In earlier sections, you read about taking into consideration the needs of your audience. Often you need to think about whether your project will be accessible and usable to your audience. If it’s not, you won’t be able to communicate your message. Accessibility typically refers to someone’s physical ability to access something. For instance, a building that has only steps at its entry is not physically accessible for people using wheelchairs. In terms of multimodal projects, accessibility refers to someone’s ability to hear, see, or use a text. Multimodal texts that are not accessible have a more limited audience. For example, a person with hearing deficits might be unable to use a video lecture online because she can’t hear the speaker and no transcript is provided.

Usability typically refers to ease of use—how easy it is to navigate a Web site or learn to use a product, for example. In terms of multimodal projects, usability has to do with how easy or difficult it is for the audience to find, experience, and understand the composer’s ideas. For example, if a multimodal text needs to be downloaded for viewing, the composer can improve usability by reducing the file size to accommodate slower Internet connections.

Not everyone has a fast Internet connection or access to a computer. Not all of the audience for your multimodal work can see or hear, or can see or hear well. You can’t plan for every possible audience need, but you can compose multimodal pieces that allow you to reach the widest possible audience. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind.

Consider what format works best for your audience. For many projects, your instructor is your main audience. If your instructor doesn’t tell you the format in which you should submit your project, ask. It’s better to know up front than to wrestle later with converting a complete project from one interface or delivery system to another. For other projects, you might have different audiences—the campus community, for instance, or YouTube users in general. To best create for your audience, you have to know their technical expectations and also the technical specifications of your delivery choice. For instance, if your instructor has asked you to upload your project to your course management system, that system might have a maximum upload file size, so you’ll have to compress your file in order to share it. YouTube and other videosharing spaces often have time restrictions; YouTube restricts general users to ten-minute clips.

Build in accessibility features. If, for instance, you suspect that your audience might include people who don’t hear well or at all, you might add captions to your project. The captions might describe the sounds in your video ([MUSIC] or [LOUD FOOTSTEPS]) and might also offer written text for what’s being heard or said in your piece. If you suspect that your audience might include people with vision difficulties, you might provide a text-only transcript of your piece. Most people with visual impairment use a program called a “screen reader,” a kind of software that reads text to them. Screen readers, however, cannot easily translate text saved in a slide show presentation or in a movie. Including a transcript of your piece for a screen reader helps make your work accessible to those with vision problems. Providing captions and transcripts can also help reach members of your audience who experience technical difficulties and cannot get clear audio or a clear visual display.