Mini Rhetorical Analysis by Ciera Lyons

Purpose

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 04:58:23 UTC

This article aims to advocate for the integration of universal design in digital humanities projects. Williams highlights the importance of inclusivity in digital resources to include those with disabilities. The article seeks to encourage the audience to create more resources that are usable by a more diverse audience.

Examples of Digital Humanities Projects

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 04:59:03 UTC

This includes web/ mobile apps, websites, virtual exhibitions, online research resources, and many more

Argument

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:19:53 UTC

Williams' main argument is that adopting universal design is not only a legal and moral obligation but also an efficient and innovative approach that benefits everyone.

Evidence

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:23:24 UTC

"This situation would be much improved if more projects embraced the concept of universal design, the idea that we should always keep the largest possible audience in mind as we make design decisions, ensuring that our final product serves the needs of those with disabilities as well as those without."

"We must broaden our understanding of the ways in which people use digital resources."

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:30:57 UTC

The intended audience includes scholars, educators, digital humanities professionals, and policymakers. The author assumes that his audience is familiar with digital tools such as software, programs, applications, etc., but assumes that the audience is unaware of the lack of accessibility.

Evidence

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:34:43 UTC

"In what follows I consider the somewhat arbitrary concept of disability and assistive technology, argue why the digital humanities community should adopt a universal design approach, explain what a universal design approach would look like, and then offer a few specific suggestions for collaborative projects that should be undertaken by digital humanists."

Showing a focus toward those looking to advocate/ create change for the same things Williams describes in his writing.

Credibility

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:43:06 UTC

Williams draws from personal experiences working on accessible digital projects. He also references people such as Rosemarie Garland-Thompson, who is a figure in disability studies. Williams includes data from reliable sources such as the Pew Research center and the DAISY Consortium.

This helps to strengthen his reliability as a knowledgeable advocate.

Evidence

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:45:03 UTC

"I first became interested in these issues as a graduate student working with Garland-Thomson when she was a faculty fellow at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) in the fall of 2001."

"For advice on accessibility issues, we worked with a blind person who used screen-reading software to listen to the web, rather than reading it off of a visual display as a sighted person would do."

Emotional Appeal

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:49:35 UTC

He also works to compel readers to consider the social consequences of inaction. Williams can connect the audience emotionally through his portrayal of the challenges faced by those with disabilities when trying to access digital resources. This includes Williams describing the difficulties that blind users face when trying to rely on screen readers.

Evidence

clyon3743 — 2025-01-17 05:51:16 UTC

He describes watching a blind user navigate the web using a screen reader at high speed.

"To accommodate me, she adjusted the settings to slow down significantly the synthesized speech, at which point I could understand the words but still found myself unable to orient myself on a given page or within a given website."

"This scenario caused me to reevaluate my understanding of what it means to be disabled, as she clearly was using abilities that I did not—and still do not—have."

Logical Appeal

clyon3743 — 2025-01-18 03:27:25 UTC

Williams explores the development of accessibility in digital tools and makes it clear that universal design should be a natural progression. From a legal standpoint, he also mentions accessibility laws across various nations as he stresses the legal necessity of universal design. He also demonstrates how universal design saves time and resources compared to coding a website and then coding accessibility into it.

Evidence

clyon3743 — 2025-01-18 03:33:32 UTC

"Over the last several decades, scholars have developed standards for how best to create, organize, present, and preserve digital information... What has remained neglected for the most part, however, are the needs of people with disabilities."

"In the United States, for example, the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was amended in 1998 with what is now referred to as Section 508 to require that all federal agencies... ensure that disabled people 'have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to... people who are not disabled.'"

"Coding everything twice—first for nondisabled people and then again for disabled people—is time consuming and expensive. Fortunately, web standards have developed enough that this duplication of effort is no longer necessary."

Potential Cost

clyon3743 — 2025-01-18 03:53:52 UTC

"Coding everything twice—first for nondisabled people and then again for disabled people—is time consuming and expensive."

Williams discusses how it would be inexpensive to adapt universal design due to it being a one-step process in comparison to it being a base code with code to assist in disabilities.

User Need

clyon3743 — 2025-01-18 03:57:07 UTC

"It might be tempting to assume that few, if any, disabled people are interested in or need to make use of our work, but by creating barriers to access we are ensuring that such people will never have the opportunity to participate in the digital humanities."

He expresses the importance of not assuming that disabled people do not need access to the products or media that people are creating. Reinforcing the understanding that media should be accessible for the majority.

Aesthetic Concerns

clyon3743 — 2025-01-18 04:00:35 UTC

"Something created using universal design principles, on the other hand, is designed ‘for a very broad definition of user that encourages attractive, marketable products that are more usable by everyone.’"

He uses this to explain that looks are not a trade-off to provide usability for the majority of people.