Accessibility and inclusivity are the principles at the heart of creating a society and an online environment where everyone, regardless of their background, abilities, or circumstances, can fully participate and thrive. Inclusivity ensures that diverse voices are heard and valued, fostering innovation, creativity, and a deeper sense of community. Accessibility breaks down barriers and ensures that information, technology, and opportunities are within reach for all, regardless of disabilities or limitations. Together, these principles not only enrich individual lives but also contribute to a more equitable and harmonious world, where every person has the chance to contribute their unique perspectives and talents. We as an iGEM team commit ourselves to promoting inclusivity and integrate concepts to make our project and our wiki more exclusive in the in the following ways.
Our wiki is optimized to work seamlessly with screen reader programs, ensuring that individuals who rely on these tools can access and navigate our content effortlessly. We have also incorporated descriptive alt text for images, enabling users with visual impairments to understand the visual elements present on our platform.
We have adopted the Atkinson Hyperlegible font as our primary typeface. This font is specifically designed to improve readability for individuals with visual impairments. Its unique design features, such as increased character spacing and distinct letterforms, make it easier for users with low vision to read and engage with our content. The font is available for free download.
We have carefully selected a color palette that takes into account the needs of users with color vision deficiencies, such as colorblindness. Our chosen colors are distinguishable and ensure that important information is not solely conveyed through color cues, making our content more accessible to a wider audience.
In our iGEM project, we didn’t stop at just incorporating inclusivity guidelines into the accessibility of our online wiki and the design of outreach materials. We went a step further, striving to incorporate inclusivity into every part of our project. Recognizing the importance of education in our mission to engage the public with science, we conducted innovative and inclusive education projects (see blista).
At RhizoGene, we emphasize accessibility and inclusivity as core principles of our project. Our commitment to these values is reflected by our efforts to improve the user experience on our wiki as well as our efforts to integrate people with disabilities in our project. We remain dedicated to finding innovative ways which enhance platform accessibility, ensuring that everyone can access and benefit from our work, regardless of their abilities.
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