The challenges related to inclusion and accessibility of digital resources have become particularly relevant with technological development and the emergence of an increasingly pervasive digital paradigm in the cultural sphere. The promotion of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility has become increasingly important in international policies, including in the publishing sphere (European Accessibility Act), and today the need to promote participation and equity in the production and dissemination of knowledge is one of the key aspects: issues such as overcoming the digital divide and accessibility to information are the objectives of national and international agendas and guidelines, such as those provided by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). 

Despite the significant activism in research and the presence of important networks and reference organizations (such as the Daisy Consortium, Accessible Books Consortium, LIA, and EDRLab), the debate has not yet widely involved producers of specialized resources and tools, such as Digital Scientific Editions (DSE), or collections of GLAM institutions responsible for preserving and disseminating cultural heritage. The University of Verona's Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures is organising a conference from 22 to 24 May 2024 to facilitate debate and discussion on the issues at hand. The conference aims to draw attention to experiences, good practices, critical issues, and new perspectives, as well as potential solutions that can help overcome the digital divide and promote the accessibility of primary sources.

The conference is organised with the support of the Digital Arena for Inclusive Humanities (DAIH) centre.

List of Topics

Proposals for contributions can explore topics such as: 

- Digital accessibility and usability; 

- Digital access to culture, with reference to any artistic field, including literature, visual and performing arts; 

- User Interface (UI) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in digital resources for the humanities (editions, collections, archives, etc.);

- Inclusion and digital divide (related to age, disability, origin, etc.);

- DSE and the digital paradigm as a tool of fruition; 

- DSE and perception of knowledge; 

- The Web as a tool for interaction with cultural memory; 

- Projects of accessible and accessible editions, archives and collections, or dedicated to linguistic-cultural areas which have never been extensively studied; 

- Accessibility aspects related to markup languages and coding tools (e.g., compatibility and integration with assistive technologies).  

Submission Guidelines

We will consider also contributions that address the issue of inclusive access to knowledge also from perspectives that go beyond the points of interest listed above, and that can thus provide a different and broader interpretation of digital diversity, accessibility, and inclusion.  

The conference will be in Italian and in English and it will be open to scholars of all backgrounds and academic positions, as well as to digital and cultural professionals. The event will take place in hybrid mode, although we would like to encourage participation in presence.  

Proposal submission:

Interested scholars and experts are invited to submit to the committee a proposal of a maximum length of 250 words (minimum bibliography excluded), accompanied by a short biosketch (100 words) by 22 March 2024. Please specify in your proposal the preferred mode of participation (in person or remote).  

Deadline extension for abstract submission: 7 April 2024

Submission form

Committees

Organizing committee

• Anna Cappellotto
• Raffaele Cioffi
• Maria Adele Cipolla
• Marco Rospocher
• Manuel Boschiero
• Anna Giust
• Stefano Bazzaco

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to: daidh2024@gmail.com