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Why might the same image need different alternative text?

A picture can provide information, act as a button, or simply decorate a page. Useful alternative text depends on that job and the surrounding content, so describing every visible detail is not always the right answer.

3–5 min

Questions you could explore

  • When should the text describe an action rather than an appearance?
  • When would repeating an image description add no useful information?

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Your topic carries over. Record up to 2½ minutes, depending on your plan.

Media and information

What makes a historical source primary?

A diary and a history book stand in different relationships to the past, but neither is automatically beyond question. What counts as a primary source also depends on what you are trying to find out.

3–5 min
Media and information

Following a web claim back to its source

Five webpages repeating the same claim may lead back to one original report. Lateral reading looks beyond an unfamiliar page to investigate its publisher; following links upstream helps reveal where the evidence began.

8–10 min
Media and information

What can a photo’s metadata actually prove?

An image file may carry a date, camera information, or a caption alongside its pixels. Those details can be useful clues, but some can be changed or removed as a file is edited and shared.

4–5 min
Why might the same image need different alternative text? | Speech Topic | speaking.app