Kittiwake

tech culture society

Accessible?

The word accessibility is defined by a myriad of acceptations that describe each a different nuance of the word.  It could mean easy to access, but also someone charismatic therefore accessible. When you look it up in a dictionary you’ll easily realise that the semantic chart of this word is huge.

By Andrés Cortés

April 24, 2021

The Matroska problem of the digital divide

In many ways, the quest for accessibility, understood as the inclusion of all kinds of differently-abled people, hold a crucial aspect for digital inclusion. We must remember that we are conditioned by our upbringing and education to believe certain truths that are not universal. That our representation of reality might be distorted by our environment and what we have been exposed to. So, what exactly does  accessibility mean through the lens of digital inclusion? 

First of all, access is a very powerful word. Take a moment to think of all the possible contexts you could find this word. You can have access because you belong to a certain group, or be granted access because you’ve proven your belonging to such a group. You can be denied access because of your values, or very simply because you are physically not able to access somewhere. Accessibility, defined as the will to make places and information available to people who have non-traditional bodies and abilities, should be a preoccupation for all of us. 

The universe surrounding the meaning of words is fascinating, in fact, Saussure talked about such conundrums of language. For instance, he separates two aspects of a word in the language; the signifier and the signified (signifiant and signifié in French). The signifier is the arrangement of symbols we’ve agreed to make specific sounds, when put together make a word. The signified is the whole universe that word carries with it. For example, we can all recognize a table but it would be hard to define, we can all agree when something is being used as a table even if it isn’t. 

We could understand it as the platonic idea and reality; we all know the concept of a table (signifier) but your coffee table is just one among all the possible forms a table can take. This ambiguity contributes to all the wild interpretations we can have of words, their meaning and it stresses the power they have upon us. 

Redefining access who do we listen to 

A key factor to fight the lack of inclusion in our societies and therefore in the digital world is to listen, to give space for the voices that are often ignored a place to shine. Allow me to show you a few non-traditional ways of communicating that already exist in the digital sphere so you can then discover your own. 

Being a polyglot and having lived in several countries has taught me something, accents hold great communicative value. Especially the absence of an accent is considered to demonstrate higher intelligence, when in fact the capacity of speaking two or more languages should be applauded. Well, Jamila Lyiscott rhymes tell us the story of her three ways of speaking English in her TED talk 3 ways to speak English. In this 4:29 minute-long poem, she repurposes the word articulate which has been used to compliment immigrants or in this case African-American people on their use of more academic use of English. She goes through her history and her life experiences to show us how are the 3 ways of speaking English are not only valid but also worthy of recognition. She demonstrates how the syntax and vocabulary of these different dialects represent richness instead of a lack of knowledge. In my opinion,we should be more open to not discard some options or alterations of the language with the label ''not idiomatic'', we should rather welcome their richness and delve into the new world that is created in the in between.

Similarly, Christine Sum Kim, a Berlin-based artist renders the most basic concepts of Sign Language accessible to us, people without ASL (American Sign language) training or culture. In this TED talk, she explains the extent to which sound is part of her life, but not in the way we would imagine it to be- such as sound etiquette. Her work depicts the intrinsic value of ASL that is both visual and makes up deaf culture. 

I invite you dear reader to dive into this universe of different capacities, to take a plunge into what perception of the world you have not been aware of until now. This is the question we ask ourselves in the Institute everyday, how can we integrate as many voices as possible into the Digital cosmos. How can we respectfully cohabitate an ethereal world? This is our quest and to begin giving possibilities I leave with Sum Kim explaining closed-captions [cries with a very tiny fashionable hat in a empty bar]. 

I'm Colombian, I am 23 years old and I’m a polyglot. I just finished my degree in Performing Arts and I’m doing a masters degree in translation. Among my interests are etymology, linguistics, and everyday ethics. How can philosophical ethic knowledge be applied on an everyday basis? Aside from a researcher for the institute I conduct my own research on feminity in the LGBTQ+ community through artistic expression and ancestral practices.