Types of Digital Media I
Basic Digital Media Categories
There are five basic digital media categories: text, images, audio, video and complex. These classifications of media effectively cover the majority of options for delivering Web-based instructional content. Each media type has certain advantages and considerations in regards to accessibility, but with a little understanding they can all be used to deliver digital content in an accessible way.
With any digital media, it is always important to understand the playback context the student will open the content in.
Basic Access Strategies by Media Type
| Media Type | Access Strategy |
| Text | Generally accessible to most assistive technologies such as screen readers and electronic reading systems. |
| Images | Provide a textual equivalent that can be rendered into an accessible format via assistive technology for non-sighted viewers. |
| Audio | Provide a text transcript of the audio information that can be rendered into an accessible format via Assistive Technology for non-sighted viewers. |
| Video | Captioning should be put in place (open or closed) in order to provide an equivalent experience for individuals who are unable to hear the audio content. |
| Complex | Complex media containing other media types (text, images, audio, and video) must begin with the best practices for accessibility in each of the included media types. In addition, appropriate markup of headings and other content must be applied to the different media constructs throughout the media file. By applying appropriate markup and definition to content, assistive technologies can better process and interact with the material. |
Text
Although text is the most simple of the digital media types, there are ways to make it more accessible. The key is organization. By organizing text content into sections defined by headers, you create a means for the end user to efficiently navigate and interact with the material. By providing this structure, you also increase the overall usability of the information for all students, regardless of disability.
Most people simply change the font, enlarge the font size, make it bold, etc. when creating headings in a document. If this is done, the document has no real structure that can be discerned by a screen reader. Using headings will allow screen reader users to navigate through the page easily and will make the page more usable for everyone. The proper use of headings will not only help those using a screen reader, but it will also help organize your materials making it easier for all of your students.
Text Formats
Digital text comes in a variety of formats, and it is common to denote the type of file format with a three or four letter extension following a period, indicated here in parenthesis after each file type. There is a range of accessibility and usability potential among the different types of digital text, running from simple to powerful. The range is starting with Plain Text (.txt), which is quite literally, plain text with no formatting, moving to Rich Text Format (.rtf) documents, spanning proprietary document formats like Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), WordPerfect (.wpd), etc., and ending up with the ever common HTML (.htm or .html) and PDF (.pdf).
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