Why is digital inclusion important?
Digital inclusion is legally mandatory for cultural institutions. Its goal is to make digital tools as usable for people with disabilities as they are for people without. This way, no one is excluded.
Benefits of inclusion
- The image visitors have of your organization improves.
- You reach more people, which generates more visitors.
- Google can better index your website, making you more discoverable.
So, the question is not whether you should work on digital inclusion, but how you do it.
Digital inclusion does not stand alone
Make inclusion a part of everything you do, advises Alicia Hoost from Cultuurmarketing. Stichting Oud Geleerd Jong Gedaan organizes online lectures for seniors, given by students. They have fully integrated their core values into their digital strategy to be as inclusive as possible.
"Making things accessible is a continuous process. The world keeps changing, and people keep changing."
How do you do that? And more importantly: how do you turn the conversation about digital inclusion into action? Follow these 5 steps.
Where do you stand?
Start with a baseline measurement. How inclusive is your website? Is your app accessible to everyone? And that tablet in the lobby—can people with visual impairments use it? For example, scan your website via wcag.nl or ismijnsitetoegankelijk.nl.
Where do you want to go?
What are your objectives? Who do you want to reach with them? Engage with your target audience and gather as much data as possible. For example, translate that information into personas, as Oud Geleerd Jong Gedaan does. They use these to address their audience in a way that suits them.
Create support
Individual departments cannot ensure digital inclusion on their own. Your web texts and hashtags may be inclusive, but if your programming is not, you will still miss the mark. Involve the entire organization in your vision, action plan, and change process. Ensure a representative reflection of society in your staff and partners.
Create an action plan
What do you want to achieve, and how are you going to do it? Document this. You can use the action plan from SER Diversity in Business for this. There is one for large organizations and one for small organizations.
Evaluate
Monitor your progress. Regularly conduct evaluation discussions, both within your organization and with your target audience. This makes digital inclusion a part of your organizational identity.
"Our digital strategy was not developed in a single day; it is a process that takes years."
Some quick wins:
- Ensure your images are inclusive: Show who is welcome. Display people with disabilities. Add alt text to every image: a description of what is shown. This way, people using braille or speech software also know what you are communicating.
- Use inclusive language: Write in clear language and use inclusive words. Words Matter, a guide for word choice in the cultural sector, and Values for a New Language (opens in new tab) can help you with this.
- Create descriptive links: Avoid “Click here” or “Read more.” People using braille or screen readers may find it hard to navigate with such links. Where is “here” if you can’t see? Always describe the purpose of the link in the link text itself, such as “Download our map” or “View the playlist.”
- Avoid placeholders: Do you have a form on your site? Indicate in text above the fields what should be filled in. Do not use placeholders inside the fields themselves. Since they disappear when you type, it can be hard for people with cognitive disabilities to check if they’ve filled everything in correctly. If something goes wrong, provide clear error messages with examples of what needs to be done.
Digital inclusion is a prerequisite for digital transformation. Every step you take carries a risk of excluding people. DEN challenges you to identify opportunities to be inclusive, especially through digital means. Curious about what else is involved in digital transformation? View the overview page.
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