Prototype of a workshop on visual accessibility in digital social media

Abstract

With the evolution of technology in the last century, the digital environment has been increasingly consolidating itself as a space for participation and exchange among individuals, to the point that the dynamics developed online often dictate the pace at which society itself unfolds. Public Relations, characterized as social agents responsible for maintaining the public sphere, find in the digital environment an essential field for their actions and must work towards promoting this online participation, an activity that is directly threatened by access barriers that prevent some audiences from participating in this space, such as people with visual impairments. Thus, considering the educational aspect of Public Relations and using a qualitative exploratory-descriptive research approach and narrative literature review, a model of formative workshop on visual accessibility in digital social media is proposed, aiming to tackle access barriers on platforms (Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn) through the dissemination of knowledge on techniques and guidelines for producing accessible content. After the application and evaluation, the workshop model proves to be effective for the dissemination of both theoretical and practical knowledge about accessibility on social networks and the recognition of its importance in the routines of communication professionals, organizations, and social media users in general.