Eric Harvey: "Beyond Compliance: Thinking Accessibly about the Digital Humanities"

About this talk: Equal access to digital tools and media can only be ensured if they are created with accessibility in mind. Too often, accessibility can seem like a burden and be left to the final moments, if not neglected entirely. This talk will show that thinking about data and digital publication from the outset leads not only to better experiences for disabled users, but also to deeper, more fully developed, and more flexible projects overall. This talk will present a broad theoretical framework for universal and inclusive thinking, with reference to specific tools and resources to guide accessible development.

About this speaker: Eric Harvey is CESTA’s Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow. He earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University in 2020 with his dissertation “Sing to the Lord a New(-ish) Song: The Psalms of the Egyptian Hallel Across Two Thousand Years.” His research combines Book History, Material Philology, and Evolutionary Biology to reconceptualize Hebrew Psalms over the longue durée. He also researches disability in antiquity and advocates for accessibility in digital tools and resources. He keeps a personal site with blog and accessibility resources at www.blindscholar.com.