars’ Bank Collection. These comics are not openly licensed. While printing copies for personal use is permitted, especially if a print copy is required for you to access the comics, it is illegal to reproduce, distribute or sell these comics without permission from the Science and Comics Initiative.
Accessibility Standards
The web version of this resource was designed to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, level AA. And we will continue to improve the digital accessibility of this resource to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, level AA standard.
Let us know if you have any problems accessing this collection:
If you encounter any accessibility barriers while reading this book, please get in touch with the UO OER team by emailing us using this contact form. Please include the location of the issue in the text, a description of the issue, and information about the software, browser and/or assistive technology you are using to read the book. We will get back to you as soon as possible with an accommodation.
Comic Accessibility and Transcription Resources
We used these resources as guides when transcribing comics, and recommend these resources to anyone working on comics transcription and/or comics accessibility.
Kingman, Abby. Accessible Comics??? | Last Call Media. 27 Feb. 2019.
An article describing several options for comic alt text and transcription with detailed examples. The type of accessibility intervention you choose will depend on the type of comic you’re describing.
Sousanis, Nick and Emily Beitiks “Comics beyond Sight.” MIT Technology Review, 23 June 2023.
A collaboration between Nick Sousanis and Emily Beitiks that deliberately uses the dense layering and complex visuals of comics and explores ways to make this type of comic accessible through audio adaptation, tactile rendering and more. This project was created as part of the Accessible Comics Collective.
Accessible Comics!!! – Cordelia McGee-Tubb : #ID24 2017. Directed by TPGi, 2017. YouTube.
Cordelia McGee-Tubb, cartoonist and accessible design technologist, talks about different approaches for making accessible comics including alt-text and transcripts as well as tactile comics. She explains how the medium of comics is built on the juxtaposition of multiple forms of information and talks strategies to preserve that experience when adapting preexisting comics to make them accessible for readers with print disabilities.
Attribution
This page is adapted from the BCcampus Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition Accessibility Statement by Amanda Coolidge, Sue Doner, Tara Robertson, and Josie Gray, which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This page is written by Allia Service, University of Oregon Library OER Specialist, and Audra McNamee.
