Category: Art

Accessible Zines

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January 16, 2020

9:08 pm

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Art, Coding and Programming, English Composition, History, Library and Information Studies, Museum Studies

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A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published unique work of minority interest, usually reproduced via photocopier. – University of Texas at Austin Library

Although zines defy definitive categorization, certain elements set zines apart from other printed publications. Zines tend to be handmade paper publications with small print runs, are sold at or slightly above cost, and are intentionally nonprofessional. Authors write, edit,and publish the material themselves, which makes the material unique and personal to the author. This also means zines are complicated ephemeral materials for library collections—their authors are often hard to track down, issues come out irregularly, they often contain no bibliographic information, and they come in various paper sizes. Almost nothing about zines makes them easy for librarians to codify, yet dedicated zine collections are on the rise in libraries and archives across the United States.

Hays, A. (2018). Zine Authors’ Attitudes about Inclusion in Public and Academic Library Collections: A Survey-Based Study. LibraryQuarterly, 88(1), 60–78. https://doi.org/10.1086/694869

Zines are a popular DIY print format, but mainly only visually accessible. The Nashville Feminist Collective’s Zine Accessibility Workshop project draws on the methods of multi-modal critical design, collective image description, and collective access to reorient the zine genre (and in some cases, to reinvent it). 

Here is the workshop handout on how to transcribe and convert zine’s into different formats to broaden their accessibility.

Projects example: Esoteric Zine (December 3, 2016)

Describe It! Alt-text assignment

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January 1, 2020

8:10 pm

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Art, Coding and Programming, Computer Science, English Composition, ESL, Museum Studies

Describe It! is a Zooniverse project created by The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library. In this project, online volunteers write short descriptions for works of art in the Library’s Photoarchive collection. In order to obtain a variety of descriptions, each image is described three times before it is retired. Once an image is retired, the submitted descriptions are evaluated by library research staff who select the best description for each image. Each of the descriptions are then converted into alt-text (alternative text) which make its collections accessible to all users. Volunteers can help anonymously or create an account. The project includes a tutorial, instructions, tips and detailed metadata information about each work of art.

  1. Art History classes can use it to teach art and how to write concisely about art.
  2. Museum Studies courses could use the project to reinforce the need for alt-text and accessibility in museums.
  3. Computer Science classes could participate in Describe It! as a way to teach about alt-text.
  4. Disability studies courses could use the project to teach how to write concise alt-text.
  5. ESL classes could participate in this project as a way students could work on their English writing skills by describing art.
  6. English composition courses could use the project as a way to practice writing short concise sentences.