Patrick Garvin
@patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
1K followers 570 following 270 posts
Accessibility enthusiast and UX/UI front-end developer. Creator of @a11yawareness.bsky.social. Occasional MU J-school lecturer. Former Boston Globe graphics reporter/developer.
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patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
I read a post where someone said they could imagine Aaron Sorkin writing "Let's do the fucking news," and, yes, yes, that encapsulates why this makes me want to hurl things into the sun.
maxtani.bsky.social
Bari Weiss introduced herself to CBS News staff today on the network's 9AM call, saying she wants to "win," which requires restoring trust to CBS. She also said she was excited for staff to get to know the Free Press, and ended her remarks by saying: "Let's do the fucking news."
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
Gearing up for @ire.org's #AccessFest25 this week. Here's a friendly reminder to include alt text on your images.

Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images. Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting."
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
sesmith.lol
If you don't already follow Eric, I highly recommend it; his reporting on and analysis of politics is clear and accessible, and he's especially good at cutting through confusion and messaging to present facts, not scaremongering.
ericmgarcia.bsky.social
Johnson doing his presser. Says the House has three bills on the floor. Jeffries is calling for a debate with Johnson.
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
A big problem is that so many (collectively) have become so numb to his antics that they dismiss him and his associates as if they were TV characters, like WWE personalities, rather than real world people with real world responsibilities whose real world actions have real world consequences.
davelevitan.bsky.social
Every Trump speech now produces approximately two dozen 30-second clips peppering the feed that each alone should trigger impeachment or 25th amendment proceedings and are indistinguishable from what your worst uncle would produce if he had any idea how to make ai-generated videos
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
I know that trying to parse out meaning, consistency, and logic from these speeches is pointless these days. But I recall the days when I was in news and I would even triple-check how to spell "Massachusetts," because I didn't want to make an error. And so I look at this and say, "Huh, wait, what?"
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
I've listened to this a few times to try to make sense of this: "I said one year before to Pete Hegseth, I said one year before…"

In the context of this whole clip, is he saying he warned Pete Hegseth about Osama Bin Laden before 9/11? When Pete Hegseth was an unknown 20-year-old at Princeton?
atrupar.com
Trump: "Please remember I wrote Osama bin Laden exactly one year ago, one year before he blew up the World Trade Center. And I said, 'You gotta watch Osama bin Laden!' ... I gotta take a little credit."
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
The description "bafflingly well" is spot on
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
All three of these sessions are going to be good! (And I say that not just because I'm in the last one, but because @stacykess.bsky.social, @emiliaruzicka.bsky.social, @joannaskao.bsky.social, Sam Evans, and Johny Cassidy are all great people who are helping making journalism more accessible.
stacykess.bsky.social
Hey all, if you're attending #AccessFest25 from @ire.org next week, I'll be leading two sessions, plus participating in a third panel!

Join @emiliaruzicka.bsky.social and me to learn to make your interviews more accessible! schedules.ire.org/accessfest-2...

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AccessFest 2025 schedule | October 9-11, 2025 | Online
Welcome to the #AccessFest25 conference schedule!
schedules.ire.org
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
stacykess.bsky.social
Hey all, if you're attending #AccessFest25 from @ire.org next week, I'll be leading two sessions, plus participating in a third panel!

Join @emiliaruzicka.bsky.social and me to learn to make your interviews more accessible! schedules.ire.org/accessfest-2...

1/
AccessFest 2025 schedule | October 9-11, 2025 | Online
Welcome to the #AccessFest25 conference schedule!
schedules.ire.org
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
Really excited for this presentation coming up, as it will be my second of two AccessFest panels this year. I'm working on my parts tonight and getting giddy.

Do I know how to have a fun Saturday night?

(Yes, yes, I do!)
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
dandoescontent.bsky.social
I enjoy pointing out to SEO folk that the introduction of the alt attribute (HTML 1.2, June 1993) predates the introduction of the first modern search engine (JumpStation, December 1993).

It was always designed and intended as an accessibility feature.
a11yawareness.bsky.social
Do not cram alt text with keywords just to improve search engine optimization. This will hinder alt text’s true purpose: improving accessibility. Focus on describing the photo's content. Search engine optimization should not be the goal for writing good alt text.
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
Evergreen advice.
katz.theracket.news
Among the many reasons not to start posting your takes yet is that we literally have no idea what happened or why
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
marisakabas.bsky.social
you cannot control what other people post. you can only control what you post.
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
bencollins.bsky.social
Do your mental health a favor and turn this on for today. You really don't want to watch this. It is awful.
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
Facebook reminds me that on this day in 2021, @damon.kiesow.net tweeted "Everyone is a publisher but not everyone wants to bear the responsibility" and I shared a screenshot of it to Facebook. It's evergreen and true, that's for sure.
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
a11yawareness.bsky.social
To be sure, we should care about accessibility at all times, regardless of the topic of the content. But to keep the theme of yesterday's post going, if you're is publishing a podcast episode reacting to the Taylor and Travis news, that episode needs a transcript.

www.w3.org/WAI/media/av...
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
a11yawareness.bsky.social
That Taylor and Travis meme that your social media team is about to share? Yeah, that needs alt text.

Luckily, Bluesky has a setting that will remind you to add alt text before posting any images.

Go to "Settings," then "Accessibility." Select the checkbox for "Require alt text before posting."
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
I'll be digesting this for a bit. Some things I'll be thinking about: How do we make things accessible for disabled students who would not be able to physically write in the blue books? How do we keep the accessibility gained from moving away from blue books in the first place?
Opinion | Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis.
www.nytimes.com
patrickmgarvin.bsky.social
An Executive Order cannot overturn a 36-year-old Supreme Court decision.

Yes, we know this, and yes, I know it continually feels silly to have to point out these things each time he says, "2 + 2 = 5" or whatever.
atrupar.com
Trump signs an executive order: "If you burn a flag, you get one year in jail."
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
sambiddle.com
Relatedly I think journalism could maybe use stronger professional style norms around not anthropomorphizing the computer systems we report on/reference in our writing.
rickperlstein.bsky.social
My all-purpose AI reform is banning computers from pretending they are human. Having names, saying "I," pretending to have feelings, representing what they emit as "advice," etc. That's where much of the mischief starts.
Reposted by Patrick Garvin
rickperlstein.bsky.social
My all-purpose AI reform is banning computers from pretending they are human. Having names, saying "I," pretending to have feelings, representing what they emit as "advice," etc. That's where much of the mischief starts.